Dobson's World - and the Bush dynasty's

What if I said you were only dreamin'
What you wanna bet that all you gotta do
Is open up your eyes and you will wake up screamin'
When you realize that it's all come true
- Steve Earle "Conspiracy Theory"

Laura Rozen on the Bush administration's vast, illegal program of warrantless spying on American citizens:

These policies of vastly expanded warrantless domestic surveillance may have been undertaken in good faith, but they have a way of taking on a life of their own, and becoming self-justifying. Consider that, as the government has apparently gone to some lengths to track every single AT&T, Verizon and Bell South customer's communications, it has still not managed to find Osama. He probably doesn't even use a phone, so he's seemingly a difficult target for the NSA. We Americans and our telephones and Internet, on the other hand, offer a target rich environment, it's hard not to see, given the devotion of what seems considerable US government resources to targeting our communications. Kind of like when there were no good targets in Afghanistan, the Defense Secretary expressed the thought that Iraq might have some better ones. I guess this is a long way of saying, They'e got a hammer, and they appear to be searching for the perfect nail. And it may be us, because the terrorists don't seem to be very suitable nails at all, or else conceivably we would not be seeing bin Laden and Zarqawi and Zawahiri on TV so recently. (my emphasis)

And she also says:

It's not only because I am a journalist, but really in the deepest sense as an American citizen, I don't think spying on journalists is very American, I really don't. (For that matter, I don't think warrantless spying on American citizens period is kosher either). It's a police state tactic, and one can't help but wonder had Congress been doing a more robust job of oversight, if journalists would be playing this heightened investigation and exposure role alone. But as it is, that's where we are. It's a dangerous moment, and an unsustainable one. Something really has to give. The oversight mechanisms have to kick in. The excesses, the overreach, the violence to the deepest American values, have gone too far, far beyond a partisan argument. This has nothing to do with the war on terror or national security. This has to do with an attempt at intimidation to evade any sort of accountability. And it's done a huge disservice to this country. (my emphasis)

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