"The Republican victory in the battle for the U.S. Senate could produce dramatic payoffs for the Bush administration on a variety of vital issues, including homeland security, the federal budget and dozens of judicial appointments."

[Read article]

Commentary: So lessee, now the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches are dominated by the GOP/Conservative wing of the statist bird. While the left wing of the same bird contributes to reductions of freedoms as much as the right, sometimes they bicker over trivia...like which freedoms should be eliminated first...and slow enacting of stupid legislation to a crawl (a good thing). Now there will be a smooth, fast ride into whatever vision of the future 'ol Dub and the masters on the other end of that hand up his ass have. Excuse me while I play "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC.

"The White House withheld North Korea's admission about a nuclear weapons program from key Democrats until after Congress had passed its resolution authorizing war with Iraq, prompting complaints on Capitol Hill that the administration has let politics influence its conduct of foreign affairs."

"Senators are concerned and troubled by it," a Democratic leadership aide said. "This cloud of secrecy raises questions about whether there are other pieces to this puzzle they don't know about."

[Read article]

Commentary: Need to know, boys, need to know. W knows a lot about that, trust him. No sense confusing the Congress with developing crises until they resolve his favorite one first. Now that he has the legislative green light to wage war without a formal declaration (even though I think not even Congress should be able to waive that part of the process), they can move on to discuss yet another situation they won't do anything about.

Not that Bush deserves most of the blame for North Korea's "nukular" program, Clinton decided to give them nuclear technical assistance when they promised they wouldn't make bombs. Bush does deserve heat for not withdrawing it upon his election. Communist police states are just as worthy of trust as capitalist ones, imagine that.

"This plan, incorporating projects selected from the attached suggestions, or from other sources, should be developed to focus all efforts on a specific ultimate objective which would provide adequate justification for US Military Intervention. ..."

"The terror campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the United States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans en route to Florida (real or simulated). We could foster attempts on lives of Cuban refugees in the United States even to the extent of wounding in instances to be widely publicized. Exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots, the arrest of Cuban agents and the release of prepared documents substantiating Cuban involvement also would be helpful in projecting the idea of an irresponsible government."

[Read Now-Unclassified Document (PDF -- Adobe Acrobat Reader Required)]

Commentary: This is the infamous "Northwoods Document" where the Pentagon goes over whether using US forces to covertly run a terror campaign to get the fear going and justify invading Cuba would be worth the trampling on law and Constitution. Section 4 near the end encompasses this specifically, but the other sections are equally wrong.

This kind of planning by the "Joint Chiefs" (wonder what they were smoking) is what fuels conspiracy theories by proving that no matter what someone accuses the government of doing, chances are they are doing something as bad or worse. What's going on today? You don't want to know, and if they told you, they'd have to kill you.

"The head of the National Security Agency said last week that Congress might want to aim the most powerful surveillance system in the world at American citizens."

"Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, in a rare public appearance before the Senate Intelligence committee, said the ongoing terrorist threat means America needs to debate where to draw the line between foreign and domestic surveillance. Currently the NSA is prohibited from spying domestically."

[Read article]

Commentary: The NSA already spies on domestic citizens, just not officially. Officially, all they do now is suggest who to spy on here to our allies like the UK who all share the "Echelon" intercept infrastructure. Then the allied agents pass on the data they collect to the NSA, who are often in the same room at the time. Convenient. My guess is that if they can "officially" do it, they can cut out the supposed allied countries entirely, making them fair game for future intelligence projects and congressional budget appropriations. If that doesn't work, they are mulling over making a new domestic spy agency like Britain's MI5 (Toby Harnden - 10/31/02 - www.telegraph.co.uk). I wonder if some of the gung-ho guys from the ATF would transfer in if they could get "Double-0" numbers (IQs don't count). Boy these guys are working hard to find more things to do since the Soviets cashed out. We found the enemy and they is us.

"The first 100,000 people who register, and all qualified company shareholders, will get $50 off if they are implanted with the company's VeriChip. "

" The company, which had previously marketed VeriChip as a device for customers to keep track of medical records, now said it markets the microchip as a holder of personal information for security purposes."

[Read article]

Commentary: Step right up and be the first one in your neighborhood to get the VeriChip from the caring people at Applied Digital Solutions (are they final solutions? Enquiring minds want to know.) Thing that bugs me most about these guys is that the Feds like them so much they waived the normal FDA regulations for implanted medical devices (Julia Sheeres -- WIRED -- 10/23/02). When was the last time the Feds made anything easier for anyone unless it meshed with what they wanted to accomplish anyway?

If this becomes as mandatory as the Socialist Insecurity Card, you will need it to buy and sell, travel, identify yourself anywhere they ask for it and get medical attention. Come on down! You too can be the next contestant on "The Price (of slavery) is Right (freedom and privacy)."

"...a recent amendment to the Senate's Homeland Security bill seems all the more ominous. The amendment, offered by Orrin Hatch, was based on a bill passed in the House on July 15 just before the August recess called the Cyber Security Enhancement Act, or CSEA. Introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith, who brought us Patriot's computer surveillance language, CSEA, if passed, would make it even easier for government agents to get your electronic records, without a warrant and without telling you."

[Read article]

Commentary: Not very PATRIOT-ic if you ask me. The Fourth Amendment seems deader than a carload of Al-Qaeda yahoos in Yemen. "Warrant? WARRANT?? We don' need no steeeenking warant!" The rest of the Bill of Rights doesn't look too healthy either.