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Downtowns a riot and something's spreadin through the crowd, |
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Try channel 9, I'm pretty sure they're headed straight for this part of town.
I can't be certain, but I swear I hear them just outside...
I don't give a s**t about Britney Spears or her hair. Or Tom Cruise and his almost-Jailbait wife. I also wish that Anna Nicole Smith wasn't dead, because then I wouldn't have to ******** hear about it. I wouldn't be ignoring the newspapers or television.
There's trouble brewing over them there hills. At least, that's what any grizzled prospector would say if he was talking about the current stirrings in washington. Because there is trouble brewing, and behind it all is the rampant stench of our current administration.
Quote: The FBI engaged in widespread and serious misuse of its authority in illegally gathering telephone, e-mail and financial records of Americans and foreigners while hunting terrorists, the Justice Department's chief inspector said Tuesday.
There comes a point in time when anyone who pays attention has to ask some questions. Like "What the ******** our we doing to ourselves?" and "How did we let this happen?"
Quote: Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Fine said he did not believe the problems were intentional, but were generally the result of confusion and carelessness.
Confusion and carelessness, all in the name of national security.
A little backstory, to whet your appetite.
Quote: In 1986, Congress first authorized FBI agents to obtain electronic records without approval from a judge using national security letters. The letters can be used to acquire e-mails, telephone, travel records and financial information, like credit and bank transactions. They can be sent to telephone and Internet access companies, universities, public interest organizations, nearly all libraries, financial and credit companies. In 2001, the Patriot Act eliminated any requirement that the records belong to someone under suspicion. Now an innocent person's records can be obtained if FBI field agents consider them merely relevant to an ongoing terrorism or spying investigation.
But you already knew that, right? You knew that privacy wasn't yours to have. It's one of those things they talk about in hushed tones, and whispered about in the collegiate stacks at your local university.
Quote: In 2000, the FBI issued an estimated 8,500 requests. That number peaked in 2004 with 56,000. Overall, the FBI reported issuing 143,074 requests in national security letters between 2003 and 2005. In 2005, 53 percent were for records of U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
But surely, they aren't your records. No, of course not. You're a loyal and upstanding U.S. Citizen with no skeletons in your closet. Nothing you wanted to keep a secret.
Of course, you're not a terrorist. You don't plan on blowing anything up. And you know, the government doesn't give a s**t about who's ******** who, or what you chat about online, who you talk to, what you spend your money on, or what topics you research. Of course they don't. They're hunting, in pure elmer fudd style, for terrorists. Apparently, 143 THOUSAND of them. Whether or not there was any reason to beleive they were terrorists.
Of course, a there's a finite amount of checks and balances one system can hold to ensure that those with the power use the power responsibly.
Quote: 'What the inspector general documented shows a pattern of intentional misconduct that goes far beyond mismanagement,' said Mike German, a former FBI agent who is a national security counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union. More than 700 'exigent circumstances' letters 'said the FBI had already asked for grand jury subpoenas although the agents knew they hadn't.'
Now that's a novel way to approach the check and balance system, isn't it? Just IGNORE IT COMPLETELY. Because, at the end of the day, you're not violating the privacy of thousands of innocent citizens. You're hunting for terrorists. With your knit cap and shotgun.
Then again, can we expect more from a government so itching to fight that they have to get into barroom brawls over something as simple as "When we're bringing our troops home"? The current brawl between monkeylord Bush and the Democratic representatives regarding a bill cutting off funding for the war and withdrawing all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan by 2008 is enough to get washington all hot in the knickers. It's also pure public eye-candy. A convienient magicians trick to confuse and befuddle the mind. To keep the public dull and stupid.
Of course, on a public front that doesn't matter to our president, the war has been losing support by the public for months, yet he continues to push.
Quote: Vice President d**k Cheney on Saturday accused the Democrat-led House of not supporting troops in Iraq and of sending a message to terrorists that America will retreat in the face danger.
This is, of course, leaving out the message we've already sent to terrorists, "We'll come to your country, bomb the crap out of your civillians, find the schoolyard bully we tussled with a few years back, and take him here to kill, while we completely forget about you."
Which sends a clear message to the terrorists of tommorrow. If you blow up a chunk of america, we'll go to your home, bomb the crap out of it, and then we'll capture Osama. You just better not hope there's another big terrorist after you, or you're up on the list.
But that's all just smoke and mirrors, isn't it. It's all just bickering and bullshit. We know the foregone conclusion, that the war will continue as long as he holds the reigns. The war, that at current time, does not hold majority public support.
Now, for those of you who are living on your own, you get another sweet kiss goodnight from our exiting president, the new tax plan. A plan proposed as "Providing relief for families who need it most", but fails to mention that those families are the ones making over $300k a year.
The new plan sounds nice, if you don't do the math and look at the tables. All families within the first tax bracket receive a cut. Except the first tax bracket extends to 6k a year for a single filer. Make any more than that, and your taxes remain the same. File as head of household? Hopefully, you don't earn more than 10k a year, or.. yep, they remain the same. Married? Better not make a combined income of over 12k a year.
The highest ranges receive a 3% cut, which sounds good on paper, and spewed over the crapfest of local news, but those who bother to do the math realize that a 3% cut on 500k is a hell of a lot more relief that a 5% cut on $6000. Plus, the removal of the highest tax bracket (with a drop to the next-bracket-down tax cut) ensures that those who make the most, keep the most.
So, what's the wonderful message the american people have already received from all this?
"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
We voted him in.
Twice.
Maybe the majority of us are stupid enough to deserve this. Good and hard.
Sources:
http://www.topix.net/content/ap/2178671046307866766137057466873786248670?threadid=USCLIE9NTGRPUO8Q
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/24/dems.radio.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/24/bush.radio.reut/index.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070325/ap_on_re_us/cheney_troops_4;_ylt=Aqo62tyREqPPoJmUkFw7wlcGw_IE
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/reports/taxplan.pdf
(In case you think I'm full of lies and deceit.)
 Twistex · Sun Mar 25, 2007 @ 09:47am · 3 Comments |
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