On Civil Liberties...

The ACLU speaks out:

“[W]e say as Americans that we are tired of seeing liberty sacrificed on the altar of security and having a handful of lawmakers decide what we should and should not know.”

“We are tired of living in a nation governed by fear instead of the principles of freedom and liberty that made this nation great.”

" Dudes, Where Are You? "

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Boogaloo dudes
carry the news...

Don't despair.
Despite what's come out in the past weeks, there's no proof yet that the current president is a poorer pet owner than that evil Mitt Romney. Priorities, people.

And can we finally admit that the whole 'Fear of a Black President' thing -- though award-winning -- was just race bait, riffing on the Public Enemy 'Fear of a Black Planet' album title?

It's the job performance -- or lack of performance -- not the skin color, that has always animated the president's most vocal critics. Now, thanks to the fearless actions of a few, one might say we're finally going to have that open discussion the president once promised: security vs. liberty; diversity for its own sake vs. simply putting the best people in the positions to get the job done...

If the Fourth Estate -- formerly a working man's profession -- miss these stories, then it's a good thing somebody's providing the checks that keep the system honest. 'We the people' only works if the people get valid information and aren't operating in the dark.

For those who would tell us the people of this country are better off sitting back, getting fat, trusting the 'top people' to take care of us, well that's not what the founders envisioned...

A good hard check can still work wonders.*

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*Not talking Bloomberg's type of check either.

"Don't Take No Pictures." "I Didn't."

The things you come across, stored in the photo directory...

 

A 2010 mid-March Saturday afternoon fireside rendezvous with Mal in Clear Lake Park, during the  Jack London reading spell...