Thursday, May 17, 2007

True paranoia

Originally a comment on Crooks and Liars.

The U.S. Constitution is no longer in force. The rule of law is only for the little people like us.

Comey was impressive for his visible conscience, for his care for the law, and for his concern for John Ashcroft as a defender of America. We are in really deep shit if Ashcroft is our best defender. It just goes to show that there are no depths the Bushists won't stoop to.

The Bushists are undoubtedly data mining all our phone conversations, emails, and blog postings. I don't have direct evidence, only the persistent evasion about illegal wiretapping. Is there any law they won't violate with the flimsiest, most patronizing rationale?

The job the Congressional Democrats face is unpleasant. They must provoke enough outrage in ordinary American sheeple that the fascists in the Executive will take off the gloves. And that's really a suicide mission; they won't even have the Magna Carta left to protect their cushy positions in the old order.

The upside of this is that it might be the quickest way to get the troops home from Iraq. Small upside given that they would come home to suppress democracy. Or maybe it would be safer for the White House to hire Blackwater and leave the disgruntled soldiers in al Anbar.

We may think we're anonymous, but they have enough computing power and data to associate "lovable liberal" to my meatworld identity. They know who we are, and we'll be among the first arrests. Mitt Romney's double Gitmo won't be nearly large enough. See you in the gulag; we'll trap rats together for dinner.

It was a good 212-year run for the old Constitution and a good 210-year run for the old Bill of Rights. Flawed though they are, what comes next will be worse.