Yes, but the courts signed off on it when they should fulfill their role as in checks and balances. They have also used impossible requirements of "standing" and arcane legal arguments to abdicate any responsibility to uphold the plain intent of the Constitution. It has gotten so bad that everyone is shocked and amazed when SCOTUS makes the otherwise obvious ruling that cell phones cannot be searched without a warrant.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Nice write-up here http://www.heritage.org/consti... demonstrates that both the Courts and Congress have capitulated.
And the courts who are supposed to be overseeing them have proven to be no more than rubber stamps.
I think the judicial branch has a lot to answer for in this whole mess, from letting AT&T retroactively off the hook, to accepting secret FISA courts, to issuing warrants to SWAT teams on negligible evidence.
"The Congress shall have power
This fails the promoting progress requirement.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
ALL men (and women, Stan), not just Americans. If we truly believe in these rights, we should seek to uphold them universally. Your rights should not vanish on the other side of the border, and neither do those of people who live there. RIghts are indivisible.
The US did the same for AT&T and the rest.
"To declare that in the administration of criminal law the end justifies the means to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure conviction of a private criminal would bring terrible retribution."
"Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."
"...corporations and the U.S. government are failing at complex planning."
Mathematically, the world is a "chaotic" place. It is axiomatic that complex planning will fail. So those not familiar with the field, think of "butterfly effect" or "Black swans".
So inevitable planning failures are blamed on technology.
The best solution, proven empirically, is laissez-faire. I concede that "best" means different things to different people.
I predict chokeholding, compliance holds, breathalyzing, cuffing, perp ridiing and walking, body searches and SWAT home invasions will decrease.
I also predict an increase in imminent danger requiring gunshots from 50 ft.
to renew your flagging zeal to cooperate with the NSA.
I was about to jump ship to Uverse, but insisted on a bottom-line price before signing. They claimed it was impossible to provide, because of local taxes, yada yada. Well then, how are you able to bill me once I sign? No thanks, scumbags.
Is it just me?
My unconstitutional trumps your FBI illegal.
They sow these seeds because there is a vast acreage of fertile ground.
The US is in a complete state of nervous prostration. Home of the brave, my arse!
Those who can, do; those who can't, write. Those who can't write work for the Bell Labs Record.
