Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
J. Edgar Bush
Apologies to those of you who dislike political posts, but there’s too much going on lately for me to ignore.
Meet the Bobbsie twins:
Props to Senate Democrats for growing a pair (several pairs, actually) yesterday. They defeated the extension of George W. Bush’s Patriot Act, and thank heavens for that.
Snip from the Yahoo News article linked above:
“We need to be more vigilant,” agreed Sen. John Sununu, a Republican from New Hampshire, where the state motto is “Live Free or Die.” He quoted Benjamin Franklin: “Those that would give up essential liberty in pursuit of a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security.”
Meanwhile, as long as we’re on the subject of liberty, Dubya is taking some much-needed heat for his program of warrantless wiretaps of American citizens. Bipartisan disgust in Little Brother’s tactics will undoubtedly lead to Congressional hearings. Another snip from Yahoo News:
“There is no doubt that this is inappropriate,” declared Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He promised hearings early next year.
This 2002 article at the History News Network, entitled “J. Edgar Ashcroft?” by Marjorie Cohn, covers the comparison of Hoover’s America versus America post-9/11. We’ve learned a lot since then; perhaps most significantly, we’ve learned that Bush himself authored many of the current civil rights violations.
Full coverage at The Huffington Post, with interesting commentary at The Washington note here and here. Finally, over at Daily Kos, SusanG reports that in Bush’s radio address, “Bush acknowledged authorizing warrantless eavesdropping on U.S. citizens more than a dozen times – and he vowed to continue to do so.”
Snip:
“This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power, under our laws and Constitution, to protect them and their civil liberties and that is exactly what I will continue to do as long as I am president of the United States,” Bush said.
Protect them and their civil liberties? No one’s buying it, Little Brother.
D.
Technorati tags:
patriot act, Civil Liberties, bush, wiretap, J. Edgar Hoover
