Ars Technica's Julian Sanchez reports:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has agreed to postpone implementation of new FBI guidelines, after four Democratic senators raised concerns in a letter Wednesday about proposed changes that they say could permit the FBI to launch investigations of American citizens without any individualized basis for suspicion.
[...]
The proposed rule change, first reported last week, would loosen restrictions on information sharing between agencies, and allow investigators to begin gathering information for criminal or intelligence purpose, even in the absence of any particularized evidence suggesting that a target is connected to criminal activity.

In an article on the same subject, written a week ago, Washington Post adds:

The guidelines [...] do not require congressional approval.

Ho-kay, then! So the time has come that we are inviting national surveillance, provoked perhaps by race, religion, or legal free speech activities. We are on the verge of opting to give an enormous amount of power to unelected officials, held accountable by no one, belonging to a(n arguably illegal) federal police force. Really, America? Does that make you feel safe?

(I guess now at least those brown people over there won't be "jealous of our freedom" or whatever.)

John McCain isn't sure how many houses he owns. But is he elitist? The current state of US affairs would say no. Elitist used to refer to someone who had a lot of power & money. Dick Cheney, for example, who made tens of millions of dollars with Saddam Hussein before deciding to start a war with him and ending over a million Iraqi civilians' lives along with over four thousand Americans' in the process. You might think that kind of money and that kind of power--power to destroy nations--is elitist, especially when combined with the nonexistent "checks & balances" and national debate (things we're supposed to be proud of as Americans). Unfortunately, these days, an "elitist" is someone who reads and engages in that hated nuance. Why use your gift of a brain to make distinctions (elitist) when you could instead use it to invent reasons to go to war--of which you have never even been close to being a part of--and kill other people's children (which must be downright folksy by comparison)?

Watch this clip. It includes a mayor who sees no problem with the fact that he has implemented a continous curfew on citizens, no matter their age and no matter what time it is. He, in fact, states that it is "akin to martial law." What happens if you're a regular old citizen who just happens to live in a bad neighborhood? It looks like you can't leave the inside of your home, even on your own property. What happens if you do? In the mayors own words: "Zero tolerance, they're going to jail."

So the police can't do their jobs, and citizens are now under virtual house arrest, their liberties stripped, because of it. Thumbs up, America. Way to go! What an inventive way to fight crime! But do you honestly feel safer now?