Oops. Hit Enter instead of Tab. Kind of like stepping on the cat's tail when you're peeking through the keyhole. Well, good to see my old dad shaking his cane at the injustices of the world. Long as you caught me, I'll share this clarifying thought from the inbred regions of my mind. I was thinking of the term we so liberally use, Democracy. We claim to be a Democratic society. Yet in the Grecian formula (also good for getting out the gray), a Democracy would mean that every citizen has a vote in every decision made. We stumble closer to a Republic in which elected representatives are supposed to do just that, represent our interests. That implies that you have a choice as to what those interests are. Being as "both houses" seem to have somewhat similar agendas, we gravitate towards the side of lesser evil no matter which way we think that is. We still do have a voice, but it's fading fast. Regardless of the competence, justification, etc., Jessie (The Body) Ventura was a prime example of the electorate protesting the lack of choice in representation. But now we are watching those choices disappear on a national level. We are rapidly losing our rights to privacy and personal freedoms in the name of safety. Orwell's vision, once the antithesis of America, is beginning to bud, and no one is weeding. Now the problem with most liberal sentiment is that we leave more room for our own error. "I might be wrong. I do not know. I am not the absolute authority on this issue." The problem is that there are those that exploit this, namely, the Bush or any Bush-like administration willing to do the thinking for us by mandating what laws they will and will not abide by. Suspected terrorists or accomplices are held either in military or federal custody at the whim of the White House. And the rights of these prisoners change drastically. In Ohio State (have we forgotten 4 dead in Ohio?), at a recent presidential speech, would-be protesters were threatened with expulsion and arrest should they protest. And the media? I remember being told about the Vietnam era. How the war was on every television screen across the nation. How the media helped solidify the horror in the common citizen by not allowing them the luxury of killing at a distance without ever seeing the enemy. Now, over three decades later, when a camera can fit into the head of a pin and a satellite can pick up a signal from anywhere on the globe, now we are limited to video game simulations to illustrate wars in multiple locations we couldn't even place on a map. Something is not being told. I understand the need for military secrecy, but we are not even finding out after the fact. We are not being allowed to know. What we are allowed to know is being dictated to us. What we are allowed to ask. What we are allowed to do. What we are being allowed to say. Another term? One who dictates? Well, there it is. Another off the cuff book when no one asked my opinion in the first place. If anyone is curious as to where I'm getting this information from, stop by www.fair.org (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). Thanks to all for bearing with my splitting hairs. But you know what my old Dad used to say, "you have to split a few hairs to make rabbit stew." (Well, he might have said it.)

Agape, C.T. heathen@mc.net http://www.heathens-haven.com