Bend Over, Congress

So, what do I think about the Democrats getting butt-fucked by Bush? That's easy. They're goddamned cowards. And please don't talk to me about "pragmatism". That's a stale alibi I don't want to hear anymore. As the wise old truism goes, "Don't piss in my face and call it rain." JB knows what's really going on: Do not be mistaken: We are not hurtling toward the Gulag or anything that we have seen before. It will be nothing so dramatic as that. Rather, we are slowly inching, through each act of fear mongering and fecklessness, pandering and political compromise, toward a world in which Americans have increasingly little say over how they are actually governed, and increasingly little control over how the government collects information on them to regulate and control them. Slowly, secretly and imperceptibly, the mechanisms of government surveillance are being freed from methods of political control and accountability; and the liberties of ordinary citizens are being surgically removed under a potent anesthesia concocted from propaganda, fear, ignorance and apathy. Years ago I saw a sneaker commercial where a team of angry, pumped-up, ready-to-take-on-the-whole-damned-world football team was in the locker room before the big game. Just before charging out onto the field, they bellowed, "This is our house! Don't let nobody disrespect it!" But Bush did exactly that this weekend. He disrespected the White House. What's worse, the Democrats stood by like a herd of mute cretins and let him do it. Their gold-plated jockstraps were full of hollow words and empty promises. Don't forget, the White House belongs to us, and the politicians who work there are supposed to take care of the American people because its the job we elected them to do. Spying on our dirty laundry for political leverage isn't going to make us safer. The White House was disrespected, and more of our precious civil liberties were taken away because a bunch of lying, chickenshit millionaires couldn't wait to go on vacation. Shameful. Thanks to Alternative Brain for the head's up.