GO TO THE LIGHT! By Sheila Samples

[Sheila Samples]

Folks at the White House stay pretty busy these days just trying to untangle the lies George Bush keeps telling every time he opens his mouth. For example, back in April 2004, Bush explained to a cheering audience and an unchallenging press corps in Buffalo about "eavesdropping" on Americans -- "When you think 'Patriot Act,' constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because," he said earnestly while leaning over the podium, his hand on his heart "--because we value the Constitution."

Bush? Value that (insert Lord's name in vain) piece of worthless paper? I think not. From his actions and manner of speech, it is doubtful that Bush has read either the US Constitution or the holy book upon which he placed his hand twice and swore to preserve, protect and defend it.

After the New York Times reported last week that Bush authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to cast a wide net to spy on American citizens' e-mail and phone calls without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, Bush went on the offense, saying yeah, he did it, and he was gonna keep on doing it, cause he was the president and -- like he told Washington Post's Bob Woodward -- that means he doesn't have to explain to anybody why he does anything...

That apparently includes the FISA court, which has the audacity to require "probable cause" before approving wiretaps on American citizens. In Bush's defense, when you're huntin' and chasin' and smokin' out evil lurkers and plotters and planners, you don't have time to stop and fill out two or three million pieces of paper. Like Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says, the (insert Lord's name in vain) Constitution is a quaint little thing, but we live in a new world order now, and any constraints on "this president" are just too cumbersome.

In an October speech, Bush said, "Our country is at war, and the executive branch has an obligation to protect the 'Merican people. We are aggressively doing that. We are finding the terrorists and bringing them to justice," he said, pausing for effect, then added, "and anything we do is within the law..."

Vice President Dick Cheney agrees. He says they must have complete control and flexibility and unlimited power, even if this means they have to make up the law as they go along. While speeding home from the Middle East in time to break a Senate tie on a bill that raises Medicaid payments for the poor and elderly while, at the same time, allowing states to cut their Medicaid services, and cuts child-care payments for social bottom-feeders, Cheney snarled that there "is a hell of a threat" out there, and the president's authority under the (insert Lord's name in vain) Constitution must be "unimpaired."

Cheney says "the vast majority" of Americans support Bush spying on them, and warned that any "backlash" would not be against Bush, but against the critics who dared question Bush's illegal and quite possibly treasonous bits of derring-do. Cheney is adamant that he, er -- Bush -- is above any court and outside any law. Those who disagree can just go (insert word depicting doing sexual "wild thaing") themselves.

Besides, Cheney might have added, they've been doing it for four years --collecting information on American citizens by tapping directly into the US telecommunication system's main arteries without first getting warrants -- and nobody seemed to care. According to the Times, these corporate behemoths supported and assisted the spying operation -- storing information on citizens' calling patterns and giving it to Bush since 9-11.

Got that, sports fans? Since 9-11. And the NSA is not the only one. According to
Capital Hill Blue's Doug Thompson, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and "dozens of private contractors are spying on millions of Americans 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year."

It got so blatant that a former NSA agent who quit in disgust over use of the agency to spy on Americans, told Thompson, "We're no longer in the business of tracking our enemies. We're spying on everyday Americans."

And, when there's treason afoot, one can hardly leave out the vicious and wacky Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. A couple of years ago, Rumsfeld had this great idea for not only spying on Americans, but building a profile on every citizen who travels, uses credit cards, talks on the telephone or works or plays on a computer.

He called his new toy the "Total Information Awareness" (TIA) Program, and put the disgraced Iran-Contra felon John Poindexter in charge of it. When a furious Congress killed the program, Rumsfeld said, "Fine. They can have the name." He then moved it to the Pentagon's covert "black bag" program, out of Congressional sight or oversight, and renamed it the "Terrorist Information Awareness" (TIA) system. Thompson says the program is "alive and well and collecting data in real time on Americans at a computer center located at 3801 Fairfax Drive in Arlington, Virginia."

It's difficult to gauge either the height of awareness or the depth of outrage of the American public because the corporate media steadfastly refuses to shed even a glimmer of light on the myriad of scandals this administration is hiding out there in plain sight.

The shock of 9-11 thrust the people of this country into a depressing twilight zone, a "loyalty-oath" atmosphere where they stumble around in the dark, afraid to speak -- afraid to think. Any anger they feel about the president of the United States committing an impeachable offense by covertly spying on them and openly admitting it will fade as the media psycho-flogs them into believing the criminal here is the whistleblower who shone the light on the illegal surveillance, not the traitor who broke the law.

The irony of Bush, the NSA and Gonzales whipping up a criminal investigation into who dared tell the public that they were breaking the law will be lost on far too many Americans. Those who do understand, yet choose to stand mute and hope for the best should weigh the loss of their civil liberties against the violence, murder, vicious lies, and especially the sheer animosity Bush feels toward all but the wealthiest Americans.

They should take a look at the backgrounds and goals of the beady-eyed war vultures who control Bush; who are urging him to destroy everything in his path -- not the least of which is the (insert Lord's name in vain) US Constitution. They should ask themselves what they would do if they woke up in the middle of the night to find an invader in their bedrooms, pawing through their personal belongings. Would they silently bow their heads, or would they turn on the light and scream bloody murder at the top of their lungs?

Truth doesn't just radiate light -- it IS light. If Americans would raise their heads and look around, they would see there are flashes of light everywhere -- especially on the Internet.

Americans have come to a fork in the road and, like the great philosopher Yogi Berra once said, they need to take it. They need to go to the light.

Then, those (insert Lord's name in vain) (insert word depicting one born out of wedlock) will get what they so richly deserve.


Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma writer and a former civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She is a regular contributor for a variety of Internet sites. Contact her at: [e-mail]

:think:

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. 3801 Fairfax Drive in Arlington, Virginia

Without looking that up, I feel that it's either across the street from a NationsBank or it's next to the building where I had two root canals.

[MissMarple]

2. I wonder if this evesdropping was leaked,or lying around in plain sight.

I wish the conservatives would care enough to understand that the issue here isn't security from terrorism, but why this administration needed to flout the law and pretend it is about stopping terrorists. Who are they really spying on? Right now, this administration's most immediate adversaries are political opponents who threaten the neocon hold on power, in other words, the American people.

"He called his new toy the "Total Information Awareness" (TIA) Program, and put the disgraced Iran-Contra felon John Poindexter in charge of it. When a furious Congress killed the program, Rumsfeld said, "Fine. They can have the name." He then moved it to the Pentagon's covert "black bag" program, out of Congressional sight or oversight, and renamed it the "Terrorist Information Awareness" (TIA) system. Thompson says the program is "alive and well and collecting data in real time on Americans at a computer center located at 3801 Fairfax Drive in Arlington, Virginia."

[Joanne98]

3. They changed TIA into something called Matrix..........

What Is The Matrix? ACLU Seeks Answers on New State-Run Surveillance Program (10/30/2003)
http://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/15722prs20031030.html

Defunct Big Brother Spying Program Resurfaces as "Little Brother" in Seven States

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK-The American Civil Liberties Union today filed simultaneous state "Freedom of Information Act" requests in Connecticut, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania about those states' participation in the new "MATRIX" database surveillance system. It also released an Issue Brief explaining the problems with the program, which also operates in Florida and Utah.

"Congress killed the Pentagon's 'Total Information Awareness' data mining program, but now the federal government is trying to build up a state-run equivalent," said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program.

"In essence, the government is replacing an unpopular Big Brother initiative with a lot of Little Brothers," he added, noting that the program is receiving $12 million from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. "What does it take for the message to get through that government spying on the activities of innocent Americans will not be tolerated?"

The ACLU's requests, which were filed under individual states' open-records laws, come on the heels of a federal Freedom of Information Act request it filed October 17. A similar request was also filed in Florida, where the program originated. The goal of the requests is to find out what information sources the system is drawing on - information program officials have refused to disclose - as well as who has access to the database and how it is being used.

According to Congressional testimony and news reports, The Matrix (which stands for "Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange") creates dossiers about individuals from government databases and private-sector information companies that compile files on Americans' activities for profit. It then makes those dossiers available for search by federal and state law enforcement officers. In addition, Matrix workers comb through the millions of files in a search for "anomalies" that may be indicative of terrorist or other criminal activity.

While company officials have refused to disclose details of the program, according to news reports the kind of information to be searched includes credit histories, driver's license photographs, marriage and divorce records, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and the names and addresses of family members, neighbors and business associates.

Raising even more issues, the Matrix is operated by a private company, Seisint Inc. of Boca Raton, Florida. Ironically, the company's founder was forced to resign after information about his own past came to light: according to Florida police, he was formerly a drug smuggler who had piloted multiple planeloads of cocaine from Colombia to the U.S.

"Members of Congress who voted to close down TIA in the belief that they were ending this kind of data mining surveillance must demand more information about The Matrix," said Steinhardt. "And then they should shut it down too."

Copies of the ACLU's state and federal FOIA requests as well as the Issue Brief about The Matrix are online at /privacy/spying/15701res20050308.html, and can also be accessed at www.aclu.org/privacy.

A special Web feature about the defunct TIA program is online at http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacylist.cfm?c=130.

[frankly_fedup2]

4. I agree with RR. We should give Iraq our Constitution because

this administration, that swore almost above all, to protect the Constitution of the U.S. have totally rewritten their own version.

These a-holes that come up and say it is legal for the president to do it bring up "Well Clinton did it," but they present no information such as when, where, why, and how.

Clinton was impeached because of an affair. Nixon was impeached for using the FBI to spy on the DNC. That was another power-hungry administration that was always there for their elite friends.

Limbaugh talks about how pitiful it is how Clinton brings up his "money" and how he is a millionaire now and became richer because he was President. Well I think DUBYA is coming out ahead with his stock options and a lot of friends that hide behind doors. The check we pay him yearly is the first paycheck that sob has ever received. Notice I did not say "earned."