Thanks to everyone who fought the good fight.
patriotboy | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 4:18 am | #

WTF? What happened to this Country? Who's gonna save us now?

General Sir! It can't be this bad, can it?
Meanwhile I'm hiding under the bed with my C-rations and my inner frenchmen.
sleepyinsaudi | 09.29.06 - 4:18 am | #

general, now that your glorious revolution is complete, will you assume command of our Christian nation?
secaucus | 09.29.06 - 4:22 am | #

Thank You Bush and the Republican Party!
Osama Bin Laden | 09.29.06 - 4:22 am | #

At least in the old days we just whupped them slaves and raped the women, [sniff], we weren't so crass as to spell it out in a law. Heavens! Even the Fugitive Slave Act didn't describe what we'd do to the poor rascals, sir -- that was simply understood amongst gentlemen.

Indeed: ave, atque, vale, USA -- Hail and Farewell. Sorry, Ben, we just couldn't "keep it."
brachiator | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 4:29 am | #

As long as we're rewriting the values our nation has so long held dear (from liberty and justice to tyranny and oppression), perhaps we must also rewrite our songs. My humble submission:

America the Beautiful

My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty tyranny,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the Pilgrim's torturer's pride!
From every mountain side,
Let freedom screams of the tortured ring!
Karl | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 4:30 am | #

Monsieur Colbert explains:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAJSHXMZZD8
[3 minute video]
L'etat, c'est moi | 09.29.06 - 4:31 am | #

When I was little, the nuns told us that the end of the world may come in our lifetime, so we must always stay alert. This must have been what they were talking about.
blondesense | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 4:37 am | #

I listen to all the songs on my computer with darkness in the title.
I am 50 years old and so weary of these assholes ron raygun lair union
buster george sr nwo bastard.
now jr never did anything but fuck shit up and let someone else get him a get out of jail free card.
He has done it yet again.
Bill Irvin | 09.29.06 - 4:42 am | #

What's the problem? You have nothing to worry about if you haven't done anything wrong.
Born Too Loose | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 4:47 am | #

"We have met the enemy and he is us." -Walt Kelly
JayArra | 09.29.06 - 4:52 am | #

I'm so sorry for your loss. But your legacy lives on, just in other countries.
raincoaster | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 5:11 am | #

It was fun while it lasted. Most of the time.
The Venerable Ed | 09.29.06 - 5:17 am | #

And the VAST majority of Americans, going about their busy day, haven't the slightest inkling.

They don't even realize their beloved country was murdered.

Oh. Senator Nelson of Florida: Fuck you, you fucking fuck.

(How does one say that in French?)
Vicki | 09.29.06 - 5:27 am | #

Let Etats-Unis: Quelle dommage!
smitty werbenmanjensen | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 5:33 am | #

Er, that's "Les Etats-Unis."
smitty werbenmanjensen | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 5:36 am | #

Monsieur Nelson d'Etat Florida, fuckez vous.
St. Patrick | 09.29.06 - 5:38 am | #

Thank you, General. Of the major French blogs, yours is the only one to pay the proper attention to this, and the only one to react to its horror in the appropriate proportion. Kos is obviously bored by the whole thing, Atrios seems to be paying lip service, FDL can't turn off the snark for 10 seconds, etc. The worst thing we can do is pretend this whole thing never happened.
Partch | 09.29.06 - 5:39 am | #

It was flawed from the inception, though few recognized it in our era, and it was bound to end in time, if not in the first civil war then in a second.

You cannot establish a constitution that provides for freedom and inequality at the same time and expect anything but conflict.

Those who have the unequal advantage will protest and ultimately subvert everything to maintain their power, and they have done so.

Now what? Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
whig | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 5:41 am | #

OK-- 2 of the 3 branches are beyond redemption. Is there any possibility that the Supremes can save us from this latest horror?
Daryl Cobranchi | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 6:01 am | #

"America,
I have something to say.
It's better to burn out, than to fade away!"
-Shrub

Some have compared this to the Fugitive Slave Act, Alien Sedition Law, and the treatment of the Cherokee, and while those were bad, this is oh so much worse. Our current empire was built on the moral foundations that we fought for in WWII, and to shit can in so openly, to just wave our pricks in front of the rest of the world and tell 'em to suck it if they don't like it, to so emphatically emaciate what few crumbs of moral credibility we have left to cop a few votes in order to keep an invidious majority is beyond mind-boggling.

How many people here think that the government should register and/or seize our guns now? Anyone? Anyone?
Bueller?

I turn my back on any Democrat who voted for this travesty. To them, all I have to say, is that when your country needed you, you shrank! When freedom was threatened, you retreated! A "CRAB" LIVING OFF THE HERPES SORE'S OF A TEN DOLLAR HARLOT HAS MORE INTRINSIC VALUE THAN YOU DO!
There are no words in the english language to properly describe your worthlessness, your abject emptiness.
For your sake, if there is a God in this universe, may he/she forgive your gutlessness, FOR I NEVER SHALL!

Raoul
Raoul Duke | 09.29.06 - 6:11 am | #

I weep for america.
Girl Scout | 09.29.06 - 6:11 am | #

Thanks for the morning pick me up.
Col. Klink | 09.29.06 - 6:13 am | #

...canada anyone...
kingweasil | 09.29.06 - 6:15 am | #

Today we cry

Brutally raped, with no recourse to justice, the Lady of Freedom and Enlightenment cries tears of blood.

All that remains is for the President to sign the travesty into law, which he of course will, after a brief retirement to the bathroom where he can jerk off and smear his cum over the Constitution.

The bottom line, dear hearts, is that agents of "our" government can, anywhere in the world, take anybody (=you) off the streets and put you away in a dungeon and do whatever the fuck they want to do to you with no recourse to any independent judge anywhere. All that is required is that the Asshole in Chief, or those to whom He Delegates His Authority, declares you to be an "enemy combatant" or a whatever.
Chuck Cliff | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 6:15 am | #

So when do the "Nacht Und Nebel" secret round-ups begin?

We really are in trouble now. Shades of Rome's 'End of Republic Beginning Of Empire' times.

Do I smell civil war in the air?
Ema Nymton | 09.29.06 - 6:25 am | #

Sir, the only way these sniveling yuppie jackboot muthafuckas (pardon my French) are going to win is if they convince people like you to give up.

The propaganda war is not over till the fat Nazi sings, Sir, and your troops need you!
Kol. Kurtz | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 6:32 am | #

General, Sir;

I can't find words to properly express my utter and irrevocable contempt for the guttersnipes in the US Congress who voted for this travesty. We soldier on.
Democommie | 09.29.06 - 6:48 am | #

Absurd as it is, the only choice for anyone reading this comment thread is to vote for Democrats. To give up in disgust, and disgusting it certainly is, is to be played yet again by Mr. Rove and his puppet Dubya. But by gawd if the Dems. do get some Congressional power in November, they had better start attacking these fascists p.d.q. Some hope is better than none at all.
Beel | 09.29.06 - 6:53 am | #

Vote for Democrats? Maybe. But what about Lautenberg and Menendez of New Jersey who went along with this crime thereby stopping any filibuster?
purvis ames | 09.29.06 - 6:57 am | #

The moving finger cancelled the Great Writ, and now moves on.
We who give a shit
Must work to get it writ again,
And see those who voted for it move on!
David | 09.29.06 - 7:00 am | #

Bye Bye Miss American Pie...
puhleeze | 09.29.06 - 7:06 am | #

I cry tears of oil; my lamentations are voiced by Cruise missiles.

Once I worked in a cube farm; soon I'll be working as a fruit-picker, which doesn't sound altogether bad at this point, except that I probably won't get paid at all.
Curt | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 7:06 am | #

Looking at the bright side... and its not easy to find one... this could be the final nail coffin for this administration if enough light is shown upon it.
Miss Cellania | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 7:09 am | #

More than ever, in order to stand the pain, I am forced to defend the therapeutic value of Gorgias and his absolute version of scepticism. Thanks to Bush & Co, reality has become something too repugnant.
Progorgias | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 7:11 am | #

Greetings colonials.

May I take this opportunity to offer you the hand of friendship and forgiveness. Don't feel too bad about your inability to govern yourselves, you are after all a very young country - when Great Britain was your age, well, we weren't causing devastation on quite your level but we certainly got up to some youthful high-jinx!

Anyway, you didn't do too badly, I was quite impressed with your constitution, and I firmly believe that with the aid of some well-directed public education programmes and a violent revolution to execute your current political class you may well be ready for self-government within the century.

Toodlepip, what what!
George III | 09.29.06 - 7:11 am | #

I AM ASHAMED TO BE AN AMERICAN TODAY.
Tony DeSantis | 09.29.06 - 7:12 am | #

Actually, I gave the year of birth as 1787, but then obituaries often get dates wrong.

http://daltonator.net/durandal/b...ndal/blog/? p=71

The Republic was on life support for a long time. The GOP Nazis and Democrat Quislings pulled the plug and the feeding tube. It's over. Benjamin Franklin predicted this over 200 years ago:

"There is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other."

The American people are sheep and sheep are only good for three things: meat, wool and getting fucked in the ass by Texans. Such creatures aren't fit for democracy, which is why it was taken from the American people so easily.
Heyward Jablomey | 09.29.06 - 7:19 am | #

The Lady's lamp has gone out.

There is no darkness as dark as the souls who would kill a shining dream for their own greed.

Liberty and Justice stood proudly in our public buildings, but are no longer regarded. What symbol will the plutocrats erect to mark their era? Daddy Warbucks? With moneybag on high and contracts in hand? Or conquering crusader with trampled bodies underfoot? Imperial eagles?

How many generations will this Dark Age last?
hauksdottir | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 7:33 am | #

The Endarkenement is here.

Learn to grow food.
NSA | 09.29.06 - 7:40 am | #

Jesus wept! (Weeps?)

Me, too!


Pope Bandar bin Turtle | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 7:47 am | #

Plus, the Friday news dump is yet to happen.
NSA | 09.29.06 - 7:48 am | #

Well, look on the bright side - perch fishing is up!
NSA | 09.29.06 - 7:50 am | #

General,

The demoncrats haven't won control of Congress yet. This message is premature!
The Rear Admiral | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 7:50 am | #

Freedom-It was fun while it lasted.
djtyg | 09.29.06 - 7:52 am | #

Shades of 1933.
frontiereditor | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:03 am | #

For the first time in my life I'm thinking it's time to start looking into buying some firearms. Just for, you know, home protection and such.

Oh, no, they could never be used for anything else. Home defense only, obviously. And hunting - yeah, hunting. With a 50 round clip. Those deer get hopped up on corn, and it's like they dont feel the first 10 rounds.
Ugluks Flea | 09.29.06 - 8:07 am | #

Meh...I enjoyed the moon landing, and the first three Star Wars films were cool,but i'm not squirting any tears over the death. America was stinking up the place for years before its heart gave out.
bargal20 | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:14 am | #

After the Funeral by W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone
Silence the pianos and with a muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves

He was my North, my South, my East and West
My workingweek and my Sundayrest
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong

The stars are not wanted now, put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood
For nothing now can ever come to any good
PiledHighandDeep | 09.29.06 - 8:19 am | #

You're all invited to come up here to Canada and plot the re-taking of your country. ( leave your guns behind )
keith | 09.29.06 - 8:19 am | #

And isn't it comforting to know that the Dear Leader will likely append a signing statement claiming even more power than the bill gives him! USA! USA! USA!
blogenfreude | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:20 am | #

America's "last throes" commenced 9/11/01, when evil forces within our government were given the master key to weapons of mass deception.

But the spirit of 1776 has not died. As this page shows so eloquently, America still has a pulse. We can't stop our efforts at resusication because "they" won't stop their attempts to inflict the death blow.

For true patriots - those of us who will never surrender - now is the time to fight as never before.
aikane | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:22 am | #

Habeas corpus lives on, in Georgia. The county, not the state: "Russian captives in Georgia to be produced in court"

http://www.earthtimes.org/articl.../show/ 9058.html
PJM | 09.29.06 - 8:23 am | #

Rest in peace, America.
John | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:35 am | #

We'll all miss you.
MoxieGrrrl | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:35 am | #

At least my senators in MD didn't cave into the pressure, though one is retiring and the other isn't up for re-election, but goddamn, I expected this would be the one issue, the one that would help the Dems find their fucking spines.

Quite the Catch-22, that they can keep the filibuster as long as they don't use it.

"They may not remember what was said here today, but they will remember what has been done."
Dr. Haus | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:38 am | #

OMG WHAT'S THAT LOUD FLUSHING SOUND? OUR CREDIBILITY? OUR PLACE AS 'THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORD?'

WAIT WAIT, SEND IN THE WAAAAAAAMBULANCE FOR OUR FREEDOMS, AND OUR FUTURE!

WAIT WAIT, IT'S NOT FASCISM WHEN WE DO IT!

WAIT WAIT, seriously wait a few years, get into power, and then 'render' all the people that allowed this to happen. that would be the supreme irony. or just use something else banned by the Geneva Conventions on them. i happen to own one of the triangular bayonets, which creates triangular wounds, which cannot heal

does that mean i can use it now?
IamClosedMindedToo | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:39 am | #

For true patriots - those of us who will never surrender - now is the time to fight as never before.
aikane |

Amen.

Learn from the Chinese.

If you can eat, you can do other things. Support local and organic growers.
NSA | 09.29.06 - 8:43 am | #

Yesterday I called Richard Burr's office, even though I knew it was an exercise in futility. As I was explaining to the phone person why I was asking the Senator to vote no on this bill, I started crying. This is not my America.

I used to think that "This too shall pass" and the Republic will stand, no matter what. I don't believe that anymore.

My only hope is that the Democrats take the House this November. And then, that they use their power to stop this meglomaniacal demon.
dee | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:44 am | #

closedmind: "wait a few years, get into power" -- yes, using the brute power and force of Harry Reid's stealth Ninja opposition technique we'll be in power in no time... just as soon as we're done rolling over and being rolled.
thingwarbler | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:45 am | #

"The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."

Al-Qaeda has invaded the United States and the Democrats are formenting a revolution. His Majesty George, King of the United Kingdom of America, Emperor of Afghanistan and Iraq and Future Emperor of Iran is quite right to do what he has done for the good of the state.
blowback | 09.29.06 - 8:45 am | #

The lights have been turned off on that "shining city on the hill".
Rick | 09.29.06 - 8:50 am | #

As bad as it is, it's not as bleak as Valley Forge in December 1777. The cavalry ain't coming. We have to win in November, both houses, and then repeal this abomination. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
The Ghost of Adolph Rupp | 09.29.06 - 8:55 am | #

As my Vietnamese beautician said as we fell into each othrer's arms crying the day after the 2004 election (Miss Saigon playing in the background), "Ohhhhh nooooo, Whatta we gonna do now?"
northsylvania | 09.29.06 - 8:55 am | #

OK-- 2 of the 3 branches are beyond redemption. Is there any possibility that the Supremes can save us from this latest horror?
Daryl Cobranchi | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 6:01 am | #
-----------------------------------
I predict that this will indeed be overturned, when the Supreme Court gets around to it, sometime early in 2009, by a vote of 5 to 4.
Dave from the Lake Effect Zone | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 8:57 am | #

yes, i suppose we have no recourse but to support the dems but that my senators voted agst this Nail in the coffin of our once great country is small consolation. Where's our Tom DeLay? Where's our Hammer, pounding the Debbie Stabenow's of this senate who would dare to vote for this horrific bill? Couldn't get enough votes for a fillabuster? Why the Hell not? And, if not for this, for what, for chrisakes.
monica | 09.29.06 - 8:57 am | #

(Eternal) shame on Sens. Lautenberg and Menendez of the state in which I grew up, supposedly blue New Jersey. I hope they're proud.
oudemia | 09.29.06 - 9:01 am | #

Well, it looks like we may well fight a new war for independence, thanks, Congress, thanks for nothing, thanks for a class war, thanks for unnecessary wars. This President is an "enemy combatant," just as much as those who oppose him are, think about that for a second, he never believed in the Bill of Rights, nor the Constitution itself, nor did his party (at least not now, they did long ago). What has this bunch of fools wrought on the country? I'm from a red State (AL) I just want to say, that something must be done to temper these people, they've gone too far. Too far right, I used to be conservative, but now I despise them all, and with a state filled to the brim with ideological brownshirts, and congress apparently the same, what can be done? I miss you, America, now I can only take pride in my ancestral homeland, because America was destroyed by corporate oligarchy and blatant partisanship.

This wasn't for our troops, the CIA or anyone else, it was so Bush and his party could get what they so desperately crave, absolute power. The treasonous cowards now have absolute control. God help us, or maybe the Supreme Court.
spam | 09.29.06 - 9:03 am | #

waterboard Bush.
r€nato | 09.29.06 - 9:04 am | #

I will never give up.

CHARGE !!!!!!!!
in my mind's eye | 09.29.06 - 9:04 am | #

rip amerika
rip the general?
garagejazz | 09.29.06 - 9:04 am | #

General sir, as others have said so well, you put this moral issue front and center like no other.

So what's left? Gotta bang home the elections and pray doublehard for SCOTUS at this point, I guess. Dark days.

CJ
Catholic Jackson | 09.29.06 - 9:06 am | #

Hey guys, I know it's a little early yet, but maybe we should start laying the groundwork for an underground resistance network.

Just sayin', we might need to know who our friends are in this dangerous time.
Tahoma Activist | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:07 am | #

Hold on Justice Stevens !!
in my mind's eye | 09.29.06 - 9:07 am | #

Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible.

—George Orwell

I don't know if Americans—We The People—still care about freedom or not. But if we do, WE will win...easily. In the streets, through non-cooperation with the dictatorship. Not with violence...that's the tool of the enemy.

Enemy combatants: Bush & Cheyney
Publicus | 09.29.06 - 9:08 am | #

"You have a republic, if you can keep it."

Hmm, turns out we couldn't.

230 years is a pretty good run, don't you think? And, we did do some good things.

We helped to defeat Hitler and Tojo, beat the Soviets, and came up with the Marshall plan.

On balance, and I know that a lot of bad shit has been done in the name of America, I think that this country has been a tremendous force for good in the world.

Until the last 6 years.

Someone in a movie somewhere has the line, "I'm going to go to sleep and wake up when there's a new president."

Good night, and good luck.
Joseph Alferio | 09.29.06 - 9:08 am | #

Today I cry.

Tomorrow we march?!?
Ariadne | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:09 am | #

FUCK MY SENATORS (NJ), FUCK BUSH, FUCK AMERICA, FUCK IT ALL. Canada here I come.
popin-in | 09.29.06 - 9:15 am | #

fuck those people
Realitybasedbob | 09.29.06 - 9:15 am | #

Mein General!

Mostly dead--means partly alive.
Professor Foland | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:16 am | #

Sir, if the terrorists hate us for our freedoms, and we have no more freedoms, doesn't that mean the terrorists have won? Just askin' ...
blogenfreude | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:18 am | #

Well done. You are exactly right.
stash | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:18 am | #

So this is it huh? Someone should write an obituary.
dr4lom | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:20 am | #

America? Good riddance. I'm sick of apple pie and Fourth of July parades. I'm going home to Appalachia, where we never have considered ourselves part of this travesty.
anne johnson | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:21 am | #

Jeffersonians, take note. This government no longer guarantees the rights of its citizens. That means it is your duty to change it, by any and all means.

Moderates of the world, unite!

Au revoir, aufwiedersehen, America. Die Luft der Freiheit weht nicht mehr.

Cry, the Beloved Country.
notjonathon | 09.29.06 - 9:25 am | #

R.I.P., America

Didn't take long, did it?

Sorry, Thomas.

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance" and we weren't up to the task.
George | 09.29.06 - 9:29 am | #

US of A fought against the Savages and the Communists, but let the Terrorists win.

Please remember to shop today to forget the Tyranny.
Cynic in Chgo | 09.29.06 - 9:29 am | #

And it ended with hardly a whimper...especially from the church.
RevPhat | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:29 am | #

Thanks for all the good times America. You were a great example until a few years ago when you became the textbook definition of hypocrite. Hope you reverse these laws before you all go to Syria.
Kaorimoch | 09.29.06 - 9:31 am | #

America has ceased to be good, and thus, has ceased to be great.
Robster | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:35 am | #

Our Prime Minister her in Thailand was a chip off the old Bush. (only he was successful in business)
He put his cronies in control. He enriched his friends. He did away with the ideals of justice.

And now he's in exile, eating boiled meats in England.

Sounds like a plan.
Ick of the East | 09.29.06 - 9:38 am | #

"Drove my Chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry."

Water-board bush, cheney, rove, et al NOW!
Terrible | 09.29.06 - 9:39 am | #

Sitting here looking across Lake Erie, northwards, to the land of the free...
Paul Curtin | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:42 am | #

I'm thrilled with the direction the country has taken! Finally!!!
Satan | 09.29.06 - 9:42 am | #

"America... just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

*cry*

it ain't over, but it just got a whole lot uglier...
Mr. Gonzo | 09.29.06 - 9:42 am | #

Born in blood, honor, and hope.
Died in ink, greed, and fear.
jeb | 09.29.06 - 9:43 am | #

General, Sir, no jokes this time, but let me thank for your leadership, as always. Our great nation has suffered a grave defeat, perhaps the worst of our history, since it is our precious values that have fallen. You've done your part to fight bravely, and I know that you will keep on fighting. Will we prevail another day? Let's never give up hope that we will. *salute*!
Buckeye Hamburger | 09.29.06 - 9:44 am | #

Just wait until some WHITE person gets detained and tortured.

Republicans forget they are vulnerable to this law too.
Perception Manager | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:47 am | #

I'm so sorry, but not surprised any more.

Karl Olson
Anonymous | 09.29.06 - 9:52 am | #

Liberty dies to thunderous applause. I thought it was a trite line when I saw the last Star Wars movie. Today I am full of chills and fear and the only thing I see is 99% of this country and 99% of the "smart people" who "inform" basically applauding.
mjb | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:53 am | #

Canada, anyone?
So depressed looking at the spin of the MSM and the lies of the neocons "America is Safer"; "We need these tools in the War on Terror", etc.

We need a miracle to stop this country from going to hell in a handbasket.

(Sorry, unable to snark. The wound is too fresh.)

Pray for America.
.
PFC Pantywaist | 09.29.06 - 9:53 am | #

Got Fascism?
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html

Had enough YET?
http://www.worldcantwait.net/

Obese Enlivened Jinni | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:55 am | #

At age 50, for the first time, I truly fear for the future of my country. I find it truly ironic that the same people who claim not to trust some government bureaucrat to choose your doctor, or to manage your old age social insurance, will turn around and trust the government to identify who should be locked away, tortured, and never have the opportunity for a review in the light of day.

Under this bill, they even take away the right to see the evidence against you. But you do have the right to respond to it. (huh?) This is such a travesty that today, I truly mourn for my country and I want to hold onto any hope that something may be done to reverse it.

So I will go forth and vote for Democrats, because even though they were too spineless to stop it, at least they were not its engineers. And the turncoat Democrats who made a filibuster impossible can rot in hell, if such a thing exists, along with every Republican in that godforsaken place.

Sir.
Justus | 09.29.06 - 9:55 am | #

Sir,

Have they gone about updating the lists yet? That would be next, correct? You will see that we are excluded from any lists. Or should we be included? What is white is now black sir. Please advise.
smuckelton heroworship | 09.29.06 - 9:56 am | #

Remember that your worst enemy is your nervous system. At any moment the tension inside you was liable to translate itself into some visible symptom.
swurgle | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 9:58 am | #

General, Sir!

Yes, this is a pretty sad week for America. But I'm not giving up, quitting, rolling over and dying, or any of that.

Here's a long list of good people running this November. Most are running against long odds. I've given what I can to their campaigns, and I'm going to keep supporting them.

Remember this: Nothing makes Reichsmarshall Rove happier than hearing us say "OK there's no point voting for a Democrat" or "I'm just giving up".
ifthethunderdontgetya | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:00 am | #

Keep shining the light on the bastards and their crimes. Send some cash to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and your favorite bloggers and alternative media.
Auntie Claire's Hand | 09.29.06 - 10:01 am | #

The US swallowed poison when the right wing "conservative" Supreme Court appointed a President.

Even the US, apparently, did not have a sufficient Constitution to survive the poison in its system.

What a horrible legacy for those who died in the World Trade Center. Their deaths have provided the rationale for legalized torture and the end of habeas corpus.

The facism that our nation displayed during the McCarthy era simply went underground. Now it blossoms on right wing poison, killing our most fundamental values and rights.

I want my mommy.
Lobido | 09.29.06 - 10:02 am | #

Luckily for me, I can see Ontario from here.
BuffaloPundit | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:02 am | #

This is a terrible defeat. It is not the end. WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!! There will be other defeats. But if we don't lose heart, we will win.
Judicious | 09.29.06 - 10:04 am | #

They want us gone and they're gonna stop until they get what they want. Pass the ammo.
phil | 09.29.06 - 10:05 am | #

Ooops, they're are NOT gonna stop until they get what they want. More ammo, if you please.
phil | 09.29.06 - 10:07 am | #

We are now at the mercy of the Supreme Court.

General Sir, the constitution had a good run, Sir.

Over and Out.

I'm off to my secure bunker, in an undisclosed location.
willyjsimmons | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:09 am | #

We are now at the mercy of the Supreme Court.

General Sir, the constitution had a good run, Sir.

Over and Out.

I'm off to my secure bunker, in an undisclosed location.
willyjsimmons | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:09 am | #

General, I've lived to see the last fifth of the USA's all-too-short life. What a sad end. What a tragic, hideous, lamentable excuse for a Senate - and a leader.

What a dismal morning - the first day after the Republic.
kirk james murphy, m.d. | 09.29.06 - 10:10 am | #

Steel yourselves.

Don't bend. Don't budge. Don't compromise. Don't cooperate. Don't collaborate.

Don't let the smallest infringement of honesty or moral duplicity go unchallenged.

Know the straw man for what he is. Refuse to be interrupted or shouted down.

Prepare yourselves mentally and physically for the task at hand.

Show strength. Keep your head up, your shoulders square, and look your enemy in the eye.

Attack. The opportunity to defend has passed. Be relentless, persistent and tireless in reclaiming what has been taken from you by fiat.

Be ready to give what you have, it will be taken from you if you don't. Your job. Your home. Your comfy chair. Your life.

Do not depend on your neighbor, but be sure your neighbor can depend on you.

Do your duty.
smafdy | 09.29.06 - 10:14 am | #

Gin'rull Suh!

First Fafblog. Now the USA.

Het.sex.yrs.
An Enquiring Mind | 09.29.06 - 10:15 am | #

this is not over. i swear.
peter | 09.29.06 - 10:15 am | #

My heart weeps. My soul is flooded with despair. I'm 54 years old and have 5 small grandsons. What have we done to their future? Somebody, help us. We all, as a nation, will pay a heavy price.
U.S.Constitution, RIP. You were a magnificent, living, breathing work of art. And I'm glad for my first 53 years I knew you. Goodbye, my friend. Vaya con Dios.
HillCountryGal | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:16 am | #

Revolution will come when they treat us all like they've been treating the Blacks.
::mwah:: | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:16 am | #

Let's all hope that we have finally hit bottom and can begin the climb out of this dark hole.
Kevin Robbins | 09.29.06 - 10:17 am | #

My thirteen year old daughter cried. She is not old enough to even remember the other USA. RIP....finally, peace?
latiffanytheflyingbaboon | 09.29.06 - 10:19 am | #

Woke up this morning and the earth was turning a bit quicker, only due to the momentum of our Founding Fathers aggregate tumbling in their coffins.
In their, and in the dear departed United States of America's memory:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain/the King of the United States is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred. to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Incredibly, that august statement now publicly uttered, can and will be cause enough for its proponents to be Disappeaared.
ME Spiegel | 09.29.06 - 10:19 am | #

the story is not over. we have faced dark days before and will take back our country.

thank you Mon General. where you lead we will follow.
Ray Charles | 09.29.06 - 10:24 am | #

We'll have to get together and do it again sometime. This time we'll remember election integrity and making Lobbying absolutely illegal if money and/or gifts are involved.

Thank you David Dreier for turning your head.......it helped put a face to cowardice and greet. You were pretty though!
Jennifer | 09.29.06 - 10:26 am | #

What's the problem? You have nothing to worry about if you haven't done anything wrong.

What do you mean - they don't have to tell you why you were "detained" so they actually don't have to have any real reason at all. Then, the water-boarding starts - sounds like fun...

I hope you are ready to have a sears diehard hooked up to your genitals.
Anonymous | 09.29.06 - 10:28 am | #

A corpse is a corpse
Of corpse, of corpse
And no one can salvage a corpse
Of corpse
Unless, of corpse, the corpse that's corpsed
Is the former USA

+++
mjs | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:29 am | #

The round-up is about to start.

See you all underground.
Remote Exploit | 09.29.06 - 10:29 am | #

As I went home from work last night, I was acutely aware of all the people around me who apparently didn't even know that their country had taken a huge jump down the road to dictatorship.

I tried to think of ways to frame this issue so most people would understand, but I couldn't figure out a way to work new cars, status symbols or 'winning' into it.

A conversation with one of my Republican bellweathers confirmed that I don't have a clue how to convey the enormity of this law to the unaware. He just said, "Eh. It just applies to terrorists. Stop worrying."

Pray for us all. Pray for true freedom. Work for change. Stay strong.
JillK. | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:31 am | #

You know some years, a lifetime, ago Keith Olberman was a third rate sportscaster in L.A., on KTLA not even network. I said to a buddy the other day "If you had told me KO would turn out to be the guttsiest journalist on t.v., I'd have said 'Yeah. Sure. When America gets warrantless wiretaps, secret prisons and state-sanctioned torture.'" I am glad my father (WWII Vet, counter-intel.) isn't around to see this. Our nation may not be dead, but it has been taken hostage by cowards who would trade their birthright for 30 pieces of silver. Por eso somos como somos.
Specialist G | 09.29.06 - 10:31 am | #

What's the problem? You have nothing to worry about if you haven't done anything wrong.

The problem is that now the word "wrong" is being defined by sociopaths.
JillK. | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:32 am | #

They might have forgotten about honor and liberty, but we can and shall remember.
speedwell | 09.29.06 - 10:33 am | #

So, do we still have the 2nd amendment or is the constitution just toilet paper now?
musicsleuth | 09.29.06 - 10:35 am | #

This is our Blood and Honor Law. There is no going back from this atrocity. Senate Democrats who voted the unlimited power to detain and torture US citizens to this Resident are the greatest criminals in our nation's history. May as well have been the post-fire Reichstag. Happy dictatorship, everyone. See you in Canada.
comsympinko | 09.29.06 - 10:35 am | #

"Liberty dies to thunderous applause. I thought it was a trite line when I saw the last Star Wars movie. Today I am full of chills and fear and the only thing I see is 99% of this country and 99% of the "smart people" who "inform" basically applauding."

I'm tired of the Democrats acting like Senator Jar Jar Binks "Weesa votes to give the President dictatorial powers." in Attack of the Clones. What a useless bunch of cowards.
Heyward Jablomey | 09.29.06 - 10:37 am | #

a very very sad time . We need to change the flag to include that guy with the hood and wires .
Anonymous | 09.29.06 - 10:39 am | #

Ah am mourning, even as Ah am making plans to move back to Frahnce...
Actor212 | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:40 am | #

I just went to http://senate.gov/ to see the results, and what greets me on the home page?

"We the People"
Celebrating the Constitution.

Oh, this irony is not optional.
irony_optional | 09.29.06 - 10:40 am | #

Thank you for creating this blog.

Thank you General Washington, for being the first President of the United States. You showed the world and all who came after you how to do a job none hade ever attempted before. I'm so very sorry we've let you down.

Thank you President Clinton, for being the last President of the United States. I didn't always agree with your policies, you were the last of many great men and women who kept the Faith - you upheld and defended the Constitution of the United States of America.

And to all the rest who came in between those two, thank you. Some of them were worse than others but none so evil as to destroy the country they swore an Oath to protect.

Raise a glass and drink a toast to the memory of the Founding Fathers, surely writhing in agony, to the men and women who died, are still dying, for their country, to all those who remember what freedom means.
Laura Elizabeth | Homepage | 09.29.06 - 10:44 am | #

Well, you can't win 'em all I guess. Roger and out...
Tinky Winky | 09.29.06 - 10:45 am | #

Yes, it was nice while it lasted. We can say, we remember it when...

My heart is broken......
TulsaGirl | 09.29.06 - 10:46 am | #

I've lived in a false world. I raised my children to never hurt another, telling them is hurts them by making them see others as objects. I'd grown up thinking that torture was an ineffective methodology because the victims say anything and everything.
I patriotically assumed that our justice system and moral example of doing "the right thing" were a beacon to the world. I read too much propaganda and believed that we'd all move to future where "truth, justice and the American way", in all its wondrous glory would be the way the world would thrive.

Thanks to the Republicans in Congress, aided and abetted by a bunch of spineless Democratic Representatives and Senators I've been disabused of this false concepts.

I can't seem to muster the strength to thank them.
charlie | 09.29.06 - 10:48 am | #