Fear Factor Friday Fails

The House, surprisingly had some balls and decided not to roll over to Bush's demands for once. 

"Without that immunity, it would be unreasonable to expect the telecommunications firms to continue providing the NSA with their records, as, indeed, one company already has stopped doing."

This is the type of trash fear mongering republican die-hards want you to believe, without question. This type of statement relies on multiple fallacys -

1 - If the NSA followed the law/ the Constitution / everything America is founded on, telecommunication companies would be forced to comply. Qwest Communications, the only telecom company to not comply with government requests chose not to, because the government did not move through the proper channels. Protecting, or at least validating America's constitution does not equal destroying America. The bill of rights exists for a reason.

2- Not providing retroactive telecommunications immunity means nothing for the national safety of America. Allowing a neutral party to review the argument of legality is the entire reason of the court system. Checks and balances are key to American justice. Entirely removing this option is another step towards American oligarchy.

3 - The fear mongering will wish you to think that America would crumble without immunity legislation. 

President Bush "At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning new attacks on our country. Their goal is to bring destruction to our shores that will make September the 11th pale by comparison. There is really no excuse for letting this critical legislation expire" - this, ironically while President Bush refuses to sign an extension to the current FISA law. In other words, Bush is saying this is critical legislation for our national security that he will not sign, because it could allow a well-informed court to decide the legality. 

Invoking the smokey scream filled picture of 9-11 is a common "point" of argument, even though it has been discovered that the Bush administration begun subverting the FISA court prior to 9-11. Also crucial to note - the original FISA law (and court) still stands, allowing the surveillance of "targets" with a warrant from the FISA court... which can occur before or after surveillance actually begins. In other words, Bush says protecting Americans rights is too much paperwork, and the last thing he wants is an audit.

Hillary Clinton sucks balls.

"If you believe that we need to have reality as opposed to rhetoric about what we get from from our next president, then I need you to (believe my rhetoric and) go to those caucuses tomorrow and stand up for me!"

P.S., that's really all I got as to why I could be a better pick, a speech about how my opponents speech is too speechy.

Import Ignorance

The $ continues to fall compared to the rest of the world's currency, and no matter where you get your news, there is always the reporting of the silver lining. This being that as the dollar falls, exports increase. This is true, but it's like saying the New Orleans's floods increased your ability to ship away valuables by boat.

Economics is not that complicated unless you want it to be. Americans worth is continuing to slide in comparison to the rest of the world. At the shipping dock, the thousands of containers are leaving America full and coming back empty. We are taking less and giving more.

The American superpower is not a given.