Being A Good Puppet
by Michael LeStrange

Happening during the first official year of a brand spanking new millennium is another sad bonus that only has a one year window every 1,000 years to match.

Doesn't this sound all too familiar?  Folklore tells us that when Pearl Harbor was struck, the surveillance report was ignored by those in command and stored in the circular file as well.  Thus the lucky Japanese were able to attack us completely unprepared.  I've heard several variations on this theme, so I'm not really sure what happened.  But the common mythos that we can verify is what is important, not the actual facts.

There's a lot of speculation of whether the United States government, in the form of President Roosevelt, allowed the attack to occur to "spur" the United States to join World War II.

Let's just take these early facts at face value and believe the explanation.  Granted.

But their reaction to this is that they need far more surveillance capacity than they had before all this happened.

Apparently they are so inept at investigations that they have to listen in - at will - to anyone's private communications.  Without even the slightest G-string of a  warrant.  Things are happening that fast.

And nothing has really changed.  Well, it's gotten worse, certainly.  But this course was clear from the start.  It's just progressing as planned.

Like some bizarre conspiracy theory, it's almost as if the whole "leak" about what they didn't know and when they didn't know it was part of a clever plan.

But is this really something that needs to be rushed through in a fit of panic?  I mean, really.  No matter what side of the Bush you find yourself on, no one in their right mind believes that this über spy agency is going to be effective in anything approaching the short term.

But we have to get it done Tomorrow!  We've got absolutely no time to lose.  Everything else must be subservient to the formation of this unprecedented - well, at least in this country - expansion of internal surveillance.

So rather than having long and serious discussions about how and if this should be done, our fearless leaders are falling all over themselves to see who can create this the fastest.

No debate of substance.  Why do we need debate?  It's all in the war against a noun, and that noun must be destroyed at all cost.

And of course, this is precisely what the divide and conquer strategy results in.  You have the population bitterly divided and completely impotent.  Unable to agree on anything, we continue to bicker at best and get into fist fights at worst.  Get them to fight each other and you don't have to hardly do anything at all to control them...

Some of my friends have completely stopped talking to me.  I believe it's because of this crap that's been going on.  Could be my breath, but I've been addicted to those great Listerine breath strips so I don't think that is the reason.

No one is listening anyway, right?  Everyone is keeping their eyes straight and narrow - focused on the task at hand.  After all ,we're in a piss poor economy as well as deeply involved in our war against a noun.  No time to do any rational thinking.  No time to even comprehend what's going on.

Hmmm...  Depressing, isn't it?  Either way, we're fucked.  Either way, life is going to suck.

Sure am glad you humans are so damn smart.

Just goes to show you how terribly rare advanced life forms are in this Universe.  By the time we get smart enough to be self aware, the major trait we have developed is paranoia and the ability to use it to control each other.

Well, I hope you're all happy in this state.  Certainly isn't what I would call a pleasant state.