It finally time to bring this up.... I guess.

The Continuing Saga of Wiretapping

Tuesday, Micheal McConnell gave his some what annual address to Congress the BBC reported. Who is he? A little known member of the current administration, he is Director of National Intelligence, a position whose point it is to collect the information from America's sixteen different Intelligence agencies and collate it for the executive branch, reporting directly to the National Security Adviser. According to his White House bio, at one point he was head of the NSA, director of naval intelligence during the fall of the Soviet Union, and a private intelligence contractor.

Appearing in this case in support of a new bill to be passed, The Protect America Act, an act that would give the intelligence community more leeway when wiretapping "foreign" sources inside the U.S. Specifically, e-mails and phone calls being sent to or received from sources outside the country without a proper warrant. In order to protect this draconian new bill, McConnell dusted off an excuse that you might have thought died in the late 1990's with the fall of Communism, asserting that Russia and China were spying in America at levels close to Cold War levels. Admittedly, this is disturbing, but new legislation is not the answer. If it has indeed returned to Cold War levels, though it's much more likely that this is an artifact of his days in Naval Intelligence, there are already programs in place all over this country to deal with that. In fact, if there is anything this country is prepared to deal with, it is Cold War type counter-intelligence. There are, as previously stated, 16 different intelligence agencies whose sole purpose is this kind of work, not to mention the major ones like the CIA, FBI, and NSA.

This move towards the legalization of illegal wiretapping is disturbing on various levels, the most important being that it is illegal for a reason and oversight from both the judiciary and legislative branches of our government is necessary to make it anywhere near acceptable. For instance, in 1978, at the height of Cold War hysteria, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, was passed and a shadow court was set up to review wiretapping cases involving American citizens or taking place on American soil. According to the act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) does not have to publish anything accept for a report at the end of the year stating how many cases were accepted and how many were denied. This court came into the news lately with the reveal that the Bush administration was wiretapping American citizens, illegally, without the approval of the FISC. This becomes even more ridiculous when it is realized that the FISC rarely denies a case put before them. Well, they didn't until, according to journalist Joshua Micah Marshall, about 2003 when the numbers on the denied-side of the report suddenly jumped from 2 in 2002 up to 79 in 2003. In a surprise move, the FISC published an opinion on May 17, 2002, that was open to all and given to the public, rebuffing Attorney General John Ashcroft claiming that he had allowed officials to "suppl[y] erroneous information to the court in more than 75 applications for search warrants and wiretaps, including one signed by then-FBI Director Louis J. Freeh". This becomes even more ironic considering that the FISC was put in place largely to check the excesses of another FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, who effectively ran the FBI like a tiny fiefdom and wiretapped whomever he damn well pleased. He also liked to dress in woman's clothes, so there's that to.

So, it becomes obvious, in this administration at least, that what is need is not less oversight, but more. When you start denying the power of the shadowy intelligence court that rarely denies the requests that you put before it, you've probably gone too far and are obviously abusing some of the powers given to you. Despite how important, in the words of McConnell, "Foreign intelligence information concerning the plans, activities and intentions of foreign powers and their agents is ... to protect the nation and preserve our security", more power in the hands of an already corrupt intelligence community that has proven it's ineptitude over and over again is not the answer. Work within the power you already have. Members of America's Intelligence community need to study a little bit of their own history and realize that America does not want or need to return to Hoover's reign of fear, that it is possible with the tools at hand to accomplish all the goals set before it. All it takes is a little practice with them.

It's Our Own Special Brand, mmm, Taste the Self Righteousness

The problem with libertarians is fairly obvious. The over riding economic/political goal of their philosophy being to take us back to the Articles of Confederation, a time in American History that didn't work then and sure as hell wouldn't work now. And, while I wholly and usually loudly disagree with that theory, there is something in there that I do find useful, and that I wish we would go back to. Isolationalism... a word that apparently in this great country of ours doesn't even show up in the spell check let alone in the political rhetoric of our leaders.

Let me begin my making this perfectly clear, isolationalism does not combat the growing sense of globalization and the interconnectedness of the global economy, and it shouldn't. There is nothing wrong with this force that is slowly remaking the world in it's image. It has led to standards of living that are slowly rising everywhere and is a force that could not be stopped even if we were to try. However, the isolationalism I espouse is more of a non-interventionist theory. In my, albeit humble, opinion, there is no reason for our troops to be on foreign soil, ever.

I'm going to make a bunch of universally unpopular statements now, and I'm okay with that. I'm going to discuss, American Imperialism. Let's begin at... well... the beginning I guess. In the late 1800's, America was beginning to feel it's power in the world as a developing country and despite the suggestions of both George Washington's final words as president, and the long standing practice of the Munroe Doctrine, both of which were designed to to keep Europe out of the America's, and vice virsa, to keep Americans out of Europe, the American people were led into a war with the declining Empire of Spain. This came about largely due to an increase in the power of the media in the form of Yellow Journalism and a hugely ineffectual president in the form of William McKinley. The war was "won" in short order and gave us two things. 1. Our first imperial possessions, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines and 2. Gave us our first great imperialist leader in the form of Theodore Roosevelt. The story goes on from there. Largely due to the policies of Roosevelt the First and then Wilson the Righteous, America was once again embroiled in a war for no real reason against a European power. This time, America would win the right to trade in China as it's great Imperial concession for helping to win the war. Then came Roosevelt II and the Third War for American Hegemony, better known as World War II. Following this war, it as fairly apparent that America "strode the world like a colossus", as under our imperial domain was easily half the world, and to use a Roman analogy, the Russians were our Goths, constantly nipping at our sides while never coming under our control.

But like all great empires, this has to eventually come to an end. In the case of the Romans, it was being bleed dry from a thousand tiny pricks of both resources and native sons in war after war after war. For Britain, it was the debt brought on by the fighting of two major consecutive major wars. For us? I foresee a mixture of the two, a middle ground. We are poor as a nation, there is no doubting that, and our resources are spread incredibly thin. When we can't dedicate our armed forces to a war without almost immediately calling up Reserves and National Guard, it becomes obvious that our forces in Germany, Japan, and even South Korea, could possibly be better used. When our debt is so high that it becomes impossible to outfit them properly before sending them into another imperialistic war. These are prime signs of decline. Also, generally in the early stages of decline, people who dream of the old days of glory, the way it used to be, find their way into power, something we would today call conservatism.

There appears to be only one way to avoid the decline. One way to avoid the collapse that eventually took Rome under, eventually took London to the point where it largely ineffectual. Remove ourselves from world affairs. Return our presence from the continents and try to put our own house in order before stepping foot out of it again. Sanctions, the work of the UN, these things are fine, but the wars that we have been involved in since the late 1800's are not. We need to worry about our own collapsing economy now. We need to be trying to fix our own broken standards of democracy.

After Almost 5 Years, There's Finally Politics in Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki came under fire recently after continuing and increasing sectarian violence has wracked the Iraqi region recently, culminating in the massive suicide bombings in Northern Iraq that killed hundreds of civilians. All of this after Bush's much touted, and seemingly ineffectual, troop build-up known as the Surge. Accordingly, there were calls from our esteemed officials for the removal of Maliki from his position of power. And not just our officials, but the British and even the French. I know what you're saying, but yes even the French. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was quoted as suggesting that Maliki step down from his position, but do not worry, he has (as of Monday) apologized for his statement and for meddling in Iraq affairs.

But, despite all this, Maliki managed to pull it through. He started with a broad attack, responding to American critics of his policies, thusly "There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. They should come to their senses". This is a brilliant political move. By attacking only his Democratic detractors, it shows Americans his support for the Bush administration that put him in power, while making it appear to his fellow Iraqi's that he's telling Washington where they can stuff it. This wins him some popular support at home and allows him to execute part two of his plan to save Iraq, or, as someone more cynical might assert, to save specifically his administration.

Part two was the forming of what would be termed anywhere else in the world a coalition government. He got together with various leaders of the sects in Iraq and hammered out a compromise. The compromise formed by this coalition entails the following points according to the BBC and Al-Jazeera; the freeing of detainees held without charge, easing the ban on Baathist supporters in government posts, regulating the oil industry and holding provincial elections. This compromise is genius politics at it's best, it both addresses most everyone's immediate concerns, and fails to fix the core problem (the reasons for these schisms) but, delays having to deal with it, leaving it for a future generation of politicians.

But, despite Bush's glowing praise of these reforms, as well as general foreign acclaim for them, all might not be a sunny as it seems. Monday, Khalaf al-Ilyan, a leader of the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front had this to say, "Our position is that this meeting represents a new phase of procrastination and does not honestly aim at solving the problems quickly, I think that no real or practical solution will come out of this." Another leader, Adnan al-Dulaimi went on to say more in a statement both deceptively positive and then hope-dashingly dark by saying that the accords were "good decisions that would serve the whole Iraqi people, but we doubt that they will be implemented. All of our experience with al-Maliki indicates that this is another new set of delaying measures. They give you a glimmer of hope, but at the end of the day you get nothing in return." When all was said and done, the agreement seems to have had very little domestic effect. The Sunni bloc of government workers and officials, who performed a walkout of their posts earlier this month to protest Maliki, effectively crippling the government, did not return to their posts. Violence has continued to infect the land with the current rate of infighting, suicide bombings and attacks on US forces remaining largely unchanged despite the agreement.

Mr. Maliki's plan has both succeeded and backfired, is both lauded and reviled. Despite his ability to bring these warring groups to the table to hammer some kind of compromise into existence and despite his ability to woo foreign approval, there remain issues that still need to be resolved and parties that are not completely satisfied, in this case, domestic ones. However, he did manage to save his administration from imminent collapse. If America claims to have gone into Iraq to bring democracy, and if our particular brand of that hallowed government system is model that was used in Iraq, then I have only one thing to say: Mission Accomplished.

Historical Non-fiction and it's ability to enrage

When I was in New York, I went on a series of book buying excursions to a variety of awesome used book stores in the lower east side of Manhattan, and as always seems to be the case in situations like this, I ended up with a series of non-fiction books about one individual is particular. This time, it was Charles Lindbergh.

Now, if you know nothing about Charles Lindbergh, it's an inspiring story that begins with a truly American story of rags-to-riches of a man that came from a poor Minnesotan farm and became the most popular man in America, nae the world, after performing the first cross Atlantic flight, by himself, in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis. Upon his return and the ensuing fame that followed he married and soon after had his first child, Charles Jr. In one of the largest news stories of the early 30's, his son was kidnapped and eventually found murdered. This was a huge blow to him and his wife and ended up being the major cause of his self imposed exile to Europe.

And this is when golden boy Charles Lindbergh's story starts to go a little darker. As with a lot of "self-made" individuals, people who spend that much time in the lime light, he had long believed in the idea of eugenics, mostly based on the idea that he himself was a prime representation of Nietzsche's superman. And why not? Had he not designed and built the plane that took him across the Atlantic? Had he not helped Nobel Prize winner Dr.Alexis Carrel design his award winning experiments on prolonging human life? These things denoted to him, and other eugenics believers, that he was a superman. This is what got him into his audiences with Hitler and Goering. While on his self imposed exile in Europe, he was invited to take an inspection tour of Germany's newly revitalized Air Force. On this tour, he became very close to Goering and even received an honorary medal from Hitler, a big gaudy cross made of gold and decorated with 4 swastikas.

Upon his eventual return to America, he was placed in charge of modernizing America's air corp, in one of the most obviously warmongering moves of FDR. However, he also formed America First and was their loudest spokesman. America First was an organization that believed in keeping America out of the war in Europe at all costs, however, they also believed that if America should be forced to join the war, that they should be on Germany's side. However, both of these thoughts, up until Pearl Harbor, were held by the majority of Americans. Therefore, these opinions were not what ended up destroying his public image. That job was instead given over to his hugely anti-semitic remarks given as he toured around the United States. Below are some transcripts of a speech given in Des Moines, Iowa to screaming crows and rousing applause.
" Their greatest danger to this country lies in their [the Jewish people's] large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government."
This statement probably makes him the first person to attempt that perfectly and wholly American excuse for anti-semitism.

Thus forth, Lindbergh was largely forgotten. Immediately following the entrance of America into WWII, no one would listen to him anymore, and it became even more obvious after the war, when intelligence of Nazi atrocities became common knowledge, that America had entered on the right side.

But, that's what reading non-fiction history will do to you. Anyone in history that you thought you might have any respect for, any at all, will be cut open and dissected and laid open at your feet. You will end up hating them. I no longer respect any American President, any major American politician, at least from the modern era of American politics. You end up bouncing from historical figure to historical figure hating each one more than the one before that. But that's what makes History important to me. These people are raised to hero status and their actual thoughts and beliefs are removed from the clean textbook stories of their lives. Someone has to know what was actually there, I am that person.

Aimlessness, or how I learned to love Gore Vidal

I, like most of the people in the age group that I currently reside, have no real idea what it is I want to do with my life. Really, I guess I know what I'm in school for, and I guess I know what it is I will be doing once I graduate (whenever that is), but nonetheless, I still feel cut apart and drifting. After all, I currently reside in Lubbock, TX (though I am writing this on the last day of a week long trip to NYC) and Lubbock is really an entire town that has an aimless feeling to it. This encompasses the empty, hollow West Texas wind that blows through the town, sometimes lazily, sometimes forcefully, to the occasional smell of cow shit that wafts into the city with, the tiny bits of cotton, from the farms that encircle and lay siege to this city.

School for me involves studying History so that I might someday stand before the teenage brats of my peers and have them adamantly not listen to a word that comes out of my mouth. Oh, of course I have dreams of being that teacher, the one that students speak well about and idolize till, well, till its time to send their own kids to me for their further edification. That I could change a High Schooler's life to such a degree would be amazing for me. However, the truth of the matter is that I will be teaching history, the least beloved and easiest class to fall asleep to. Every other class, the teacher has the chance to live vicariously through their students. If you're a science teacher, for instance, and you have a student who is really good at science, you can tell that student of all the awesome things that he/she could do that would make her famous. You would of course have the secret hope that when they are up at the podium for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, they would mention that awesome teacher they had in High School, the one that turned their life around and put them on the right wholesome path.

That doesn't work on my level. If I end up with a really promising history student, the best I can say is, "Well, your really good at this! If you continue to work hard and study, go to a good college, get your degree, you could get a job doing... well.... uh... I guess.... well, you'll be doing the exact same thing I am. Quick child! Run! Go be good at something else, history will never get you laid!"

Of course, this is all just a long winded way of welcoming you to this blog I started, despite my inborn fear of these things from the older livejournalesque embarrassing days of my youth. But, there is a reason that I got this, a real reason even, one dedicated to the building of underused skills that have atrophied in myself for far to long. I want to write. That is to say that I have the dream of writing, of being published, of fulfilling the unlikely goal of being the most highly acclaimed history writer since Barbara Tuchmann. I have ideas for books that constantly show themselves inside my head. I want to pull a classic modern history writer transition and write articles about political and social commentary. I want to be Gore Vidal. That is what this is for, a place for me to practice. Nothing more.