Holiday News you might have missed...
Before Congress and The President, George “Dubya” Bush, went on Holiday break, one of the orders of business they tried to tackle was The Patriot Act and provisions that were about to expire. The Government then went on to do what most Bureaucracies do best, they bunted the issue for after the holidays.

Now that they’re back in session (or soon will be) and wouldn’t you know it, the holiday spirit and “Peace On Earth, Good Will Towards Men (and Women… and trans-gendered people, or people of indistinguishable genders…)” was thrown out the window and the typical partisan demonization is back in full swing. Not that there was any chance that both sides could handle this issue with anything that resembles logic or with the concept of doing the right thing such as… oh… I don’t know… putting the safety of The American People first. The holiday season did little more then recharge and juice the politicians up.

Durring the holiday break, news was released that the Government (under The Bush Administration) was wire-tapping some telphone lines as a part of trying to fight the War On Terror. The news led to many people in the media and in politics to cry foul and rant in outrage. The same people who are crying, gnashing teeth and say that these wire taps are an erosion of our civil liberties are the same people who whined and complained that clues weren’t put together before the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001…

The Wire Tap stories led to the editorial written by Ted Kennedy (Best known for the incident at Chappaquiddick and responsible for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne) and was published in The Boston Globe, basically outlying how Evil Bush is a greater threat to the United States then the terrorists who are busy plotting to kill more Americans. Kennedy’s reiteration of the Howard Dean (Chairman of The DNC) talking points in The Boston Globe hardly even mentions why those phones were tapped, the terrorists or the threat they pose…

In Kennedy’s piece, he mentioned an “example” of abuse that occurred under The Patriot Act, when a college student was harassed in his dorm by Government Agents because that student took a controversial book out of the library. The student made the story up, but Kennedy never issued a retraction, nor did The Boston Globe. Ted Kennedy’s opinion de-facto? “Don’t confuse me with facts when my mind is already made up..."

Did I forget to mention that the jets that were used in terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001 came from Logan Airport in the city of Boston, Massachusetts? You would think that because that, Kennedy would actually work harder to catch terrorists. Nope… between traffic violations, hitting the scotch harder then I do, and lording himself in a “do as I say, not as I do” manner and trying to over-tax the middle and working class in an attempt to punish the rich… Kennedy spends countless hours trying to convince himself that “The Real Villain” is “The Evil Bush…”

[Just as I have to finish hacking away at my rant about my opinion about how fan-films may or may not be a benefit to the art of independent film-making, I’m going to have to write a rant about how some progressives in the United States who are supposed to be the defenders of human rights, liberty and teachers of tolerance seem to be spending too much time defending the Islamic - fascist who are hell bent in undoing centuries of progress in fight against sexism, racism and religious intolerance.]

Worst still: More controversy is going to come in the guise of testimony from Jack Abramoff, former lobbyist who is facing charges of corruption and corrupting officials. To my knowledge, Abramoff has nothing to do with The Patriot Act, but his admission of guilt and willingness to “Tell All” to save his own hide will just cloud the issue and overshadow any other news coming out of Washington and fog the issue of The Patriot Act and the need for politicians to come to an agreement about what needs to be done.

From my vantage point, the issue isn’t going to be resolved because there’s no urgency to do so, except to use the issue as a soap box for more “Bush Is Evil” idiocy.


One-Sided Outrage?
Sorry to upset some of the liberal readers (and contributors) of The Fedora Chronicles, but what you say about “The Evil Bush’s” acts would carry a bit more punch if liberals were consistent in their outrage. It’s hard to take any politician, pundit or blogger seriously who gave Bill Clinton a pass when ever he did something questionable or crossed the line when he wasn’t busy trying to score with fat interns or urinate over the legacy of great leaders like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Jack Kennedy (The older brother of “The Gay Illiterate” Ted Kennedy…)

For an example, during the innocent at the branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, Janet Reno who was newly appointed Attorney General of The United States under the Clinton Administration, over exaggerated the threat and the danger David Koresh and company posed. In fact, as reported by PBS’s “Frontline,” the charges of child abuse and molestation were made up in an effort to drum up sympathy for those who were trapped in side and to sway public opinion. (Granted… the guy was more then a little nuts, but not an excuse for what happened…)

Attorney General’s office under Janet Reno stepped all over the Constitution including the Fourth Amendment in their zeal in bringing a group of crazy holy rollers under control. According to many news sources, the government never produced adequate prove that the Branch Davidians were any kind of threat, that there was any wrong doing on there part, nor did the Government serve the proper warrants when they first went to confront Koresh and his followers. Instead, the Attorney General’s office under Janet Reno carried on with the attitude that since they believed there was a “clear and present danger,” they didn’t have to follow procedure or the law… because they WERE THE LAW in this case.

There was no outrage from Teddy Kennedy about civil rights violations; there was no outrage from the Democratic Party about the use of deadly force or the blatant disregard for the Constitution or providing probable cause in the case against Branch Davidians. The same people who criticize the current president are the same people who were silent and gave Bill Clinton’s administration a free pass after the Branch Davidian compound was burned to the ground.

After the bombing in The World Trade Center in 1993, where was the outrage from The Democrats that “Dots Weren’t connected” by the Justice Department?

After the Oklahoma City bombing in the spring of 1995, Clinton used that event as an excuse to go after citizen groups that opposed him, starting with the “Weekend Warrior” Militia groups. Meanwhile, Clinton, Reno and the FBI have been accused of burring or destroying evidence that could have proved that foreign terrorists might have been involved. Few people in the in the media, Including Jayna Davis have insisted that there were other people involved in the bombing, with possible links to Al-Qaeda and/or veterans of Saddam Hussein’s “Republican Guard.” (Before people go nuts with e-mail to me saying that I’m crazy for believing that to be true, let me qualify by adding that I’m not sure what to believe, I’m stating the fact that there are people who believe that Tim McVeigh Terry Nichols had help…)

When people who belonged to radical far-Right groups or “Weekend Warrior” clubs were harassed, and there was talk about denying these people the right to assemble, where was Kennedy’s outrage?

One can make the assumption that the rule of law is only to be enforced when it comes to crazy Christian fanatics but not when it comes to radical Muslims in this country under false pretence. It’s one thing to go after domestic threats when they don’t share your ideology… it’s actually justified to break the law and violate the constitution when going after THOSE people – but it’s unacceptable to target potential terrorists and people who belong to Islamic fascist groups… or at least that's the message sent by some liberal Democrats and their followers.

During Clinton’s reign in office, the man used the power of an Executive Order to deny liberty to some, and use it to cover up botched investigations or investigations that might uncover the truth in what happened during many tragic events. One example is Executive Order 13039 that was issued during the investigation of TWA Flight 800 that might have been brought down by a Navy Missile by accident, or a shoulder fired missile used by terrorists. With that Executive Order, some facts about the plane crash were hidden from the public and witnesses were silenced...

Also, just as The Clinton Administration has been accused of ignoring evidence that Tim McVeigh may have had foreign accomplices, they are also accused of ignoring evidence that Ramzi Yousef who was partly responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 may have also played a roll in the downing of TWA Flight 800.

The people who are voicing their outrage against what they perceive to be violations of The Constitution and Civil Liberties with The Patriot Act were the same people who were silent when Bill Clinton did the same thing during times of crisis during his two terms in office, and as a result the truth may never be known about what really happened during those events. If those people weren’t silent, they were voicing their opinion that Clinton’s actions were justified.

I won’t get the Democrats lack of outrage when Clinton was receiving oral sex from an intern while he was on the phone discussing troop deployment or how China received American Missile Technology under the watchful supervision of Ron Brown before his mysterious death during a plane crash in Croatia in April 1996. (Or was his cause of death the suspicious .45 caliber hole in Ron Brown's head BEFORE the plane crash? Work with me… I’m obviously confused...)

At the same time, the people who believe that the terror attacks on September 11th, 2001 were allowed to happen because of a greater conspiracy or incompetence on the part of George W. Bush’s part, are the same people who are silent on the subject of possible conspiracies or incompetence on during Bill Clinton’s two terms in office. Its called hypocrisy. If you’re going to be angry when someone on one side does something wrong, you have to be equally outraged when someone on your side is also accused, and the demands to get the facts have to be just as loud.

What’s really wrong with The Two American Political Parties…
Why is it that the people who offer nothing but criticism towards George W. Bush for doing too much have no criticism to offer Bill Clinton who obviously did too little? If there’s overwhelming evidence and documentation that Clinton knew of danger Al-Qaeda posed and he knew what crimes they were responsible for, why aren’t the same people outraged at Clinton for doing nothing at all until he had to “Wag The Dog” because of a personal problem he created?

It’s called selective indignation. And it’s what’s wrong with The Democratic Party today...

I’m not trashing all Democrats, because I respect many of them (especially the ones who read this website and contribute…). Most of my heroes were Democrats and liberals as they were defined during the Golden Era who fought against the establishment (or turned the establishment around) and injustice that was inherent in the system. Some of those heroes are the ones who saw fascism for what it is in Germany, Italy, The Soviet Union and Japan, who’s legacy was deminised by their party members today who failed to see facism for what it was in The Teleban that occupied Afganistan, The Hussian Regime in Iraq and the growing psudeo-Nazism that is now develping in Iran…

The ones I’m taking issue with are the people who believe any and all crazy conspiracy theories that exist (with no exception to the ones that contradict others) while continuing to believe that the earlier administration was above the law and could do no wrong.

At this writing, the DNC is incapable of doing the right thing for the people of The United States and the rest of the world in being fair and unbiased when it comes to the criticism they hand out. They’re also incapable of putting forth candidates or officials that aren’t too radical, too far to the left or sound worse then the uneducated and naive bloggers who seriously believe legends that Dick Cheney is really a UFO crash survivor in Roswell, New Mexico back in 1948. It’s amazing to me that a party that churns out candidates like Al Gore, John Kerry and has Howard Dean as it’s Chairman actually believes that they stand a chance of winning back the House, the Senate and The White House in the near future when they embarrass legitimate candidates like Joe Lieberman from Connecticut.

The problem with Republicans, as you’re going to find out as more news comes out from the scandal surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff is released, is that they got cocky, conceded, and took it for granted that they have been in the majority for more then a decade in Washington. Since there has been no sincere “loyal opposition” and it’s been obvious to nearly 50% of the voters here in The United States that the democratic candidates are only earnest when it comes to who they hate and not for what’s right unless it suits their special interests, the current Republicans have been under the false impression that they could do anything and get away with it forever.

The Bottom Line
I completely admit that some of the criticism toward The Patriot Act and George W. Bush may be warranted, that maybe The Patriot Act goes too far in the wrong direction and might undermine the rights of some people during this period of American History when we’re under the continued threat of more terrorist attacks. I’m not willing to sacrifice my liberty for the illusion of safety because we all know that if the terrorists are smart enough; they’ll find ways around the barriers we set up.

But if that’s the case, what’s the answer? What’s the alternative? The only thing the Democrats and radical liberals have to offer is anger and hatred for this president and his administration and can’t be impartial when discussing what’s wrong or what needs to get done. What alternatives to the Patriot Act do they offer? What would the Democrats do to fight terrorist or prevent another terrorist attack? It’s almost impossible to imagine that the party of FDR, Truman and Jack Kennedy contribute little more then obstruction and whining, or that the Democratic Party of The Golden Era is the same Democratic Party of the Post-September 11th, 2001 world.
 
There is no easy answer, after September 11th 2001 the government was accused of not doing enough. After then next attack, if there ever will be one, the government will be blamed for being too much. But not enough people will agree that the real problem was too much indecisiveness because of partisan politics and selective indignation.

As I wrote earlier:  the issue isn’t going to be resolved because there’s no urgency to do so, except to use the issue as a soap box for more “Bush Is Evil” idiocy. Chances are, the issue will be bunted again until it suits those who are running for re-election later this year... or there's another terrorist attack.

If you can offer example of how The Democrats would fight terrorism, you’re more then willing to send me your thoughts… provided of course that you refrain from sending me nothing but evidence that “Bush Is Evil…” frankly I’ve had enough.

Further Reading...
Miami Herald, Florida, United States: “Another chance to get Patriot Act right – Our Opinion: Renew The Law without sacrificing Civil Liberties.

Boston Globe: Massachusetts, United States: “On wiretapping, Bush isn't listening to the Constitution,” By Edward M. Kennedy. According to many news sources, including The Wall Street Journal, many of the anecdotes in this story have been proven to be false… neither The Boston Globe or Ted Kennedy have issued a retraction or an apology. No surprise, the family of Mary Jo Kopechne are still waiting for theirs….

Clinton’s Legacy  and THE CLINTON COVER-UP OF THE TERROR as reported by “Republican And Proud”

Accuracy In Media – United States: “AIM Report: Clinton's Final Dangerous Days,” By Cliff Kincaid. A brief history on Bill Clinton’s Executive Orders and their impact on the Constitution.

Associated Retired Aviation Professionals investigation of The TWA Flight 800 off the coast of Long Island in the summer of 1996.