Build Date: Fri Sep 18 06:32:23 2026 UTC
God bless the drunks and the children, and the United States of America.
-- Mark Twain
Andre the Giant Has A Posse Comitatus
2002-04-18 13:20:38
Donald Rumsfield has stated that the creation of a military command whose sole mission is to defend American territory will not erode legal limits on using federal troops inside U.S. Borders. Please note that the federal government has an exciting way of using the word "not." Some fun examples: Income tax will be a temporary 2% tax and will *not* remain after it is needed, Social Security Numbers will *not* be used to uniquely identify and track U.S. Citizens, the recently created and disbanded military Department of Lying to the Press will *not* be used to lie to the press, and Census information is confidential and will *not* be handed over to law enforcement agencies for pursuing individuals. Not. I love that word.
Pardon me if I seem cynical. Why would I feel that way?
Could it be that recently the federal government has been making a routine of overriding state's rights to put the National Guard under federal control in cases of domestic need, wresting their use away from local governors in frequent "Title 10" invocations?
Could it be that this whole thing is hitting my fragile and redundant brain on the same day as I find out that the White House is considering subcontracting "e-government" rights to Microsoft and their miserable Passport technology?
Could it be that the more the press talks about homeland security and the constant overseas threat, the less anyone hears about Enron and other government-for-auction sellout scandals? Does anyone doubt that? I would love it if someone could mail me and tell me "No, the White House doesn't take military actions as a smokescreen for corruption flack!".
Could it be that the process of assigning new powers to the federal government is sticky? Um, that came out wrong. What I meant was, sticky like once you turn over the power, it's hard to get it back.
Could it be that I'm secretly an Anti-Federalist? Not so secret, I guess, but didn't that party sort of fade away a century or two ago?
Could it be that this is the first step in some kind of totalitarian nightmare? Absolutely not. This is far from the first step.
SWEET GEORGIA BROWN!
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