The Real Deal; Part 6; Rumblings

It seems that sometime in 2002 President Boosh signed an order allowing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens withot having obtained previously necessary warrants allowing such activity. Hmmm. We now find out that any international telephone conversation we participated in may have been listened to, or any international email we sent or received may have been read, by Big Brother. There are a couple of things that are important about this.

First, this was first reported by the New York Times, over a year after the Times first learned of it. The White House asked the Times not to print the story, claiming that it could "jeopardize continuing investigations" and give notice to "terrorists" that they were being watched. Of course, to accept this, we must assume that John Ashcroft was being honest with us, something that I am not willing to assume. This is the same Ashcroft who had the tendency to call press conferences on a semi-regular basis, generally related to poll numbers and the need to ratchet up the fear in the American people. Constantly announcing to Americans that some grand terror plot had been foiled, generally giving credit to some provision of the Patriot Act. Only later would we find out that either there had been no real "plot" to begin with, or that the news was from years past. The same Ashcroft who lost an election to a dead man, thus qualifying him to become the Attorney General of the United States. The same Ashcroft that is the closest thing to a Nazi that has ever been in a position of high power in American history. The same Ashcroft that could only be taken seriously by someone housed in a mental ward.

That the New York Times held this story for over a year is nothing short of apalling. This once well thought of paper has become nothing short of a propaganda machine for the Boosh Administration. From Judith Miller on, its willingness to cover up, deny or bury stories on behalf of Boosh is shameful. They no longer have any more credibility than the newspapers in Iraq that chose to take American taxpayer money from the Booshies to print whatever the administration wanted printed. All of course, in an admireable effort to help "win over the hearts and minds" of the Iraqi people. What once was journalism to the New York Times has become nothing more than an infomercial for the current regime that is running America today.

That is not the most interesting part of this story, however. What is most interesting is who the sources are that have revealed this information. The sources of this information are "current and former officials that have been granted anonymity because of the nature of the program," according to none other than the New York Times, who finally summoned the courage to print the story. These "officials" became concerned about the possible illegality of this activity, and were concerned about the lack of oversight. They also say that Senator Jay Rockefeller, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and an undisclosed judge who oversees intelligence matters had also expressed concern. All of this led the Boosh administration to "temporarily suspend the operation last year and impose more restrictions." The White House is quick to say that this activity is necessary to protect the country, and that they are "confident that existing safeguards are sufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans."

Existing safeguards. Are we to then assume that there were no safeguards in place, nor enough restrictions that would allow for "sufficiently protecting the privacy and civil liberties of Americans," before the temporary suspension of the operation? I would venture to say that the obvious answer to this question is yes. Assuming, then, that the suspension occured last year, it looks like the New York Times chose to allow our privacy and civil liberties to be violated between the suspension of the operation and today. The White House did say that the government eventually asks for warrants if it wanted to include listening to private domestic conversations and the reading of domestic emails of private American citizens. That is big of them, I'd say. And we are just to take their word for it. Just like we do on foiled terror plots, did on Weapons of Mass Destruction, did on our troops being greeted as liberators in Iraq while being handed dozens of roses, did on the connection between Saddam and 9/11, did on Boosh's statement that "anyone leaking Valerie Plame's name to the media would be fired," did on every other lie that this administration has told us in the last 5 years. We are again supposed to take BOOSH AT HIS WORD that our privacy and civil liberties are being guarded by him and his staff? You have got to be kidding me. I choose not to take the word of Boosh or anyone around him on ANYTHING. Just like no one outside of this country takes his word on anything. Now, where is Cyclone going with all of this?

If you recall, I told you a while back that the CIA, particularly ex-CIA officials were at war with this White House. Many scoffed at this idea. Well, scoff no more. The first shot has been fired, and it is a shot that every American who cares about their freedom should pay attention to. Pay attention, because it involves your privacy and what is left of your civil liberties. Yet, the Boosh administration asks you to once again "trust" them. I suggest that you do not do this. As it turns out, this shot was fired over a year ago. The New York Times just chose to wait until now to tell us about it, or maybe they finally got permission once the new restrictions were in place. I do not know who the "anonymous sources" are, those that the New York Times used for this story. But, I can make a highly educated guess.

Cyclone