I Spy With My Little Eye Something Beginning wiiiitttthhhh – Illegal

I just want to make sure that everyone understands this, because it is significant, and with the way information is doled out to us, sometimes things get lost.
On December 17th, Saturday, bush said that he had ordered the National Security Agency to conduct an electronic eavesdropping program in the US without first obtaining warrants. Now on the surface, the immediate response of the average citizen would be surprise, but then justification – “well, you know, Madge, they have to listen in on suspected terrorists! That’s the only way to keep us safe.” Bush blasted senators, both Democrats and Republicans, who voted on Friday to block the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, which expanded the president's power to conduct surveillance, with warrants, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11. He said the Senate's action "endangers the lives of our citizens," and added that "the terrorist threat to our country will not expire in two weeks," a reference to the approaching deadline of Dec. 31, when critical provisions of the current law will end.
Geez. Can we come up with a different approach, please? Can someone please drag rove out from the “secret place” where he is not held accountable for his actions, and get him to spit some spin back into this tired old rhetoric. I mean, calling dissent “treason” or “aiding the enemy” is so, like five minutes ago. You don’t go along with the dub then your’ aidin’ n abettin’, pardner. Yawn. Boring.

Sorry, got off task a bit. The thing is, they are spying on EVERYONE. You. Your family. Your grandma. Your brother. Your neighbor. Your teen. Your seniors. You friends. The government has a contract with a database company that literally contains billions of personal records. Billions. Think I’m making it up?

From Media Matters:
Hot Spots
by Hichem Karoui
To help the U.S. government track suspected terrorists and spies who may be visiting or residing in the country, the FBI and the Defense Department for the past three years have been paying a Georgia-based company for access to its vast databases that contain billions of personal records about nearly every person -- citizens and non-citizens alike -- in the United States.

According to federal documents obtained by National Journal and Government Executive, among the services that ChoicePoint provides to the government is access to a previously undisclosed, and vaguely described, "exclusive" data-searching system. This system in effect gives law enforcement and intelligence agents the ability to use the private data broker to do something that they legally can't -- keep tabs on nearly every American citizen and foreigner in the United States.

ChoicePoint is famous for being the largest and most sophisticated aggregator of public records on U.S. citizens and residents. The company has built an enormous electronic cache of more than 19 billion records -- all of which are legally obtained -- that it mines to locate criminals and suspects, their family members and known associates, and their hidden financial assets.

FBI officials have stated publicly that they don't use ChoicePoint for "fishing expeditions," that they tap its services only in the course of an official investigation. But the threshold for what constitutes a "subject of interest" is unclear. FBI spokesman says, “ChoicePoint is "a commercial database, and we purchase a lot of different commercial databases.... They have collated information that we legitimately have the authority to obtain."

This is not some “we’re watching the bad guys” deal. Be very aware of that. Cheney came out with his usual “calm down what’s all the fuss about?” cavalier attitude proclaiming it was just people in the US having conversations with known Al-k-eye-duh operatives. Buzz. Sorry Mr. Cheney. Incorrect answer! This is the era of grannies against military recruitment and peace groups being infiltrated. Watched. Spied upon. Quakers being monitored. This is where we are? I thought we were fighting it over there to keep it over there? I thought we were winning. That’s what the prez said. Doesn’t feel much like we’re winning. Doesn’t feel very victorious, honorable, or satisfying at all. That’s how I usually feel when I have won something. But this feels….I don’t know….. kind of creepy. Like embarrassing and dirty and shame-filled. I wonder why. Maybe because although I don’t have a son or a daughter fighting, even though I don’t have a member of my family serving in the military, even though I am not connected in the most basic and primitive way, by blood or marriage, to this war, I have felt an intense empathy since day one. I want to see the flag draped coffins of the soldiers who have given their life in service for me, I want to hold my pillow to my chest and sob for the mother or wife receiving the folded flag, I want the three rounds of foundation-shattering blasts of a 21 gun salute of honor to a fallen hero. This is the invisible war. But that is so in keeping with the way things are now. Everything sanitized. Everything blocked so that we don’t have to see anything ugly. Guard our vulnerable little eyes from any truth please, oh knowing leaders. You are so wise! That’s why you can go and buy meat, hermetically sealed and sanitized and be completely removed and unaffected by the desperation and misery neatly packaged for you consuming pleasure. An animal was removed from everything natural and that God intended for him to experience, because the taste of its dead flesh is satisfying to you. Something that feels in exactly the same way that you do. The picture is sanitized. No one wants to look at what goes on. They would have to think about it then! “Gah! Ya’ll? Come on? I don’t want to think about something so, like, gross! And everyone knows that those videos are exaggerations! The worst of the worse!” Kind of like the reaction to any video that comes out of Iraq. Bush says 30,000 Iraqis have died. Other sources say it is more accurately in the 300,000 ballpark. I wonder whom I believe? We had embedded reporters before (that’s the way you get real journalism! Real objective writing! Make a journalist part of just one of the teams! Clever.), but I guess it’s maybe thirty seconds on the news about the latest car bomb in a city we can pronounce and “X” amount of people dead, that's the best we can get now. How many maimed? Did you know that they do not count the people who die on their way to the hospital as being “killed” because their death didn’t occur on the scene? Is that crazy? I guess the more you can split up the numbers the lower the count looks, right? But I do want some honor and homage paid to the troops. I think that people would be much more invested in this war – if they were reminded of the cost everyday. But we don’t get that. We are now transporting these guys back in the cargo hold of passenger airlines. Did you know this? In plastic bags. Gotta cut costs somewhere.
I am absolutely fed up with the feeble flag speechifying with “freedom isn’t free” “peace comes at a cost” “if you aren’t with us then you’re genst us!”crap. Shut…………..up. What is the cost again? Your kid? Your son’s arm or leg or both? Your daughter’s life? It’s always people with no vested interest, no investment whatsoever in something so monumentally devastating to everyone and anyone who is truly involved, that say stupid things like this. We are not barbarians. Regardless of what our actions might be shrieking loud and proud to everyone on the planet. This is not the old west, boys, sorry to tell ya. Progress has shown that we are supposed to move FORWARD from the era of the caveman, not run willy-nilly arms out in a desperate embrace for a time gone by. Hostile is not a positive words, guys. Mediating and negotiating does not require the removal of any male part you hold dear. Talking and reasoning, stay with me here, is what separates us from every other creature on earth. We have been walking down the path towards our nation’s adulthood and fallen flat on our faces for all the world to see, and we are soaked in filth. We have two options. We can get up screaming and yelling and fighting and generally making a horse’s rear out of ourselves, or we can pick ourselves off, wipe our collective faces and with eyes straight ahead, yet our hats in our collective hands, apologize for our transgressions, and start walking on with a little dignity. But to say that we have not fallen, that we are not making bigger and bigger mistakes does not make it real, it makes it denial. And pathetic. Seriously, what is more wretched than watching someone make devastating choices and then deny that the choices were made at all. Reality is what it is. We are a young nation experiencing growing pains. Going through middle school, if you will. Surely you remember that time? Or you have someone who is making it a bit too real in your household right now? Making mistakes and bad choices and foolish decisions, as we maturely watched, tsking away, crossing our arms, wondering if they will ever learn. Swaggering around, exercising ego and physical prowess, thinking with appendages deeply affected by puberty. It’s painful to watch, but remember it was painful to experience. We as a nation are surround by countries that culturally, traditionally humble our own infancy. Yet we slap, manipulate, undermine, lie, cheat and steal thinking that we are so clever and they are so stupid. Kind of like teens see their parents. We have an opportunity to grow into a responsible nation. A productive, yet unassuming nation. One that is not looking for the next get rich quick scheme but one that can now see the big picture and look to the future. One that has become wiser in faith and maturity. One that knows that people move closer when you whisper and cover their ears when you shout.
The only reason bush admitted that he had ordered the spying operation of the citizens of this country was because it had leaked out days beforehand and he was powerless to stop it. Wow. Do you think he might gain some insight from this experience of being powerless to stop a force that will systematically destroy everything he holds dear? Perchance gain some empathy? Nah! Wat fo? No benefit to that whatsoever. Daddy’s orchestrating business contracts for the government, Rumsfilled is raking in piles o'cash for the bird flu hysteria, corporations have done the most stealthily hostile takeover of a nation’s government in the history of man, and we are now, officially, in the age of big brother. Yippee.
Golly. I wonder who’s up next? DeLay for prez…maybe Frist? There’s always another bush somewhere. Can’t hardly wait.