There used to be a phrase in car commercials, “Body by Fisher.” It was a mark of distinctive style for whatever brand it was attached to (don't know nothin' 'bout cars, sorry). For some reason I thought of that line with these two stories, because really, they exemplify “Government by Bush.”
* The telecos break the law, spy on Americans without a warrant, at the behest of the Bush gang, supposedly to save us all from the terrorists — and then demand and are probably going to get, amnesty granted by Congress for doing so — BUT, BUT *BUT* when the stupid, incompetent Bush-era FBI fails to pay the damn phone bills, the companies turn off the taps.
Even if you bought the boogie-man theories sold by Bush, that Americans have to give up the entire fucking Bill of Rights for some magical *safety* that somehow happens without securing the ports, giving air traffic controllers or first responders decent equipment, etc., yeah, even if you bought that load of crap and thought it was just hunky dory for AT&T to tap the phone of anyone Bush looked cockeyed at, wouldn't you expect the cops to pay their bills, and for the phone lines to stay live during the “war on terra?” This crew's glib, brazen immorality will never cease to amaze me.
* Just when we are finding out that the Gulf of Tonkin “incident” that pretty much jump started the war in SE Asia never happened — was a fabrication that did the job intended: got the Congress to approve a “response” so the military could go in, on the heels of that revelation, we hear about some speed boats acting “provocatively” and making weird threats (in English no less) in the Gulf of Hormuz where a US Navy warship is trolling.
Apparently, WWIII could have been started, before the boats just as oddly turned and left.
Only now the Navy is backing off that story, maybe the voices didn't come from the speed boats, but from other boats (what other boats, unexplained) or from shore, or who the hell knows, maybe it was the freaking Antediluvians, because I'm not going to believe whatever cockamamie story the Pentagon comes up with to explain this “near clash.”
Hey, Cheney, you warmonger, better luck next time.