A Fascist Police State of Mind

I've been saying it for a while now...This nation has become, in only five years, a fascist police state. Hope you all like being spied on.

The effort, which began within days after the [9-11] attacks, has consisted partly of monitoring domestic telephone conversations, e-mail and even fax communications of individuals identified by the NSA as having some connection to al Qaeda events or figures, or to potential terrorism-related activities in the United States, the official said.

"Some connection to...potential terrorism-related activities." Everybody got that? There are four words in that phrase modifiying the word "terrorism." They're not saying, "We reserve the right to monitor the activities of people who are planning terrorism." It's, "We reserve the right to monitor anyone who might possibly have some connection to some other activity that is in any way even potentially related to a terrorist attack." That's everybody.

Seriously. Everybody in America. Think of it like six degrees of separation. In some way, you are involved with some person or event that could possibly be used in a terrorist attack against America, if you get abstract enough. I mean, buying fertilizer provides you with some connection to a potential terrorism-related activity. Ditto buying any sort of weapon, just to remind all you 2nd Amendment NRA types. I mean, is that really all the justification we need for people to be wire-tapped and monitored?

Oh, never mind...I forgot...Americans don't care about civil liberties. Just boys kissing, fetuses and protecting Christmas from secular humanism. Never mind...

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies at George Washington University, said the secret order may amount to the president authorizing criminal activity.

Kate, it may amount to the president authorizing criminal activity? Haven't you ever seen a cop show? The authorities are not allowed to tap someone's phones without a court order. GWB did not have one. So it's illegal. Seriously, am I missing something? Are we entering into Nixonian, "I'm the president so everything I do must by definition be legal" territory?

The law governing clandestine surveillance in the United States, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, prohibits conducting electronic surveillance not authorized by statute. A government agent can try to avoid prosecution if he can show he was "engaged in the course of his official duties and the electronic surveillance was authorized by and conducted pursuant to a search warrant or court order of a court of competent jurisdiction," according to the law.

"This is as shocking a revelation as we have ever seen from the Bush administration," said Martin, who has been sharply critical of the administration's surveillance and detention policies. "It is, I believe, the first time a president has authorized government agencies to violate a specific criminal prohibition and eavesdrop on Americans."

There you go, Kate. That's more like it.

Can we finally start impeachment talk now? Has this 2nd term world of shit gone on long enough? There's no way this guy has the remaining authority to lead for three more years. He won't make it 3 more months, at this rate. The Senate won't pass The Patriot Act, the gay cowboy movie's got a bunch of Golden Globe nominations and for some reason, people keep on bringing up that whole leaving-Americans-to-die-in-a-flood thing from a few months back. And now we discover that George is randomly spying on some of us, though knowing our president, he may just be using this futuristic surveillance technology to peep on girls in the can.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the much-touted Iraq Election, a Bush success that has been overshadowed by all this other recent news. Yes, it's nice to see Iraqis voting, but it's interesting to note that they only opinion uniting the various factions within the country is a deep-seated desire to get us the hell out of there. The only ones who want us to stay are the Kurds, who make up about 10% of the total population. So, if we're so big into Iraqi democracy...Why don't we do what they all want and get the hell out of there as soon as humanly possible?

I mean, there was no violence in voting areas because the Islamic Army of Iraq agreed to lay off for the day. Here was their statement:

"We knew Sunnis would participate in this game (because) most were forced to through the oppression, torture and destruction and suffering they receive from the slaves of the Cross (the Americans) and the Shiites," said the statement, which could not be immediately verified.

Oh, great, then...You know, I've got a feeling things in Iraq are gonna be alright after all!

One last thing, while we're talking about the end of traditional American civil liberties...Today marked radio legend Howard Stern's final day on terrestrial radio. I've been watching some of the streaming feed of the New York festivities on Yahoo. I'm all set to sign up for Sirius - for my birthday, my parents gave me a gift card expressly for this purpose - but I haven't actually gone to Best Buy and signed up yet. Have to do that before January 7th, when the Stern Show begins.

It's more expensive than I'd initially imagined. I thought it would be like $5-10 a month, but it's more like $15, plus it's well over $100 to get all the technology set up. Most inconveniently, you have to buy the radio, and then a home and a car speaker set, all individually, which adds up to more than I would really expect to spend on a radio. It's quite a bit for the guy to ask of his audience, a luxury item in place of a product that once was, essentially, free of charge.

(Even more galling is Stern's inDemand TV show, which replaces his...you guessed it...relatively gratis basic cable E! channel show. He wants $12 a month just to watch a TV version of his radio show, and you don't get a discount even if you've signed up for satellite radio. I'm a fan, and I liked the old E! show, but that's too far, Howie!)

The point is not that Howard Stern and Sirius want to make as much money as possible. Clearly, they do. The point is just that I doubt Stern would do this unless he felt he had to. He's talking big, trying to make the best of the situation, but the fact is I'm sure he'd rather be available for free all over the country, as he has been for the past 20 years. This is, in today's America, just no longer possible. So he's doing the next best thing - going to satellite, trading a smaller audience for freedom from the whims of the FCC and the religious right.