THE NON-PATRIOT ACT

The Patriot Act was rushed through Congress 45 days after the 9/11 attacks. It is 342 pages long and more confusing than a Chinese crossword puzzle.

Somehow I can't believe that this written act was put together in only 45 days. This had to have been prepared in advance and waiting for the right opportunity to put it into play.

Bush and his bunch scoffed at concerns that these laws could be used to go after their political enemies, but some of this administration's biggest enemies seem to be us. So instead of putting all their energies toward rooting out al Qaeda cells in the U.S., the government's hitmen have been going after "enemies" such as GreenPeace, the ACLU, anti-war protestors and those Americans whose only crime is speaking out against Bushes' policies. These groups are engaged in peaceful and totally lawful and totally American First Amendment activities.

The administration says that they are not trying to stifle any free-speech rights, but are merely trying to prevent any disruptive demonstrations. This country was built on disruptive demonstrations. Disruptive demonstrations are at the core of our democracy. They are what made us what we are today -- a free country.

With little baby steps, the Bush administration is taking away our right to demonstrate. No longer can demonstrators get close to any event where Bush is to be present. They are shuffled off to some remote location out of sight and earshot of the great president Bush.

"In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste, but its effects" -- Senator J. William Fulbright -

Our selected president is kept in an information-free bubble so that no one can see that the emperor has no clothes.

The California Curmudgeon