Saturday, December 17, 2005
On my way to Montana
Our family is headed out to Montana for a week of skiing with my folks, and then for a week to Ohio for a Muslim Youth Camp, so things may be a bit spotty for the next couple weeks. In the meantime, lets celebrate McCain's success at forcing Bush to go along with the ban on torture. (That sounds horrific doesn't it, we had to twist his arm to get him to agree to not torture people! lol.) And, another huge milestone... the Senate's decision not to renew the Patriot Act! HOORAY!! Two gigantic Christmas presents on one day. Maybe I'm going to start believing in Santa after all!!
Of course, I don't think the Patriot Act is dead, I'm sure there will be some repackaging and revamping and then many of the same provisions that were so intrusive and so patently uninformative will be reproposed. Things like the right to search library records. I'm sorry to impunge the intelligence community, but what I read does not say much about what I believe. I read all sorts of stuff. Some of it I agree with, some of it I don't. I might read up on chemistry (especially when my kids need help on an exam) or physics (when I'm doing research for a book). Neither indicates I'm trying to learn how to build a bomb. I might read Das Kapital or the Upanishads. That doesn't mean I'm going to become a communist or a Hindu. It means I'm a curious person and I want to learn about people who think differently than I do. Last I checked, that wasn't a threat against our national security. Or maybe it is, after all if we read about other people and get to know them, then maybe we will find it harder to sit by while our government slaughters tens of thousands of their civilians. ¶ 12:00 AM
Of course, I don't think the Patriot Act is dead, I'm sure there will be some repackaging and revamping and then many of the same provisions that were so intrusive and so patently uninformative will be reproposed. Things like the right to search library records. I'm sorry to impunge the intelligence community, but what I read does not say much about what I believe. I read all sorts of stuff. Some of it I agree with, some of it I don't. I might read up on chemistry (especially when my kids need help on an exam) or physics (when I'm doing research for a book). Neither indicates I'm trying to learn how to build a bomb. I might read Das Kapital or the Upanishads. That doesn't mean I'm going to become a communist or a Hindu. It means I'm a curious person and I want to learn about people who think differently than I do. Last I checked, that wasn't a threat against our national security. Or maybe it is, after all if we read about other people and get to know them, then maybe we will find it harder to sit by while our government slaughters tens of thousands of their civilians. ¶ 12:00 AM
