I am not an anarchist. I am not a communist. I'm not even a libertarian. But I have come to hate our government with the same sort of loathing as I have for child molesters, vivisectionists, and the people behind the Old Navy ads. Today, let me present the couple of things that have made me most angry in the last few days.
Earlier today, I read this: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/monahan1.html. This is the story of a man who, by his account, is slapped with trumped-up charges at the Portland airport, and the saga of his failure to see justice done. Admittedly, one account can be wrong; perhaps he's lying. Perhaps there was a horrible misunderstanding. But you hear of a new incident like this every day, and they can't all be liars. He's right for sure on one thing, though. We're not turning into a police state, we're already there. Or have you tried going someplace without your travel papers lately?
Then there's this: http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29919. Legislators in Georgia are looking to require women to seek a "death warrant" via a jury trial before they can undergo an abortion. Hello? Are we on the same planet here? I don't see a blob of protoplasm with the viability of a sea urchin in the Mojave as being a citizen of the state. Sure, there's that "potential human being" argument, but then, so are the ova I drop every time I have a period. What's next? Are we going to outlaw menstruation? How about we have a jury trial about that?
And to round it all up, we have http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/20/technology/20MONI.html. Nobody would quietly accept a national phone-tapping service, or a Federal letter-reading service, but we just aren't getting the same outrage over our Internet services being monitored. But do we really need more intelligence, anyway?
I've read in various accounts looking for 9/11 blame from several sources that the intelligence agencies have had plenty of data. They just couldn't sort through it to filter the signal from the noise in an efficient fashion. It was that quest for efficiency that has led us to our modern-day Department of Homeland Security-cum-Schutzstaffel. Not to mention the fledgling TIPS program, like the Hitler Youth, except adults can play, too. How long before we start getting "disappeared" for writing inflammatory material like this?
I would urge you to write to your legislators, but I'm feeling a little too bitter today. I've gotten too many letters from my Congressional representative saying, "Screw you, I don't care what you say, I'm voting the way I feel like it." Writing whiny little letters trying to change my elected officials' minds is just not working. I'm at a loss for a way to fix this before the next election; until then, I'll just try to help everyone see how angry this is making me, and how angry it should be making them, too.
Yeah, Merry Christmas, folks.
Run for Congress...then you really get to have a say.
Posted by: Tom Bridge on December 24, 2002 10:28 PMRight on daughter but then the government has the ability and probably through the Patriot Act the legal abilty to read this. I read today, 1/07/03 in no less than the regular paper the Lansing State Journal listing all the reasons we are now like a police state. Apparently the right to detain without charge and assasinate can can be applied to US Citizens...so says a mainstream newspaper. I think the Bill of Rights was meant to be a bill of human rights not just a citizens rights.
Posted by: David Fisher on January 7, 2003 09:54 PM