EVEN MORE BIG BROTHER CRAP

Just last night [http://thepete.com/more-big-brother-crap/|I blogged on more big brother crap]. Well, check this clip out from [http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060508/8homeland.htm|an article] at USNews.com from the May 8, 2006 issue of US News and World Report:

In the Atlanta suburbs of DeKalb County, local officials wasted no time after the 9/11 attacks. The second-most-populous county in Georgia, the area is home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FBI's regional headquarters, and other potential terrorist targets. Within weeks of the attacks, officials there boasted that they had set up the nation's first local department of homeland security. Dozens of other communities followed, and, like them, DeKalb County put in for--and got--a series of generous federal counterterrorism grants. The county received nearly $12 million from Washington, using it to set up, among other things, a police intelligence unit.

The article is huge, but the gist of it is that local cops are spying on ordinary citizens. This is wrong, period. Welcome to the literal police state, folks.

[ThePhlog] 5/02/2006 06:32:25 PM

--
Posted by ThePete to ThePhlog at 5/02/2006 06:32:25 PM

PREPARING FOR THE PETROCALYPSE

Is peak oil real? Is it not? Well, regular visitors of ThePete.Com (all 1500 of you) probably know which way I'm leaning. Regardless of where you fall, I think it's fun to consider the worst, or the best, depending on your point of view.

The folks (including me) over at the Peak_Oil LJ community have put together a very interesting thread of opinions on what's going to happen once the we have Petrocalypse Now. Check out the thread here:

http://community.livejournal.com/peak_oil/395819.html

It make for an interesting read.

Otis the Elevator for May 2, 2006

BUSH DISLIKES 100s OF LAWS

WILL SOMEONE IMPEACH THIS GUY, PLEASE!?!?

The Boston Globe reports in [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/|an April 30, 2006 article] at Boston.Com that:

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

ARG!! THIS MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL!!

It's not the job of the guy in the White House to interpret the Constitution!! That' the job of the SCOTUS, you FUCKING TYRANT!

You don't get to decide which laws you have to follow and which ones you don't, either!

Here's more from the article:

Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research.

Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.

HOLY CHRIST.

This is proof that Bush has betrayed the public trust.

Hell, if he's going to decide which laws he's got to follow and which ones he isn't, based on the concept that "all men are created equal" I can decide which laws I'm going to follow and which ones I won't. Hm, that liquor store around the corner from me looks like it needs to be knocked over...

Be right back!

Thanks be to TP.C reader Morgan for pointing me at this story.

Ballpoint Adventures for May 2, 2006

MORE BIG BROTHER CRAP

Huzzah! Looks like the US government has been spying on us again!

The following comes to us from [http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060428/D8H99DSG1.html|an April 28, 2006 article] from AP.org and MyWay.Com:

The FBI secretly sought information last year on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents from their banks and credit card, telephone and Internet companies without a court's approval, the Justice Department said Friday.

It was the first time the Bush administration has publicly disclosed how often it uses the administrative subpoena known as a national security letter, which allows the executive branch of government to obtain records about people in terrorism and espionage investigations without court approval.

Friday's disclosure was mandated as part of the renewal of the Patriot Act, the administration's sweeping anti-terror law.

The FBI delivered a total of 9,254 NSLs relating to 3,501 people in 2005, according to a report submitted late Friday to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate. In some cases, the bureau demanded information about one person from several companies.

This is so awesome because during the ten years I was aware of the Cold War, I never once was aware of this kind of abuse of government power. Now that we're "under attack" from a terrorist force that numbers in the whopping thousands (as opposed to the Soviet threat which was a liiittle bit bigger) I totally have no problem with the idea that because I might have donated money to a group that turned out to be funnelling funds to Palestine, I could be investigated for terror ties and spied on without my knowledge in violation of my rights--weeeeee!

Yes that was a run on sentence and no, I have never donated any money to a Palestinian cause or any other cause. Though I did give $20 to John Edwards' presidential campaign, though I don't think he counts as a terrorist.

The 5 Minute Show Episode 18

This week, SiSi takes over the helm once again and brings us an interview with a nun that will make you think twice about refusing to convert.

t5ms20060501.mp4

It's a 15.04MB mp4 and it's ready to ROCK!

Oh, we're going to hell all right. Of course, I'm already there! (Watch last week's ep if you don't believe me...)

Otis the Elevator for May 1, 2006

WHITE HOUSE AGAINST KATRINA INVESTIGATION

Big surprise.

Check this headline and blurb then click on it for more:

[http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1146206397171040.xml|Lieberman says White House stonewalled storm probe]
Struggles for records, interviews are cited
Friday, April 28, 2006
By Bill Walsh
Washington bureau

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., accused the White House on Thursday of not only failing to cooperate with the Senate's Hurricane Katrina investigation, but of telling key federal agencies not to turn over documents that he said could have shed light on the botched federal response to the nation's worst natural disaster.

Wow, the Bush administration not cooperating with an investigation that could damn them all to hell.

I can't believe it...

/sarcasm