Phew... Bush said to trust him and now I feel better...

It's been one of those long ass weeks, although it's still only Thursday. Things are heating up in the old workplace as the year winds down towards its end. Does it seem like I keep complaining about these long ass weeks all of the time? Well, it's true. Very true. I can't help it, work has been dominating my life for the better part of the last 3-4 months, and it's getting tiresome really. No, really, it is. This week, it's kind of worse, because even though I still have tons of crap to do, there is no support there, it being the week before Christmas, and everyone using up all available vacation days before the end of the year, and hence, I was pretty much at work by myself today, which in and of itself, is not a bad thing, because then I can pretty much do what I want, such as goof around and be loud, and nobody cares, because there is nobody there to care. Of course I have Ford Motor Company breathing down my neck still. They are truly the Grinch that stole 2005 for me. There is this one guy that we work with, named Gregg (last names withheld to protect the innocent) who is a complete flaming asshole. I don't know how else to describe him, and he is personally making this whole new program a living hell for anyone and everyone working on it. The other folks from Ford like to ask some silly questions, but they also like to work with us on the issues and work out a good solution. This Gregg guy (who spells Gregg with 2 g's anyway??) is out to get us. In other words, he would love to see us fail, and it seems to give him a sense of power and being able to hold sway over my company, and frankly, that sucks. He's not part of the solution, he is only adding to the problem of what is going on, and personally, I'd love to kick him square in the nuts. I know that I'm not alone in this, but people within my organization keep making promises for the people in Roxboro that we can't keep, or can't accomplish. Of course the people making said promises are sitting in their office in Michigan, and really have no stake in this except to sit on the phone during conference calls and say "yes" to everything. Now I know what it feels like to sit in a President Bush cabinet meeting. Everything is just yes, yes, and more yes. Even when the answer should be no, but everyone is afraid of this guy, and tuck tail and just submit. It sucks. Me being a peon though, I don't get to really say much about it, but I did mention in an e-mail chain that something this guy asked for was ridiculous, and told him basically that we weren't going to do it. This in turn got me scolded by him on the phone, and cursed at by Gregg. Fortunately I held my tongue in a little bit, but made it clear to him that expressing that kind of un-professional attitude towards myself or any of my colleagues was unacceptable. I was shocked when the plant manager actually agreed with me, and then he really surprised me by telling Gregg (with 2 g's) that if he had another outburst like that during this or any other meeting, that would officially end that meeting, and possibly could end this program with Ford. So, when that was mentioned, he shut the hell up and was more amenable to suggestion after that. He's still an asshole, and I'm going to have to deal with him again tomorrow, oh joy and fun. I already know what he's going to ask for, and he's going to be in for another shock when we tell him no. I can hardly wait for that meeting actually, first one that I've looked forward to in years.

I'm going to make this next thing easy. Bush. Surveillance. Spying. American citizens. Illegal. Investigate. Impeach. That's it, that's all I have for now. I can't believe the apologists coming out in support of his circumventing the laws of the United States. I thought he was supposed to protect and defend the Constitution, not roll it up and wipe his ass with it. I was listening to some talk radio this afternoon on the drive home from work, and they had the guy on there for the whole drive home that was part of the group of legislators and advisors who wrote the FISA act that Bush seems to have skipped over. And it was pretty clear in his mind (registered Republican by the way just as a head's up for those of you who would cry partisanship) that what Bush did, and admitted to, was illegal on the face of the FISA statute. Now that Bush was in the ditch, what do the right wing bloggers, news shows, radio talk show hosts, and other pundits trot out? Clinton. Ah yes, the catch all for republican punditry, William Jefferson Clinton. Seems as though back in 1995 (bear in mind that this has no bearing on what Bush or didn't do) he signed and executive order for searches and wiretapping without warrants. End of story, or so the right wing talking points machine would have you believe. Now, if you actually took the time to read the order, and it's follow ups and all of the other attached items to it, it states, implicitly within the order that FISA is to be followed, and if warrants are not obtained originally, then they are to do so within the allotted 72 hour time period. Some smoking gun that they have there. Their fall back position was that, well, Clinton did it too, which is actually not the truth. And what's funny is that they posted the Clinton order on any number of websites out there (all right leaning of course), and claimed that it was a precedent set by Clinton and Carter (who also had an order of similar wording, and who also had a follow up in it that said FISA is to be followed), but it appears that their reading comprehension was at an all time low that day. I think they stopped at the sentence that said searches and wiretaps without warrants, and said to themselves, "AHA! We have something!" Which is so far from the truth, it's really silly.

Let's think this through shall we. In 1995, Clinton was in office as President of the United States. Since he entered office in 1992, vast sums of money put up mostly by independently wealthy republicans was being funneled into efforts to find something to pin on Clinton to force him from office. We know what the end result of that was. A stained dress, a perjury charge, and articles of impeachment. I fail to believe that if Clinton who wrote this executive order (which was passed onto the Senate for review and consent - the whole Senate mind you) did so illegally, the republicans in Congress would have had his head on a plate and barbecued it, and ate it for dinner. Which, in my little twisted illogical world, leads me to believe that order written was lawful, and followed the intent and statute of the FISA act, which, according to the guy who helped to write FISA in the first place, said that it was. Because he also has seen the controversy erupt on the blogospehere and in the punditry, so he made sure to procure himself a copy, read through it, and proclaimed it to be a-OK in his mind. So if the guy that helped to write the statute says that Bush probably (he leaves it open for investigation as I will) broke the law when he went around FISA, I'm going to take his word for it. The White House's story keeps changing as well, and spinning, and I'm sure by the time I get out of bed tomorrow morning, it will have changed again. The blatant hypocrisy of some on the right hand side of things is crazy, really crazy. I asked one guy to look at it this way. Say Clinton had done this same thing when he was in office, and it came out in the same manner that this did for Bush; would he have just said Clinton was just trying to protect the country and it's OK to break a few laws in order to gain security for the nation? Hell no my friends, he would have beheaded Clinton on it, and he's know it. I'm hear to also mention that if something like this had happened under Clinton and it had come out, I would have been just as incensed as I am now. Actually, throw any democrat's name in there, I'd still be pissed that our personal freedoms and liberties were being threatened by the President of the United States. The man who is supposed to be the best defender of said liberties and freedoms.

I also tend to look at it this way as well. Say you start with this one right being taken away, the right for unwarranted searches and seizures and eavesdropping and wiretapping. What other right is going to be next? I've been thinking about this for a week or so since this all came out, and I've got to say, I've got an even better appreciation for the Constitution now than I did even a few weeks ago. And I also have a whole new respect that I didn't have before. Now I see that it's all of the rights afforded by the Constitution that are important. ALL of them. Take one down, the others may be next. What would stop the President from doing it? He's done it once already, said he'd do it again. He has to be stopped. If you haven't done it already, write your Congresspeople to let them know what you think about this whole issue, whether you support what has happened, or whether you're completely outraged by it like I am, either way, write them, and let them know. It's an important part of the process. I do think that this is a non-Partisan issue though, and that it can and has affected all Americans in its scope and presence. Do you really want to give the power to take away our rights to one person? Do you really want to throw that all away? I do honestly think that this is what is in the balance right now.

Rumors. I've heard rumors as well that it is possible that Bush maybe used these wiretaps and eavesdropping abilities to check in on political rivals and opposition groups, anti-war groups, and things like that. Now, this is all internet scuttlebutt, and is completely unfounded, but let's think of the ramifications if this is true. It would be worse than Watergate, or about the same thing, no, worse I think. Because remember, George W. was supposed to be the President that brought honor and integrity back to the White House post Clinton. Yeah, and if you believe that, I've got a large bunch of prime swamp land to sell you somewhere. If he used eavesdropping and surveillance to keep track of political opponents and PACs and other groups that dissent from his opinion of the way things ought to be, and anti war groups, and other things like that, well, damn. Then there would be no doubt in my mind that the man would have to go. Either resign, or get booted out the door. Let Dick take over (don't know how that would be worse, as he's more or less calling the shots anyway I think). Cheney wouldn't run for a second term anyway if he did take over the Presidency, and he'd probably have another heart attack before leaving office anyway. But these rumors if found to be true, disturbing, truly disturbing. It wouldn't be the first time such a thing had happened in the US though, so that wouldn't be without precedent. Back in the late 60's and early 70's, the US Army and military intelligence keep a watchful eye on dissent groups, and had a huge warehouse in Baltimore that was filled to the brim with information gathered on American citizens without a warrant being issue for any of it. Big brother eh? That's what we're going to get stuck with if we're not careful.

Christmas is coming this week, and to tell the truth, I almost decided to not go home for the holiday itself. Yeah, it's true. I decided against that though, because that would just be wrong. I have had a long year this year, and it's been, well, hard. I haven't had much of a break pretty much this entire year, and I'm just feeling downtrodden, and need to get back to center really. Chill out, relax, kick back, get some exercise for a change, and basically get back to feeling like myself again. Starting after the New Year with work, there are going to be lines drawn for myself, when I'm going to get out of there at decent times so that I can go home, ride the bike, and then if I have to, I'll do work at night, but I can't sacrifice another winter of training for bike racing, it'll kill me, and I miss it. So yeah, I almost stayed in NC for Christmas this year, because I wanted to get back and relax, but as mentioned, that would just be wrong. So don't worry Mom, I'll be home on Saturday. Not a problem. This year, the whole stupid thing about the war on Christmas has got me pissed off. I guess that is one reason why I'm not feeling it. I feel like this time of the year is usually so just nice, everyone is nice to everyone else for the most part, but you have a few certain individuals (cough-Bill O'Reilly-cough) pushing this agenda this time of the year, and as he is, being very nasty about it, and essentially ruining the season, at least for me. I'm sure heading home will fix this though, which will be nice.

Well, time to head to bed I think, getting later, and I've been rambling onward long enough for now.