Hypocritical Congress:FBI Raid Bad-NSA Raid - So What?

Gridlock is reaching all time highs this year on capital hill. The scandal of the week is currently a result of the FBI raids on a Louisiana representative accused of taking $100k and putting $90k in his freezer where the FBI later found it. The controversy surrounds the FBI's search and seizure of the representatives Capital offices. Its controversial because an executive branch of the government (Attorney General working with FBI) raided an office of another branch.

Now it appears that the evidence in the news would point towards justification in this search if the target was not a congressman. To this effect a court even granted a search warrant. However, justification and court demands have been present in many cases where the situation was reversed and Congress was attempting to seek evidence or documents from the executive branch (Watergate (70's version), Iran Contra, WhiteWater, Lewinsky, Cheney's Energy Counsel, and the recent Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of the number 3 at the CIA, Contracts and Hookers and limos and gambling, Oh My!.

Just before this latest outrage occurred many 'normal' Americans were quite upset over recurring and new revelations that the Executive Branch of the Government was using the NSA to spy on 'normal' Americans. Analyzing our phone records and conversations for traffic patterns, reading our email and checking up on the websites that we search in real time if they like, while we search them. Congress apparently could care less about 'normal' Americans, I know they seem to forget that they should be normal Americans too and the Executive Branch was probably spying on their phone calls and internet searches too. It wouldn't be the first time afterall, just ask G. Gordon Liddy.

So right as outrage is building about a government that would use their most capable intelligence agency to spy on everyday Americans, what happens?

1. The General responsible for the spying program is promoted and put in charge of the CIA, which required the approval of Congress.

2. A media frenzy is whipped up over a single congressman, who's office was searched by the FBI and this frenzy dwarfs the searches that have occurred and continue to occur everyday for millions of Americans.

Congress is jumping to the aid of what circumstantially appears to be a corrupt politician (I don't like the search of his office any better than they do). Congress seems to have their priorities turned upside down, twisted sideways around their head and pulled back down the length of their spine, between their legs and pulled up their front picking them up off the ground in an Atomic Wedgy of Priority Mis-Management!

Their yelling about the Fox carrying an egg out of the hen house. They aren't paying attention to the fact that the Fox just wired up the Hen house with 1 million tons of TNT and set a timer to detonate in 5 seconds.

So what is all this noise?

Its Gridlock! and this has been your editorial of Gridlock-On-Rye

Law needed to limit FBI raids, lawmaker says

Wave of Castrations Sweeping North Carolina

The Winstom-Salem Journal reports today that a local male nurse has been arrested for the 'malicious castration and assault on a handicapped person'.

Steven N. Rodriguez of Zionville is being held on $500,000 bond. Authorities have not released any information that would indicate a motive.

Despite the notoriety of the Lorena Bobbit story many years ago, many people are still surprised to learn that there is a law on the books for 'Malicious Castration'. In fact, this is not the first case of Malicious Castration to be brought in North Carolina.

In State v. Parker, 350 N.C. 411, 516 S.E.2d 106 (25 June 1999), Parker was found guilty of malicious castration. This case established a new precedent as Parker's victim had predeceased the castration.

Even more recently, on May 9, 2006 Marty Lane Self of Kings Mountain, NC was arrested for castrating is step son during an altercation that include Self, his step son Keith Bowen and Tiffany Bowen, Keith's wife. Marty Self was charged both in the castration as well as for assault, assault on a female and second-degree tress passing. Alcohol was not reportedly a factor. The Star reports that calls to the home later to question the events were met with a response from a woman at Self's home that stated, "It's nobody's business why he was arrested."

Now, North Carolina doesn't just leave off with 'malicious castration'. In case you are wondering, there is an illegal form of non-malicious castration. In March of 2006, 3 Charlotte, NC men were charged with performing illegal castrations. They were reportedly running a sadomasochistic "dungeon" according to the Associate Press and later reported through MSNBC. The actual law on the books is Section 14-29. 'Castration or other maiming without malice aforethought' and its been on the books in North Carolina since 1831. [Note. My own ancestors left North Carolina for Kentucky during the 1830's. I'm starting to understand their concerns more clearly.]

Going back to December of 2004, Robert Johnson, reportedly a member of the gang the 'Blood,' received 15 years in prison for shooting off the genitals of a fellow 'Blood.' The jury reached the conclusion that 'malicious castration' was not appropriate and settled on 'nonmalicious castration' as Johnson had shot is victim in the thy and the bullet had exited said thy, castrating his victim in the process. No Forethought ~ no Maliciousness?

In North Carolina, Malicious castration is a class C felony, while non-malicious castration is only a class E felony. To put this in perspective trafficking in cocaine (400 grams or more) or Trafficking in marijuana (10,000 pounds or more) falls right in between as a class D felony.

So all this begs the question, why all the castrations in North Carolina? A Google search on the topic, yields the first two page results listing items about these cases and the large majority are in North Carolina. Is North Carolina above the national average for this type of crime? Is the rest of the country burying castrations in other states?

I don't know the answer to these questions, but my wife and I are not travelling to North Carolina this Memorial Day weekend as we usually do. I look forward to remaining whole throughout the holiday weekend.

update - We ended up travelling to NC afterall halfway through the weekend. We got to thinking about it and realized that you can't let a terror campaign stop you from enjoying life, no matter how much its trumped up in the news. I'll let you know if we survive the weekend . . .

Who's Smoking Pot now? Researchers or test Subjects?

A recent study has concluded that smoking marijuana even at heavy levels does not increase the chances of lung cancer. Smoking cigarettes does. Its obvious that this topic will be a hot topic politically, and this Gridlock on Rye predicts its just a matte of hours or days before someone claims that the researchers in addition to the subjects were smoking pot. Ergo, attempts to disclaim the research has probably already begun.

Researchers so far have claimed they are surprised by the results and don't know why the results would come back in the way that it has. One posited theory has it that smoking marijuana kills off cells before they can develop cancerous growths. No one has discussed the comparative problems that come with cigarettes due to the inclusion of numerous inorganic chemicals in the final product that ultimately get breathed in or smoked.

Gridlock on Rye does not promote the use of marijuana, but would promote a more realistic and scientific review of the facts surrounding this particular plant. Gridlock on Rye suspects that smoking anything is probably not the best thing for a persons overall positive health.

Heavy Pot Smoking Doesn't Increase Lung Cancer Risk: Study - Forbes.com

What could BellSouth's loophole be?

BellSouth is requesting a retraction from USA today regarding allegations that BellSouth along with Verizon and AT&T had turned over customer calling information to the NSA.

BellSouth states in a press release on their website, the following:

"As a result of media reports that BellSouth provided massive amounts of customer calling information under a contract with the NSA, the Company conducted an internal review to determine the facts. Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA."

A recent Washington Post article titled BellSouth Wants Story Retractions quotes and comments the following: "Privacy advocates believe statements from the companies leave open the possibility that they may have provided calling data to the government, even if they did not do so under a contract with the NSA as the USA Today story said.
'The story came out in USA Today . . . and then all this dancing starting, which doesn't give people reason to believe it wasn't true,' said Mary J. Culnan, a professor at Bentley College and a privacy expert. 'These kind of carefully worded press releases where people just don't flat out say 'We didn't do it' -- I think that's why people continue to be suspicious.'"

So where is the wiggle room in the BellSouth statement?

BellSouth's statements
1. "Based on our Review to date . . ."
a. This infers that their review is not complete and therefore could be inaccurate

2. " ... we have confirmed no such contract exists . . ."
a. A contract is not required to hand information over to the government. neither is any formal or informal agreement, not even a hand shake, so why even make this statement?
b. Further, since their review is incomplete, it could be possible that they have not found a lost contract. (Contracts do get lost even in fortune 500 companies.)

3. ". . . and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA."
a. The other items mentioned previously left enough room for a freight truck to drive through, this lets a freight train get through. So they didn't provide it in bulk, they did not claim they did not provide it at all. They did not state that they only provided 1 record or 10 or 100 or 1000 or 1,000,000. Afterall what is the definition of bulk? Is it all the records that BellSouth has? Is it 1 part of 4? Is it hundreds of millions? tens of millions? millions? thousands or less?
b. The NSA is a very large organization with many different covert branches (maybe not as many as CIA but still) did BellSouth give bulk or anyother type of information to any entity representing or not representing the government? Did the records go to the defense department? Or some strange covert cell?

The quotes from The Washington Post make a point, this press release may do much to protect BellSouth legally, but leaves many loopholes that could be substantial on the public perception front.

Majority of Americans: Bush Went Too Far with NSA

New Newsweek poll numbers show that President Bush is racing down towards some of the lowest poll numbers of all times. Currently, only Nixon, Carter, George Bush Senior, and President Clinton (in 93) have had lower poll numbers. Bush has 2 years to go, an energy crisis, a deficit crisis, a war, CIA scandals and resignations, NSA actions against regular Americans, a trade deficit with China and no end in sight to the problems mounting against an administration unable to deal with them.

Plus hurricane season is going to start in a few days, and FEMA has stated that they 'Are prepared.' This statement all by itself is enough to increase skepticism by voters that have seen the administration at its worst over the last 10 months.

A majority of Americans according to Newsweek feel that this administration went to far, overstepping its bounds by collecting phone call information on domestic calls made by tens of millions of Americans (some reports indicate that over 200 million Americans phone records have been collected by the NSA).

Many Americans feel that this action is an undue attack on their constitutional rights against search and seizure, and at worst feel this is directly against the laws created following President Nixon's Watergate scandal when wiretaps and phone records were collected against opposing democratic contenders for various offices.

According to Newsweek, "57 percent said that in light of the NSA data-mining news and other executive actions, the Bush-Cheney Administration has 'gone too far in expanding presidential power.' That compares to 38 percent who think the Administration's actions are appropriate."

Newsweek Poll: Americans Wary of NSA Surveillance - Newsweek Politics

FEMA ready for hurricane season - No reports about pigs flying

FEMA has made the anouncement that they are ready for the 2006 hurricane season. They feel like they have addressed some of the weaknesses that allowed the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to fester.

Their anouncement of confidences probably shakes my confidence more than anything. They very confidently stated they could handl Katrina. They very confidently stated they could help people after Katrina. They very confidently contended they could get to the bottom of the scandal that subsequently erupted when they could not deliver as promised.

So when we hear that they are ready now for what mother nature has to bring, I'm twice as concerned. FEMA seemed to perpetuate and make situation worse last fall. I think we'd be better off with out the pretense of an organization defending us.

So America, be warned, FEMA is ready!


If you believe that please drop a comment on this blog, we'd like to hear what inspires your confidence in this organization?

FEMA says it's ready for hurricanes - Yahoo! News

Gridlock over Hayden CIA Appointment

The Wall Street Journal provides a list of quotes on the subject of President Bush's appointment of General Hayden to lead the CIA.

Below you will find an excerpt of three quotes that sum up the contradictions of my own position on the matter. As I see it General Hayden is probably uniquely qualified to lead the CIA based on his military experience and his recent post running the NSA. Its very difficult to find much more experience than General Hayden has.

That said, I'm believe (talking beliefs here, personal introspection etc. so you may disagree or not, but its just my belief system your entitled to your own) that a General should not transfer directly over from a military post to a civillian post. I like having a government run by civillians and not by Generals, even though I have known and respected several generals personally. I want this position to have a line drawn at some point. If General Hayden had retired and worked in the public or civil sector for a few years, then Great! This is not the case and as such I think the position should go to someone else.

Then there is this nasty business about domestic spying programs. Having worked in situations where my work was held in check by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, I am extremely troubled by the violations that have been alleged, and I suspect are likely to be accurate. General Hayden and President Bush would have both been individually responsible for these violations no matter what the circumstance. The buck should have stopped at each of their desks. It did not and I feel this is an aggregious violation.

I don't think that a leader that did not have the backbone to stand up and defend the constitution by following its laws should be put into a position of leadership at the CIA, where people serving our country are on the front line fighting to protect the constitution. You can't have an intelligence chief breaking the intelligence laws or allowing it to happen. Even if the President did give the order, the General should have resigned in conflict. Which in my view would have then made him imminently qualified to be the head of the CIA.

Alas, he did not and based on his poor exercise of leadership, he is not.

WSJ.com - Reactions to Bush's Nomination Of Gen. Hayden to Lead CIA: "

Reactions to Bush's Nomination
Of Gen. Hayden to Lead CIA
May 8, 2006 2:17 p.m.
Statements in response to President Bush's nomination of Gen. Michael Hayden to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency
* * *
"To send a signal of independence from the Pentagon, Gen. Hayden may want to consider retiring from the Air Force. That would put to rest questions about whether an active duty military officer should lead the CIA at this time."
--Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
* * *
"He understands intelligence and he's a good leader that can guide a large organization through change. We have to rebuild our human intelligence capabilities and I believe Mike can help us continue on that path. It shouldn't surprise anyone that some of our nation's finest leaders come from the United States military."
--Rep. Heather Wilson (R., N.M.) who chairs the House Intelligence panel that oversees the NSA
* * *
"During his time as director of the National Security Agency, Michael V. Hayden implemented an illegal domestic spying program in clear violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. ... The Senate must not confirm anyone to this important post who would break the law to spy on American citizens."
--Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way