You are being watched. The control freaks that hold power in the United States have become absolutely obsessed with surveillance. They are constantly attempting to convince the American people that we are all "safer" when virtually everything that we do is watched, monitored, tracked and recorded.

Our country is being systematically transformed into a giant surveillance grid far more comprehensive than anything George Orwell ever dreamed of. If you still believe that there is such a thing as "privacy" in this day and age, you are being delusional. Every single piece of electronic communication is monitored and stored.

In fact, they know that you are reading this article right now. But even if you got rid of all of your electronic devices, you would still be constantly monitored. As you will read about below, a rapidly growing nationwide network of facial recognition cameras, "pre-crime" surveillance devices, voice recorders, mobile backscatter vans, aerial drones and automated license plate readers are constantly feeding data about us back to the government.

In addition, private companies involved in "data mining" are gathering literally trillions upon trillions of data points about individual Americans each year. So there is no escape from this surveillance grid. In fact, it has become just about impossible to keep it from growing. The surveillance grid is expanding in thousands of different ways, so even if you stopped one form of surveillance you would hardly make a dent in the astounding growth of this system.

What we desperately need is a fundamental cultural awakening to the importance of liberty, freedom and privacy. Without such an awakening, the United States (along with the rest of the planet) is going to head into a world that will make "1984" by George Orwell look like a cheery story about a Sunday picnic.

The following are 19 signs that America is being systematically transformed into a giant surveillance grid....

The Israeli army's chief of staff states that in the past three years, "US taxpayers have contributed more to the Israeli defense budget than Israeli taxpayers," according to a report in the Jerusalem Post, a prominent Israeli newspaper.

According to the report,Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi made the statement during a speech on September 11th. In it he emphasized: "We must preserve ties with the United States. I believe this is a security necessity."

According to the newspaper the speech was at the Calcalist Conference, which appears to be an annual event in Tel Aviv sponsored by the Calcalist newspaper, an Israeli Hebrew-only daily financial newspaper. It is is part of the group that publishes Yedioth Ahronoth, the largest circulation newspaper in Israel.

American taxpayers give Israel over $3 billion per year (over $8 million per day), more than to any other nation, despite the fact that Israel is smaller than New Jersey and is in the top 30 richest countries in the world.

Abderrauf al-Ayadi, head of the Wafa Party, confirmed that the Israeli Mossad has succeeded in infiltrating the Tunisian Ministry of Interior. In an interview with Al-Khaleej, Ayadi - who defected from the party of the Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki - stated that he defected from the Congress for the Republic (CPR) because he refused to mix between the affairs of the Tunisian state and the party. He wanted to stay loyal to the CPR's main goals and principles.

Moreover, Ayadi condemned [Prime Minister Hamadi] Jebali's government as "a total failure," because it was focused on building a "stronghold" and making appointments on the basis of party affiliations in preparation for the upcoming electoral campaign. Jebali's government does not care at all about the urgent affairs that must be dealt with immediately, and cares even less about the revolution's goals.

The following is Al-Khaleej's interview with Ayadi:

CNN Anchor Piers Morgan was embarrassed by his own audience trying to echo government propaganda points only to be soundly countered by Jesse Ventura.

During Friday's appearance on CNN's Piers Morgan Show former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura countered numerous government propaganda talking points.

It was so bad that Morgan who was simply at a loss of any logical counter arguments was forced only to resort to the "you are a tin foil hat wearing crack pot" tactic.

Morgan receiving a cool reception to his own audience threw out the line "I think you make good points and I think you make crackpot points" to discredit Ventura and then hurriedly tried to change the subject by moving along to the next topic.

But Ventura wasn't having it and put Morgan in his place telling him "No! No! Now you wait!".

There is a massive deception campaign in the US, and in its global propaganda, which seeks to portray the United States as a poor set-upon nation that would like world peace but just has to keep a military stationed around the globe to "police" all the world's "trouble spots."

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

That truth is that the US is the biggest war-monger the world has ever known.

Let's start with its budget. According to research by the War Resisters League, the US, in fiscal year 2012, budgeted a total of $673 billion for the military, plus another $166 billion for military activities of other government departments, such as the nuclear weapons program, much of which is handled by the Department of Energy, or the Veterans Program, which pays for the care and benefits of former military personnel. There's also another roughly $440 billion in interest paid on the debt from prior wars and military expenditures. All together, that comes to $1.3 trillion, which represents close to 50% of the general budget of the United States -- the highest percentage of a government budget devoted to the military of any modern nation in the world -- and perhaps of any government of any nation in the world.

That spending represents also the world's biggest percentage of national gross domestic product devoted to the military (GDP is a measure of all economic activity in a nation). Looking at the other countries with big militaries -- China, Russia, Britain and France -- not only does not one come even close in terms of the percent of GDP spent on its military, but taken together, all of their expenditures on their military combined total less than half what the US spends by itself.

A senior Hamas official has confirmed that the group's leader, Khaled Mashaal, will not be seeking re-election. Mashaal will, however, remain a member of the Islamist party.

Mashaal, who has led Hamas from various Arab capitals since 1996, told a meeting of senior officials in Cairo last week that he had no desire to remain its chief and that his decision not to run in the election was final, a diplomatic source told the Jerusalem Post earlier Sunday.

"When Mashaal said he was not seeking re-election, a message was sent to him from the movement's leaders, unanimously asking him to change his mind," senior Hamas official Salal Bardawil told Ma'an news agency.

The diplomatic source told the Jerusalem Post that Mashaal was tired of policy changes from the group's leadership.

"Mashaal has grown impatient with some of his Gaza officials who recently tried to undermine decisions he took on behalf of the group," the source said.

The leader angered Hamas' leadership earlier this year when he agreed that its main rival, the Fatah movement, could lead any future unity government.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the prolongation of the current Western dispute over the Islamic Republic's nuclear energy program is in no one's interest.
"If everyone tries to reduce negative outlooks, we will be more successful in resolving the issue," Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Iranian president stressed that clearing the misunderstandings regarding Tehran's nuclear energy program can help resolve disagreements.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies accuse Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

US President Barack Obama says Israel's call for drawing red line over Iran's nuclear energy program is just "noise" he tries to ignore.

Obama made the remarks in an interview with CBS channel on Sunday, saying the issue concerns US national security decisions, and that he will do what is right for the US people.

"When it comes to our national security decisions, any pressure that I feel is simply to do what's right for the American people. And I am going to block out any noise that's out there," Obama said.

Tension between Israel and the United States over Iran's nuclear energy program bubbled to the surface again earlier this month when White House spokesman Jay Carney said that Washington insists there is still "time and space" to resolve the issue.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the international community to set a "clear red line" for Iran over its nuclear energy program on September 2.

However, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on September 10 that Washington is "not setting deadlines" for a diplomatic resolution of the dispute over Iran's nuclear energy program.

Britain wants to set up joint diplomatic missions in foreign countries with Canada, British Foreign Secretary William Hague says, amid reports that London wants to rally forces against the European Union.

Hague said the joint missions that might in the future also involve Australia and New Zealand will give Britain "a bigger reach abroad for less cost."

Hague, who is visiting Canada, said he will announce the details of the plan after a meeting with his Canadian counterpart John Bird in Ottawa on Monday.

The Foreign Secretary said Canada and Britain are "first cousins" that is two nations "under one Queen and united by one set of values."

Japan, Tokyo - Three Chinese ships briefly entered what Japan considers its territorial waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea on Monday, prompting an official protest from Tokyo and renewed diplomatic efforts to cool tensions between the rivals.

In a move that could further complicate the territorial row that is threatening relations between Asia's biggest economies, a group of fishermen from Taiwan -- which also claims the rocky isles -- said as many as 100 boats escorted by 10 Taiwan Coast Guard vessels would arrive in the area later on Monday.

China's Xinhua news agency said in the morning that two civilian surveillance ships were undertaking a "rights defense" patrol near the islands, citing the State Oceanic Administration, which controls the ships. One fishery patrol vessel was also detected inside waters claimed by Japan.

Japan lodged an official protest.

By afternoon, all three Chinese vessels had moved further away, the Japanese Coast Guard said.