au·dac·i·ty (ô-dăs'ĭ-tē), n.

au·dac·i·ty (ô-dăs'ĭ-tē), n., 1. Fearless daring; 2. Bold or insolent heedlessness of restraints

Note to public. More and more this blog says less and less. The theme of it becomes narrower and narrower as revelations of the administration's abuses of power become wider and wider. So having said that, having warned you, you may stop reading here and go do something more productive, like continuing your adult education classes on how to choose the right Medicare prescription plan, or reading your instruction manual on how to properly balance the new garage door you got for Christmas.

For those of you choosing to stay, don't say you weren't warned.

A couple of weeks ago in a blog here, I suggested the nation may already be under the rule of a despot and we may not realize it. I'm becoming more and more convinced that's exactly the case. We're living under a repressive regime. The ongoing evidence of such continues to accumulate publicly. And the audacity of that comes from an administration that seemingly doesn't care you know it!

Wake up America! There is more than sufficient signs that this illusion of "democracy" we live under is nothing more than a wet dream. There's always been corruption of the election process. But it's become more than that. It's embedded itself so deeply in our electoral system you can hear the public whimpering louder and louder after each national election of discrepancies and downright law violations before we fall back into our obedient complacency.

It appears the extremist minority that could only drool at the possibility of wresting control of the country away from mainstream America has now become a reality. And, having stolen the freakin' country, they're not about to relinquish the power they are wielding not only nationally, but globally.

The entire nation's been seized by people with the power to decide who your candidates will be, who gets to vote for 'em, and how the votes will be manipulated to determine the outcome.

Does it bother anyone else that a TV network will often seek advice on an important national or international issue from an "expert" such as Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, a person who's advocated the assassination of a head of state? Holy shit!

Blah, blah, blah. I'm just whistling into the wind, I know. At the risk of being repetitive--tough! How many times does one have to beat their goddamned head against a wall that most Americans don't realize they're imprisoned behind??!! Or seemingly care, to wit:

First, that real, real subtle clue dropped several years ago by our president:

"It'd be a lot easier if this was a dictatorship, so long as I'm the dictator." Bush wasn't just being glib here. He was serious people!

Or how about Bush and Cheney testifying before the congressional 9/11 commission, exempted from taking an oath to tell the truth! And was it just me, or was anyone else bothered by the fact their unsworn testimony had to be delivered together as they held each other's hands. I guess that was to keep their story straight.

Am I pissed? You're goddamned right I am. And one of the reasons is, my patriotism has been bludgeoned because of these two. Bush and Cheney have the ass because I ponder the destruction of the country by a bunch of thugs in the White House who don't think we have any right to question them under oath on matters of national security. By their dismantling of the nation through their picking and choosing the laws they will follow and those they'll violate--at their disgression. You've got to admire our "president" and our president (no typo!). They're incredibly audacious.

Bush will say straight faced to a global audience, "We don't torture!" Bullshit. We've seen the pictures. He will sign the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, as he quietly reserves the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief!

As New York University Law Professor David Golove says, Bush signed in effect saying, "I will only comply with this law when I want to, and if something arises in the war on terrorism where I think it's important to torture or engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading conduct, I have the authority to do so and nothing in this law is going to stop me."

And Bush will reluctantly admit, he's been using his National Security Agency for spying beyond the powers granted him under the constitution or by his congressional "overseers". He then audaciously reassures us (read "scares the shit outta us")--he intends to continue violating the law for our own safety.

I don't know how many "clues" we need from the administration to demonstrate the powers they have seized. The powers we quietly cede this despotism will ultimately bite us in our collective ass.

But apparently, many are not too concerned. In a letter to the editor in this morning's local paper, one Mario Escobedo writes, "I am not worried that someone might listen to what I might whisper to my girlfriend or that I called my cousin to say happy birthday."

It's the stock bullshit response of the masses who think they have nothing to hide, gladly relinquishing the right to their privacy. And this scares me a helluva lot more than the threat of terrorism the president's been hammering like spikes of fear into our brains for the past four plus years. It should scare the hell out of everybody because the biggest threat to America may not be from the terrorism outside, but the terrorism from within.

But as Mario Escobedo assures us, "If the government wants to eavesdrop on my simple life, I have nothing to hide and it would be such a small price to pay for national security."

And we wonder at the source of the administration's brazen audacity. We need look no further than the Mario Escobedos of America. Keep 'em nervous, keep 'em scared and they will follow you, as sheep, through the gates of hell.