Government secrets  

Are some of our military units training and preparing to haul US citizens away into FEMA camps to maintain "order"?

Does a shadow government actually run things, while allowing the "puppet government" just appear to govern?

Was 9/11 an inside job?

I strongly doubt it, but I also have to wonder if all these kookie conspiracy theories floated by the government to keep our minds off what is really going on.

Back in the 80s, to much fanfare, the Defense Department declassified and paraded out the latest in stealth technology. The F-117 Nighthawk (Stealth Fighter) ushered in a new generation of aircraft designed to evade radar. In April 2008 it was retired in favor of the more modern stealth technology of the F-22 Raptor.

That's right folks, we're expected to believe that it takes about 20 years to move from one generation of new technology to another. But we really aren't expected to believe that, we're just not expected to care... until it's time to get excited about the release of the next generation... probably 20 years from now.

When war breaks out, we are treated to fuzzy "satelite photos" that only highly trained, eagle eyed intel analysts can make out. They apparently spend hours on end, trying to figure out if a vehicle is a Wal~Mart truck or a mobile missile. You've all seen the photos. They look like they were taken with and old Kodak Instamatic camera with a film cartridge whose "sell by" date came and went with the Nixon administration.

But while our nation's best and brightest are laboring over these "satelite photos" the rest of us are pulling up satelite photos from around the world so clear and high res we can see the cars parked in driveways.

We all know the government keeps secrets from us.. most of us even understand that it is necessary and saves lives. Most of us want our nation's secrets to be kept better than we keep our own.

So what do we do about infractions in that public trust? We look to Congress to take their responsibilities of oversight and audit, but we also see that they aren't willing to do that.

Investigations have become nothing more than petty games aimed at political opponents instead of keeping corruption at bay. We see politicians getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar, but often getting re-elected anyway. Those that don't get re-elected are allowed to continue working until they are voted out.

Think about that, Rep. William "Icebox Willie" Jefferson (D LA) was caught red handed with money he hadn't reported, while misappropriating military vehicles during an emergency situation. Yet he continued to be privy to our government secrets... and he's just one of many... many... many.

One of the biggest, most expensive investigation in the history of the US was conducted to find out who "outed" Valarie Plame. It was important because this leaker has allegedly released the name of a CIA secret agent to the press, violating all sorts of laws and endangering who knows how many lives. It was so important to keep the investigation going that Fitzgerald kept it going even after he learned who the leaker was... in fact he knew who the leaker was before the investigation really got going. But that didn't matter because what was more important than finding the leaker was feeding rumors that he leaker was Prs. Bush, VP Cheney or some other high ranking Republican official.

But when the truth was out, no one seemed to care that the leaker's name was Richard Armitage... nor did the rumors end. Everyone seemed to care that that Valarie Plame's husband went to Niger to investigate the accusations that Hussein tried to buy "yellowcake uranium". But few of the rumormongers seemed to care that ol' Joe Wilson lied and the government of Niger told him that it was true, Hussein did try to buy yellowcake from them.

So who cares I guess? Who cares what our government does, as long as "our guy" gets elected or re-elected and the people with the right letter after their names stay in power. After all, that is what separates the honest from the corrupt, right?