Hi Eschatonians...if you're seeing this, then welcome aboard. Feel free to poke around my Palace of Mopery and Dopery. No Charge.

Peace.

Holy Crap. This is some serious shit, and it's not being talked about much...or I've been sleeping waaaay too long.

The Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at gathering and analyzing intelligence within the United States, creating new agencies, adding personnel and seeking additional legal authority for domestic security activities in the post-9/11 world.

The moves have taken place on several fronts. The White House is considering expanding the power of a little-known Pentagon agency called the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, which was created three years ago. The proposal, made by a presidential commission, would transform CIFA from an office that coordinates Pentagon security efforts -- including protecting military facilities from attack -- to one that also has authority to investigate crimes within the United States such as treason, foreign or terrorist sabotage or even economic espionage.

The Pentagon has pushed legislation on Capitol Hill that would create an intelligence exception to the Privacy Act, allowing the FBI and others to share information gathered about U.S. citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other intelligence agencies, as long as the data is deemed to be related to foreign intelligence. Backers say the measure is needed to strengthen investigations into terrorism or weapons of mass destruction.

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the data-sharing amendment would still give the Pentagon much greater access to the FBI's massive collection of data, including information on citizens not connected to terrorism or espionage.

The measure, she said, "removes one of the few existing privacy protections against the creation of secret dossiers on Americans by government intelligence agencies." She said the Pentagon's "intelligence agencies are quietly expanding their domestic presence without any public debate."
...
In addition, each of the military services has begun its own post-9/11 collection of domestic intelligence, primarily aimed at gathering data on potential terrorist threats to bases and other military facilities at home and abroad. For example, Eagle Eyes is a program set up by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, which "enlists the eyes and ears of Air Force members and citizens in the war on terror," according to the program's Web site.

So with this blog post, on this most American of Holidays...I'll sum this up with a blast from the past.

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

Hermann Goering, Hitler's Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials

2006 Can Not Come Soon Enough.

Yeah, so it's the biggest shopping weekend of the year. I hope everyone has gone out and spent money to support the 1600 Crew initiative of better living through massive debt. No, really. All kidding aside, one of the best gifts this year is coming from the Abu Gonzales Justice Department (how long will that last?), the investigation of the K-Street follies, or "A Bribe By Any Other Name Is Still A Felony"...

An attorney for DeLay, whose wife worked for a lobbying firm that received client referrals from Abramoff, said there was no connection between her work and congressional business. A spokesman for Doolittle, whose wife received payments from Abramoff's lobbying firm, also said there was no connection with her husband's position. Burns's office has said his actions were consistent with his support for improving conditions for Indian tribes.

Oh my, there's more..

Investigators are also gathering information about Abramoff's hiring of several congressional wives, sources said, as well as his referral of clients to Alexander Strategy Group, a lobbying and consulting firm run by former senior aides to DeLay. Financial disclosure forms show that the firm employed DeLay's wife, Christine, from 1998 to 2002.

Ooops. I guess the 1600 Crew and friends are the gift that just keeps on giving, as long as they're gettting. Theirs.

Gotta wonder: if M/M Delay go down, do they get a federal lockup with conjugal facilities...?

I love this. Happy fucking Turkey Day!

Former lobbyist Michael Scanlon's cooperation with U.S. Justice Department lawyers in a conspiracy investigation may help them clear a constitutional hurdle that protects lawmakers from prosecution over official acts.

Scanlon's guilty plea yesterday gives prosecutors a witness who may be able to provide evidence that lawmakers worked to pass legislation in exchange for favors, said Jim Cole, a former attorney with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section. The Justice unit is spearheading the federal probe of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his former associate, Scanlon.

Scanlon's testimony may allow the government to overcome a defense based on the "speech and debate" clause of the Constitution, which protects lawmakers from being prosecuted for legislation they introduce or speeches they make in Congress, Cole and other experts said. Scanlon may be able to testify about deals between lawmakers and lobbyists; such quid pro quos wouldn't be protected by the Constitution.

"The speech and debate clause only prevents you from using a legislative act" as evidence, Cole said. "The agreement is the crime."

Scanlon is a veteran of the Delay and Abramoff shakedown regimes...he knows where the bodies are buried and after seeing his heroes indicted for all kinds of shit and finding himself in the crosshairs next, went for the deal. Smart lad. It'a gonna be interesting to see how many of the republicans who have been such vocal "advocates" for "better gubmint" are dragged off to the hoosegow with Scanlons assistance.

2006 can't get here fast enough, can it?

Holy Crap...now that the Iraqi government has declared open season on Americans (and any furriners) in Iraq, life is about to get more miserable than ever in Mess O'Potamia...no shitsky.

Leaders of Iraq's sharply divided Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis called Monday for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in the country and said Iraq's opposition had a ``legitimate right'' of resistance.

The final communique, hammered out at the end of three days of negotiations at a preparatory reconciliation conference under the auspices of the Arab League, condemned terrorism, but was a clear acknowledgment of the Sunni position that insurgents should not be labeled as terrorists if their operations do not target innocent civilians or institutions designed to provide for the welfare of Iraqi citizens.

It's interesting to see the MSM doing interviews with guys who have returned from Iraq who say that we should stay and "finish the job". I wonder how this will change their perspective. The Iraqi Government, in seeking to attempt to minimize casualties among their countrymen in a war they don't support have given cart blanche to the "evil-doers" to kill everyone else. I guess that none of the brilliant NeoCon Asshats ever heard of the Law of Unintended Consequences...

How's that Strong on National Security thing working out for you now, Ken Mehlman et al? Nice job with the target affixing thing...Asshats.

I love to see this stuff:

The implied critique of Bush frustrates some GOP strategists. Vin Weber, a former House member, says disunity among Republicans is "enormously dangerous" because it threatens the party's traditional advantage as the one voters trust most on national security. "To risk giving that up by splitting with the president over a central national security issue is really betting the family jewels," he says.

Ahhh, I love the smell of republican desperation on Monday mornings...

It's official...he's off the wagon. Our Preznit went out and had one with the boys from Ulan Bator, when he went to Mongolia to Fluff Rummy's horse, Montana. Really...

In the first visit by a sitting US president to Mongolia, George W. Bush announced that he was in Ulan Bator to deliver an "important international message", then after a pause, added: "Secretary Rumsfeld asked me to check on his horse."

His comment got a knowing laugh from the watching Mongolian elite, dominated by officers festooned with gold medals. When Mr Rumsfeld visited Mongolia last month, the defence secretary received a horse as a gift, which he named Montana.
...
Later, Mr Bush watched Mongol warriors on horseback, drank - tentatively - fermented mare's milk, and listened to traditional throat singing.

Try fermented cow's or mare's milk. After a bowl or two, you'll be ready to invade Europe yourself.

Another shocking revelation...Scalito wants more religious interference in our lives. He's firmly in the Crazy Pat Robertson "no wall" Camp.

Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. has compiled a brief but unmistakable record, lawyers and analysts say, that makes him a leader in the camp of conservative theorists and judges who believe federal courts have been too quick to limit religious activities in public life.

During his 15 years sitting in Newark as a member of a federal appeals court, Judge Alito has sided almost uniformly with those who have complained vigorously in recent years that zealousness in enforcing the Constitution's separation of church and state has unfairly inhibited religious practices.
...
He is inclined to the view of the First Amendment that the government is not intended to be hostile to religion," said Douglas W. Kmiec, a law professor at Pepperdine University in California. "It is intended to be accommodating when it can."

Professor Kmiec, a former Justice Department colleague of Judge Alito's, is a leading proponent of the "religious liberty" argument pressed by social conservatives, which advances the view that the Constitution allows for a greater presence of religion in the public sphere than courts have previously allowed. This stream of argument has largely involved issues like prayer at school functions, the display of religious symbols at Christmastime and public financing of programs run by religious groups.

So after all the screaming and yelling was done last week (and that was just on Fox), you have to wonder how the voters are feeling right now about their CongressCriminals...after the Schimdt Stinkbomb on the floor of the House the republicans felt it their duty to however cynically, point out that they are all for keeping their constituents kids over in Mess O'Potamia, while theirs stay safe and sound here on their (or their friends/lobbyists/whatever) payrolls, raising their 2.5 little republican offspring and driving their SUVs in the burbs...

''To cut and run would invite terrorism into our backyards, and no one wants to see troops fighting terrorism on American soil,'' Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Friday night after the House, as planned, rejected a GOP-written resolution for immediate withdrawal. The vote, held as lawmakers rushed toward a two-week Thanksgiving break, was 403-3.

But wait, let's see, that means that there's a disconnect somewhere here...hmmmm....according to some recent polling data, maybe a more honest discussion of these issues might be prudent. Because as stupid as the Washington set seems to think that the Average American is, it seems that they are starting to wake up to the fact that there's no real plan, no ideas, and certainly no honesty from the folks wielding the levers of power about Mess O'Potamia...

"Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the situation in Iraq?" N=1,006, MoE ± 3

11/11-13/05
Approve 35%
Disapprove 63%
Unsure 1%

---

"In view of the developments since we first sent our troops to Iraq, do you think the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, or not?" Form A (N=491, MoE ± 5)

Made a
Mistake 54%

Did Not
Make a Mistake 45%

Unsure 1%

Did I pick a rotten few days to disappear or what? I caught the Howlin' Mad Jean Schmidt shrieking on the floor of the House and was immediately sorry I had given up my laptop ... what a fiasco, eh? Then the republicans making everyone vote all nicey-nicey that so that the Rove Smear machine could target the "recalcitrant" House Members who clearly hate the troops so much that they want to bring them home ... ALIVE.

Jeebus.

1. Welcome
   
2. Welcome to Germany, 1933
   
3. The Gift
   
4. Ha hahahahaha
   
5. Mess O'Potamia News
   
6. You go, boyz....
   
7. Preznit Li'l Nipster
   
8. The Oppressed Christian's Choice
   
9. Consequences
   
10. Wow....!!!!