Terrorists as lamers

The sub-title of this post may well be "Howlin' Hobbit Swings To The Conspiracy-Theory Left."

We're inundated with terrorist news. If you're paying any attention at all you've noticed this. But have you noticed these two things...

1. Terror plots seem to be foiled more often as the Bush-baby's poll numbers decline? And...
2. Some of the "plots" seem to be more far-fetched than a Harvey Corman movie plot?

There's also two things you should be more cognizant of in this. For one, you should not feel terrorized. This goes right into the "do not go gently into that good night" category. You're in much more danger walking to the corner store than from a "terrorist plot."

First, don't quietly accede to the abridging of your rights. Leaving aside Crazy Bennie's comment about people who give up liberty for the sake of security, take a close look at just what "security" you're getting in exchange.

Second, ask yourself, what kind of "plot" is this? You might want to check out this posting on just how implausible the "they're going to manufacture explosives right there on the plane" plot really is.

Every time that another "terrorist plot" is "foiled" the Shrub's numbers take a spike. Luckily, they're small spikes and quickly ebb but don't think for a minute that's going to convince the neocons to stop such things.

Now, for the really "black helicopter conspiracy" part of this post.

Going back as far as the dark ages one of the things that kept the peasants in line was that they were not able to travel at will for any distance. Peasants were on foot, the nobility had horses. Skip forward to the late, unlamented Soviet Union or the Third Reich and you'll see that the horses had changed to automobiles but the peasants were still on foot and, further, needed the "proper papers" to travel.

We're currently getting both of those situations slipped into our lives.

Gasoline has gotten more expensive. Mandatory insurance (at rates set by the ruling elite) further cuts into our already limited budgets. We're less than a year away from the start of a national ID card system. Cops already will give you shit if you don't have your ID on you, even if you're just hangin' around on your front stoop. (Show me your papers!)

Any "federal help" (read that: return of the money you've paid to the feds, under the threat of their guns and their jails) is dependant on you bowing to whatever rules they decide to put into place.

Damn! It's beginning to sound like a police state to me. I've been saying that for some time (though not much on this blog, I'll freely admit). But Ron Paul, the liberty-loving member of the House of Representatives from the 14th District in Texas, said it with much more eloquence than I could ever muster, way back in 2002, and right there in the Congressional Record for all the world to see.

If you're a proud, card-carrying member of the GOP don't be sitting there in your easy chair thinking that none of this will affect you. And if you're a donkey, don't for a second think that your party gaining power this November is going to help. The only discernable difference between the two parties is which parts of the Constitution they're going to step on the hardest.

Make no mistake on this. Neither party has your best interests and freedoms at heart. Their only goal is power, pure -- or not so pure, really -- and simple. Hating Bush and his cadre of cronies -- hateful as they are -- is not sufficient.

Talk about this in your favorite pub or coffee shop. Get angry. Starting at the town council level if necessary, vote in candidates that espouse your freedoms, especially if they're not members of the two "major" parties.

Stop arguing about such pointless drivel as whether or not the ten commandments can be displayed on your courthouse lawn (bear in mind that they're on the walls in the US Supreme Court) and start paying attention to the clear and present danger that over-reaching federalism represents.

But most of all, don't let yourself be "terrorized" by these lame plots into giving up the one thing that has set us apart from any political experiment since the early Greeks.

Do not go gently into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.