As explained on 60 Minutes tonight, Bush's first counter-terrorism czar Richard Clark has nailed Bush in a new book, claiming he gave Bush specific information about the Al Quaeda threat and that Bush failed to act on it. Worse, Bush tried to pressure Clark to declare a link between Al Quaeda and Iraq.

The Republican attack dogs will be set loose tomorrow in an attempt to discredit Clark, just as they are trying to discredit O'Neill. But I think this pretty much seals it. Bush did not act in the best interest of the country, and, frankly, I don't think he cared. This administration has consistently acted with the arrogance and wanton disregard for truth and justice that it is reminiscent of the former East Germany.

Speaking of which, I learned today that an educated acquaintance of mine decided to no longer return my phone calls or meet me for coffee. We share the same interests in certain political issues and have had deep, substantive talks before. I ran into a friend of hers who volunteered that she decided not to meet with me because she fears our conversation will be monitored because of my opposition to Bush, combined with my political aspirations. She is not a citizen and is working here on a temporary VISA. I laughed, saying I had never heard that excuse before. My friend corrected me. There are over 1000 (as far as we know) non-citizens detained by Bush and his cronies for the past two and a half years; most have been denied an attorney or even a phone call. My friend does not want to be another casualty, "disappeared" by the government like so many in totalitarian countries in our time like Argentina, Guatemala, the USSR, and China. The chilling effect of the open oppressiveness of Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, and Rove et al chilled my friend's interest in having coffee with me. And I'm nobody special.

We must rise up and take back our country. You have an obligation to yourself and to humanity to get Bush out of office, to stop these threats to our country by its own president, to stop the threats to our freedoms that make America such a great country. Big Brother isn't coming in the future. It's already here.