If They Told You, They'd Have to Kill You

And if you were told...

There have been many speculations as to why Dear Leader wanted to hide his domestic evesdropping capabilities: that he was monitoring journalists, or judges, or the Hillary Rodham Clenis her/himself. Among others.

But it's a sure bet the technology's part of it.

Let's just forget the stuff they give HomeLand Security.

That's doubtless a joke. An intentional joke, to allow the Company to skirt around the Vogons running the bureaucracy.

Doubtless they've been using Echelon to make their enemies list and they really don't want that to get out.

After all, Echelon officially doesn't exist.

But the real zinger behind it all is that everybody outside the United States knows it does. In fact, the European Union has complained to the United States Government that unspecified private contractors were using it to spy on their European competitors. Could we be talking about Cheneyburton spying on the perfidous French oil companies?

Using Echelon to spy on American citizens suddenly has a whole new meaning- especially when they might be Corporate citizens competing with the financial interest of members of a certain private equity firm.

Corporate citizens that until recently backed the Republican takeover of the government whole heartedly. They backed rampant corporatism until they figured their cut wasn't quite what Big Time Dick, Darth Rumsfeld, and the rest of Bu$hCo were taking to the bank. Thus the sudden change in the tide in Washington.

Who knows? Maybe if Black Spot sends his own after his business competitors first the rest of us will have time to cross the frozen river into Canada before the prison camps really open for business.