DOJ / FBI/ CARNIVORE / Misc. SURVEILLANCE PEOPLE: Please note the following Official DOJ Paranoia Notice, AKA constitutional "disclaimer" and "claimer";

I realize you have a job to do, and I am glad you have a job that is probably really well paid, with great benefits. As someone who has been having a lot of trouble getting work for 2 years, I realize how important that is.

I know that many of you are truly motivated to protect America. Nevertheless, as you do your job, please note that NOTHING I am saying here means I support terrorists or terrorism.

I don't have any money to spare for a lawyer, and I don't want to be investigated, harassed or arrested. But I do want to speak my truth, which is my right as a US citizen. At least, I was led to believe that in the past. Maybe you changed the law on that and it's no longer true? I am not sure, because since 9-11, I haven't heard any of you in government really speak up for that right. (Hint: I hear it's in the first amendment, US constitution!)

On the other hand I have heard John Ashcroft pontificate about being careful about what you say. As he rounded up thousands of people and held them incommunicado in jails around the country without access to lawyers for months. So, even though some of you may consider me a disgusting liberal who won't make the cut in the Rapture, maybe you can understand why i feel a certain amount of uncertainty my rights under our present government and need for an official DOJ Paranoia "Dis-claimer" / "Claimer"?

My truth is that I am outraged by this administration and what I see as its arrogance, lies, deceptions and hidden agendas. I am disgusted by its policies and the results of those policies in enriching the rich, impoverishing the poor, polluting the environment, and attacking other countries on phony grounds, in complete disregard for the rest of the world.

I object to all violence, whether perpetrated by people with a grudge against Americans, British, Irish, Iraqi, Palestinian, Israelis or anyone else. That includes acts based on hateful, misguided Islamic, Christian, Jewish or political thinking. I object to the misuse of government power and the lies that are told to support such abuses.

I am a patriot who opposes the USA Patriot Act. I don't feel protected by your prosecutions in secret. I don't feel safer with the government arresting people and holding them without access to lawyers for months. (No. I feel a lot more afraid. My risk of experiencing an attack from a terrorist is a lot less than the risk of my rights being infringed by my own government's policies.) You should be extending the rights of US citizens--that is the appropriate response to terrorists who want to destroy America--not restricting them.

As a separate, but related issue: I don't agree that Bush should have the right to order the CIA to kill people secretly.

I don't believe your arguments in favor of the powers you seek to preserve in the Patriot Act, or the additional powers you seek in a new extension of the Patriot Act.

You don't need more powers. This administration needs to do a better job with those it had before 9-11. If it did an effective job, the WTC would still be standing now, because the CIA knew that the leaders of 9-11 were in the US. And the FBI had serious leads that were not followed up on. Talk to Colleen Rowley again. Put her in charge. And give the rest of us a break.

You would do well to read the newspapers. They don't give a lot of intelligence information, but if you read them you'll find enough truth to expose a lot. For example, Condoleezza Rice said for many months after 9-11 that no one expected terrorists to fly airplanes into buildings. But I had read about such worries in the press long before 9-11. And guess what, the congressional inquiry found that you guys had known about such plans since 1994. So it seems you don't read even your own briefings let alone the newspapers. That is a shame, and any one with any honor would resign after such an admission of negligence. But i have given up expecting any honor from you.

I don't trust you. I believe you have a hidden agenda, and that is what you are really pursuing. The "war on terror" is being used as a smokescreen. There are elements that are necessary, but overall my sense is that you are using it for your own purposes, not to protect us from terrorism. The Patriot Act is a case in point. And a great example of totalitarian doublespeak.

I would expect totalitarian dictatorships such as North Korea, the Soviet Union or China to use spurious, ideological arguments to hide the reality of its actions, mis-lead their peoples and motivate them to attack others. And I would expect my government to oppose such actions, reveal the truth of such corruption, and to help those who were oppressed.

It disgusts me that this administration or any "elected" government would use the most serious terrorist attacks on this country to further abuse the American people by undermining the constitution that it swore on the bible to defend, and to advance its prior agenda--all justified by the fears that terrorists created in the American people on 9-11, and their congressional representatives.

That puts this administration, astonishingly, on the same side as the terrorists in acting AGAINST America--whether you see that or not--like ghouls, waving the bodies of innocent, murdered people to scare people, in order to get your way.

To the administration I want to say: your "way" is a very narrow way indeed, which benefits only a very small minority of very wealthy people in the US. Those are the people who you care about. Because they give you power. And power is what you deserve. After all you're the chosen ones, right?

Yes, you are as transparent as that.

You seem to think you are Robin Hoods. Justified in stealing to give to those who need help. But Robin Hood is celebrated because he stole from the RICH and gave to the POOR. Remember?

It hasn't escaped notice that you hide your thefts from the poor and middle income people. You put out misleading calculations and numbers that make it seem like you are giving everyone a tax break. Too bad if they only pay payroll taxes, because their incomes are so low. Those millions of people are so lucky that they don't need a tax break. And giving any relief to them wouldn't stimulate the economy, in your Alice in Wonderland world.

In anyone else's world, the greedy rich already have enough. They don't need much more from the government. And I am claiming my rights under the constitution to express that, and anything else that seems to be true to me.

So stop reading my blog and my email. Go and find some terrorists. OK? They may be in Montana, planning to attack the Sheriff. They may be in Michigan with the militia's. They may be living with FBI agents/informers, such as some of the 9-11 hijackers were. Remember that?

And the next time you go invading a country where we have no business going with the world's most powerful armed forces, please be sure to think through the consequences. American soldiers' lives depend on it.

This is the end of my DOJ Paranoia Disclaimer / Claimer. The end of my citizen's rant. Thank you for reading this. You can go back to your work now.

P.S. Let's put an end to all these wars we declare. Jesus did tell us clearly to, "love thy enemies," and I believe that's one of the most important parts of the bible. He didn't tell us to go to war when we were attacked. He said to turn the other cheek.

I am not expecting you to turn the other cheek, but let's seek love in our own hearts--and in the process we'll probably find out how we are at war within ourselves--and treat each other more lovingly. God knows, as human beings we need all the help we can get.

Let's create a vision that empowers everyone, and develop policies that will make it happen. That will create security for us. That would be a worthy way to spend the defence budget.

- posted by geoff @ #