The War Against Bad Things

T. C. MITS ^ | T. C. MITS

[mindprism.com]

Hiatus

Mrs. MITS and I are about to embark on our annual Fourth of July sojourn up to the wilds of northern Michigan. Therefore the blog will not be updated again until July 8th. Have a happy Fourth. Celebrate your Constitutional Liberties while you still have them. Here's a parting gift. A play in one act.

PLACE: A city street in your town, USA.
TIME: The not too distant future.

FBI: Are you A. Citizen?

CITIZEN: Yes I am.

FBI: Come with us, you're under arrest.

CITIZEN: On what charge?

FBI: We don't have to tell you that.

CITIZEN: I want to call my lawyer.

FBI: We won't let you do that.

CITIZEN: You have to, it's my right!

FBI: You don't have any rights.

CITIZEN: Sez Who?

FBI; Sez the President. He's decided that you are an "enemy combatant" and as such you are not entitled to any Constitutional rights.

CITIZEN: But I haven't done anything.

FBI: The President will be the judge of that. In fact he's already made the decision. Besides, it's not what you've done, it's what we think you were going to do.

CITIZEN: Based on what evidence?

FBI: We can't show you the evidence. It's classified.

CITIZEN: How can I defend myself at my trial if you won't tell me what the evidence against me is?

FBI: You don't get a trial. You're an enemy combatant, remember? We don't even have to charge you with anything. But in about a month, we'll hold a press conference telling everybody what we think you were up to, and that they can all sleep soundly because we've got you safely under lock and key and we intend to keep you there until the war is over.

CITIZEN: What war?

FBI: The War Against Bad Things™.

CITIZEN: When will this war be over?

FBI: When we've eliminated all the bad things in the world.

CITIZEN: But that will never happen!

FBI: Now you're getting the idea.

CITIZEN: So let me get this straight. You're arresting me for something I haven't even done yet. You won't tell me what I'm charged with or what evidence you have against me. I don't get to talk to a lawyer. I don't get a trial. I don't have any opportunity to refute the charges or defend myself against them. You're just going to strip me of my Constitutional rights and lock me up for what amounts to a life sentence based on the whim of the President?

FBI: Is this a great country or what? God Bless America!

fin

[Blood of Tyrants]

This ought to make the sokkor moms shiver with delight knowing that the goobermint is protecting their cheeeldrun.

[EBUCK]

Did you see O'Riley defending this very same principle last night? He said that because no one has been "violated" under the Patriot Act there is nothing wrong with it.

EBUCK

[dead]

"Citizen" probably smokes dope too. Or wants to.

Lock him up!

[gilor]

Black Choppers outside my window! AGAIN!!!

[shadowman99]

So the citizen was smoking? Or drives an SUV? Or was it the Big Mac the citizen give to his/her child?

[steve50]

I used to love Fox, haven't watched it in 3 months. They were decent about asking questions of the klintoon crew, there nothing but a propaganda arm of the neocons now.

[EBUCK]

Actually I just happened to run across his show while surfing and noticed they were discussing the PatAct and that a County or city in Conn had passed a law that stated that it's LEO's were not to enforce the PatAct nor help feds under same rules. O'Riley called him sedicious and skirted on calling him a traitor. Bush/WOT-bot in the extreme.

EBUCK

[LisaFab]

If the goal of this post is to be a humorous attack on the president, you got it half right.

[mindprism.com]

If the goal of this post is to be a humorous attack on the president, you got it half right.

I thought the *nation* is responsible for the policies that Washington produces, isn't that how democracy works?

[monday]

"I thought the *nation* is responsible for the policies that Washington produces, isn't that how democracy works?"

sigh....if you mean the citizens of the nation you will have to report immediately to the re-education camps. A seditious traitor such as yourself is a danger to society. Our wise and supreme leader knows what is best for you.

The good news is you will be fed and clothed and told in which direction to pray to Allah. If you co-operate with our interrogators you may even get a bagle with cream cheese:)

On the other hand if you mean the magazine 'The Nation', they might be advising, but only on matters concerning 'collective thought'. Good guess though;^)

[LisaFab]

I'm no expert on how a democracy works having never lived in ancient Greece. However, in a representive constitutional republic, the citizens elect their congressmen who produce legislation, together with the president who initiates policies.

And I don't understand what this question has to do with my comment. I guess this dovetails with my seeing no humor in the original joke.

[mindprism.com]

However, in a representive constitutional republic, the citizens elect their congressmen who produce legislation, together with the president who initiates policies.

America is a representive constitutional republic in form not in function. There is barely any restriction on what federal dictates can flow through the commerce clause, and the reality is the inverse of the tenth amendment.

Regardless, the idea of representation in modern government means a legislature depicting the will of the people. The crux of this 'joke' is that it illustrates the opposite of exactly what you are asserting -- that our representative democracy is restrained by principles of law and rights.

Has little to do with Bush and has everything to do with a nation who has forgotten its principles.

Wait until there is another Clinton/Reno and McVeigh to see how you feel holding the 'wrong political views'. See how fun life will be when you have to watch out who you are 'affiliated' with, and with whom you share principles, and 'watch what you say'.

For there will be people 'ever vigilent' for 'people like you'.

Then this will be a real knee-slapper I'm sure.

[mindprism.com]

A seditious traitor such as yourself is a danger to society.

When ideas are dangerous, only the dangerous will have ideas.

Thinking is man's only basic virtue, from which all others proceed. And his basic vice, the source of all his evils, is that nameless act which all of you practice, but struggle never to admit: the act of blanking out, the willful suspension of one's consciousness, the refusal to think -- not blindness, but the refusal to see; not ignorance, but the refusal to know. It is the act of unfocusing your mind and inducing an inner fog to escape the responsibility of judgment -- on the unstated premise that a thing will not exist if only you refuse to identify it, that A will not be A so long as you do not pronounce the verdict "It is." Non-thinking is an act of annihilation, a wish to negate existence, an attempt to wipe out reality. But existence exists; reality is not wiped out, it will merely wipe out the wiper. By refusing to say "It is," you are refusing to say "I am." By suspending your judgment, you are negating your person. When a man declares: "Who am I to know?" -- he is declaring: "Who am I to live?"