Un Cachito

Cameron's Links

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• CNN
• Fox News
• NY Times Headlines
• Deseret News
• The Economist
• The Funnies (via Dan)
• America First Credit Union WebAccess

I'm trying to avoid politics - especially partisan politics - because discussing politics only seems to agitate people. While I still have opinions, I'm also much more likely to roll my eyes and move on when partisan politics arise. That said, many of you that followed my last blog will know that I value privacy. I don't like all the security checks at the airport and I dislike the opinion (which varies) that it's ok to crush rights and privacies to fight terrorists. That said, I like to think I'm reasonable enough to understand that some government interferance is appropriate. Recently, the media has been in a huge craze over the NSA monitoring international calls into and out of the US. Despite my privacy concerns, this actually doesn't bother me that much. I also think the President has the right to make this call. Were they to knowingly monitor domestic communication (email, phone, etc), I would be much more bothered. However, what riles me more is the subpoenaing of search engine queries. At first I thought it was worse than it is - that they would be matching up searchers with the searches, but it appears they just want to see the queries and some of the results, in the name of shutting down child porn sites. While I'd love to rid the world of child abuse (including porn), I am feeling more and more claustrophobic with the government breathing down my back. I've supported and continue to support Bush in a lot of things, but I wonder how much conservativism there is in his "compassionate conservatism" campaign. The traditional Republican conservative believes in fiscal constraint and small government. While some things have been well beyond the President's control, overall he's 0-2 on these two core principles, in my opinion. His new $2.7 Trillion budget doesn't help. I don't like that.