Dude, where's my country. No, dude... SERIOUSLY, where's my country???

Brought to you by the Letter Q, the Number 7, and the fine folks at Democratic Veteran.

Holy Crap, Batman! When the hell did this happen? And why wasn't it debated in Congress?

The Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at gathering and analyzing intelligence within the United States, creating new agencies, adding personnel and seeking additional legal authority for domestic security activities in the post-9/11 world.

The moves have taken place on several fronts. The White House is considering expanding the power of a little-known Pentagon agency called the Counterintelligence Field Activity, or CIFA, which was created three years ago. The proposal, made by a presidential commission, would transform CIFA from an office that coordinates Pentagon security efforts -- including protecting military facilities from attack -- to one that also has authority to investigate crimes within the United States such as treason, foreign or terrorist sabotage or even economic espionage.

Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the data-sharing amendment would still give the Pentagon much greater access to the FBI's massive collection of data, including information on citizens not connected to terrorism or espionage.

The measure, she said, "removes one of the few existing privacy protections against the creation of secret dossiers on Americans by government intelligence agencies." She said the Pentagon's "intelligence agencies are quietly expanding their domestic presence without any public debate."

Secret folders compiling information on Americans by the military without civilian oversight? Without a judge being involved? Can you say, Posse Comitatus? I knew you could.

This garbage started with the Patriot act, and now it's simply getting WAY out of control. You can't simply justify everything up to and including an unregulated police state in the name of the "war on terror."

Democratic Veteran hauls out an old chestnut - one of my favorites - which has been recycled on progressive blogs quite a bit. In case you haven't seen it, however, I'll repeat it for you here.

"Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

Sound familiar? Where did it come from? Come on... if you don't know, take a guess. Sounds like it could have come from Rumsfeld, Cheney and/or Bush in 2002, doesn't it? Nope. Think a bit older and not so much Washington, DC. Give up?

Hermann Goering, Hitler's Reich-Marshall at the Nuremberg Trials