Surprise! You’re on Candid Communist Camera!
At least I am. News that the Bush Administration has been eavesdropping on the phone calls and emails of American citizens for four years is truly no surprise, no news to me. I expect that from a regime that hates democracy and civil liberties, that lies us into war and thinks itself above the laws of human decency, both national and international.
What outrages me is the dummied-down complacency many people display over this latest revelation. All over the media, political pundits have been weighing in on this, and as usual, they’re trotting out the Bush apologists by the droves.
Folks, this is how the Third Reich rose to power and how the Kremlin maintained power for so long. Those of you who base your voting practices on “God, Gays and Guns” better think twice about where this is going. Like Hitler did, Bush and company may soon take away your right to pack a firearm. And there’s serious talk now that he and President Cheney might “do away” with the amendment that limits a presidency to two terms, all under the guise of “protecting you from terrorists, in the preservation of national security,” a term oft-used by our fearless leader, like the other day when he gave that rare press conference.
Bush was telling the White House Press Eunuchs why it was necessary that he wiretap American citizens who make international phone calls and email messages without a search warrant from the court. Of course, it was discovered on Tuesday that in April 2004 he told an even friendlier audience in Pennsylvania that he never ever ever wiretapped without a search warrant.
“Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires – a wiretap requires a court order,” Bush had said. “Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so.”
Caught, yet again, in another lie. I’m surprised this guy has any pants left that haven’t burnt to cinders. And can you imagine how furious Carl Rove must be with his monkey? There goes any hope for Karl’s pardon, should Bush get impeached for his admitted crime(s).
“This would be a heck of a lot easier if this were a dictatorship, heh heh. Heh heh. As long as I’m the dictator.” That’s a famous quote from King George early on in his stolen presidency. Sort of a portent of things to come.
Hey, I’m not saying our government shouldn’t eavesdrop on foreign governments. That’s been happening in this nation ever since Thomas Jefferson put a champagne glass up to a velvet wall to listen in on the French Royal Court.
It’s necessary for the sake of national security to wiretap these terrorists. You know, like … Greenpeace? People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals? The American Civil Liberties Union? The Catholic Workers Union??? The Catholic Workers Union is an international Christian organization whose sole purpose is to clothe the poor and feed the hungry. The FBI said they are “semi-communistic.” Huh?
According to KGO talk show host Bernie Ward, the FBI and National Security Agency were going wild trying to find out who the leader of this evil cabal of the Catholic Workers Union was, a guy named in wiretapped emails and phone calls only as “Hesus.”
Hmmmmm. Very suspicious. Who could that be? I wonder if he has a dirty bomb. Or if he lived 2,000 years ago.
For those of you who still unbelievably think Bush has every right to take away our rights in the name of this kind of national security, consider this: He and his Attorney General Alberto “Mr. Torture” Gonzales say the 1978 law that ensures wiretapping cannot be done without a warrant, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, is “outmoded.” Then why didn’t they change it before violating it? I’ll tell you why. Because they’re wiretapping EVERYONE. The courts overseeing the FISA law nearly always allowed the NSA’s wiretaps, even 76 hours after the fact. Only four times since 1978 did they deny warrants. So if Bush et al had to go around that, their quest must be been patently unConstitutional. (It is – a federal FISA judge who grants the wiretaps quit this week in protest against Bush’s actions.)
It’s a huge fishing expedition and any message that comes up containing terms such as “bomb,” “Allah be praised,” or “King George” is going to get closer scrutiny and the author will be placed on a watch list. As you read this, my words are setting off every bell and alarm in the NSA complex, at this very moment. My FBI dossier must take up 50 file cabinets.
We’re all paying for it, too – 30 percent of our paychecks.
Dear rightwing nut jobs: if this Spygate thing is OK with you, how would you feel if Bill and Hillary Clinton spied on all your illicit communiques, without a warrant, between you and your oxycotin dealer? Would it still be OK?
And for all you naysayers who have bagged on me for saying Bush’s unchecked administration moves closer to Nazi fascism every day, who claim I’m a commie pinko, then what would you call this Potemkin styled power grab and assault on civil liberties so blatant it would make Stalin drool with envy?
Here is a president who says he’s above the law, who says he can do anything he wants, who says he can whisk people out of the country and torture them if he wants, who can eavesdrop on your conversations. He and his cronies say anyone that questions their abuse of power hates America and is unpatriotic.
Is that OK with you?
San Carlos Creek Update: The lack of transparency and checks and balances in this administration reminds me so much of San Juan Bautista, for some reason. There, city leaders seem to think they don’t have to tell other city leaders what they’re doing, much less the media or the public. And the city manager who just quit, Mistress Jennifer Coile, spends much of her time rewriting Sunday Pinnacle stories and posting her red pennings on the city website. The parallels are amazing.
I’m hoping the good people of San Juan take to the streets and say, “Enough is enough.”
And speaking of nightmares in the making, word has it that Vault Restaurant owner Ignacio Velazques, who often speaks for ineloquent Supervisor James De La Cruz, is going to make a run for the 28th Assembly District.
Luckily in the toxic ghost town and sovereign state of New Idria, we don’t have to worry about politicians attempting to run our lives because we have a dictatorship, too. Like America, we have one megalomaniac running the show, only ours is striped. But unlike America, we have no official Village Idiot. We all take turns.
