Enraged Yet?

Because if you're not enraged, you haven't been paying attention.

But then again, how can you be enraged?  The NBA Finals are about to start, the NHL playoffs are ongoing, and then there's trying to figure out whether or not Jaden Smith's divorcing his parents or not.  Seriously, there's just so much important stuff going on!

Well, bear with me.  I'll be brief.

It all started in the aftermath of the incident that marks a bright dividing line between Old America and New America.  It all started on a bright and sunny Tuesday morning in September.

Yes.  That day.

In the aftermath of 9/11 (everybody drink!), while the debris was still being cleared and the world's largest crime scene was being sifted, the United States Congress was presented with a mammoth bill for their consideration and approval.

The bill was called the USA PATRIOT Act, and it's basically a blank check for the Federal Government to spy on everyone, as well as brand anyone a 'terrorist.'

Now, in most totalitarian states, this level of surveillance is expected, and it's so in your face that the government doesn't even need approval from the rubber-stampers to do it.  Here in America, on the other hand, President Bush had to wait for the Congress to pass the Act before he could tell the NSA, the CIA and the FBI to start setting up wiretaps. 

Congress duly passed it, in a fit of fear and panic (at least one Congressman admitted, on the record, that it was never read all the way through).

And the American Surveillance State (ASS) was established.

The ASS is now huge and powerful, and ASS gets into everything with only the barest murmur of legal proceedings from the Federal court set up to approve such things (known as FISA). 

The Guardian has published an article that states that a court order has allowed ASS to record every call made by subscribers to the Verizon telecommunications network.  That's about 145 million Americans, folks, now feeling the power of the ASS.

And if you think that by using Sprint, AT&T, or any other network makes you immune to the ASS, stop and take a sniff.

Smell that?

Yep.  It's ASS.