http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=9464
ACLU calls out US over 'absurd bloating' of terror watch listThis is reagent-quality liberalism, isn't it? All the totalitarian premises are explicitly endorsed -- the dire threat of "terrorists", the legitimacy of a "war on terror", the need for a "watch list". In fact the only problem with the secret police is that they're incompetently managed. Liberals would run the Inquisition much better.More that 900,000 people are currently listed as suspected terrorists on the US government's "do not fly" list, and that number will grow to beyond 1 million by summer, says the American Civil Liberties Union.
"If there were a million terrorists in this country, our cities would be in ruins," Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program, stated in a press release from the group. "The absurd bloating of the terrorist watch lists is yet another example of how incompetence by our security apparatus threatens our rights without offering any real security."
"....Homeland Security's handling of the watch lists is typical of this administration's blundering approach to the war on terror," said ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Tim Sparapani.
Comments (21)
do ahead make THEIR day
mock the gwot
come join us pinko geezers
on uncle's
wrist radio
watch list
Posted by op | February 28, 2008 2:48 PM
Posted on February 28, 2008 14:48
bin laden is
the only gob
and owen
is his prefect
Posted by op | February 28, 2008 2:50 PM
Posted on February 28, 2008 14:50
Fuck younz. Every freedom-loving individual desires naught so much as a competent security apparatus. "Warden," cries the prisoner, "I think the electrodes are coming loose!"
Posted by IOZ | February 28, 2008 4:10 PM
Posted on February 28, 2008 16:10
ioz
there efficient enough to watch list
free thinkin
frankenstein monsters like you
whether you board
with or without your
friggin electrodes
Posted by op | February 28, 2008 4:55 PM
Posted on February 28, 2008 16:55
I know this sounds stupider'n hell, but phew, am I glad to know I'm not the only SOB these days who's gotten fed up with the ACLU for seeming to do nothing at all except threaten to take people to court (nope, no direct action here) and churn out dull-assed press releases that use the word "egregious" about ten thousand times.
ps: I demand to know the origin of that foto. What was that, somebody's Halloween party or something? That's just too goddamn' adorable -- in a strictly ironic sense, of course.
Posted by Mike Flugennock | February 29, 2008 9:17 AM
Posted on February 29, 2008 09:17
No matter how tepid it gets, ACLU is still too radical for gate crashing progressive avengers. They leave its funding for the deep pocket liberal foundations, with the result that it accurately reflects the porridge sampling ambitions of Goldilocks yuppies.
That said, I've come to see the shining light of real liberty from the right. I think the ACLU wants us to lose the War on Terror. I like freedom of speech as much as the next man, but I also want my right to resist Islamofascism protected. I hope their entire membership gets put on the pre-flight strip search list. At least make them check their shoes and board the plane in socks. Most of them are probably only mentally unbalanced, but do dare we risk even one precious life?
Posted by Bat Delacourte | February 29, 2008 10:00 AM
Posted on February 29, 2008 10:00
Wow, Bat. Can you say all that without your ventriloquist having to move his lips?
Posted by Michael Hureaux | February 29, 2008 10:56 AM
Posted on February 29, 2008 10:56
Michael, I'm fighting to preserve our freedoms. I had my first moment of real optimism when even the radical leftist, Barack Obama, saw the need to renew and expand the Patriot Act. Nature abhors a vacuum, as we all know. How do we fill it? With the audacity of hope, and pre-flight strip searches.
Posted by Bat Delacourte | February 29, 2008 11:26 AM
Posted on February 29, 2008 11:26
Barack Obama is a radical leftist? Man, I need to read the paper more thoroughly.
Posted by MJS | February 29, 2008 11:35 AM
Posted on February 29, 2008 11:35
The left likes nudity. Barack Obama supports the Patriot Act, which promotes nudity, through strip searches. Ergo. . . It's a simple enough syllogism, I must say.
Posted by Bat Delacourte | February 29, 2008 11:42 AM
Posted on February 29, 2008 11:42
Man, your ventriloquist has a good gag writer.
Posted by Michael Hureaux | February 29, 2008 7:26 PM
Posted on February 29, 2008 19:26
Michael, I'd hoped the proposal to fill a vacuum with strip searches and fatuous hopes would be a giveaway :-( Who in his right mind would consider promoting such a thing? It's beyond inane.
Posted by Bat Delacourte | February 29, 2008 8:29 PM
Posted on February 29, 2008 20:29
*Blushes a deep cranberry-red* Comrade Bat, I wasn't paying close enough attention. Five minutes after posting my last contribution on this topic, I sez to myself, I sez, Oh self, you tin-eared fool!
Posted by MJS | February 29, 2008 10:25 PM
Posted on February 29, 2008 22:25
Upon reflection, the real problem lies in a horrifying reality: there are people who would propose such a thing, and they would sound very much like. . . I did.
On the bright side, I'd be a hit at Yearly Kos.
Posted by Bat Delacourte | March 1, 2008 12:13 AM
Posted on March 1, 2008 00:13
Jeez. As much of this crap as there is everywhere, who wouldn't have a tin ear when it gets posted on an e-page? Back where I grew up, lots of people talk like Bat was talking and they're serious as heart attacks, "strip search" or what have you. So I really wasn't sure.
Posted by Michael Hureaux | March 1, 2008 10:51 AM
Posted on March 1, 2008 10:51
I really overindulged at the wrong time. Parodies of mindless blather have their place, but initiating them takes some timing and a good sense of context. I'm lucky to have people who let me clean it up without penalty.
Posted by Bat Delacourte | March 1, 2008 12:47 PM
Posted on March 1, 2008 12:47
Au contraire, mon amis! It is indeed a question of competence, and the list is also entirely TOO SHORT. It is the American Civil Liberties Union -- you know civil society/personal life protecting itself from state depredation. If the ACLU were worth a wipe, it would be compiling and publicizing and prosecuting the real list of prime-suspect terrorists -- you know, the state-based war criminals who have been the root cause since, well, 1789 or so. Starting with the entirety of the Cheney Administration (with a state's witness immunity grant to Richard A. Clarke) and the "major" Dembots would be a good first draft...
Posted by Michael Dawson | March 1, 2008 12:47 PM
Posted on March 1, 2008 12:47
Excellent notice of our putative "defenders," OP.
There are not a million "terrorists" in our cities? Ever try to ask directions there - especially from a native? If "incompetence" in the "War on Terror" - what would competence look like, dead neighbors hanging from trees? You are absolutely right that these enfranchised collegiate liberals o' the law are fearsomely obtuse - look for 'em in the Obama "security apparatus," an Orwellian term which seems to trip so smoothly from their pens.
Posted by mjosef | March 2, 2008 12:37 PM
Posted on March 2, 2008 12:37
No doubt, M. Josef. "The suede denim secret police", as Mr. J. Biafra used to call them, are definitely warming for a go at the hup ho with President O. No matter how clear he makes it that he has every intention of expanding the imperial project, people carry on about him as though he were the second coming of Malcolm X or something. Which just shows to go you.
The cosmic humor of the thing is that his initials are B.O. It's sort of like the trickster gods of the universe are having a fling with our lively ability to ignore the obvious.
Posted by Michael Hureaux | March 2, 2008 1:06 PM
Posted on March 2, 2008 13:06
Nah. By November, there will be another "terrorist event" and we will all fall into the warm embrace of our Senescent War Hero. And the same ol "appointees" will be running the show!
Posted by Brian | March 3, 2008 1:11 AM
Posted on March 3, 2008 01:11
to me
all this totality
of evil fright wig shit
about uncle's growing
digitized tenticles
has no balls at all
let alone
red hot balls of fire
civil liberty quibbles
lib -tot or not
seems much ado about nothin
besides a close look
at who's prolly under
those two mad mag party favors
makes my projecto vision screen
fill with upper west side
bette midler style
sickness and blight
if they come for ya
and if you're reading this ...they won't
it'll be the old fashion way
and
with lots of collaterals
like say
gaza saw up close and personal
last week and
the week b4 and the week b4 that
Posted by op | March 4, 2008 11:12 AM
Posted on March 4, 2008 11:12