It is just astounding to me that these arch conservatives in the Republican rank and file, who never trust the government and call everyone who does Pinko Commies, are now giving a standing ovation to the people in government who are turning America into a shadow of the Soviet Police state.

These people are either the biggest flip floppers, the most gullible fools or both in the history of America.

Didn't Ronald Reagan say the scariest words he could ever hear are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help?" Aren't all the justifications for this illegal behavior saying just that?

Is one a "kook" to think that with so much outright lawbreaking going on and the extent of the surveillance- that inforamtion gleened from such operations has been used against politicians and others by various factions in the government? Is is "kooky" to think that DC's myriad intelligence branches are at the behest or under the control of different factions and that they war among each other- like Soviet factions used to- using secret police tactics against one another? Is it out of the realm of possibility that dissidents like Scott Ritter for just one example- were set up for an internet sting to discredit them? Is that "kooky?"

How can we be sure that our politicians are not being coerced in all manner of ways under the existence of such a surveillance regime? What can we be sure of?

The Stone age era...~?~

For the Paleolithic hunter 10-to-12,000 years ago, the reindeer was an extremly important source of survival.

Meat, hides, sinew, and bones for tools.

The association with humans actually happened.

There is a history of domestication of species.

In the beginning the 'other' may be viewed as another to kill. Men hunt to kill still, and cloud the true meaning intent-steal.

Reindeer and humans migrate. Later, the beast reindeer were milked and cheese was manufactured. The beast will pull sleds, carry burdens (timber, stones, and foods slaughtered to other villages et.,).

A animal can be made to wear a saddle. Reindeer were used as beast of burdens in the first millenuim BC. Children in harsh times received milk by sucking at the does utters.

Are we just dumb? Are we outguessing the herds? There are wolves in human form devouring who they can manipulate and devour? It's a harsh enviroment? always.

We can't put all our eggs in a linguistic basket!

The computer age may not always be here. Who hinted?

And I have to agree!

Rindeer may not be on DC's or NYC's dining menue...yet...

I did eat Bison with some very friendly Canadians last week in Kentucky. It was braised, and brown, and I still can't believe I ate Bison. The Hospitable Ontario'ans were fabulous fun.

We had wine and whined. A elder eightish old geezer picked up the tab. He insisted. Thank him Mary and Robb again, okay?

HERE:

All I'm trying to say is we best not be skinny-stick figures...But the human-form of flesh and blood, bone, sinue, heart, and liver. It is best not be too arrogant. Or, a grown-up Mr/Mrs. smarty-pants!

As anoymous said a few days ago---Let's get some sinew-gut and catch some whiskered cat-bottom-feeder fish? Worms? okay.

The times are complex. If we survive the days intact...A future generation may thank us 'critters' who yearn for democracy, freedoms, liberty...and speak up while we still got a human tongue to implore a demand some reverence, and respect...Speak the Truth as we can perceive it.

That would be a major humble accomplishment and baby step forward?

I believe it.

One day, and one step at a time.

Remain cautious,

mindful too so we don't get made to be war-fodder or premature darn dumb dead.

Glenn, you rightly state that free speech is thriving in the United States, that Americans elect their leaders and that personal autonomy in private life remains substantial. But these rights now exist at the sufferance of the power elite, not as a matter of basic, inalienable constitutional legal right. We are one presidential decree away from the knock on the door at midnight by governmental authorites to silence those troublesome to the regime. We are almost back to the reality of the Tudor and early Stuart monarchs: the wrath of the prince is death!

As you write in today's post, Congress is complicit in these developments, but so are the Courts. For example, the decisions on the issue of standing and the common law doctrine of state secrets render it virtually impossible to litigate the legality of governmental actions in the public interest of maintaining the constitutional order. If I am wrong about this, please correct me.

Reform is needed. America needs a truly conservative president who believes in the enlightenment principles of John Locke and the political philosophy of Edmund Burke so as to reverse the trend towards executive branch authoritarianism you so ably document in your writings. Unfortunately, Bruce Fein is not running, but Mike Huckabee is.

Henry IV of France, on deciding to convert to Catholicism in the midst of the religious wars in that country, said that Paris was worth a mass. It is wise to elect a conservative presidential cndidate with tradtionalist social conservative views so as to restore constitutional government to America.

Help us Obi-wan Huckabee, you are our only hope.

My request. Pick up that baby. Don'y hug to hard. Hug a baby bear hug for me? A hug just firm enoughto burp some coagulated cottage cheese on you and grandma and grandpa. RMP wth grandsons needs some white yogurt on the shoulder. And blessing to you and that lucky "hubby" ...as you call him...Good to hear your I guess.

a belly,

button,

now normal,

a' probably breast feeding.

Sigh. Yawn. Goo, gaw, gee.

I feel very happy to read.

What is it about right wing authoritarians that they choose the most powerful elements in society, in this case telecom behemoths and black budget spy agencies, and get all weepy about their "rights" being endangered?

With their legions of lawyers and government-sanctioned monpolies, the telecoms hardly need to be excused from legal standards that date back to the Magna Carta, simply to scoop up more taxpayer money by establishing themselves as government spies.

Further, any government that wastes time and money spying on its citizens is clearly not doing its job; such massive, undifferentiated piles of personal data serve no purpose other than to remind citizens that they have no rights and therefore must, as Ari Fleischer revealingly put it, "watch what they say, and watch they do."

The rights of such powerful entities is not now and was not ever in danger, and the bill of rights was intended to limit the inherent tendencies to abuse this kind of power.

I would like to remind you, Shooter, that Bush was directly warned by our supposedly "blind" intelligence agencies that Sept. 11 was going to happen and he did absolutely nothing. Any fool could have read that Aug. 6 PDB and chosen, at a minimum, to beef up airport security. He did nothing.

What, other than blind hero worship, makes you think that he would do any more this time around? After all, Sept. 11 was the best thing ever, for him, anyway.

Vastly increasing the volume of data collected will never make us safer, particularly with the Keystone Kops in power, nor is it intended to.

It's simply fear-based another power grab, and you're a classic example of how effective it is.

Even though you would find a way to rationalize it away if Dick Cheney himself were listening on your extension in the next room, the only reason you haven't heard anything about eavesdropping is because the government has flatly defied courts, congress, and anyone else legally entitled to the information, and declared it none of your business.

I'm glad you like it that way.