On Wednesday, by a vote of 80-15, the United State Senate killed the Constitution of the United States by legalizing warrantless wiretapping.

The Senate vote follows last Friday's 293-129 vote in the House.

Big Brother is watching you. He is listening to every phone call, reading every email, following every click of your browser.

Big Brother has complete power. You have none.

And every institution in Washington DC thinks that is perfectly fine - the President, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Corporate Media.

Why? Because they think you should be watched, just in case you decide to overthrow Big Brother.

Your tax dollars created Big Brother. Your tax dollars are protecting him. And there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. Or me.

I just thought you'd want to know.

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - George W Bush

Much in the same way that US investors were “steered” into rip-off mortgage loans, the entire country has been “steered” into an economic crisis. The question is how to get out of it.

In the subprime loan scandal, unscrupulous brokers conned home buyers with poor credit histories into deals designed to profit lenders and bleed borrowers. Contract “teasers” hid ballooning monthly payments while a lack of regulation allowed the scam to continue unabated. Millions more Americans now face losing their homes.

Without mentioning Reagan by name, Digby describes the way he transformed American politics:

It's not that taxes were ever popular, any more than paying your electric bill is "popular" or buying a new furnace is "popular." But until the GOP hit on their free lunch propaganda they were just considered a fact of life ("death and taxes") as long as the rich weren't perceived to be getting off easy and the government was delivering services to the people. Republican campaign tactics and governance have pretty much destroyed that resigned acceptance by making people believe that taxes are inherently evil and if the government needs to do something it will magically find the money some other way.

A War On Terrorism or a War Of Terrorism?

Reports as usual vary wildly and small wonder that some news sources are trying to pin this on yet another subsidiary of "Al Qaeda". But this wasn't a suicide attack.

The terrorists drove a car, packed with explosives, up to a bus carrying soldiers of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Some reports say that they forced the bus to stop by firing on it with automatic weapons, others that they blocked the road with the car while pretending to have broken down. Either way, they quickly escaped on motorbikes before detonating the car bomb by remote control.

First I invite you to watch this excellent 10 minute speech by George Galloway to the British Parliament on January 27, 2007 in which he delivers a stark warning that Britain is sleepwalking into a catastrophic war with Iran along with the US and Israel. George Galloway was the man who you may remember lambasting the US Senate over false accusations of oil bribes with Saddam.

George Galloway's speech to the British Parliament, January 2007

China’s unannounced test of an anti-satellite ballistic missile on the 11 January 2007 has evidently caused significant concern in the West and in particular the US. Not only does it put existing military and civilian satellite networks at risk, the act was clearly intended as a warning in the true cold war sense.

As I write this report, the story has finally hit the mainstream media but in most cases only a fairly sanitized version of the events is being made public. This very newsworthy event was not made public for 6 days after the launch, but despite the delay in publication, some interesting details are emerging that indicate increasing tensions between China and the US.

Looking for those interested in the 7th Congressional Dist, NC to join the effort and show their support. The world can't wait two years, we need to take action.

For those who don't get the reference, it's one of the classic lines in literature, theater, and movies. In Dicken's classic, Oliver Twist, the orphan, Oliver, asks the headmaster "Please, sir, I want some more". In modern day America, it's a question that's being asked as more and more Americans fall into poverty, despair, and hunger. But no, one can't say hunger anymore, you see under the Bush Junta the word hunger is no longer "scientific" enough for the USDA to use to gauge if someone isn't getting enough food to eat. Welcome to "very low food security"....

Some Americans Lack Food, but USDA Won't Call Them Hungry The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience "very low food security." Every year, the Agriculture Department issues a report that measures Americans' access to food, and it has consistently used the word "hunger" to describe those who can least afford to put food on the table. But not this year.... (more)

Update: 10/16/06 - FBI Agents Raid Home of Rep. Curt Weldon's Daughter The Repubs continue to self destruct (yeeee-hawwww!) with two new revelations. One of corruption and one of possible perversion. Retiring Rep. Kolbe (Openly Gay Republican-AZ) is under investigation of a camping trip he took with two minor-aged Pages. And Rep. Weldon(R-PA) is under investigation for influence peddling in connection to lobbying and consulting contracts secured by his daughter.

Feds Probe Trip That Kolbe Made With Pages Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation of a camping trip Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., took 10 years ago that included two teenage congressional pages, a DoJ spokesman told NBC News... A spokesman for the Justice Department in DC said that the US attorney in Arizona has started a "preliminary assessment" of the trip, after an unidentified source made allegations about the congressman's behavior on the expedition.

More on Weldon below the fold...