George Takei Fears NSA Spying Will Lead to Something Much Worse

[Ichingcarpenter]

George Takei is hardly the only American concerned about the NSA's massive surveillance programs. But unlike most people, his fears are rooted in the memory of the government persecution he suffered firsthand in a Japanese internment camp.
"Due process is a pillar of our American justice system," the Star Trek star told Daily Intelligencer last night at the Eighth Annual Stella by Starlight Benefit Gala. "We were rounded up simply because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor. And we were put in prison camps with barbed wire and machine guns pointed at us. It was a horrific violation of our Constitution."


Because of that experience, Takei is particularly wary of the government's powers being abused. "We know where this can go," he said. "We have to be ever vigilant against overstepping of the fundamental ideals of our democracy."


Takei understands that President Obama "is a person who has to deal with a lot of issues." But on the NSA spying programs, he says, "I don't agree."

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/george-takei-nsa-internment-camp.html


Well I guess he too will be thrown under the bus on DU
so include me too, I'm with george.

[backscatter712]

1. K&R!

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. We shouldn’t have to wait

We shouldn’t have to wait for an abuse of power to know that the NSA’s snooping has gone too far

[backscatter712]

4. Takei knows how bad it can get. He was literally thrown into a concentration camp for being Japanese

What happens when George Bush III or President Ted Cruz gets a hold of PRISM, aka Google for Spooks, does a few searches for people critical of his administration, and has them all targeted for police harassment, prosecution, unilateral imprisonment in internment camps?

[HooptieWagon]

9. How do we know it hasn't happened already?

I guess we can take their word for it...except DNI Clapper has already been caught lying to Congress about the extent of domestic spying. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Occupiers, Monsanto protestors, XL Pipeline opponents, etc have already been spied on.

[RobertEarl]

3. A voice of experience

But it will go right over the heads of those who think they are somehow protecting Obama.

And past those who think they have nothing to fear from our overbearing and out of control government.

All of this just points out how badly some people are woefully out of touch with reality.

George knows reality.

[villager]

5. Oh it's becoming quite a large bus here at the "Underground"

Never knew before that one could identify as part of an "underground" while giving blanket, uncritical approval of the machinations of the MIC.

[Egalitarian Thug]

6. I never dreamed that George hated President Obama. Well that's it then.

Everybody scrunch over, George is coming under the bus with the rest of us.

When was the last time anybody checked to see if there was anybody but republicans still on the bus?

[sabrina 1]

8. He's not the only one. Rep. Grayson, Ron Wyden, Democracy Now, Greg Palast,

The ACLU, Wapo, Thom Hartmann, Amy Goodman (they are part of a 'rat pack' I saw here yesterday and Grayson is a teapartier or something) Naomi Klein, Naomi Wolf. The list is so long it would take all night to finish it.

[kenny blankenship]

7. Heed his words. He lived it.

Think about COINTELPRO and the FBI's attempt to destroy King,. Listen to Ellsberg, who is able to talk to you outside of a federal maximum security prison by sheer good luck that his persecutors went way too far. Under the current regime (all wiretaps are legal), he'd go to jail and basically never be seen again. That was all an eyeblink ago, in historical terms.

It's fucking moronic to think very bad things can't happen here or elsewhere again. Survey briefly in your minds the changes that this country suffered from 2001 to 2009. Remember how quickly we went from bad to horrific and stayed there? Now ponder the fact that almost none of the damage has been UNDONE.

Not only can very bad things happen again, they are guaranteed to happen again - someday. It could be twenty years off. It could be very soon.

Don't make it easy for them.

[HooptieWagon]

10. Gitmo is still open for a reason. nt

[Laelth]

11. k&r for George Takei. n/t

-Laelth

[sibelian]

12. I want to see George Takei's BIRTH CERTIFICATE. nt.

[Puzzledtraveller]

13. k&r