1984 has arrived, and the terrors that haunted Europe have returned

[DainBramaged]

I never thought in my lifetime I'd see one, let alone two, Presidents who decided our Constitution was toilet paper. I never though I'd see the outright exploitation of our natural resources and environment to the gain of the very very rich. I never thought that those with hate in their hearts would add a new class of people to their hate list, all because those people simply wanted to love each other. And I never thought we were closer to Fascism then we are now.

The overreaching began with the administration's refusal to hold hearings, as called for by the Geneva Conventions, to determine whether captured fighters deserved prisoner-of-war status and with its decision to set aside Army procedures for handling prisoners under those conventions. It extended to the president's assertion that he could designate any American an enemy combatant and lock him up for as long as he chose, without access to counsel or the courts. It includes his claimed right to kidnap people, even inside allied democracies, to transport them anywhere and to hold them as "ghost prisoners," again indefinitely, without allowing the International Committee of the Red Cross any access. Perhaps most shamefully, Mr. Bush has insisted on his right to inflict on detainees treatment that most people would regard as torture. Now added to the list is eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without a warrant. And there is probably more that we don't yet know.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/19/AR2005121901040.html

We HAVE allowed the criminals in this Administration and their enablers in the House and Senate to redefine the words "good citizen" and create a class of people whose only purpose is to obey.

I am scared and sick over what has become of my America. And I fear for my daughter's future in a land where the cameras are everywhere, people with an agenda listen to our conversations, and the super rich are trying to make the middle class the subservient class.

Be afraid. There is probably MUCH more that we don't yet know.

[DainBramaged]

1. And now we know not only the FBI but the Pentagon is spying

on us too;
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10454316/print/1/displaymode/1098/

The DOD database obtained by NBC News includes nearly four dozen anti-war meetings or protests, including some that have taken place far from any military installation, post or recruitment center. One “incident” included in the database is a large anti-war protest at Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles last March that included effigies of President Bush and anti-war protest banners. Another incident mentions a planned protest against military recruiters last December in Boston and a planned protest last April at McDonald’s National Salute to America’s Heroes — a military air and sea show in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Fort Lauderdale protest was deemed not to be a credible threat and a column in the database concludes: “US group exercising constitutional rights.” Two-hundred and forty-three other incidents in the database were discounted because they had no connection to the Department of Defense — yet they all remained in the database.

The DOD has strict guidelines (.PDF link), adopted in December 1982, that limit the extent to which they can collect and retain information on U.S. citizens.

Still, the DOD database includes at least 20 references to U.S. citizens or U.S. persons. Other documents obtained by NBC News show that the Defense Department is clearly increasing its domestic monitoring activities. One DOD briefing document stamped “secret” concludes: “e have noted increased communication and encouragement between protest groups using the nternet,” but no “significant connection” between incidents, such as “reoccurring instigators at protests” or “vehicle descriptions.”