Tonight's show marks the one-year anniversary of The Evil Liberal Propaganda Network!!! If we're able to hold it tonight - and odds are good that we will - you will be in for a treat, as tonight promises to be one of our angriest shows ever!!!
The Democrats in the House and Senate were so eager to hightail it out of DC for their one-month vacation that
they capitulated to Bush's demands regarding warrantless wiretapping!!! It basically allows for warrantless wiretapping of American citizens with NO congressional oversight, with the authorization for said wiretapping coming from our perjurous Attorney General Alberto "I Can't Recall" Gonzales!!! What is even more ironic - and disturbing - is that Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell negotiated with the Democrats on a bill that would have passed, except for the fact that
the Bush administration rejected it as "insufficient." These scumbags in the Bush White House want what they want, Congress and the American populace be damned!!!
The need for all of this comes from a secret ruling earlier this year, in which a judge found that one element of Bush's program - spying on transmissions from one foreign location to another that are routed through the US - was deemed
unconstitutional. Since it includes all transmissions, this means e-mail/chat/etc., in addition to "standard" phone communications. This bill serves primarily to insulate Bush against accusations of criminality for his warrantless wiretapping program; who would want to press charges against Bush for something that
"used" to be illegal, anyway?
It also lets Alberto Gonzales wiretap an American citizen - warrantlessly! - if that person has communications with a foreign national who is considered a "primary target" of the spying program. This is a blatant disregard of FISA, turning it into essentially hollow legislation.
The
House vote was 227-183 in favor of Bush's bill, with no major Democratic names within the 41 who voted with the GOP, and the
Senate vote was 60-28 in favor, with 16 Democrats abandoning the will of the people. Perhaps not-so-coincidentally,
9 of those 16 had their most recent election to the Senate in 2006. I guess they figure people will forget by 2012.
The main Democratic arguments in favor of this bill are not very strong. First, the bill is only "in effect" for six months. Second, the Democrats are (according to leadership) going to work on amending the worst parts of the bill over the break, in order to have a vote upon return. To these arguments I can only say, "They screwed us once.
What's to stop them from screwing us again?"
How are the American people supposed to trust Congress to do the things we have requested them to do when they vote this way on this bill?
More than ever, there must be a revolution in this country against the two-party monopoly. We need a third major party in order to prevent any one party from subjugating our political process! We must show the Republicans who wish to eliminate our civil rights, and the Democrats that enable them, that we are no longer going to stand for this bullshit! We will not see our country turn into what our generation was taught was the "enemy of freedom" - the Soviet Union. Alberto Gonzales is looking more like the head of the KGB than the head of the Justice Department!
