Show Me the Terrorists

"The bill proposed by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) largely gives the Justice Department what it has requested in the review of the Patriot Act antiterrorism law, which was enacted weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The proposal includes 16 provisions set to expire at the end of this year unless they are renewed or made permanent by Congress.But the proposed legislation does not go as far as legislation approved in June by the Senate intelligence committee, which voted to make it easier for the FBI to open mail and issue subpoenas without a judge's approval in terrorism probes. Sensenbrenner's bill also calls for stronger oversight of some of the government's powers."

Permanent Patriot Act Proposed - Sensenbrenner Would Extend Powers but Grant No New Ones

OK, so let me get this straight:

FIRST, our Congress ram-rodded through a piece of legislation (hacked together from an FBI "Christmas wishlist" of long-coveted domestic spying powers) in the chaos and fear inspired by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers... without reading it. It was then euphemistically named "The USA PATRIOT Act", on the assumption that the terrified dumbasses who didn't read the legislation would vote for it, on the assumption that it was a good thing because it had the right label on it.

THEN, four years after the acts have produced numerous abuses and far less convictions than mistaken arrests, our country is being questioned about its detention policies in military bases around the world, and we're outsourcing our torture to places like Egypt and Pakistan, where legal protections don't apply... and we're even using our clandestine agents to kidnap people from allied NATO countries for such extra-judicial extraditions.

And NOW, we're being sold the line that we need to make these new law enforcement activities a permanent aspect of our security apparatus. After they shut down an oversight committee hearing because the testimony went in a direction that made the Republicans uncomfortable.

Something tells me these people need a cranial enema... or an oral one.

Tell you what, Mr. Sessenbrenner: give me a nice, narrow definition of what terrorism is, one that precludes you from eventually using the national security apparatus to harrass your non-violent political opponents. Give me a definition that shows a clear line between what's acceptable political activity, in keeping with generations of tolerance and dissent, and what's straight out bloody-handed terrorism. You'd think it'd be easy: if you make placards and banners for protests and send out emails, you should be left alone. If you sell babies to slavers and send the money to Bin Laden's favorite charity, well, maybe you need to get your ass stuffed in a hole somewhere. Funny thing is, that our reactionary defense spending indirectly benefits Bin Laden's family through the Carlyle Group, which they invest heavily in, along with the Bushes. Where's the asset freeze there? We're cutting off funds to various Middle Eastern charities, stating their support for terrorism, yet we're letting the Chechnyan rebels set up shop in DC and giving them audiences with high officials, merely because they've put the Russians on their fuzzy ursine haunches in the Caspian region, ensuring allied control of the oil reserves there: talk about a double standard!

The problem isn't that we're in danger of being overwhelmed by some domestically infiltrated army of terrorists: if it were an invasion, there wouldn't be a problem. HELLO, America, we INVENTED guerilla warfare as we know it in 1776 when we pitted stealthy hunters in brown clothing against lined up meatshields in red. If we were invaded, the 50% of the American population that's packing heat would arm the 50% that doesn't, and whoever was invading would find themselves facing off against everyone... literally everyone, from the punk kid with the black clothes and headphones to the granny next door. If they were smart, they'd get out faster than they got in. Invaders in the US would be eaten alive.

The real problem is that we're losing sight of the actual terrorists: one wonders if they were ever the target at all. I suspect that the main people that the Bushies are after are you and me: the minds of the American free-thinker, who ask the hard questions and want to be treated like adults. I think that they're trying to scare, bore, and otherwise cajole us into going along with whatever they want, like a husband who ducks responsibility for his kids, because he doesn't want to fight over his kid's latest escapade with his hysterically over-protective and enabling wife. Most of us are tired of the way that the Bushies have talked down one scandal after another, twisting the press and playing the 9/11 card again and again... while it's pretty obvious that he made the FBI lay off Bin Laden and the Saudis in 2001. It's time we started demanding some answers from Captain Contradiction.

I love our troops. I love them so much that it hurts to watch them sacrificed for a hidden agenda. It hurts to watch the benefits for the soldiers wounded in this war callously and hypocritically undercut by the same politicans who praise them publicly. It hurts to watch the spirit of their patriotism tarnished by those all too willing to abuse their trust.

It's not un-American to ask questions when they need to be asked. But it is un-American to question someone's patriotism or accuse them of wishing our troops dead because they question the legitimacy of our foriegn policy. Our officials shut down the meetings when they don't want to hear what comes out of them. The people who are supposed to be protecting us are sticking their heads in the sand like ostriches. Our government is no longer about law, but about which side can shout loudest and longest. It seems that any kind of bullshit can make its way through Washington today without anyone batting an eye.

With this in mind, I propose we run Tian-Tian the Panda for the US Supreme Court. I doubt that he would offer any judicial opinions that would offend either Party (except for perhaps moving that bamboo be served during court sessions), and he'd satisfy both parties need for racial integration, as he's not only Black AND White, but also a Chinese national... and now a family man!


Obviously, nothing's too absurd for Washington these days. Tian Tian for President!

Or Jenna and Barbara for USMC.