Spitzer Conspiracy?

Chuck Baldwin, a "Moral Majority"-type preacher and talk-show host, has submitted his Thoughts On The Spitzer Sex Scandal.

Baldwin has a "conspiracy theory" involving an unknown reason why Spitzer was "outed" as an adulterer but hundreds of other New York and Beltway Insiders -- equally adulterous -- have not:

They say that Governor Spitzer was "Client 9" for this particular hooker. So, who are "clients 1-8"? And who are "clients 10-100"? Why do we not know their names? Anyone able to afford this prostitute's price of $1,000 per hour has to be someone of means. Who were they?

Were the other "clients" CEOs of Fortune 500 companies? If so, which ones? Were they congressmen or senators? If so, who? Were they White House executives? Were they Pentagon brass? Were they media celebrities? If so, what are their names? Were they foreign diplomats? If so, who are they, and from which countries did they come? Do you get my point?

How is it that in this elaborate FBI "sting," only Governor Eliot Spitzer was "caught?"

Interesting question, but there is as yet no evidence of anything other than a zealous bureaucrat performing his/her "duty," and proudly carving a notch for Spitzer on his/her bureaucratic weapon as another "hit." Baldwin goes on to recount a similar incident in his own life, with no evidence of any "conspiratorial" activity, just amoral bureaucrats "following orders," protecting "the rule of law":

The other element of this story that is being vastly underreported is the fact that federal police agencies are secretly looking at the financial transactions of the American people all the time. According to the USA Today, "Banks and credit unions as well as currency dealers and stores that cash checks reported a record 17.6 million transactions to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network in 2006, according to a report from the network, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department."

The Today story goes on to say, "The Treasury Department's database now contains records of more than 100 million financial transactions going back to at least 1996, said network spokesman Steve Hudak."

Today also reported, "Financial institutions have long been required to report cash transactions over $10,000. Those reports--simple notices of a deposit or withdrawal--account for more than 90% of the records the enforcement network gets each year.

"Far more controversial are secret 'suspicious activity reports' filed by financial institutions and reviewed by teams of agents spread around the country. . . .

"The number of suspicious activity reports soared from 413,000 in 2003 to 1 million in 2006, according to the enforcement network."

The American people are largely unaware that they are now living in a universal surveillance society. Virtually every major financial transaction--as well as much of their travel--is reported and monitored by the federal government. This total surveillance system, that began in earnest under Bill Clinton's administration, has mushroomed into a ubiquitous and finely tuned science under George W. Bush. Dare I say that Dubya's neurotic fixation with spying on ordinary citizens rivals Comrade Stalin's paranoiac obsession with a total surveillance society?

I can tell readers first-hand what living in this Brave New World is like. Back in the late '90's, I bought a used 1995 GMC half-ton, four wheel drive pick-up truck (which I still own). Over the course of a few years, I had saved around $5,000 in cash. I then sold my well-worn Ford Ranger pick-up truck for $5,000 cash. I was hoping I could pay cash for a bigger and better truck. Over the years growing up, I had watched my dad pay cash for most all of his purchases, including his vehicles. I thought it was one of the ultimate marks of freedom and enterprise in these United States to be able to work, save, and buy something of value with cash. I quickly discovered that the Federales in power these days do not share that same vision of freedom.

When I finally found the truck I mentioned, it cost a few thousand more than what I had saved, so I had to write a check for the difference. So, with $10,000 in cash and a check on borrowed funds, I drove off the car lot with my new (used) truck. It happens every day, right? Nothing unusual, right?

Wrong!

To my shock and chagrin, a few days following the purchase of my truck, a criminal investigator from the IRS came to my front door and demanded to know where I got the cash to pay for my truck. I am not making this up, folks. After a lengthy interrogation, the IRS man left, but not before issuing me a subpoena to appear before a federal grand jury. Remember, this was in the late '90's, before Jorge Bush and Alberto Gonzales got their dictatorial hands on the helm of the myriad federal police agencies.

Mark it down, folks: you and I are constantly being watched, listened to, monitored, taped, and stalked by our own government. So, do any of us really believe that we still live in a free country? All this talk about a war on terrorism is a bunch of hooey. What is really happening is a war on freedom. The so-called "War on Terror" is only a smokescreen to hide the real agenda, which is to develop a federal police state where individual liberty is completely vanquished. And the really sad part of all of this is the manner in which the American people -- especially our pastors and churches -- seem to be willing to embrace and accept this burgeoning police state.

Why were the lives of Spitzer and Baldwin invaded by the feds? A high-level "conspiracy?" Or just the blind forces of tyrannical bureaucracy?

I don't deny conspiracies; I just don't assume them without evidence.