Give me vacation or give me death

The trick of getting what you want, it seems, is to simply threaten Congress that you’ll take away their vacation time and you can get anything you want. Over the weekend sweeping new powers were given to our Dictator in Chief after he threatened to take the T-Bird away and make the politicos stay inside the beltway until he got what he wanted. What did he get? Power that had so far eluded him is now fully in his grasp and what was once illegal is now legal. The President can authorize spying on Americans without a court order simply if the American in question is “reasonably believed” to be communicating with someone outside the United States.

If you demystify the wording, you and I could be defined as “reasonably believed” to be communicating with people outside the US simply because we have Internet access, which makes communication with people around the world instantaneous and secretive in nature. It doesn’t matter if you are or are not communicating with someone in another country, you have the means to do it and that is all they really need to know to place you under surveillance.

The Democrats and the Republicans have sold us out for less than beans. They sold us out for some down time with the family and a chance to hit the fundraising circuit. They sold us out so they can get afternoon catnaps and consolidate power and money at fundraising engagements with fat cat businessmen and greedy bastards who’s souls are corrupted by money and power. The average American is no longer a cog in the wheels of American society; we are only the grease that lubricates the gears of money making.

As John Lydon once said so famously, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”