Political Whispers: A Look Into Today's World of Dark Politics

TERRORISTS AREN’T THE THREAT–OUR GOVERNMENT IS

By Schuyler Thorpe
Author and Political Activist

Thanks to the bastard legislation–known as the Patriot Act–our government is now worse of a threat to our own civil liberties than any terrorist we are supposed to fear like a scared little mouse.

The Bush administration contends that it has the right to spy on us without any legality in place, no checks or balances, no nothing that demands any oversight. (Kinda like the failed war in Iraq right now. Paul Bremer ring a bell?)

Because if they don’t–as Bush claims–Al-Qaeda will rain down hellfire and brimstone down on us.

Well, since the provisions of the Protect America Act had expired 2 weeks ago…nothing has happened.

No attack by Al-Qaeda. No nothing.

Curiously enough, Bush is silent on the matter. Where is his bravado now? Where is his righteousness that spells out all the doom and gloom–if he doesn’t get to spy on us right this very moment?

Funny thing about law: Once it is in place, even an “above the law” President is contend to follow it–even if he doesn’t like it!

So maybe there are some checks and balances left in place–which haven’t been trampled yet by the Bush administration.

But tell that to the FBI.

Turns out they are worse gross violators of the law than the President is. Under secrecy and covert operations, this little outfit has now replaced the “Dirty Harry” of the mob and done away with being an organization which once prided itself with being thorough and fearless.

Through national security letters, it has gone after just about anyone it sees fit–even if they are innocent.

E-mail? Regular mail? Bank records? Everything and anything is fair game to them. It doesn’t matter if you are suspected of being affiliated with Al-Qaeda or not.

The FBI has your number. Quite literally.

Director Robert Mueller says that they’ve done nothing improper and that everything is within the law.

Right.

And this is the reason why the agency violated the law between 2003 and 2006–misusing the national security letter protocols on such levels that it is beyond baffling?

Sure, it’s so easy to blame human error when overzealousness is clearly involved.

In this case–not seen since the McCarthy era–both our own government and the FBI is now treating everyone from every walk of life as the enemy and a distinct threat to the nation as a whole.

Which is why they have been so adamant that we allow them to ignore the laws set forth by past administrations, the canon principles set forth by our own Constitution, and the overall definition of what a democracy should act and function like in the real world.

They need to act above common decency and right–in order to protect us from our own worse fears.

And that…makes them a much bigger threat than any terrorist on the planet.

Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.com

Labels: Al-Qaeda, Bush administration, civil liberties, FBI, illegal spying, Patriot Act, rights

posted by Schuyler Thorpe @ 11:25 AM 0 comments

RUSSIA’S POWER GRAB SHOULDN’T ALARM U.S.

By Schuyler Thorpe
Author and Political Activist

It’s official: Vladimir Putin’s power grab seems–by all accounts–a threat to democracy and the freedom of the press.

But before we start harping on what Russia is doing, maybe we should–instead–take a look at what we are doing to our own country:

Bush and Cheney have made it a point to disregard the powers of the Oval Office since taking the reins in 2001.

In doing so, they have usurped the power of the government, Congress, and the people–in a concentrated (and visible) effort to build themselves an imperial democracy that pretty much runs parallel to something you see in any of George Lucas’s movies.

The Patriot Act was created to destroy many of the protections afforded by the US Constitution. It allows the government to search and seize personal property with any of us knowing.

It also lets the government consider any one of us a threat to the US and its fight for democracy and freedom (commonly known as the war on terror). This in turn let’s the US seize American citizens and charge them as being an “enemy of the state”.

Holding them indefinitely without charge.

Coupled with the illegal spying, media censorship, torture of prisoners (also known in the CIA as “rendition flights”), why is Condoleezza Rice so up at arms over what Putin is doing in his own country?

After all, he pretty much has seen what we’ve done here in the United States.

Why should he have any worry about what we say and do? After all, one only has to look into the infamous history of the Soviet Union during the Cold War–and you will easily see how the US and Russia are now kindred spirits.

A chip off the ol’ block as it were.

It just took 50 years for the U.S. to finally do what the USSR had done for that long: Become a mirror image of its former enemy.

Schuyler Thorpe is an author, a political activist, and a frequent letter writer to The Everett Herald of Snohomish County. He can be reached at: starchildalpha1 at yahoo.com

Labels: Cold War, Constitution, democracy, enemy, George Lucas, illegal detention, illegal spying, imperial presidency, power grab, Russia, Star Wars, unlimited power, US, USSR

posted by Schuyler Thorpe @ 5:32 PM 0 comments