Spy vs. spy vs. spy

Well George Bush has finally become the uniter he promised he would be.

He's united Congressional Republican and the ACLU in opposition to a new executive order about uniting the 16 spy agencies in the federal government. Yes, that's right 16. I dare you to name half of them (and UNCLE is not one).

Congressional Republicans are angry because the huge order was delivered 40 minutes before the approval vote was to be taken.

The ACLU is angry because the executive order shifts the focus of agencies like the CIA onto American shores.

Everything you think can and will be used against you.

Time to re-subscribe to The Nation

I let my subscription to The Nation lapse because, with every other piece of reading material that comes into the house, I never seemed to get around to finding the time to make it through The Nation's dense and important prose.

The unread copies made me feel guilty.

But now they've joined with the ACLU in a lawsuit against the federal government and a Constitutional challenge to the recently passed and signed FISA bill.

The price of a subscription is ridiculously small. It seems a small price to pay to show my support.

Another rendition of My Corporation Tis of Thee

By now it's become completely obvious that the Bush administration favors the rights of corporations over the rights of the individual. Funny, I don't think I ever read anything about the free market in the Constitution.

But consider how Bush has angled to protect the telecoms, how it refuses to acknowledge wrongdoings by Iraq vendors of choice Brown and Root, Blackwater and Halliburton, including the rape and harassment of female employees while in Iraq.

Now, another corporation that was enlisted in the ubiquitous war on terror is getting the "you can't touch that," treatment.

The justice department wants a judge to dismiss a suit by the ACLU against Jeppesen Dataplan whose slogan is "Making every mission possible." Jeppesen is accused of aiding the US Government in extraordinary renditions.

So if your insurance company wants to distribute your health info, or your phone company wants to disclose your telephone records, or your bank wants to reveal your money transactions all they need to do is shout "national security" or "war on terror," and the Bush buddies will come running.