This is my mandatory post on the disgraceful revision of the 1978 FISA bill that was passed in Congress over the weekend. When Mr Bu$h demanded the right to spy on anyone, anywhere in the world, he was intentionally and deliberately including you and me. He’s been doing it right along, probably since somewhere around January 22nd, 2001, but what he was seeking in this latest demand for more dictatorial unchecked power, was legal cover for yet one more of his illegalities.

This was not just another raw grab for more power; it is an integral part of a carefully calculated plan. Now Mr Bu$h has what he wanted back in February, 2006,

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Friday that he wanted the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping program brought under the authority of a special intelligence court, a move President Bush has argued is not necessary. The chairman, Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas, said he had some concerns that the court could not issue warrants quickly enough to keep up with the needs of the eavesdropping program. But he said he would like to see those details worked out. [emph added]

Putting the administration of a massive domestic spying program under any sort of overwatch, no matter how cursory, (and the FISA court is cursory oversight – its record of warrant refusal shows that) implies some sort of paper trail, a record of what is done, for history to review. As we have seen, Mr Bu$h doesn’t want you to know what he knows and does, nor what his father knew and did.

We have moved one step closer to the inevitable “next terror attack” which ex-Senator and disgraced trough-pig Rick Santorum promised us in July, 2007:

"Between now and November, a lot of things are going to happen, and I believe that by this time next year, the American public’s going to have a very different view of this war, and it will be because, I think, of some unfortunate events, that like we’re seeing unfold in the UK. But I think the American public’s going to have a very different view," said the former senator from Pennsylvania.

In May, 2007, the new chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party Dennis Milligan said that there needed to be more attacks on American soil for President Bush to regain popular approval:

"At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001]," Milligan told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "And the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country," he concluded.

Trent Lott, the once-disgraced but now rehabilitated racist Senator from Mississippi famously detailed the coming catastrophe on Thursday:

Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) ominously advised Thursday that Congress needed to pass changes to terrorist surveillance laws before leaving for the August recess and warned that otherwise “the disaster could be on our doorstep.”

Further demonstrating his counterterrorism sagacity, when asked if people should leave Washington, D.C., during the month of August, Lott replied that "I think it would be good to leave town in August, and it would probably be good to stay out until September the 12th."

And, of course, Mr Bu$h has pre-arranged for taking all the reins of government into his hands when it becomes necessary:

“(b) "Catastrophic Emergency" means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions”

A curious man would wonder whether we’re just about due for “another Pearl Harbor” as the folks at PNAC s quaintly described it, and for some unclear reason they’re telling us it’s about to happen.

This post is titled after historically famous question posed by Decimus Junius Juvenalis, known to history as Juvenal, a Roman poet who lived during the 1st and 2nd centuries of the common era. He is best known for satire, and his question, “Who watches those who watch?” presents the classic challenge in a democracy founded on the principles of safety and civil freedom within the republic. As we have seen in the Democratic Party’s disgraceful pandering to a criminal, no one watches those who watch.

Juvenal is also famous for another comment on the public welfare, “The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things: bread and circuses.” That comment quite properly describes why the Roman Empire fell.