The Wild Card:

Posted by Brian McLain on 05.12.2006

More than half of Americans surveyed on the streets are happy that phone records are being kept by the NSA and most don’t see a problem with the whole wiretapping deal all together. After all, there are more important things to worry about; like that poor guy who surprisingly got kicked off American Idol and the scandal that is Ashley Simpson’s nose.

(Author's note) I developed The Wild Card with the intent of having an article that will pop up from time to time, rather than a regularly scheduled. It can deal with a flurry of subjects, not just those that are relevant to the current time, and usually they will sound much more…shall we say…unpredictable and passionate as they are my thoughts at the current time with no time to go back and rethink what I have said. In the spirit of a Republic, I choose to let my initial thoughts fly without sugar coating, and without the more gentlemanly tone of previous articles. Many of you should enjoy reading it, I am hoping that many more will choose to respond to my rants and opinions, and build a fire of your own to speak out for what you believe, impromtu and raw.

Rant time…I've had it

Is it so wrong to love America, but despise Americans? I know it is a very general statement but I am sick and tired of the bullshit that is constantly taking place in this country. You have the whiny Liberals who jump up and down crying "Foul!" and the even whinier Conservatives saying they know best and anybody who says otherwise is a doodyhead. I look at the massive amount of crap that this administration, our government, and our media is feeding us ever single day and I simply cannot help but think to myself that the life string of the great American Republic is inching closer to the scissors. The credibility of the media is shot to hell, whether it is national, world, or local. I'm sick of seeing American Idol as front-page news! I'm sick of seeing intricate care being taken in the exclusive investigation of whether Ashley Simpson got a nose job! I'm sick of the issue jumping that the media takes in attempting to explain Bush's dying popularity, when in fact we have to count on retired CIA agents to ask the administrative personnel the hardball questions and a guy who runs a comedy show to browbeat that bow-tie wearing, CNN piece of shit into admitting he and his media buddies are NOT DOING THEIR JOB! Meanwhile, those who I have dubbed the "First branch of government", the people of this great nation, have no problem with putting a federal muzzel on the press because they talk about too much depressing stuff, and in a recent poll, has no problem with the NSA collecting phone data on THEM!

I'm all for a free forum, but I must warn you if I hear one son-of-a-bitch write me and tell me "Well if I'm not doing anything illegal I don't have to worry about it" I'm will not be responsible for any level of vulgarities I will use in responding to you. Why leave the government to determine what is suspect and what is not? Why chance that the government will view your innocent calls to Egypt to a friend as not pertaining to terrorist activities? Why the hell do you trust our government so much to make the right choices, when anybody you talk to will tell you that the government is not to be trusted and the opposite of progress is congress? It is ignorant and wrong, and the people who through this crap out of the wrong end make me sick. Of course anybody actually reading this will actually remember things such as the "Red Scare", in which people were thrown in front of congressional panels to be publicly berated for Communist ties, regardless of how loose those strings might be attached. This would effectively ruin the suspect's life, despite being acquitted or "cooperating". Further anybody who is reading this has probably read such classics are "1984" and "Animal Farm", among others.

Look, I remember, back in the day (and by that I mean the 80's), all the horrible stories I heard about the communist USSR. Their government would lock people up in prisons without access to council or their families for years, just for making their political views conspicuous. The Soviet citizens would have their phones and homes tapped without consent or warrant, the country spying on its own citizens. You are either a compliant citizen, or an enemy of the state. My friends, this is starting to sound very familiar. Ol' Ron Reagan is turning in his grave about now. While I don't see the adoption of a communist economic system, I do see a very totalitarian path the U.S. is taking and some people just don't care unless Kerry or Kennedy open their damn mouths to tell them that it's bad. Think for your damn selves and understand the consequences of the actions being taken. For now we can still turn the tide through the power granted to us by the Constitution, but eventually we will reach a point where there will be no easy way to get back that which we threw away for security, safety, and piece of mind. Be like this guy, who searches for corporate responsibility in this NSA garbage. Go out and understand that the administration is constantly contradicting itself such as Bush's statement:

"Our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qaida and their known affiliates," Bush said. "We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans."

At the same time with an official, for the record statement by the new CIA leader LIEUTENANT GENERAL MICHAEL V. HAYDEN:

"I have met personally with prominent corporate executive officers. (One senior executive confided that the data management needs we outlined to him were larger than any he had previously seen). [...] And last week we cemented a deal with another corporate giant to jointly develop a system to mine data that helps us learn about our targets."

(Thank you for KOZ for providing the links to those quotes).

Stop letting the administration prove that you are stupid! Stand up and call bullshit!

I'm done, your turn!