Firefighters As Spies

The lamestream media told you:
The Patriot Act was a necessary compromise to protect the American homeland. The small changes to civil rights, like monitoring overseas phone calls, library records or emails to detect terrorist activity, is a small concession designed to keep us safe, and nothing to worry about. Fringe groups like the ACLU have objected to the common-sense plans.

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:
The government effort to monitor potentially dangerous activity may be a juggernaut with inadequate controls, plunging headlong into territory as dangerous as the threats it seeks to prevent. Islamic jihadis, without knowing it, may have unleashed a federalized terror force that could be worse than Islamists are.

Firefighters and ambulance personnel have constant daily access to people's homes without a search warrant. Now, according to a report in Newsday [see AP story here], "When going to private residences, for example, they are told to be alert for -- a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States; unusual chemicals or other materials that seem out of place; ammunition, firearms or weapons boxes; surveillance equipment; still and video cameras; night-vision goggles; maps, photos, blueprints; police manuals, training manuals, flight manuals; and little or no furniture other than a bed or mattress."

The Dept. of Homeland Security has opened intelligence channels in major cities to pursue this terror-watch tool.

"We're there to help people, and by discovering these type of events, we're helping people," said New York City Fire Chief Salvatore Cassano.

Programs are apparently underway in 13 states so far, with Atlanta, Phoenix and Wash., D.C., specifically named in the Nov. 23, 2007 report. According to open-minded apologists following the developments, "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about."

The Uninvited Ombudsman notes that, under the leaked guidelines, he might be subject to an awfully long time in the slammer, without having actually done anything wrong. He does, however, have a significant amount of furniture, which might be a mitigating factor and decrease the sentence.

Tags: Firefighters, Patriot Act, Department of Homeland Security