''Hey grandpa..a..a, how is it going over there in France...ance..ance? What is that strange echo..oo..oo?'' This is something you might be experiencing while making your oversea phone calls. No it is not a phone company problem or an electrical problem, it is a US government problem. If you hear a strange echo on your international calls, there is a possibility that you and your family or friend aren't the only ones in on the conversation, you might also be sharing these loving moments with a dear NSA agent. Wait I thought the government needed a warrant to wiretap my phone? Well now that we are going through the marvelous Bush years, a warrant is not needed anymore for an international phone call! This was made possible by the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act), keeping our homes safe from the absolute and first degree threat of the terrorists by tapping into our phones. The Patriot act is a corrupt act that violates our constitutional rights and needs to be changed or abolished.

The Patriot Act? I thought that was made illegal in 2005? Guess not, in 2006 it was passed by congress again with a few minor changes. So the government can still wiretap any international phone call without a mandate. The government can monitor up to 7,000 oversea phone calls at any given time without a warrant (James Risen, Eric Lichtblau http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/16/ politics/16program.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2) When I first heard about this story not too long ago, I didn't believe it because I thought I had the IV Amendment in the bill of rights protecting me. Doesn't the bill state ''The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.'' (US Constitution/Bill of Rights http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html#amendmentiv) Well I guess that the threat of terrorists knocking on my front door and asking to use my phone is a lot more pressing than the 1791 Bill of Rights.

If you enjoy having the creepy NSA agents shuffling through your business by tapping your phone calls to your 80 year old grandma in Europe, as you tell her about all the good grades you got that quarter. Then go ahead leave the government alone. But if you do mind the government going through all your stuff, then letters need to be sent to congressmen and complaints need to be made. Because if you don't then you will have to wait till 2010 until the wiretapping stops.

In the end what is a government there for? It is there to serve the people by having the people represented in it and by creating laws for the benefit of the public good. So the government should be trusting it's people not spying on them. The government should be scared of the people not the other way around. As Abraham Lincoln said on November 19, 1863 at the Gettysburg address '' A Government of the people, by the people, for the people'' So in order for our rights to stay our rights, we must makes sure this Patriot act is is changed or suppressed, because all it does is make this government one step closer to a 1984 like dictatorship.