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All I Want for Christmas Is America Back
So a senior at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth campus, goes to the college library and files an inter-library request for Mao's "Little Red Book"--an outdated, useless guide to living the Communist "revolution." There aren't ten people on the planet who would think this book has anything to do with international terrorism. Well, maybe there are.
From a Massachusetts paper:
Gee, those Feds sure have time on their hands, now that they've safeguarded our ports and protected our borders. Lots of time, as it turns out, because although the FBI computers still can't talk to the CIA computers, IBM seems to have stepped up to wiretap millions of conversations:
So, after 9/11/01, if you made international calls and/or the government had any reason to believe your views are antagonistic to "victory" in Iraq, there is a reasonable possibility that your calls were taped. And, quite possibly, data-mined for key words.
But, you say, I do nothing wilder than give the occasional contribution to MoveOn. The craziest blog I read is Swami. Well, too bad. You are living in an easy-listening, soft-rock version of a police state.
You heard the President say it today: He's above the law. He needs to move fast to fight terrorism and so he doesn't bother to apply for a wiretap--even though the law clearly says that he doesn't need to apply to the courts for a warrant until after the wiretap in place.
In a real democracy, the word "impeachment" would be in the first paragraph of most media discussing these latest revelations. Indeed, if Bill Clinton committed even one of the criminal acts that this President authorizes on a daily basis, Republicans and their media operatives would be choosing the tree for his hanging.
So here's my holiday prayer: that the Angel of Intelligence drop in on our leaders as they sleep, and deposit copies of the Constitution under their trees, and that these imperial rulers read it--apparently for the first time--and fall in love with America again and return this country to the rule of law.
And then, while they're restoring sanity, they either send more troops to Iraq and get serious about "winning" this war, or that they bring them home. All of them.
From a Massachusetts paper:
The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.
Gee, those Feds sure have time on their hands, now that they've safeguarded our ports and protected our borders. Lots of time, as it turns out, because although the FBI computers still can't talk to the CIA computers, IBM seems to have stepped up to wiretap millions of conversations:
One of the most noteworthy comments was that the Government had specified 60 Terabytes of monthly storage for digital versions of conversations. MONTHLY! At about 11k per call, that is about 6 million conversations per month.
So, after 9/11/01, if you made international calls and/or the government had any reason to believe your views are antagonistic to "victory" in Iraq, there is a reasonable possibility that your calls were taped. And, quite possibly, data-mined for key words.
But, you say, I do nothing wilder than give the occasional contribution to MoveOn. The craziest blog I read is Swami. Well, too bad. You are living in an easy-listening, soft-rock version of a police state.
You heard the President say it today: He's above the law. He needs to move fast to fight terrorism and so he doesn't bother to apply for a wiretap--even though the law clearly says that he doesn't need to apply to the courts for a warrant until after the wiretap in place.
In a real democracy, the word "impeachment" would be in the first paragraph of most media discussing these latest revelations. Indeed, if Bill Clinton committed even one of the criminal acts that this President authorizes on a daily basis, Republicans and their media operatives would be choosing the tree for his hanging.
So here's my holiday prayer: that the Angel of Intelligence drop in on our leaders as they sleep, and deposit copies of the Constitution under their trees, and that these imperial rulers read it--apparently for the first time--and fall in love with America again and return this country to the rule of law.
And then, while they're restoring sanity, they either send more troops to Iraq and get serious about "winning" this war, or that they bring them home. All of them.
