“Following my words last night about how long your yankee government has been spying on you, my dear wife Susan reminded me of an event during our 1991 federal trial for willful failure to file income tax returns and conspiracy to delay and defeat the IRS (we were all acquitted). A major thrust of the government’s case was to show they could retrieve every piece of financial data about everyone. Susan was on the witness stand, and the prosecutor asked her if she had spent XXX dollars on tee shirts at J Crew the weekend before. Matter of fact, she had, & she had charged them. Never losing her aplomb (she never does), with withering sweetness Susan said, “Yes, I did, I bought them for my children. They’re good kids, and they deserve a new tee shirt now & then.”

Government could not have known about that charge without having access to credit card company records. And since that charge occurred AFTER the date of the dirty deeds we were accused of, government was abusing process by continuing to spy on us. But we’re not special — now they’re spying on all y’all, too!”

~ Franklin Sanders