Good News: Feds Are Tracking Your Border Crossings!

If you travel internationally and return by land, you'll be pleased to know about a newly announced federal weapon in the war on terror -- a program which has already begun recording (and will continue to record) all your land entrances into the US in a database designed to protect the nation from people like you.

You know who you are, don't you? You probably drive a car, or maybe you ride on a bus or a train. You go to Canada or Mexico, for day trips or vacations.

You don't go to Europe or Asia, or the Caribbean, not to mention Australia or New Zealand. You can't afford to travel by plane, and you don't own your own yacht, so you must be up to no good. Or at least that's what we have to assume.

By enabling the government to track when, where and how often you return to the US, the national database will help to protect us from indescribable dangers which can only be averted by enabling the government to track when, where and how often you return to the US.

By keeping this data over a long period of time and mining it aggressively, the government will be able to identify the dangerous people who cross the border often, or seldom, or at the same time every day, or at different times every day. This sort of analysis works best with a massive collection of data, so you will be very happy to hear that this is exactly what they're building.

Fortunately, the information gathered by border inspection officers and stored in this national database will be kept for at least fifteen years, so we can all be confident that the enormous effort devoted to data collection and storage won't be wasted -- instead the data-mining opportunities will be maximized.

Fortunately as well, the information in the database will not be selfishly hoarded by the federal government; on the contrary, it could be made available to foreign governments trying to decide whether or not to let you in, corporations trying to decide whether to hire or fire you, and/or law enforcement officers trying to decide whether or not you're an unlawful enemy combatant. These provisions will help keep us safe from hazards so awful I'd prefer not to describe them.

Furthermore, you'll be thrilled to know that the newly announced federal program is not a violation of your right to privacy. You actually have no such right, and you never did.

So don't worry about it -- just enjoy!

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Evil In Your In-Box? Thank The Pentagon

The Pentagon's new internet propaganda campaign is in full swing, and wow! Is it ever vicious!!

It comes in the form of an anonymous viral email. I got it from a close relative.

He wasn't saying "Wow, is this ever screwed up!" And he wasn't saying "Hey this is cool, pass it on."

But, as you can see from the text of the message, his passing it on indicates his approval.

Here's the text of the message. Hold your nose and grab a barf bag before continuing:

Subject: Fwd: She tells it like it is!

I don't know who wrote it but they should have signed it. Some powerful words. This woman should run for president.

Written by a housewife from New Jersey and sounds like it! This is one ticked off lady.

Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?

Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania?

Did nearly three thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?

And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was "desecrated" when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet? Well, I don't. I don't care at all.

I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.

I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia.

I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.

I'll care when the cowardly so-called "insurgents" in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.

I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.

I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.

In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.

When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured: I don't care.

When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank: I don't care.

When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed "special" food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being "mishandled," you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don't care.

And oh, by the way, I've noticed that sometimes it's spelled "Koran" and other times "Quran." Well, Jimmy Crack Corn and -- you guessed it -- I don't care!!

If you agree with this viewpoint, pass this on to all your E-mail friends. Sooner or later, it'll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!

If you don't agree, then by all means hit the delete button. Should you choose the latter, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great Country! And may I add:

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem" -- Ronald Reagan

I have another quote that I would like to add AND......I hope you forward all this.

"If we ever forget that we're One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under." Also by Ronald Reagan

One last thought for the day:

In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the Anti-American sentiment and negativity, we should remember England's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words during a recent interview. When asked by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in America, he said: "A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in... And how many want out."

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

YOU MIGHT WANT TO PASS THIS ON, AS MANY SEEM TO FORGET BOTH OF THEM. AMEN!

No kidding.

I kept reading the message and reading it again and checking who it came from and checking it again and after a while I thought I was going to puke.

Eventually I settled down and started trying to formulate a proper response.

A good one came to mind almost immediately.

GFY

But that wouldn't have been very wise, considering the circumstances.

It expressed my emotional reaction precisely, but lacked educational value.

So I tried again:

OMG! One MF lie after another! GFY!!

This was more educational but insufficiently spiritual, I thought.

So I gave it another whirl.

How dare you? How dare you??

Your country has killed at least a million people in Iraq. None of them ever did anything to you. None of them ever did anything to any of you until you bombed their cities to smithereens, invaded their country and destroyed everything except the oil fields. And now your government is trying to steal oil worth at least a hundred trillion dollars from the survivors of your invasion. How dare you?

How dare you use the Holy name of Jesus Christ while trying to make mass murder and grand larceny seem righteous?

The leaders of your country have told hundreds and hundreds of lies in order to "justify" that war, so they could implement a plan they published even before Bush even became president! This war has nothing to do with 9/11; it is murder and torture for profit and power and nothing more. And you, and everyone else who forwarded that email, are expressing your approval of mass murder, wanton destruction, and vicious torture -- by sending out this rant about how little you care!

Thou shalt not kill. Do you remember this? Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Did they forget to teach you these things in your "church"? Well guess what? I don't care!

I have news for you. Jesus Christ did not die for people like you. He died for those who would follow Him, who would love their neighbors as themselves, who would repent their sins and ask for forgiveness, who would make restitution for their wrongs, who would bow down before their Holy Father and beg for mercy.

But not this! Surely, the Sinless One did not suffer and die to absolve you from this.

May God have mercy upon your mortal soul.

It seemed I was moving in the right direction, and another draft might be in order.

So I tried again:

Dear Dad,

We never talk about politics anymore, at your insistence, so I guess you must have been thinking of somebody else yesterday when you forwarded me the email from an "Angry Woman". But now that you have injected politics into our relationship, I feel bound to speak honestly.

That email was the vilest propaganda I have ever seen, and I was profoundly saddened to see it -- let alone to see that it had come from you.

For the record, the FBI has no hard evidence against Osama bin Laden pertaining to the attacks of 9/11, nor do they list him as a suspect in those attacks. On the contrary: all the official allegations about 9/11 remain unproven. The official investigation was an obvious whitewash, undeniable signs of inside complicity are everywhere, and fresh ones keep popping up. The official story of 9/11 holds no water at all. We talked about this once and I thought you understood.

But that doesn't even matter in this case because nobody anywhere has any evidence connecting Saddam Hussein or Iraq with the 9/11 attacks. Indeed, we now know that all the reasons given for the invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq were lies -- crafted by consultants who were paid millions of dollars of our money for their services, and told by people who have been coveting Iraq's oil for decades.

Lies! All lies!! I am not in the mood for any more lies. So let me tell you a few more truths:

The United States has invaded and occupied a defenseless country that never harmed us and never even threatened us. Our actions there have caused the deaths of at least a million people (so far), most of whom were only trying to live their lives -- many of them in desperate conditions -- when we arrived. We have destroyed their hospitals, ruined all their infrastructure, kidnapped innocent people and taken them away to be tortured. We've started up death squads; we've fomented a civil war; and even though the "surge" is supposedly "working", we're still bombing residential neighborhoods in the middle of the night.

Can you imagine? How would you feel if Mexico attacked Canada and Canada retaliated by invading the United States? Suppose the Canadians mounted a campaign of "Shock and Awe", bombed our cities to smithereens, then invaded and decided to stay forever. What would you do? How would you feel?

I'd like to think you'd at least sympathize with the resistance. I'd like to think that as a younger man you'd have been a leader of the resistance. But then I guess all sons like to think heroic thoughts about their dads.

Most Iraqis want us out. For this, they are called terrorists; for this they are shot and bombed and kidnapped and tortured; without reason, without remorse, without recourse, and seemingly without end.

Why? Because Iraq has at least a trillion barrels of oil, and the Bushes and their backers want it. It's that simple. They've "invested" hundreds of billions of our dollars and thousands of our lives trying to pull off the grandest larceny ever -- not for our profit but for theirs. They have told countless lies to do it and ruined countless innocent lives in the process. Do you really support this?

The email you forwarded -- to me and (apparently) all your other family and friends -- even invoked the Holy names of God and Jesus Christ in an attempt to make mass murder for profit and power appear righteous! Talk about disrespecting your religion!!

You still go to church, right? What do they talk about every Sunday? Do they ever mention glorifying God the Creator? Do they ever talk about following in the righteous ways of the Prince of Peace? Do they ever say "Love your neighbor"?

Thou shalt not kill, Dad. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Have we forgotten all that?

I do not believe torture and murder please our Creator, and I do not believe Jesus Christ died on the cross so we could commit horrific crimes on Earth, rant about how we don't care about them, and still go to Heaven.

In my church we are taught that the only way to Heaven is to follow Jesus Christ: to repent your sins, to make restitution to those you have wronged, to humble yourself before God and pray for mercy. Apparently in your church they do things differently.

But enough about the Church; let's talk about the State.

The email claims to have been written by an angry woman from New Jersey, but it bears all the fingerprints of cold and calculating men from the Pentagon. Several months ago, they announced their plans to use the internet to spread their "version" of reality, and the writing is exactly their style, so it looks like this is one of the ways they decided to do it.

They want you to forward it; they want to start fights; they want to tear the country apart. And they are relentless.

So I expect you will receive similar messages in the future. That's how the propaganda merchants work. That's how they always work. They are spending our money to spread vicious lies, and they are tricking you into helping them -- for free!

It causes me immense pain to know that you and some of your friends have been used to transmit such a hideous message, and, with all possible respect, I ask you to think carefully about deleting such messages in the future, rather than forwarding them.

I still can't decide which one to send, if any. But I've posted all four responses in the hope that one or more of them may be useful to you, if and when somebody you love sends you the Pentagon's newest mind-control virus...

... and to get the evil out of my system!

Pakistan's Nukes May Not Be So Loose After All

The New York Times says:

Pakistan’s Collapse, Our Problem

By FREDERICK W. KAGAN and MICHAEL O’HANLON | Washington | November 18, 2007

AS the government of Pakistan totters, we must face a fact: the United States simply could not stand by as a nuclear-armed Pakistan descended into the abyss. Nor would it be strategically prudent to withdraw our forces from an improving situation in Iraq to cope with a deteriorating one in Pakistan. We need to think — now — about our feasible military options in Pakistan, should it really come to that.

We do not intend to be fear mongers. Pakistan’s officer corps and ruling elites remain largely moderate and more interested in building a strong, modern state than in exporting terrorism or nuclear weapons to the highest bidder. But then again, Americans felt similarly about the shah’s regime in Iran until it was too late.

Moreover, Pakistan’s intelligence services contain enough sympathizers and supporters of the Afghan Taliban, and enough nationalists bent on seizing the disputed province of Kashmir from India, that there are grounds for real worries.

The most likely possible dangers are these: a complete collapse of Pakistani government rule that allows an extreme Islamist movement to fill the vacuum; a total loss of federal control over outlying provinces, which splinter along ethnic and tribal lines; or a struggle within the Pakistani military in which the minority sympathetic to the Taliban and Al Qaeda try to establish Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism.

All possible military initiatives to avoid those possibilities are daunting. With 160 million people, Pakistan is more than five times the size of Iraq. It would take a long time to move large numbers of American forces halfway across the world. And unless we had precise information about the location of all of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and materials, we could not rely on bombing or using Special Forces to destroy them.

The task of stabilizing a collapsed Pakistan is beyond the means of the United States and its allies. Rule-of-thumb estimates suggest that a force of more than a million troops would be required for a country of this size. Thus, if we have any hope of success, we would have to act before a complete government collapse, and we would need the cooperation of moderate Pakistani forces.

One possible plan would be a Special Forces operation with the limited goal of preventing Pakistan’s nuclear materials and warheads from getting into the wrong hands. Given the degree to which Pakistani nationalists cherish these assets, it is unlikely the United States would get permission to destroy them. Somehow, American forces would have to team with Pakistanis to secure critical sites and possibly to move the material to a safer place.

For the United States, the safest bet would be shipping the material to someplace like New Mexico; but even pro-American Pakistanis would be unlikely to cooperate. More likely, we would have to settle for establishing a remote redoubt within Pakistan, with the nuclear technology guarded by elite Pakistani forces backed up (and watched over) by crack international troops. It is realistic to think that such a mission might be undertaken within days of a decision to act. The price for rapid action and secrecy, however, would probably be a very small international coalition.

A second, broader option would involve supporting the core of the Pakistani armed forces as they sought to hold the country together in the face of an ineffective government, seceding border regions and Al Qaeda and Taliban assassination attempts against the leadership. This would require a sizable combat force — not only from the United States, but ideally also other Western powers and moderate Muslim nations.

Even if we were not so committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Western powers would need months to get the troops there. Fortunately, given the longstanding effectiveness of Pakistan’s security forces, any process of state decline probably would be gradual, giving us the time to act.

So, if we got a large number of troops into the country, what would they do? The most likely directive would be to help Pakistan’s military and security forces hold the country’s center — primarily the region around the capital, Islamabad, and the populous areas like Punjab Province to its south.

We would also have to be wary of internecine warfare within the Pakistani security forces. Pro-American moderates could well win a fight against extremist sympathizers on their own. But they might need help if splinter forces or radical Islamists took control of parts of the country containing crucial nuclear materials. The task of retaking any such regions and reclaiming custody of any nuclear weapons would be a priority for our troops.

If a holding operation in the nation’s center was successful, we would probably then seek to establish order in the parts of Pakistan where extremists operate. Beyond propping up the state, this would benefit American efforts in Afghanistan by depriving terrorists of the sanctuaries they have long enjoyed in Pakistan’s tribal and frontier regions.

The great paradox of the post-cold war world is that we are both safer, day to day, and in greater peril than before. There was a time when volatility in places like Pakistan was mostly a humanitarian worry; today it is as much a threat to our basic security as Soviet tanks once were. We must be militarily and diplomatically prepared to keep ourselves safe in such a world. Pakistan may be the next big test.

and Pakistan's Daily Times says

US military strike on Pakistan advocated

By Khalid Hasan | November 19, 2007

Two experts have proposed that the US should take pre-emptive action to secure Pakistan’s nuclear weapons before they fall into the wrong hands.

Frederick Kagan of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute and Michael O’Hanlon of the more liberal Brookings Institution argue in an article published in the New York Times on Sunday that the US simply cannot stand by as a nuclear-armed Pakistan descended into the abyss. Nor would it be strategically prudent to withdraw US forces from an improving situation in Iraq to cope with a deteriorating one in Pakistan. While Pakistan’s officer corps and ruling elites remain largely moderate and more interested in building a strong, modern state, the same was true of Iran on the eve of the Islamic revolution. Pakistan’s intelligence services, the two writers maintain, contain enough sympathisers and supporters of the Afghan Taliban, and enough nationalists bent on seizing Kashmir from India, that there are grounds for real worries.

Complete collapse: The likely dangers include the complete collapse of Pakistani government rule that allows an extreme Islamist movement to fill the vacuum, a total loss of federal control over outlying provinces, or a struggle within the Pakistani military in which the minority sympathetic to the Taliban and Al Qaeda tries to establish Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism.

While admitting that all possible military initiatives to avoid those possibilities are daunting, given Pakistan’s size and complexity and the scanty US knowledge about the location of its nuclear weapons, the US would have to act before a complete government collapse, and for that it would need the cooperation of “moderate Pakistani forces”.

Possible plan: One possible plan would be a Special Forces operation with the limited goal of preventing Pakistan’s nuclear materials and warheads from getting into the wrong hands. Given the degree to which Pakistani nationalists cherish these assets, it is unlikely the United States would get permission to destroy them. Somehow, American forces would have to team with Pakistanis to secure critical sites and possibly to move the material to a safer place. For the United States, the safest bet would be shipping the material to someplace like New Mexico, but even pro-American Pakistanis would be unlikely to cooperate. It would be better for the US to settle for establishing a remote redoubt within Pakistan, with the nuclear technology guarded by elite Pakistani forces backed up and watched over by crack international troops. It is realistic to think that such a mission might be undertaken within days of a decision to act. The price for rapid action and secrecy, however, would probably be a very small international coalition.

Support army: Kagan and O’Hanlon suggest that a broader option would involve supporting the core of the Pakistani armed forces as they sought to hold the country together in the face of an ineffective government, seceding border regions and Al Qaeda and Taliban assassination attempts against the leadership. This would require a sizeable combat force from the US, other Western powers and moderate Muslim nations. Since the decline of the Pakistani state is likely to be gradual, it will give the US time to act, they argue. “The most likely directive would be to help Pakistan’s military and security forces hold the country’s center - primarily the region around the capital, Islamabad, and the populous areas like Punjab to its south ... If a holding operation in the nation’s centre was successful, the foreign forces would then seek to establish order in the parts of Pakistan where extremists operate. Beyond propping up the state, this would benefit American efforts in Afghanistan by depriving terrorists of the sanctuaries they have long enjoyed in Pakistan’s tribal and frontier regions ... There was a time when volatility in places like Pakistan was mostly a humanitarian worry — today it is as much a threat to our basic security as Soviet tanks once were.”

but Times of India says

Pak nukes already under US control: Report

Chidanand Rajghatta | TNN | November 20, 2007

Pakistan's nuclear weapons are already under American control even as analysts are working themselves into a lather on the subject, a well-regarded intelligence journal has said.

In a stunning disclosure certain to stir up things in Washington's (and in Islamabad and New Delhi's) strategic community, the journal Stratfor reported on Monday that the "United States delivered a very clear ultimatum to Musharraf in the wake of 9/11: Unless Pakistan allowed US forces to take control of Pakistani nuclear facilities, the United States would be left with no choice but to destroy those facilities, possibly with India's help."

"This was a fait accompli that Musharraf, for credibility reasons, had every reason to cover up and pretend never happened, and Washington was fully willing to keep things quiet," the journal, which is widely read among the intelligence community, said.

The Stratfor commentary came in response to an earlier New York Times story that reported that the Bush administration had spent around $100 million to help Pakistan safeguard its nuclear weapons, but left it unclear if Washington has a handle on the arsenal.

Over the past fortnight, even since the crisis in Pakistan broke and eclipsed every other geopolitical story, including Iraq, US officials and analysts have been speaking in different voices on the subject of a jihadi takeover of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

Some officials have expressed deep concern at the possibility and suggested US is ready with contingency plans to defang Pakistan of its nuclear weapons, while others have tried to assuage Islamabad by saying they believe the country's military rulers have good custodial control over their crown jewels.

On Monday, a State Department official once again addressed the issue and hinted that Washington was in control of the situation.

"... ultimately, the major responsibility for that falls with the Pakistani government. They have made public comments to the effect that the arsenal is secure, that they have taken a number of different steps to ensure that," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"We ourselves see no indication to indicate to the contrary. It is secure. We obviously have an interest in seeing that it is secure," McCormack added.

Stratfor, too, appears confident that the Bush administration has a handle on Pak's nukes.

Not everyone is so sanguine. In a separate commentary over the weekend that had some US and Pakistani analysts blowing their gasket, two prominent Washington commentators detailed a US military action plan inside Pakistan, possibly with the cooperation of moderate Pakistani forces, to seize the nuclear arsenal if there was imminent danger of an extremist takeover.

"As the government of Pakistan totters, we must face a fact: the United States simply could not stand by as a nuclear-armed Pakistan descended into the abyss," proposed Frederick Kagan and Michael O'Hanlon, analysts at two Washington DC think-tanks. "One possible plan would be a Special Forces operation with the limited goal of preventing Pakistan's nuclear materials and warheads from getting into the wrong hands."

Pakistan's own leaders have spoken about the subject -- of nuclear weapons falling into extremist hands --with different emphasis and objectives.

General Pervez Musharraf has suggested continued Western support to his military regime is the best way to prevent the nukes from falling into extremist hands, an "after-me-the-deluge" argument that some analysts see as unabashed blackmail.

The country's opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has also invoked the loose nukes scenario to urge US to abandon the military regime, which she says has given rise to growing extremism and fissiparous tendencies that increase the danger of the nuclear arsenal going awry.

Officially though, Islamabad is touchy about any commentary on its nuclear arsenal, and goes into transports of hysteria to assert that it is a responsible country with good command and control over its crown jewels.

In the latest outburst, the country's out-going foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri asserted that Pakistan is fully capable of securing its nuclear assets and some Western lobbies are busy in creating confusion taking the advantage of ongoing conditions in Pakistan.

The multi-layer security structure of the nuclear assets has a strong command and control system in place and there is no need for anyone at home or abroad to worry about the security of these assets, he insisted.

But judging by the volume of worried commentary and analysis the subject is now getting, there aren't many takers for such assurances and the last word on the matter hasn't been said or written.

I have to go out for a few hours -- not too many, I hope.

In the meantime maybe you can figure out what all this means.