Facebook and Independence Day 2013
The Right to Petition the Government--Stop Watching US!
As a homeschool education writer, I seldom make political statements. I avoid issues that don't directly impact teaching our children. I avoid intrusive search engines such as Google, and I seldom post personal information on Facebook or other social media sites. However, I can't remain silent in the face of admitted tyranny and loss of our God-given, inalienable “endowed by our Creator" American rights. This directly impacts the education of America’s children. If we cannot pass on the legacy of a free America, will our children even know what freedom means? Will Independence Day, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights just be a meaningless, bad joke to the next generation?
Amendment IV of the Bill of Rights guarantees:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."-- http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html Read more about Independence Day, and early American flags, at http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Independence-Day.shtml .
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISC, has been making broad, secret rulings on requests from the NSA to access the private information of American citizens. There is no consideration of probable cause, and the indiscriminate, unreasonable searches and seizures do not describe particular, specific persons of places. These rulings, and secret programs such as PRISM, apparently go far beyond the clear meaning in the Patriot Act as well as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Programs such as PRISM, including those that harvest and store information from online venues such as Facebook, violate Constitutional protections. (See "Courts, DOJ tussle over Fourth Amendment violations and the NSA," http://news.yahoo.com/courts-doj-tussle-over-fourth-amendment-spying-violations-100040425.html and ACLU NSA Lawsuit: PRISM Violates the First and Fourth Amendments Of the Constitution, http://www.policymic.com/articles/48195/aclu-nsa-lawsuit-prism-violates-the-first-and-fourth-amendments-of-the-constitution.)
That's right—the far left ACLU is suing the administration of the man who calls himself Obama, a shadow president, for rulings of a secret, shadow court in violation of "both the First Amendment rights of free speech and association, and the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures."
The shills for the administration attempt to justify illegal search and seizure with the lame excuse that "if you don't have anything to hide, then you shouldn't mind." This is the ultimate insult, suggesting that if we support the Constitution, we must be some kind of a criminal. So illegally seizing and storing mindboggling amounts of information from millions of law abiding citizens somehow keeps us safer? How, when the government can’t even keep track of the perpetrators of the ghastly Boston bombing attack? The correct answer is to get a legal, constitutional warrant for an individual—not a whole population. Wouldn’t we be safer (and more free) if Constitutional protections were adhered to, and only specific foreigners and targeted criminals were monitored? No, we aren’t going to “just get over it,” when you are talking about our lost freedom. Isn't it past time that stupefied Americans woke up, stood up and politely but firmly told our representatives, with one voice…HOW DARE YOU!
Tyrannical shadow government behavior assumes that ordinary Americans are considered guilty until proven innocent. Broad, illegal searches and seizures are clearly illegal and unconstitutional; The Constitution trumps illegal rulings by a secret shadow court. Even if the secret court rulings can be justified, the court must not write laws for itself (legislate), and then enforce them under order from the executive branch, due to the separation of powers.
Folks, this is no longer a left-right, conservative-progressive, Democrat-Republican issue. This is not libertarian versus establishment, black versus white, immigration rights versus citizen. Those divisions are no longer relevant—now they just confuse and divide us, while our so-called elite "betters" institute soft tyranny. As American citizens, it is time to remind our so-called "betters" in the shadows of Washington that:
YOU WORK FOR US!
We are a government "of the people,"--not of the elite. America's Declaration of Independence acknowledges that our rights are not given by men. God given rights, including the Fourth Amendment, cannot be taken away by men, or by shadow courts, because these are:
GOD-GIVEN RIGHTS!
Many may say, just don't worry about the NSA programs such as PRISM, and the IRS targeting of certain religions and political groups--it is no big deal.
The Preamble to the Bill of Rights explains why this matters:
"THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution."
If the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are now ignored, it is no surprise that the general public has lost confidence in the Government. It is imperative that this confidence is restored. It is time for Americans to declare our independence from supporters and enablers of anti-Constitutionalist shadow courts.
Note: if web sites don't store your personal information, they can't turn it over to illegal courts, and the shadow government forces can't violate Constitutional rights.
This Fourth of July, although it is most probably a futile, empty gesture, I will be shutting down my personal Facebook page in protest of our eroding American liberties. Dear friends and family, I love you. Those who know me can still stay in contact using traditional means, my blog at SchoolhouseFamilies, http://schoolhousefamilies.com/profile/MelissaLMorgan , and through contacts on my web site, http://www.eaglesnesthome.com. Goodbye, Facebook personal page. Hello, Startpage.com, and online resources which do not record, store, or track your personal information. (See https://startpage.com/eng/protect-privacy.html .)
I'm also looking into other search alternatives, such as DuckDuckGo. Here’s Life Hacker’s “Best Replacements for Privacing Invading Services”, http://lifehacker.com/5965462/the-best-replacements-for-privacy+invading-services. I am seriously looking into Glassboard, https://app.glassboard.com/web/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2fweb%2f, to replace Facebook. I don’t enough about any new social networks yet to fully endorse them, although I have been using Startpage for years, as a search engine. I noticed today that Startpage froze, apparently from increased usage.
Political rant, over and out. Happy (Facebook) Independence Day…
And May America Bless God.
Ring Your Bell for Freedom--Facebook Independence Day Update
I'm done;
my personal Facebook page should be gone. I'm still on Twitter, but only
professionally. I also retained a Facebook presence as an author, but will not
use it personally. In the process of attempting to remove my personal accounts,
I found out that you can only deactivate, not delete, a Facebook account from
your settings. Facebook forces you to enter a reason why you are deactivating.
In the box where they required this, I simply wrote that they shouldn't be
asking for this, and this was accepted as a "reason." After deactivating, I
discovered that you are simply logged out, not deleted.
Go to Facebook to permanently delete your account.
https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674 . After filling out a form to
delete your account entirely, you are then told the account will be deleted
within fourteen days. If you log on, you will see that your account is still
there. Why does it take so long? One wonders if it is an attempt to cling to
your private information as long as possible.
Most online hangouts state in their privacy policy that they will only turn
over your personal information to a legal request from law enforcement. The
problem with this policy is that online networking companies have been bullied
by police state tactics into turning over information in violation of the Fourth
Amendment to the Constitution.
Choices for replacing Facebook might include Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest,
LinkedIn, and Reddit. I can also choose to become active on various
interest-focused forums, such as FreeRepublic and Schoolhouse Families. Of
course, interest-focused or political Forums by definition do not have a
universal appeal, so many family members and friends will not want to join.
That's fine--we can get together in person, in the real world. Perhaps I can
better show the love of Christ, as I reach out with a real hand to a few people,
instead of a virtual hand lost in cyberspace.
Years ago, I had hopes that Facebook would improve relationships, but
overall, that doesn't seem to be the case. People say things online that they
would never say to your face. Cutting back or eliminating Facebook interaction
may not harm personal relationships, and may actually improve them.
As an author, I still need to use the internet professionally; I'm not
giving in, or hiding my head in the sand. I will continue to work, according to
the best of my ability, to promote the Bill of Rights online. I am just a tiny
noise drowned out in the system; one bell is unlikely to have any effect, but
many tiny bells rung together might be heard. Sign Mozilla (Firefox browser)
privacy petition about the NSA spying on private American citizens,
https://optin.stopwatching.us. This
petition tells the government to Stop Watching Us!
Read more at
http://www.businessinsider.com/mozilla-backed-stop-watching-us-grows-2013-6
. It may not be much hope, but it's a start. This Independence Day, and always,
I hope you will join me. Let Freedom Ring!
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