Can I kick it? No, you can't.

Mad yet? Hello?

Frankly, I don't much feel like listing the exhausting litany of reasons why the Bush administration is the most criminal organization to ever run the White House. You can read the blog archives to relive many of them. But, we can focus on two for the moment, if you can focus at all.

Back in December, it was revealed that the president had instructed the NSA to conduct wiretaps on American citizens within the United States without first getting a warrant. George W. Bush did not deny this; No, he instead chose the time-honored method of acting boastfully about something that he should be ashamed of. He vowed that he would continue the program, and find out who the traitors were that revealed the program. Par for the course with this bastard, but the interesting aspect, at least for me, is that his admission about the program makes the first time in the history of the United States that a sitting president has admitted to a felony. Feel free to re-read that sentence, and then wonder aloud why impeachment proceedings have not been initiated.

The Department of Justice was starting an investigation of these crimes, but when they got around to the NSA, they were told that they, the DOJ, did not have clearance to investigate the NSA.

Does that seem a bit strange to you?

The icing on the cake is that, the DOJ, instead of subpoenaing what has become a rogue agency within the US government, just said "OK," and closed the investigation. Much harm, no foul.

Just this month, Bush fires CIA chief Porter Goss, who is tied in with these poker & prostitute parties at the Watergate Hotel. Hah, a sordid mess that certainly deserves its own blog entry, but I only mention it because Bush has nominated Goss' replacement, Air Force General Michael Hayden. Hayden has an extensive intelligence background, with NSA, and not to brag, the warrantless NSA wiretaps on Americans was his brainchild. So, he's uniquely qualified to head up the CIA for an autocrat like Bush, and of course, the DOJ has dropped the investigation, so Hayden is golden.

This week, it was revealed that the NSA has been keeping a log of domestic calls made since shortly after the September 11th attacks. If you have land line service from AT&T, BellSouth or Verizon (and 200 million Americans do), then your calls have been logged. All of them. The NSA also went to Qwest, but for some reason, just because it's the law, I guess, Qwest asked them to go get a warrant from the FISA court. The NSA agent replied that they didn't take that particular legal step, because they were pretty sure that a warrant would not be granted. The NSA threatened Qwest with the loss of future government contracts. If this seems like extortion to you, I am forced to agree. Still, Qwest insisted on a warrant, and the NSA reps crawled back under their rocks.

The president was forced to defend yet another illegal program by saying that the government "not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans." The word that leapt out at me was "innocent." It indicated to me that, anyone whose records were being trolled through must, in fact, be guilty, or somehow complicit in a crime, at least according to the government. Is there any other way to see it?

You're with us, or you're against us.

Saturday, May 13, 2006