"Sorry, were these yours, ma'am? Must've mis-read the warrant..."

In case you hadn't seen it:

Exclusive: Feds confiscate investigative reporter's confidential files during raid

I've remarked previously that a "police state" is not a condition wherein you could have your phone tapped, be followed/tracked by police for any reason at all (e.g.: by GPS, without any particular reason, as it is now permitted), have your home searched and have whatever they feel like seizing do so (see news story link above), or be arrested and taken away under whatever pretense (where do I start with that?). It's that any of those things could happen to you or someone you know and there would not be a lot, practically speaking, you or anyone else could do about it. In addition, trying to do something about it may place one at enough risk that if you do ask for help or assistance, others are too intimidated to try. Am I the only who thinks that, given the NSA's "hi-jinx", the erosion of post-arrest rights and guarantees of Constitutional protections (e.g.: you now have to explicitly say you are invoking the 5th Amendment in order for it to hold up), as well as protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, that we're coming pretty dat-burned close to it-- if not already there? Sure, the US has some way to go before looking like the former East Germany. But if the East Germans had had the kind of computer technology we now do, would they have really needed the Stazi? Or if they had had them, would most of them not have been sitting behind desks reviewing the "alerts" that computer programs sent them, telling them to review some of the more "interesting" conversations? Of course, open criticism of the government and its officials is still quite tolerated, at least as long as you're not in a position to do them too much practical harm. But I wonder-- for how much longer? After all, it wasn't too long ago that the idea that our own gov't would have actually set up a 24/7 surveillance system of all our phone calls seemed utterly preposterous. Now, not so much. And oh yeah, so was the idea that we'd be facing $20+ trillion in debt as a nation, too. Now here it is, breathing down our necks, with no sign of it slowing down as it is clearly set to bolt past that figure with a sky's-the-limit target.

Personally, I'm not too impressed by how the 21st century is starting off. I think we could have done a lot better.