My American Life.....sigh

Thank you Ira Glass for telling part of our story (the story of the surveillance of  attorney's representing Gitmo prisoners) ....you can listen here.
However, I want to reiterate that I do not believe that my government only listens to the attorneys representing men at Guantanamo.  I believe the U.S. Government has a back-up of every single conversation of every single person in this country - no matter how boring that conversation may be. If you are comfortable with  this- if this makes you feel safer- well, I feel sorry for you (and me- Because I happen to live here too and I kind of liked that constitution of ours....). As for me- I am not comfortable with what is happening in this country. I am not happy with Obama or with our corporate electives... I am not comfortable with any of this. Let me also tell you that we all have personal things that we talk about- and that if you take even a moment to think about it- you will realize that even if you do not have business issues that should be kept confidential you do have personal matters that would not think the government has any right to hear if you thought about it....but the government is listening to it.
This country of mine has become a democratically elected dictatorship. Unfortunately not very many here in the Old U. S of A---seems to care.
If you want to read more about the surveillance program go to emptywheel. The good folks there have been doing an amazing job of putting the pieces together and the picture is not pretty.

Media and Entertainment Lawyer to be Obama's special envoy on Guantanamo

I guess this is about as appropriate as we can expect from Obama-

Obama Chooses Lawyer as Guantanamo Closure Envoy

By THE ASSOCIATED

PRESS

Published

: June 16, 2013 at 4:02 PM ET

 

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has chosen a high-powered Washington lawyer with an extensive government experience to be the State Department's new special envoy for closing down the prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

Officials familiar with the decision tell The Associated Press that Clifford Sloan is the pick to reopen the State Department's Office of Guantanamo Closure. The office was closed in January.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the appointment publicly before a formal announcement Monday.

The move fulfills part of Obama's pledge to renew efforts to close down the prison.

Sloan has served in senior positions in Democratic and Republican administrations and is currently a partner in a Washington law firm.