Sorry I don't have time for a longer post today, but I did want to point out some utter bullshit that I ran into yesterday re: the Bush Administations blatantly illegal domestic spying program.
First, let's look at the defense.
MANHATTAN, Kansas -- President Bush pushed back Monday at critics of his once-secret domestic spying effort, saying it should be termed a "terrorist surveillance program" and contending it has the backing of legal experts, key lawmakers and the Supreme Court.
So now we know the
Newspeak term for the program, the "terrorist surveillance program".
Read on for the problem...
The problem here?
Guess who's considered a terrorist....
WASHINGTON -- U.S. justice officials yesterday announced charges against 11 animal-liberation activists, including two Canadians, for a series of arson attacks that caused millions of dollars worth of damage. The attacks, across five western states, targeted facilities ranging from a ski resort to power lines and forest-product facilities.
"Today's indictment proves that we will not tolerate any group that terrorizes the American people, no matter its intentions or objectives," U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzalez said at a news conference in Washington.
So now we know how far this "terrorist" label can be stretched. If we extend the concept (and they have) to "potential terrorist", then we see that all PETA, Greenpeace, and damn near everyone else who feels strongly about a particular subject is considered one.
Now as to the accuracy of the program in regards to targeting actual terrorists, let's look at [Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the deputy director of national intelligence and former head of the National Security Agency] comments, shall we? First ew get the standard 9/11, 9/11, 9/11 b.s.
Hayden said that if the program had been in place before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, "it is my professional judgment that we would have detected some of the 9/11 al Qaeda operatives in the United States and we would have identified them as such."
Can someone please remind this guy that
we did detect some of the operatives, and had a specific warning, and that still didn't keep Bush from going on vacation for a month immediately preceeding the attack. To continue with the are-you-fucking-kidding-me quote..
In the news conference, Hayden said the NSA takes the same rigorous approach to intelligence-gathering on suspected terrorists as it does to collecting "signals intelligence" in support of the U.S. military.
"The tools and techniques and tactics and procedures we use to determine 'Is this an al Qaeda communications?' are the same tools, techniques, tactics and procedures we use to tell America's armed forces that 'you can go ahead and put a 500-pound bomb on that target,' " Hayden said. "It's the same art and science. So this is not done . . . idly."
!!!!!!
I mean, really, is this some kind of joke? For those of you that have forgotten (from a few days ago) here's a quick refresher...
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Lawmakers in northwestern Pakistan on Monday demanded the government expel the American ambassador to Pakistan in response to a U.S. airstrike that killed 13 people.
"The area does see movement of people from across the border. But we have not found one body or one shred of evidence that these people were there," Aziz said, adding that Washington failed to inform Pakistani officials of the airstrike in advance.
The assault killed 13 villagers, including women and children, causing widespread outrage in the Islamic nation of 150 million. It has also produced friction between Washington and Islamabad, a key ally in the war on terror.
On Monday, dozens of Islamic extremists and opposition leaders left the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for the northwestern city of Peshawar. From there they plan to travel to the Bajur tribal region, which includes Damadola, to protest the strike.
"We are going to Bajur to condemn the American attack that killed innocent people," said Pir Sabir Shah, a provincial opposition leader.
On Sunday, thousands of protesters flooded a town near Damadola chanting, "Long live Osama bin Laden!"
So there ya go. Spying and terrorism, going hand-in-hand like
Republicans and Corruption*.
/yea, I know Dems get corrupt too when they have power, but these guys we got now are totally out of control.
[originally posted on my own site here]