Reply #39: What makes you think the Bushies have any intention of leaving next January...

[warren pease]

...peacefully and on schedule just because the 22nd amendment says they have to? Which other parts of the Constitution have they obeyed to the letter? The part about how it's OK to use signing statements in place of the usual legislative process? The part that specifies that rule by executive fiat is the ultimate form of egalitarian government? The part prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment?

The part that says they're committed to honoring international treaties that the US has signed? The part that says people have the right to vote and that those votes shall be counted accurately? What about the Bill of Rights, of which at least 3/5 are now null and void?

And against that backdrop of absolute disregard for the rule of law, we have all these really disturbing dictatorial powers they've awarded themselves and various pieces of oppressive legislation they've shoved through our useless Congress. They've even encouraged various shadow agencies to ratchet up their overt exhibitions of open hostility toward the American people, who used to be their bosses until the Fourth Reich showed up and seized power in the coup of 2000.

They've all but come right out and admitted to something like: Yup. We're tired of you fucking dissidents talking all that shit on the Intertubes. HR 1955 says we're out of the tolerance business and in serious suppression mode. DHS calls it "Endgame" for a good reason.

Check these things out and see if you detect some kind of disturbing pattern:

The law of the land now includes various pieces of repressive legislation, executive orders and presidential directives; massive federal invasions of privacy regarding medical and http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/washington/23intel.html?ex=1308715200&en=168d69d26685c26c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss">financial records; monitoring US citizens' electronic communications; re-targeting spy satellites for domestic surveillance; the TSA cavity search specialists (for attractive young women only; the rest are presumed to pose no threat to the state); no-fly and terrorist watch lists; Halliburton/KBR's detention camps; RFIDs in all new passports and in the new national ID cards scheduled to be issued this year; new TSA "behavior detection officers" to spot those who don't "look quite right;" all this wonderful new stuff from the DHS; private armies featuring mercenaries from companies like Blackwater and SAIC springing up like mushrooms after a light rain... All that and the Patriot Act, the http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/commissions.html">Military Commissions Act, http://www.aclu.org/safefree/extraordinaryrendition/22203res20051206.html">extraordinary rendition (whatever the hell that means) and torture, too. (Note: the torture link is graphic and disgusting.)

Also, see the blockquote in this post, which is a small part of H.R. 1585, the fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. Note the orders to prepare to use regular troops -- as opposed to the Guard or Reserves -- to respond to "natural disasters and terrorist events," which are among the triggers Bushie needs to invoke the "continuity of government" provisions in NSPD 51/HSPD-20 (see the link above). In other words, martial law.

Do you get the faintest hint that they're really not fucking around anymore? Or is this all just one big bizarre coincidence and there's really no sinister pattern at all. There nothing to indicate that the legal and physical infrastructures necessary to implement a full blown national security state are all in place and just waiting for the Bushies to flip the switch.

On the other hand, I suppose some would maintain that we're fortunate to have such men of honor and unswerving dedication to duty running the show. Their inherent nobility assures us no harm will come from any of this. It's all just a big joke and everything's still cool in the land of the free.

So take your xanax and be of good cheer.


wp