Pruning Shears

Lying, treasonous, fearmongering White House Spokesman Tony Fratto had this to say about the soon-to-expire Protect America Act:

We’re exactly three weeks away from the date when terrorists can be free to make phone calls without fear of being surveilled by U.S. intelligence agencies.

Lest my characterization seem harsh:  It is a lie because we can still surveil them; a small loophole concerning warrants for foreign-to-foreign calls that pass through US infrastructure needs to be closed, that’s all.  He’s trying to scare us into a reauthorization of the PAA, most of which has nothing to do with the single loophole above; that’s fearmongering.  And doing so in order to cut off debate is more appropriate for an authoritarian regime, not a democracy; I call that treason and I stand by what I wrote: Tony Fratto is a lying, treasonous fearmonger.  It’s just a taste of what awaits as the PAA replacement comes under consideration.  As a public service here are the House and the Senate members of the Tyranny Caucus.  Please let your representatives know if they are on the list and you disapprove.

Mike McConnell scored a remarkable hat trick this week - a three sentence statement, each one containing a lie (my comments in parentheses):

The United States does not engage in torture (yes we do). We do use enhanced interrogation techniques (“enhanced interrogation techniques” are torture). There are Americans today that are alive, that are living and breathing because of those interrogation techniques (name three).

The last comment, though flippant, is the most important.  The administration does not deserve the benefit of the doubt so a claim like that may be assumed to be a lie.  To convince me otherwise I would need to know who was tortured, everything he said while being tortured, what plot his comments described and how likely it was that the plot would have been brought to fruition.  They might respond that it is classified information and would reveal vital information to the terrorists, to which I respond that that too is a lie.  They don’t want to reveal the details of what they have done because they know Americans would be horrified by its barbarity and ineffectiveness.  In short they are covering up their incompetence, corruption and brutality.  National interest doesn’t enter the picture.