I'll await Karsten's post with links re the NO DEBATE passage of the so-called Patriot Act and its implications for all - and for likely many of our web-links (flushed from Yahoo and others' ??? caches already) - via what filter/rubric? we may never discover.

Here's (just) Rep. Scott's (VA) comment before the rush to sign, unread, undebated this hideous piece of legislation, operative IN THE USA starting *today*:

First of all, I think it is appropriate to comment on the process by
which the bill is coming to us. This is not the bill that was reported
and deliberated on in the Committee on the Judiciary. It came to us
late on the floor. No one has really had an opportunity to look at the
bill to see what is in it since we have been out of our offices. The
report has just come to us. It would be helpful if we would wait for
some period of time so that we can at least review what we are voting
on, but I guess that is not going to stop us, so here we are.
First of all, this has limited to do with terrorism. This bill is
general search warrant and wiretap law. It is not just limited to
terrorism. Had it been limited to terrorism, this bill could have
passed 3 or 4 weeks ago without much discussion, but we are talking
about wiretapping law.

This will, of course require its own thread..
(Wait til you see Who decides if a detainee is an alien? or a Terrorist? - reviewed every er SIX MONTHS! while in custody with a blank check)

If we aren't quite fucked yet, the clothes are off and the handcuffs to bed-rails are firmly clicked down, while the men are examining for marks of That Ol' Debbil - inside every cavity. Salem deja vu, Kameraden Geheime Staats Polizei.



Ashton
It Begins. That which we got 'Selected' for us, now in full Right-wing flight, fear- cant- inspired and.. circular, where only one Wing operates at all.