I am very disturbed at the direction our country's President is taking our nation:
"We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran"
"If necessary, however, under long-standing principles of self-defense, we do not rule out the use of force before attacks occur, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack"
This is how President Bush defends his ‘Preemptive Strategy” in the latest White House’s National Security Report to Congress. It’s a spookily eerie case of ‘deja vu all over again’.
Where has Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” taken our country so far? Let’s count just a few of the places:
1. Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” was used as an excuse to abandon the hunt for the real terrorist enemy to attack the wrong one in 2003;
2. Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” was used as an excuse to invade a non-threatening sovereign nation not involved in the 9/11 attacks or terrorist activities;
3. Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” relied upon false and manufactured “intelligence” to justify that invasion;
4. Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” resulted in the destruction and desolation of large areas of that nation, and in the deaths of over 2300 Americans and thousands of other human beings. There is no exit strategy and no end in sight;
5 Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” resulted in the most effective recruitment tool for terrorist fanatics against the western world since the Crusades;
6. Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” resulted in the largest mobilization of Islamic terrorists since the Crusades, with attacks around the world;
7. Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” has left our country far more at risk than before;
8. Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” is costing our nation, or children and our grandchildren hundreds of billions of dollars, dollars which could be put to far better uses;
9. Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” has taken the international reputation of our country to it’s lowest point in history;
10. Last but not least, Bush’s “Preemptive Strategy” has polarized our country as not seen since the Civil War.
Bush’s defense of his “Preemptive Strategy” reminds me of the story about the guy selling watermelons for $1 apiece from the back of a pickup truck. When his partner complained about losing money his solution was ‘let’s get a bigger truck!’. Not only are this seriously failed president’s actions illogical and illegal, it becomes clearer each day they are arrogantly stupid! Trouble is, all the rest of us are paying heavily for his obtuse ways.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Thursday, March 02, 2006
A Shameful Fog of Obtuse Hypocrisy & Lies
"There's nothing new or insightful on these tapes,"
- Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke concerning a video obtained by the Associated Press yesterday.
The video recorded an Aug. 28, 2005 meeting on Hurricane Katrina then threatening New Orleans. The meeting was held at President Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch and attended by the President. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans the next day, August 29, 2005. There were over 1300 deaths as a result of the storm, and the common consensus is that New Orleans may never fully recover. There are still many thousands left homeless and in limbo over six months later with a new hurricane season fast approaching.
National Hurricane Center official Max Mayfield spoke during that meeting:
“The storm is gonna pile some of that water in Lake Pontchartrain on the south side of the lake. I don’t think anyone can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, uh, but there’s obviously a very very grave concern.”
That’s as in “A VERY, VERY GRAVE CONCERN”. And, in fact that grave concern came to pass.
Now discredited FEMA Head Michael Brown also spoke during the same meeting:
“My gut tells me . . that this one is a bad one and a big one. . . . we're going to need everything that we can possibly muster, not only in this state and in the region, but the nation, to respond to this event,"
That’s as in “A BAD ONE AND A BIG ONE”, and “WE’RE GOING TO NEED EVERYTHING WE CAN POSSIBLY MUSTER”. And, in fact that also came to pass.
President Bush asked no questions at all during the meeting, but did make this statement:
“I want to assure the folks at the state level, that, uh, we are fully prepared to not only help you during the storm, but we will move in whatever resources and assets we have at our disposal, after the storm to help deal with, tha, uh, with the loss of property . . . and we pray there’s no loss of life of course.”
That’s as in “WE ARE FULLY PREPARED”. Unfortunately this was simply lip service and a great big, fat, wishful lie.
And, when later questioned about the abysmal federal response after the storm Mr. Bush had this to say:
“There is frustration. but, uh, I want people to know there’s a lot of help coming. I don’t think anybody anticipated a breech of the levees.”
Shamefully, just another great big, fat "black is white" lie.
Responding to heavy criticism, the White House has recently said the ‘fog of war made decision making difficult” during and after the hurricane. Former FEMA director Michael Brown told AP this week that he did not "buy the 'fog of war' defense".
"It was a fog of bureaucracy," he said.
Personally, I consider this simply another demonstration of the never-ending obtuse arrogance of this administration and their shamefully perpetual insistence that administration fantasy is reality.
Watch the video for yourself here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4765058.stm
- Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke concerning a video obtained by the Associated Press yesterday.
The video recorded an Aug. 28, 2005 meeting on Hurricane Katrina then threatening New Orleans. The meeting was held at President Bush’s Crawford, Texas ranch and attended by the President. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans the next day, August 29, 2005. There were over 1300 deaths as a result of the storm, and the common consensus is that New Orleans may never fully recover. There are still many thousands left homeless and in limbo over six months later with a new hurricane season fast approaching.
National Hurricane Center official Max Mayfield spoke during that meeting:
“The storm is gonna pile some of that water in Lake Pontchartrain on the south side of the lake. I don’t think anyone can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not, uh, but there’s obviously a very very grave concern.”
That’s as in “A VERY, VERY GRAVE CONCERN”. And, in fact that grave concern came to pass.
Now discredited FEMA Head Michael Brown also spoke during the same meeting:
“My gut tells me . . that this one is a bad one and a big one. . . . we're going to need everything that we can possibly muster, not only in this state and in the region, but the nation, to respond to this event,"
That’s as in “A BAD ONE AND A BIG ONE”, and “WE’RE GOING TO NEED EVERYTHING WE CAN POSSIBLY MUSTER”. And, in fact that also came to pass.
President Bush asked no questions at all during the meeting, but did make this statement:
“I want to assure the folks at the state level, that, uh, we are fully prepared to not only help you during the storm, but we will move in whatever resources and assets we have at our disposal, after the storm to help deal with, tha, uh, with the loss of property . . . and we pray there’s no loss of life of course.”
That’s as in “WE ARE FULLY PREPARED”. Unfortunately this was simply lip service and a great big, fat, wishful lie.
And, when later questioned about the abysmal federal response after the storm Mr. Bush had this to say:
“There is frustration. but, uh, I want people to know there’s a lot of help coming. I don’t think anybody anticipated a breech of the levees.”
Shamefully, just another great big, fat "black is white" lie.
Responding to heavy criticism, the White House has recently said the ‘fog of war made decision making difficult” during and after the hurricane. Former FEMA director Michael Brown told AP this week that he did not "buy the 'fog of war' defense".
"It was a fog of bureaucracy," he said.
Personally, I consider this simply another demonstration of the never-ending obtuse arrogance of this administration and their shamefully perpetual insistence that administration fantasy is reality.
Watch the video for yourself here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4765058.stm
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
To War or Not to War
Societies often first exalt their leaders and wise people. Contrarily, they later seem to completely forget their words:
“Pyrrhus, when his friends congratulated to him his victory over the Romans under Fabricius, but with great slaughter of his own side, said to them, "Yes; but if we have such another victory, we are undone."
- Francis Bacon
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
- Benjamin Franklin
"A free government with an uncontrolled power of military conscription is the most ridiculous and abominable contradiction and nonsense that ever entered into the heads of men."
—Daniel Webster, Speech in the House of Representatives, January 14, 1814
“Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose -- and you allow him to make war at pleasure. If today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us' but he will say to you, 'Be silent; I see it, if you don't.'"
- - US President Abraham Lincoln
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country."
- US President Theodore Roosevelt
"Once lead this people into war and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight you must be brutal and ruthless and the spirit of ruthlessness will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street." —US President Woodrow Wilson , 1917
“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”
- Jeanette Rankin, First woman elected to Congress (R-MT, 1918)
"I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service in the country's most agile military force, the Marines. I served in all ranks from second lieutenant to major general. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”
—Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler (former Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps) Common Sense, November 1935
"It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificually induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear."
—US General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, May 15, 1951
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.”
- US President Dwight D. Eisenhower
“The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.”
- US General William Westmoreland
“History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.”
- US President Ronald Reagan
"FREEDOM FIGHTER, n. A State Department term referring to a mercenary attempting to install an authoritarian regime friendly to U.S. business interests”
- US President Ronald Reagan. (For those with short memories or too young to remember, this is what Reagan’s administration called Osama Bin Ladin and the Afghan Taliban in the 1980’s while providing them aid to the tune of $3 billion.)
“Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent”
- Issac Asimov (Perhaps forecasting GWB?)
“One can not doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed.”
- William F. Buckley in National Review, 2/24/06
“Pyrrhus, when his friends congratulated to him his victory over the Romans under Fabricius, but with great slaughter of his own side, said to them, "Yes; but if we have such another victory, we are undone."
- Francis Bacon
“There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
- Benjamin Franklin
"A free government with an uncontrolled power of military conscription is the most ridiculous and abominable contradiction and nonsense that ever entered into the heads of men."
—Daniel Webster, Speech in the House of Representatives, January 14, 1814
“Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose -- and you allow him to make war at pleasure. If today, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him, 'I see no probability of the British invading us' but he will say to you, 'Be silent; I see it, if you don't.'"
- - US President Abraham Lincoln
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public official save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country."
- US President Theodore Roosevelt
"Once lead this people into war and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight you must be brutal and ruthless and the spirit of ruthlessness will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street." —US President Woodrow Wilson , 1917
“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”
- Jeanette Rankin, First woman elected to Congress (R-MT, 1918)
"I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service in the country's most agile military force, the Marines. I served in all ranks from second lieutenant to major general. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”
—Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler (former Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps) Common Sense, November 1935
"It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificually induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear."
—US General Douglas MacArthur, Speech, May 15, 1951
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.”
- US President Dwight D. Eisenhower
“The military don't start wars. Politicians start wars.”
- US General William Westmoreland
“History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.”
- US President Ronald Reagan
"FREEDOM FIGHTER, n. A State Department term referring to a mercenary attempting to install an authoritarian regime friendly to U.S. business interests”
- US President Ronald Reagan. (For those with short memories or too young to remember, this is what Reagan’s administration called Osama Bin Ladin and the Afghan Taliban in the 1980’s while providing them aid to the tune of $3 billion.)
“Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent”- Issac Asimov (Perhaps forecasting GWB?)
“One can not doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed.”
- William F. Buckley in National Review, 2/24/06
Monday, February 27, 2006
"God" vs reality
Man on a mission from God and easily getting himself confused with deities:
Man on the ground in Iraq, otherwise considered “dogmeat’ to those with ‘an ounce of sense”, as in the above deity:
Friday, February 17, 2006
God, Mom & Apple Pie!
Vice President Richard Cheney came home to Wyoming today to receive a standing ovation from lawmakers there, apparently for having limited out onTexas lawyers.
"It's a wonderful experience to be greeted by such warmth by the leaders of our great state. It's especially true when you've had a very long week.” said Cheney, who’s week was far worse than the guy he shot, certainly from his viewpoint.
To add icing to the Dick’s laudatory cake, Harry Wittington, the lawyer Cheney shot has now accepted full responsibility for having been at fault by getting in the way of Cheney’s shotgun blast.
"My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice President Cheney and his family have had to deal with," he said.
It is very comforting to learn that our country is in good hands and being run by people of such steel ethics and iron integrity. It is also good to know that in spite of the media hype and insinuations that our Vice President is a law-breaking drunken lout with little regard for the safety of others or human life, he is in fact the exact opposite.
The Bush administration came under sharp criticism because of Cheney's failure to publicly disclose Saturday's accident until the next day. But on Thursday, President Bush said Cheney handled the situation "just fine."
"I'm satisfied with the explanation he gave," Bush said, calling it "strong and powerful."
In Texas, the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department closed its investigation without filing any charges. The department's report supported Cheney's account. So skillful are members of the Kenedy County Texas Sheriff’s Department that they were able to unerringly determine Cheney was totally a law abiding citizen, not under the influence of alcohol, without seeing him until a full day after the shooting, and never taking a blood alcohol test. The only thing they could fault him for was a pesky little matter of having no hunting stamp. Showing no favoritism, they treated him just like any other ordinary citizen and allowed him to buy the stamp ‘after the fact’ and without censure, citation or penalty.
So American citizens now rest assured that our Vice President is not a reckless drunk with a callous disregard for laws, rules and human life, and is not the ego-centric self-serving asshole politician he has been painted to be in this unfortunate incident. As Cheney gunshot victim Harry Wittington said,
"We all assume certain risks in what we do, in what activities we pursue. Accidents do and will happen."
Thank Heavens for God, Mom and Apple Pie too!
"It's a wonderful experience to be greeted by such warmth by the leaders of our great state. It's especially true when you've had a very long week.” said Cheney, who’s week was far worse than the guy he shot, certainly from his viewpoint.
To add icing to the Dick’s laudatory cake, Harry Wittington, the lawyer Cheney shot has now accepted full responsibility for having been at fault by getting in the way of Cheney’s shotgun blast.
"My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice President Cheney and his family have had to deal with," he said.
It is very comforting to learn that our country is in good hands and being run by people of such steel ethics and iron integrity. It is also good to know that in spite of the media hype and insinuations that our Vice President is a law-breaking drunken lout with little regard for the safety of others or human life, he is in fact the exact opposite.
The Bush administration came under sharp criticism because of Cheney's failure to publicly disclose Saturday's accident until the next day. But on Thursday, President Bush said Cheney handled the situation "just fine."
"I'm satisfied with the explanation he gave," Bush said, calling it "strong and powerful."
In Texas, the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department closed its investigation without filing any charges. The department's report supported Cheney's account. So skillful are members of the Kenedy County Texas Sheriff’s Department that they were able to unerringly determine Cheney was totally a law abiding citizen, not under the influence of alcohol, without seeing him until a full day after the shooting, and never taking a blood alcohol test. The only thing they could fault him for was a pesky little matter of having no hunting stamp. Showing no favoritism, they treated him just like any other ordinary citizen and allowed him to buy the stamp ‘after the fact’ and without censure, citation or penalty.
So American citizens now rest assured that our Vice President is not a reckless drunk with a callous disregard for laws, rules and human life, and is not the ego-centric self-serving asshole politician he has been painted to be in this unfortunate incident. As Cheney gunshot victim Harry Wittington said,
"We all assume certain risks in what we do, in what activities we pursue. Accidents do and will happen."
Thank Heavens for God, Mom and Apple Pie too!
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Overheard at the bar . . .
Overheard in the Texas Republican Gun Club bar last Monday evening:
“That durned ol’ fool Harry Wittington - who let that old sum’bitch in on the hunt anyway? Ah don’t give a shit iffen he HAS raised a buncha money for the Texas ‘Publicans - he didn’t have any damned business gittin' in the way of Dickie’s shot!
Now, everbody’s gonna blame things on Dick by God and everbody knows it’s that old sum'bitch Wittington’s fault. He didn’t have any damned business being out there atall an’ then goin’g an’ gittin’ hisself shot when he’s behind Cheney for Christ’s sake! Tarnation!
Hell, everybody knows Wittington don’t drink anymore - his livers bin gone fer years and he cain't drink nary a drop for fear a-dyin'’, and if he ain’t drunk how’n hell he gonna keep from gittin' shot anyhow? Ol’ sum’bitch cain’t even fall down right at his age.
Now he's gone and stomped on his pecker and Ol’ Dick’s too. Dickie’s gonna have to do a lot of buck passin'’ and ‘splaining to get out of this God-damned mess. An’ yew know how them damned bleedin’ heart liberals is gonna take this mess and run with it too. Yew just know it in yore bones an’ yew can lay a bet on it! Them bastards are already a-makin’ jokes about “Cheney’s done bagged his limit on lawyers’ an’ such like. Hell, they’s gonna pick on every little damned thing they can find. They’s already bitching about no damned quail stamp for Christ’s sake, and this an’ that and ever other damned thing!
First God-damned thing them dimmycrats done was to start in a-raisin’ hell about a ‘cover up” and “how come nobody said anything for almost a full God-damned day!” God-damned buncha meddlin’ pansy bastards! Now they’s even got a buncha them moderate ‘Publicans runnin’ fer cover an’ a-bitchin’ about gittin’ Cheney to come clean for Christ’s sake!
Now yew know and I know Ol’ Dick couldna gone to nobody legal ‘til he done sobered up. These days yew cain’t tell fer sure which one a them damned cops nair sheriff's boys is gonna turn out to be a goody-goody two shoes an’ go’n git all legal ‘n all. For Christ’s sake, all them God-damned liberal pinko media woulda jumped all over that like stink on hog shit! No damned way in hell he coulda done that. Yew have to admit he’s thinkin’ purty damned fast to be as drunk as he was, to thinka notifying the local newspaper the nex’ damned day ‘steada the day it happened. Purty smart o’ him too, to thinka gittin’ that gal there - the daughter of the feller who got him his Halliburton job - to git the word out to the local newspaper the way she did. They’s on his side! Give him a chanct to sober up!
Then them other good ol’ boys had a chanct to git him offa the sauce and sober the stupid bastard up enough to meet with the sheriff the nex’ day. An’ the fact that he didn’t have nary damned quail stamp jist works in his favor if yew wanta know the truth about that matter. That’ll act like a diversion to git the ‘tention offa the real shit. Throw ‘em a bone ta gnaw on while the ‘portant stuff gets all tidied up, nice and proper like!
It is damned good to see the press a-startin’ in to laying the blame on where it oughta be - right on ol’ Wittington’s gnarly ol’ God-damned ass fer steppin’ in front ol’ Dickie’s shot! I jist hope the ol’ sum’ bitch don’t die though, - even though it’d serve ‘im right - ‘cause then that’d be a whole new bucket a worms.
It’s a-gittin’ ta be mighty damned hard to run a country like yew want to anyway, without havin’ an ol’ sum’bitch like Wittington screw things up fer yew!”
“That durned ol’ fool Harry Wittington - who let that old sum’bitch in on the hunt anyway? Ah don’t give a shit iffen he HAS raised a buncha money for the Texas ‘Publicans - he didn’t have any damned business gittin' in the way of Dickie’s shot!
Now, everbody’s gonna blame things on Dick by God and everbody knows it’s that old sum'bitch Wittington’s fault. He didn’t have any damned business being out there atall an’ then goin’g an’ gittin’ hisself shot when he’s behind Cheney for Christ’s sake! Tarnation!
Hell, everybody knows Wittington don’t drink anymore - his livers bin gone fer years and he cain't drink nary a drop for fear a-dyin'’, and if he ain’t drunk how’n hell he gonna keep from gittin' shot anyhow? Ol’ sum’bitch cain’t even fall down right at his age.
Now he's gone and stomped on his pecker and Ol’ Dick’s too. Dickie’s gonna have to do a lot of buck passin'’ and ‘splaining to get out of this God-damned mess. An’ yew know how them damned bleedin’ heart liberals is gonna take this mess and run with it too. Yew just know it in yore bones an’ yew can lay a bet on it! Them bastards are already a-makin’ jokes about “Cheney’s done bagged his limit on lawyers’ an’ such like. Hell, they’s gonna pick on every little damned thing they can find. They’s already bitching about no damned quail stamp for Christ’s sake, and this an’ that and ever other damned thing!
First God-damned thing them dimmycrats done was to start in a-raisin’ hell about a ‘cover up” and “how come nobody said anything for almost a full God-damned day!” God-damned buncha meddlin’ pansy bastards! Now they’s even got a buncha them moderate ‘Publicans runnin’ fer cover an’ a-bitchin’ about gittin’ Cheney to come clean for Christ’s sake!
Now yew know and I know Ol’ Dick couldna gone to nobody legal ‘til he done sobered up. These days yew cain’t tell fer sure which one a them damned cops nair sheriff's boys is gonna turn out to be a goody-goody two shoes an’ go’n git all legal ‘n all. For Christ’s sake, all them God-damned liberal pinko media woulda jumped all over that like stink on hog shit! No damned way in hell he coulda done that. Yew have to admit he’s thinkin’ purty damned fast to be as drunk as he was, to thinka notifying the local newspaper the nex’ damned day ‘steada the day it happened. Purty smart o’ him too, to thinka gittin’ that gal there - the daughter of the feller who got him his Halliburton job - to git the word out to the local newspaper the way she did. They’s on his side! Give him a chanct to sober up!
Then them other good ol’ boys had a chanct to git him offa the sauce and sober the stupid bastard up enough to meet with the sheriff the nex’ day. An’ the fact that he didn’t have nary damned quail stamp jist works in his favor if yew wanta know the truth about that matter. That’ll act like a diversion to git the ‘tention offa the real shit. Throw ‘em a bone ta gnaw on while the ‘portant stuff gets all tidied up, nice and proper like!
It is damned good to see the press a-startin’ in to laying the blame on where it oughta be - right on ol’ Wittington’s gnarly ol’ God-damned ass fer steppin’ in front ol’ Dickie’s shot! I jist hope the ol’ sum’ bitch don’t die though, - even though it’d serve ‘im right - ‘cause then that’d be a whole new bucket a worms.
It’s a-gittin’ ta be mighty damned hard to run a country like yew want to anyway, without havin’ an ol’ sum’bitch like Wittington screw things up fer yew!”
Saturday, February 11, 2006
How's that again?
The current guv'mint are the authors of the so-called "USA Patriot" Act of 2001 which - by mightily stretching - they claim stands for:
Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 - (Really! I'm not kidding!)
Well, it damned sure hasn't united us, nor strengthened us - but it has provided the 'appropriate (illegal) tools required to obstruct' privacy and civil rights, so if you really want to know the whole truth, the acronym actually stands for:
Unsavory Scheme Attacking Privacy by Avaricious Thieves, Republican Ideologues and Oil Tycoons
"Reason and ignorance influence the bulk of mankind. If either of these can be rendered sufficiently extensive, the machinery of government goes easily on. Reason obeys itself and Ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it."
- Thomas Paine, 1797 in "Rights of Man"
Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 - (Really! I'm not kidding!)
Well, it damned sure hasn't united us, nor strengthened us - but it has provided the 'appropriate (illegal) tools required to obstruct' privacy and civil rights, so if you really want to know the whole truth, the acronym actually stands for:Unsavory Scheme Attacking Privacy by Avaricious Thieves, Republican Ideologues and Oil Tycoons
"Reason and ignorance influence the bulk of mankind. If either of these can be rendered sufficiently extensive, the machinery of government goes easily on. Reason obeys itself and Ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it."
- Thomas Paine, 1797 in "Rights of Man"
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