And 24,000 of them are on it based on "outdated or irrelevant information." No shit? You mean all of those 400,000 people don't have connections to Al Qaeda?

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/06-9
Justice Dept. Finds Many Flaws in FBI Terror Watch List by Eric Lichtblau WASHINGTON - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has improperly kept nearly 24,000 people on a terrorist watch list based on outdated or sometimes irrelevant information, while it missed others with legitimate terror ties who should have been on the list, according to a Justice Department report released Wednesday.

In case you aren't familiar with this list - you don't want to be on it. If you are, then (from what I've heard at least) they stop you EVERY TIME you try to fly and give you a full body cavity search. Well joking about the last part, actually they pull you aside, pat you down and go through all your stuff I think. That's gotta be fucking annoying. And on a more serious note, it means you're one step away from the government calling you a "terrorist," which is all they have to do in order to send you to Guantanamo and waterboard you 200 times.

And if they're this incompetent (and according to some indications, purposefully so) at putting people on the watch list - do you really think your safe from the government just outright determining you're a terrorist at the slightest provocation? According to this report, some of the people on the list were put on for "political reasons." What is this, the fucking USSR? And you wonder why I don't use my full name on this site...

Oh and by the way, there's no way to appeal the decision to put you on the watch list.

Lets stop referring to the US as a democracy, okay? Sure, you vote. Some of the votes might actually be counted. But is a democracy defined by whether people vote or not? People vote in Cuba, you know, and mysteriously, Castro seems to win every time. Iraqis also vote: some democracy they live in, right?

Fact: the Bush/Cheney administration has labored for 8 years to set legal precedents that the executive branch can basically do whatever it wants in a "state of war," which - considering the fact that terrorism never goes away - could be a very long time. The administration has committed a multitude of crimes - but the truly dangerous thing is that they argue it does not matter. The President has the "inherent" power to do anything he deems necessary during a state of war - and by the way, the President determines when we are in such a state. If he wants to torture in violation of the Geneva conventions, well, he has that power, according to this "theory." If he wants to invade a nation without a declaration of war by congress or UN approval, that's in his power too. All he has to do is say the magic word, "terrorist," and you can be locked up for life with no trial and no appeal. Considering that, does it make sense at all to think that our Constitutional rights even exist anymore, except on paper? So what, exactly, was the difference between King George II of England and King George Bush II of America? Was it that we elected him? Oh, right....

We may have just missed our only chance to set things right and prosecute the Bush administration and all its cronies to the full extent of the law. Now it looks like they're gonna get away with it. Moreover, Obama has not in practice challenged the monarchy theory. Actually he has maintained much of the secrecy that dominated in the Bush years. This means that the legal and historical precedent is set. We have abdicated our rights as Americans citizens. In fact, we are no longer citizens. We are subjects - subject to the arbitrary whims of the Monarch in Chief.

Continuing to refer to the US as a democracy in which people actually have rights is just dishonest, and fails to communicate the gravity of our situation. We are now "one nation, under the Dear Leader."

Link of the day:

Chris Hedges: Buying Brand Obama

"Barack Obama is a brand. And the Obama brand is designed to make us feel good about our government while corporate overlords loot the Treasury, our elected officials continue to have their palms greased by armies of corporate lobbyists, our corporate media diverts us with gossip and trivia and our imperial wars expand in the Middle East."

Well, this Hedges guy doesn't mess around.

So here it is, the first post. Exciting huh?