Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.., unless your happiness interferes with my happiness.

G.W. Bush on the Constitution; “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

Whether he said this or not, it certainly fits how he has treated it.

"There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity." - General Douglas Macarthur. "Seize the day."- Horach.

The Patriot Act is the most unconstitutional and freedom killing piece of legislation ever. I agree with R. Neal 1000%.

I fear we are slipping toward facism, sinking slowly like a large ship far out to sea. I fear that somewhere (not necessarily Washington) some team of evil-doers (not necessarily Middle Eastern)has figured out that you can seize world power (or at least compete for it) if only you can convince people the bad guys are (them) and the good guys are (you) and that (you) are too stupid and powerless to have a clue what to do so you need some really trustworthy person like (I-can't-remember-anything Attorney General Gonzalez or a Donald Rumsfeld to take charge of your life in order to protect you from (insert anything in here).

I think the smart scary ones then saw that it would be necessary to convince the good guys (us)that some of our rights would of course have to be sacrificed, but not to worry because of course us good guys (anyone who is law-abidng) has absolutely nothing to fear.

The only problem is there is no mention of the fact that we (the good guys) might somehow occasionally be mistakenly swept up in some wonderfully efficient anti-terrorism sweep & that there will be no one to turn to, no one to straighten the mess out--no one phone call, no Miranda rights, no lawyer, no call to Momma or Poppa or your wife, just one swift trip to god-knows-where-in-what country, with a bag over your head, for God knows how long.

If you think this scenario could not happen here in America, you're just not aware of how free nations work.

Taking over a country in this day and age doesn't mean you have to waste even one bomb or send one army unit, all you have to do is convince the populace that they are better off giving their rights away so they will be safer.

Now, how clever is that! How Talibanesque!

A few years ago I heard someone in a TV interview say that WW III would be a war of propaganda. Why waste bullets and guns when you can dupe people into selling themselves down the road? Gee imagine how appealing that is to power geeks everywhere--free people everywhere in the world enslaving themselves!

And that was before the lies our government was feeding us became public, before the newspaper headlines every day contained news of some new diminishment of our liberty in the name of "protection".

I just hope more people wake up before we find that "we the people" have conquered, disempowered, and disenfranchised ourselves to the point there is no where to turn to when we are unfairly charged with something. That the constitution which people in our present adminstration have called "quaint" will no longer be there. That in effect "we the people" will no longer be there.

Only one big heavy-footed government voted in by totally afraid people, even those that thought one of their most important beliefs was "less government"!

One that will take centuries perhaps to dislodge.

"If you think this scenario could not happen here in America, you're just not aware of how free nations work."
For about 30 years, neither have most voters. Now that folks are finally waking up to the fact that a democracy is the responsibility of self, "machines" do our voting.

"How Talibanesque!"
Besides the 300 (most returned without finding guilt) or so at Gitmo, do you know how many Taliban have killed or "captured"? The answer may be the reason Pat Tillman is no longer with us.

"in this day and age..."
It's happened throughout history, most notable Rome around 1950 years ago and Germany 60 years ago. For the younger folks, see Star Wars. Rouge leaderships are no more new than are gullible societies.

"I just hope more people wake up before we find that "we the people" have conquered, disempowered, and disenfranchised ourselves to the point there is no where to turn to when we are unfairly charged with something. That the constitution which people in our present adminstration have called "quaint" will no longer be there. That in effect "we the people" will no longer be there."
To most in DC, we are seen as "We the Surfs" not "We the People" (link...) (looks like Murdoch over his left shoulder, pedophile wrangler on his right). Part of that waking up, is taking a hard look at some of the candidates. The fact is with the exception of Gravel, Paul, Kucinich and I hope Obama and Edwards, the rest are as inside and elitist as the current crop. This is a game to almost all of them, and it's being played with citizens lives and money. And while I think most Republicans understand Rudy is not their "guy", I hope Democrats will come to understand Hillary is not their "girl". Please vote your conscious - not your strategy.., and demand a paper ballot before doing so.

A man's home is his castle, was once a common expression in the United States. Unreasonable search and seizure was one of the greatest freedom in the U.S.A., which made us the envy of the world.