Of Course the Government Abused Its Power

Another name for Big Government Conservativism is Fascism and we're rapidly sliding down that slope. Fortunately, American-style fascism hasn't made "the trains run on time" (witness Katrina, Walter Reed, Iraq), so America likely will survive and recover from the latest assault on the Bill of Rights.

I'm shocked, shocked the FBI is abusing the powers granted to in the abomination known by the Orwellian name "The Patriot Act." Most of the extreme provisions in this bill should have been allowed to sunset per the originial law. However Congress, and especially the spineless Democrats raised few objections to expanding to renewing these provisions and only eliminate some of them.

And now the government is attempting to resurrect the Total Information Awareness system. Of course this time they're getting the private sector to do it for them so they contract for the services instead. [Note: to bring in another of my favorite themes,the original seal for the TIA office prompted many concerns from conspiracy groups about the Masons, Illuminati etc. taking over]. FOr real problems TIA could cause, see here.

Begin Self-Involved Explication

Many of the provisions in the Patriot Act simply gave the FBI the same powers to pursue suspected terrorists that the DEA already possessed for going after potential drug traffickers. On that front these provisions could be considered relatively harmless. One the other hand the War on (Some) Drugs could easily be ended by legalizing most drug consumption, regulating it and putting it in the hands of corporations. This would also result in the defunding of many of the terrorism organizations. I had a really interesting conversation about this at CPAC with a law enforcement officer advocating legalizing drugs for these reasons. For what it's worth, he told me he had a much better reception this year than last.

End Self-Involved Explication.

Democratic Political Corruption in DC

Ok, lots of people keep $90,000 in their freezer. And lots of people use their official office to funnel vast amounts of money to non-profits groups they founded. What's the big deal?

The big deal is that these are both uncommon occurrences. No one with $90,000 in cold cash keeps it in the fridge. If you're going to keep that kind of cash around, you're going to have a wall or giant fireproof safe. Plus, not only having the bribe on tape, but having Congressman William Jefferson joke about evading any FBI investigation does not help Democrats in their quest to tie the corruption issue around the necks of Republicans.

It also doesn't help, that their top member of the Ethics Committee is being investigated for corruption in using his position on the Appropriations Committee to reward his family, friends, supporters and non-profits.

What's likely to happen now that the issue is becoming bi-partisan is that Repubicans can go after Dems for corruption. And there are enough of them that have been lobbyists or engaged in dubious financial issues that Dems could be in for a rough ride. I bet RNC opposition researchers are already looking through annual financial disclosure forms are well as lobbying clients registrations and possible ties to Jack Abramoff.