“Quis custodiet
ipsos custodes?”
(As a somewhat amusing
aside here, the latin phrase which is most often translated as “Who
Watches the Watchmen” and often associated with political and
judicial corruption was originally meant as a commentary on Adultery.
Course given some of our so-called leaders, it applies in either
situation.)
So once again, “shocking
news” (IMNSHO neither shocking or news since anyone with even the
teensiest amount of brain cells to rub together knows that t
governments have been spying on each other since...well governments
were invented.) has been revealed that the US has used its vast
resources to do extensive spying type stuff on several of our Allies.
Of course, the Allies in
question are enraged and insulted by our actions even though you can
bet your sweet bibby that if a French version of Snowden suddenly
popped up, we'd find out pretty much the same thing is being done to
us. Sadly, our government would probably act just as outrag if this
sort of information was revealed.
Lets face it folks,
everybody spies on everybody. It is almost human nature to want to
know secrets about other people. Neighbors peek over hedges to find
out what the people next door are doing. Corporations spy on each
other to find out what the others are trying to produce. Governments
spy on their citizens just in case the rank and file might be doing
something wrong. And of course Governments spy on each other even
when they are supposed to be buddies.
Do I support all of this
Shift? Heck no! Not only is all of prying crap an invasion into the
privacy of others, but Billions if not Trillions of
Dollars/Pounds/Rupees/Yen/Wong are wasted every single year getting
information that will probably never be used in any constructive
fashion and even more money and resources are wasted every year
storing the data in the off chance that it Might be used one day.
Still I do find it funnier
than heck that X is always idignant when it is discovered that Y has
been spying on them because it is a safe bet that X has been spying
on Y just as long. The attitude is always like two little kids sneak
into the kitchen to steal a cookie and both get caught crumb handed.
Both kids get cranky becaus the other one was stealing a cookie
completely ignoring the white chocolate macdamia nut cookie in their
own hand. (Suddenly I'm hungry.)
With all of the big news
about PRISM etc, people seem to be thinking that all of this shift is
something new under the sun. They forget that Old W Bush pretty much
was doing the same durned thing many many moons ago. Most of them
are unaware that Eisenhower had one of the most extensive and well
equipped spy force ever. The tools change over time, but the Tools
(See what I did there?) using them pretty much remain the same.
So this is why I always
take “Upper Buttockskia was enraged today when it was revealed that
the US had been spying on them” with a grain of salt (Hells, the
whole damned shaker) because you can bet Buttockscan spies have been
doing the same thing.
If the day ever comes when
all evidence that countries are spying on each other and their
citizens goes away then the only thing you can be sure of is that the
spies have just gotten better at their jobs.
End of Rant
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