HAVE I LOST MY MIND?

The comment I most often receive from family and friends who occasionally read this blog is: "Have you lost your mind???" Their concern is that the Men in Black will come knocking (or breaking through) my door because of the political things I write to this blog. This reaction, based on a growing nervousness about the lawlessness of the Bush administration, has recently been heightened with the news that President Bush has authorized spying on U.S. citizens without going through the appropriate legal procedures.

The Bush administration has demonstrated to the world that any dissenting voice must belong to a non-patriot, a traitor, or someone who is comforting the enemy. Even worse, if my writings are percieved to be those of a terrorist, or a suspected terrorist, or maybe someone who maybe resembles a terrorist, or maybe someone who is neither a terrorist nor resembles a terrorist but is someone who could be, maybe, mistaken for one of these...then I might get a free plane ride to some foreign country for a lengthy vacation during which I will be "debriefed," and may never be heard from again.

So maybe this should scare me away from writing anything political to this blog. Not so - this is exactly why it is even more important for me to keep posting my political rants. This is, after all, still the United States of America.

So, to the Men (and Women) in Black who are monitoring this site (and thank you for being among the few):

I am posting below, for your review, Amendments I and IV of the Constitution of the United States. Please read this carefully. Please forward it to your superiors, including Porter Goss, Ronald Dumsfeld, Darth Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and George W. Bush, and suggest that they read it, too.

AMENDMENT I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

AMENDMENT IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Stand up for democracy - speak truth to lies!