Stories that disturb me

I'm busy working on my RFK book, so I haven't spent much time posting. When I do post - it's usually something short on Twitter (https://twitter.com/lisapease) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Pease-writer/113393978975). But I continue to be concerned by what I see all around me and wanted to share a few links with you.

I saw NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake interviewed on RT today (yet more proof how censored the American press is -- you won't see him on the Today show, or even Sixty Minutes). He said our every communication is being tracked in ways that violate our constitutional protections. "Our security has become the state religion," he said, and those who speak truth to power find that the response is to "attack the messenger" rather than dealing with the message. Those are powerful sentiments that should be a wake-up call to the rest of us.

Here's more about Drake and other whistleblowers: http://news.antiwar.com/2012/07/14/nsa-whistleblower-spy-agency-gathering-info-on-virtually-every-us-citizen/

Here's a story that should also make you think about where all this is headed, an article from the NYT titled "That's no phone. That's my tracker." http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/sunday-review/thats-not-my-phone-its-my-tracker.html

I'm deeply concerned about the growing prosecution of whistleblowers. Look - I don't care if their motives aren't pure if the information is important. Exposing war crimes should be done and should be protected, even if someone is "just a disgruntled employee" - so what? Maybe those are the only people who find the guts to speak up. And of course, most whistleblowers are NOT disgruntled employees. They're concerned citizens who see our rights violated and try to do something to protect that. But absolute power corrupts absolutely, and those who live by secret power will go to enormous lengths to protect it.