It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time for the widening of previous roads and the opening of new paths, a time of an emptying country and swelling cities, yet a time when these paths are mined by knowing algorithms of the all-seeing eye. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


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Monday, August 6th, 2007

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Democratic Presidential Candidates Stand By Liberty

There is a great deal for Democrats to be upset about today. After all, 41 House Democrats and 16 Senate Democrats voted for the thoroughly rotten Protect America Act.

The Protect America Act:

  • Responds to the criminal and cruel record of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales by giving Gonzales expanded powers
  • Gives Alberto Gonzales and John Negroponte the power to supervise themselves, without any outside restraint, in spying against whomever they determine it is legitimate for them to spy against, without anyone outside of their direct control finding out about it
  • In effect ends the enforcement of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution in the Bill of Rights, by removing the need to have a warrant to conduct a search or seizure, eliminating the need to specify a specific target for government searches, and evading the requirement for an oath or affirmation to support a government search

    Put more briefly, the Protect America Act gives Alberto Gonzales, along with John Negroponte, the operational ability to snoop on anyone they like. Without meaningful oversight for their spy operations, there will be no restraint upon their power.

    It’s rotten that so many Democrats in Congress voted for the new Republican attack against freedom. The failure of those Democrats to live up their oaths of office should be punished by their constituents on Election Day.

    However, there is a bright lining to this dark cloud. Not one of the Democratic presidential candidates voted in favor of the sinister Protect America Act.

    Not Hillary Clinton
    Not Chris Dodd
    Not Dennis Kucinich
    Not Barack Obama
    Not even Joseph Biden

    Those who say that the Democratic presidential candidates are indistinguishable from their Republican rivals ought to stop and consider this important difference. Not every Democrat does the right thing. Many Democrats do the wrong thing. However, these Democrats running for President in 2008, did the right thing. They stood by American liberty. That ought to count for something.


  • 5 Comments »

    1. These dogs will vote against it while running, but if they get elected they will not repeal this disaster of a law and the other civil rights rip off laws that have been passed these last six years. They are only voting this way to give themselves political cover. The dems are in cahoots with the repubs!

      The scientifically impossible I do right away
      The spiritually miraculous takes a bit longer

      Comment by ClapSo — 8/6/2007 @ 8:20 pm

    2. “However, these Democrats running for President in 2008, did the right thing.”

      One good point does not a clean record make.

      Comment by SpankyTuTone — 8/6/2007 @ 9:13 pm

    3. Big Brother is coalescing and before too long it’ll be in place: cameras everywhere, listening devices we voluntarily carry around with us (cell phones), secret screening chips in passports etc. and neighbor spying on neighbor. What a lovely country Amerikkka has become.

      Comment by Tom — 8/7/2007 @ 9:44 am

    4. Related is the fact that many states are now banning foods with “unhealthy” levels of X, Y, or Z. My state (WA) has banned smoking in public spaces and private spaces that are open to the public.

      We don’t even have nationalized medicine yet, and the government wants to tell us how to live.

      Comment by SpankyTuTone — 8/7/2007 @ 9:08 pm

    5. AHHH yes, the smell of burning witches in the air! If the American people don’t wake from their self imposed coma soon, we will all be dragged from our beds by the powers of King George and burned for heresy.

      Comment by LiZ Zimmerman — 8/8/2007 @ 9:56 am

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