I had originally thought that this would be one long post,  an opportunity to rant a bit. But looking at the Bush years and the richness of subject matter I decided that really this is a category not a simple headline.  The damage this one man has done to the United States is almost unfathomable.

Now where to start; lying us into a ruinous war, subverting the constitution, pillaging the Treasury.

I guess I will just follow the line of least resistance.  What’s he done to us lately.  In the news today Bush trying to bully the Congress into passing a patently unconstitutional bill that will make a mockery of our constitution, I a referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.  One of the most objectionable aspects of the bill is retroactive immunity for the Quizzling  phone companies that allowed our government to access to an unlimited amount of private phone calls emails and instant messages, essentially all communication that go over the internet lines.  If I can refer to an earlier post, quoting whistle blower Mark Klein who testified before Congress “I have first-hand knowledge of the clandestine collaboration between one giant telecommunications company, AT&T, and the National Security Agency to facilitate the most comprehensive illegal domestic spying program in history,”

There are a few in Congress that still have the balls to stand up to this megalomaniacal president, Senator Chris Dodd has threaten to filibuster to stop this rape of our constitution.

Should phone companies be let off the hook?

At a Capitol Hill press conference held yesterday whistleblower, Mark Klein spoke out against the proposed grant of immunity to the telecom companies that colluded with the government to illegally spy on the citizens of the United States.

“My job required me to enable the physical connections between AT&T customers’ Internet communications and the NSA’s illegal, wholesale copying machine for domestic emails, Internet phone conversations, web surfing and all other Internet traffic. I have first-hand knowledge of the clandestine collaboration between one giant telecommunications company, AT&T, and the National Security Agency to facilitate the most comprehensive illegal domestic spying program in history,” said Klein

Why is Bush asking the Congress to grant immunity to the Telecom companies?

They could testify against him at his impeachment trial.

What confuses me is why the Democrats would go along with this travesty. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

On NPR this morning there was a story about the court battle over the use of “National Security Letters.” a kind of subpoena, used by the FBI, CIA and other Government Agencies to obtain information otherwise unavailable. It’s an efficient way to gather a lot of information because there is no judicial oversight.

For example, going directly to an Internet service provider gives you access information on literally millions of people. This includes instant messages, emails, and browsing history. These letters can also be issued to banks, credit card companies, and school etc.  Because of the gag order associated with the letter even disclosing that you have received a NSL is a felony. Today Director of the FBI Robert Mueller complained that the court ruling blocking the use of National Security Letters removes a powerful tool in the war on terror.

The abuse of National security letters is well documented by the FBI itself.  Between 2003 and 2005 there were over 140,000 issued.

Following the story on National Security Letters was a story about the two executives at Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang, and General Counsel Michael Callahan who where being questioned at the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

The two executives apologized for giving information that ultimately led to the imprisonment of Chinese dissidents.

But we know that our own president, no lover of the constitution, has asked that media companies, be given retroactive immunity from prosecution for doing the exact same thing. The question I did not hear asked at this committee hearing was, “are you providing the same information on US citizens for the same reason”.  Clearly the answer is yes.

Every time I write a post, I need to assign a category.   In the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. The War on Terror is a good place to start, Ali Al-Marri a legal resident of the United States, was arrested in Peoria, Illinois in 2001, suspected of being a terrorist in an al-Qaida sleeper cell.   The Constitution would be another great category.Habeas Corpus (the Great writ) must have its own category.   Ali Al-Marri will have to go under all those categories, does he deserve his own category, probably. The case is coming up again for review in an appeals court.   I don’t know what the evidence against him is.   But he has been held for 3 years without charge or trial, as an enemy combatant, probably tortured, (by Americans) so it will be impossible to try him.   Apparently Bush has such little faith in the legal system and distain for the constitution that he believes a police state is preferable to the rule of law. For more on this story you can check out these links.Democracy NowFindlaw

“In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.” George Orwell

This blog is born out of the frustration at the direction this country has gone. We are fighting an unnecessary war led by an incompetent and corrupt administration. Our economy is drifting into an oligarchy of the rich. We are willingly and shamefully giving up our civil rights.