Yeah… Barney Frank ran quite an operation.

This is preposterous! The US government would NEVER do anything like, oh, say, launch a drone strike against a US citizen without giving them a fair trial..

"I'm far more terrified of the ideology of individualism than I'm of any kind of secret agency."

Can you explain this statement please? Can you give examples from history where the "ideology of individualism" created outcomes worse than, say, the Stasi, or the KGB, or even the Hoover-era FBI?

Basically what I'm asking is if you can prove you're not full of shit?

@2 I grant you that the US is not slow to use drones against people they think are enemy combatants, even if they are US citizens. But can you come up with examples comparable to Snowden? So far he has been accused of criminal activity, not combat.

If Snowden had any Arabic heritage he'd be dead by now

@4: Abdulrahman Anwar Alawlaki.

Good Morning Charles,
I agree mortgage fraud might be becoming "endemic" especially given this morning's ST headline:

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2…

I no longer own property. As a result, I rarely deal with lenders let alone follow the industry meticulously. Fair enough.

On the other hand, I'm not so sure I understand let alone agree with this statement from you: "I'm far more terrified of the ideology of individualism than I'm of any kind of secret agency."

I genuinely believe "ideology" separates many informed, civilized and intelligent people especially in this country and it also inhibits rational dialogue between those same people. Unequivocally, I am terrified of some ideologies (fascism or Nazism if one prefers, Stalinism, Maoism etc. or any society where a cult of personality & absolute power prevail). But, I remain dubious that (American) "individualism" is an ideology let alone fear it. On the other hand, I do fear some "secret agencies". "Rugged" individualism has served America well w/o necessarily evolving into jingoistic Americanism (proto-fascism?). I do believe "we are great" for better or for worse.

We have a Red/Blue divide. I don't doubt that. However, America was never perfect yet was a great draw to millions of immigrants no matter who's in power Red or Blue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q9TYUr-T…

@2 is correct, and the drone carrier has already been dispatched.

@3 Thanks for challenging such mindless statements that appear to be coming up quite a bit in contributor articles. They seem to have a need to "think" for us, to create our opinions, for some reason. The pro-fascism bias is extreme.

I know this isn't the point, but "Ai Weiwei" sounds like something Pepe Le Pew would say.