Can You Fear Me Now? Good.
“Good morning. At this very moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning attacks on our country that will make September 11th pale by comparison.”
Yes well, I’m quite sure that at this very moment, somewhere in the world, somebody is planning to stuff a rocket up their ass and fly to Jupiter. Doesn’t mean either plan is actually going to come to fruition, does it?
Unbelievably, that quote is how George W. Bush actually began a televised statement to the nation just last week. So what occasioned such a grim and dire statement one might ask? Have we received intelligence suggesting that a large scale attack is imminent? Have we gleaned some specific piece of information that we should be concerned about? The answer to those questions of course, would be no and no. Bush’s little performance was nothing more than a naked attempt to crank up the ol’ Republican fear machine one more time to put the squeeze on that completely intransigent chamber of Congress, the House of Representatives. It seems that once again, the fight over FISA laws and what the Bush Administration believe is their inalienable right to illegally spy on American citizens has erupted and of course, the Preznit played the only card the knows how to play… the fear card. Hey, it’s worked so well for 7 years now that they’re going to keep riding that sucker until the wheels fall off.
But wait! Wasn’t it just last year when Congress, lacking any sort of spine or testicular fortitude and in complete violation of existing FISA laws as well as the 4th and 5th Amendments, caved in to the Bush Administration demands and approved a piece of legislation known as the “Protect America Act” that made his little illegal wiretapping program… legal? Why yes, yes it was in fact. In a move of extreme political cowardice, the Congressional Democrats flushed all of our Constitutionally guaranteed protections straight down the crapper, giving the Bush Administration free reign to tap our phones, read our emails and track our internet usage… all without probable cause or having to obtain a silly little thing called a warrant. The one caveat to the Democrats grabbing their ankles however, is that in approving Bush’s illegal domestic spying programs, Congress put a one-year shelf-life on it.
Hey, waaaaaaait a minute. It’s a given that I’m not the intellectual giant that Dubya is, but something isn’t quite adding up for me here. I’m just not quite getting something… If the Democrats rolled over and passed the “Protect America Act” last August and it was good for a year, wouldn’t that mean that it is in effect until this August? Hmmmm… maybe my math is off but by my calculations, the “Protect America Act” still has another 6 months before it expires. Surely Dubya wouldn’t like lie to us or misrepresent the facts, would he? I mean, he was all over the news screaming that if the House failed to re-authorize the law by the time it expired last Friday at midnight, we’d surely be overrun by terrorists hellbent on murder, mayhem and standing in the express lines at the grocery store with more than 10 items! To hear Dubya speak last week, that law was the only thing standing between all of us and the thousands of Muslim terrorists ready to kill every man, woman, child, dog, cat, hamster and goldfish in the country. Dubya actually said that if the House didn’t reauthorize the law, they were putting the lives of all Americans in grave danger and that those of us opposed to the law were enabling terrorists who want to do nothing but kill us all!
Yeah… well, midnight last Friday came and went and I know that I wasn’t killed by a terrorist. What about you all out there? Anybody have a jihad declared on them over the weekend? I’m a total news-whore, but I certainly don’t seem to recall seeing a single story over the weekend about anything in the continental U.S. being blown up. Or maybe there was a huge, gnarly terrorist attack in downtown Topeka, Kansas and I just missed it? Or maybe… just maybe… Bush has once again lied to the American people… maybe he tried to juice up and exploit the fear of Americans to justify his illegal actions. I know, it’s shocking and it’s hard to believe. After all, he’s got such a stellar track record of honesty and transparency and all. Golly-Gee-Whiz, lies and deception are just so unlike him.
Okay, let’s all just take a big swig of reality-juice now. Despite Bush’s rantings and ravings last week, the only thing that was set to expire last Friday at midnight was the provision of the “Protect America Act” that gave immunity to our friends in the telecom industry… you know, those fine, upstanding, uber-patriotic folks at the telephone companies and the internet service providers that turned over all of our private information in total violation of our Constitutional rights and federal law. Yeah, those guys. Bush beat that fear drum hard in an attempt to keep them safe from possibly having their crooked asses sued for violating our civil rights. That was the imminent danger the country was facing and not some mythical imminent attack on our country. This was all just political theater… just a little more fearmongering courtesy of our friends in the Bush Administration.
Personally, I am sick to death of this politics of fear. I am sick to death of Bush and the Republicans playing to people’s worst fears and their darkest, most base instincts. And in so doing, they’ve launched a war solely for corporate profit, they’ve trashed our Constitution, they’ve trampled over our rights and freedoms and they continue to flout the laws of this country with impunity. Their program of illegally spying on American citizens is more insidious and invasive than anything Nixon or J. Edgar Hoover could have ever dreamt up. And to do it under the cover of “national security” or “protecting the homeland” is repugnant beyond words. To tell us that we’re supporting terrorism by standing opposed to the crushing of our rights and freedoms, for speaking out about the erosion of the foundations this country was built on and for demanding accountability for the lawlessness of this government is even more so. Bush’s illegal spying program has about as much to do with protecting this country from terrorism as his war for corporate profit in Iraq does.
Make no mistake, there are people out there that wish to do us harm. But the constant playing of the fear card isn’t making this country one iota safer. By telling the American people that we’re all in grave danger, by falsely alluding to imminent attacks in an effort to extend further protection to the telecom companies that have broken the law isn’t making this country one iota safer. Destroying our Constitution and crushing our rights and freedoms hasn’t made this country one iota safer. In fact, everything the Bush Administration has done and is doing continues to put this country at greater and greater risk. Abandoning our ideals and our principles, the bedrock of this country is not the way to beat those that wish to do us harm. And neither is perpetually playing the fear card.
As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Truer words were never spoken.
/ rant
And just to lighten things up a little bit… Meet Snuggly the Security Bear. Feel free to pass this on to those special little right-wing whack-jobs in your life…
Hat tip to Mark Fiore... brilliant political cartoonist and creator of Snuggly the Security Bear...
~Kevin S.
Yes well, I’m quite sure that at this very moment, somewhere in the world, somebody is planning to stuff a rocket up their ass and fly to Jupiter. Doesn’t mean either plan is actually going to come to fruition, does it?
Unbelievably, that quote is how George W. Bush actually began a televised statement to the nation just last week. So what occasioned such a grim and dire statement one might ask? Have we received intelligence suggesting that a large scale attack is imminent? Have we gleaned some specific piece of information that we should be concerned about? The answer to those questions of course, would be no and no. Bush’s little performance was nothing more than a naked attempt to crank up the ol’ Republican fear machine one more time to put the squeeze on that completely intransigent chamber of Congress, the House of Representatives. It seems that once again, the fight over FISA laws and what the Bush Administration believe is their inalienable right to illegally spy on American citizens has erupted and of course, the Preznit played the only card the knows how to play… the fear card. Hey, it’s worked so well for 7 years now that they’re going to keep riding that sucker until the wheels fall off.
But wait! Wasn’t it just last year when Congress, lacking any sort of spine or testicular fortitude and in complete violation of existing FISA laws as well as the 4th and 5th Amendments, caved in to the Bush Administration demands and approved a piece of legislation known as the “Protect America Act” that made his little illegal wiretapping program… legal? Why yes, yes it was in fact. In a move of extreme political cowardice, the Congressional Democrats flushed all of our Constitutionally guaranteed protections straight down the crapper, giving the Bush Administration free reign to tap our phones, read our emails and track our internet usage… all without probable cause or having to obtain a silly little thing called a warrant. The one caveat to the Democrats grabbing their ankles however, is that in approving Bush’s illegal domestic spying programs, Congress put a one-year shelf-life on it.
Hey, waaaaaaait a minute. It’s a given that I’m not the intellectual giant that Dubya is, but something isn’t quite adding up for me here. I’m just not quite getting something… If the Democrats rolled over and passed the “Protect America Act” last August and it was good for a year, wouldn’t that mean that it is in effect until this August? Hmmmm… maybe my math is off but by my calculations, the “Protect America Act” still has another 6 months before it expires. Surely Dubya wouldn’t like lie to us or misrepresent the facts, would he? I mean, he was all over the news screaming that if the House failed to re-authorize the law by the time it expired last Friday at midnight, we’d surely be overrun by terrorists hellbent on murder, mayhem and standing in the express lines at the grocery store with more than 10 items! To hear Dubya speak last week, that law was the only thing standing between all of us and the thousands of Muslim terrorists ready to kill every man, woman, child, dog, cat, hamster and goldfish in the country. Dubya actually said that if the House didn’t reauthorize the law, they were putting the lives of all Americans in grave danger and that those of us opposed to the law were enabling terrorists who want to do nothing but kill us all!
Yeah… well, midnight last Friday came and went and I know that I wasn’t killed by a terrorist. What about you all out there? Anybody have a jihad declared on them over the weekend? I’m a total news-whore, but I certainly don’t seem to recall seeing a single story over the weekend about anything in the continental U.S. being blown up. Or maybe there was a huge, gnarly terrorist attack in downtown Topeka, Kansas and I just missed it? Or maybe… just maybe… Bush has once again lied to the American people… maybe he tried to juice up and exploit the fear of Americans to justify his illegal actions. I know, it’s shocking and it’s hard to believe. After all, he’s got such a stellar track record of honesty and transparency and all. Golly-Gee-Whiz, lies and deception are just so unlike him.
Okay, let’s all just take a big swig of reality-juice now. Despite Bush’s rantings and ravings last week, the only thing that was set to expire last Friday at midnight was the provision of the “Protect America Act” that gave immunity to our friends in the telecom industry… you know, those fine, upstanding, uber-patriotic folks at the telephone companies and the internet service providers that turned over all of our private information in total violation of our Constitutional rights and federal law. Yeah, those guys. Bush beat that fear drum hard in an attempt to keep them safe from possibly having their crooked asses sued for violating our civil rights. That was the imminent danger the country was facing and not some mythical imminent attack on our country. This was all just political theater… just a little more fearmongering courtesy of our friends in the Bush Administration.
Personally, I am sick to death of this politics of fear. I am sick to death of Bush and the Republicans playing to people’s worst fears and their darkest, most base instincts. And in so doing, they’ve launched a war solely for corporate profit, they’ve trashed our Constitution, they’ve trampled over our rights and freedoms and they continue to flout the laws of this country with impunity. Their program of illegally spying on American citizens is more insidious and invasive than anything Nixon or J. Edgar Hoover could have ever dreamt up. And to do it under the cover of “national security” or “protecting the homeland” is repugnant beyond words. To tell us that we’re supporting terrorism by standing opposed to the crushing of our rights and freedoms, for speaking out about the erosion of the foundations this country was built on and for demanding accountability for the lawlessness of this government is even more so. Bush’s illegal spying program has about as much to do with protecting this country from terrorism as his war for corporate profit in Iraq does.
Make no mistake, there are people out there that wish to do us harm. But the constant playing of the fear card isn’t making this country one iota safer. By telling the American people that we’re all in grave danger, by falsely alluding to imminent attacks in an effort to extend further protection to the telecom companies that have broken the law isn’t making this country one iota safer. Destroying our Constitution and crushing our rights and freedoms hasn’t made this country one iota safer. In fact, everything the Bush Administration has done and is doing continues to put this country at greater and greater risk. Abandoning our ideals and our principles, the bedrock of this country is not the way to beat those that wish to do us harm. And neither is perpetually playing the fear card.
As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Truer words were never spoken.
/ rant
And just to lighten things up a little bit… Meet Snuggly the Security Bear. Feel free to pass this on to those special little right-wing whack-jobs in your life…
Hat tip to Mark Fiore... brilliant political cartoonist and creator of Snuggly the Security Bear...
~Kevin S.
posted by Lila Schow at
12:24 PM
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