By Eric Cooper Santa Monica
Regarding “Despot becomes him; Bush has gone bananas” (SMDP, May 19, page 4). Bennet Kelly is all hot and bothered because Bush is collecting phone numbers in an effort to protect us against terrorism. Bennet thinks Bush has gone bananas.
He tries to scare us by quoting several Congressmen warning us that the nation is slipping toward dictatorship. He implores us to fight the creeping “Banana Republicanism.”
So, I find it ironic that his commentary appears in the SMDP one day after the announcement in the same paper that the decidedly non-Bush, non-Republican, Santa Monica City Council has installed 123 video cameras to spy on us. The reason they give for the cameras is the same as Bush’s — “protection against terrorism.”
Certainly videotaping all the Santa Monica residents from 123 different locations is a massive invasion of our privacy. Would you rather have your phone numbers noted or know that all your actions are being recorded on tape?
Consequently, I expect Bennet to either lead the charge in getting these cameras removed or admit that sometimes to protect our safety we need to forgo some of our privacy.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 2, 2006. Read the original PDF.