TODAY’S WORRY
Are some amendments to the Constitution more important than others? The Fourth Amendment says, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” But now there is covert wire-tapping going on.
And the Sixth Amendment says, “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial…” But now prisoners are held without being charged.
And the Eight Amendment states, “…nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Yet, we’ve all seen the pictures of humilations visited upon our “detainees.”
Finally, the Second Amendment says, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Oh, here’s one that our government wants to uphold!
Several years ago there was a traveling exhibit of the Bill of Rights. It was displayed in San Jose. It was something I wanted to see. I went down to the Convention Center and was ushered into a room where the original Bill of Rights was displayed. I was so moved. This, I thought, is what we are all about. This is what makes me so proud to be an American.
There was a bumper sticker that we saw in a parking lot the other day. It said, “If you’re not appalled, you’re not paying attention!” Let’s pay attention before it’s too late.
This is definitely an interesting topic because there are many very intelligent people who are news fanatics who are paying very close attention and probably half are alarmed like you seem to be and half accept that these are challenging times and the safety of the country takes top prority. Now, I don’t necessarily describe myself as “very intelligent” but I’m not a dummie, I do follow the news and, I have to admit, I (gulp, dare I admit it) trust that our goverment is doing it’s best to protect the safety and continued existence of its citizenry. I mean, the goverment is just made up of individuals who have spouses, children, grandchildren, extended family and friends and with this in mind, I just don’t choose to view the goverment as evil and nefarious. I choose to believe these are mostly well intentioned people who are prone to all the frailities of human nature (and, boy, that covers alot of frailities!) and, yeh, they make mistakes but I sincerely believe they have the best interests of our nation at heart. Maybe I’m a clueless idiot, but I don’t mind the envelope being pushed for the sake of the greater good. It’s very easy for me to accept that it’s not a perfect world and we (meaning the USA) have to understand the gravity of the threat of islamic extremism and play for keeps. They have infinite patience with eternity on their side and this might horrify you to hear expressed but I want my goverment to do whatever is necessary to keep them at bay.Just like FDR’s administration and military made some tough and, in hindsight,even regretable choices during WW2, when charged with the safety of the country’s citizenry, you do what seems right and effective at the time.
Now, my debate with myself is …do I hit “say it” and risk offending you with my strongly felt difference of opinion. Well, if you’ve gotten this far, I guess I decided it’s OK and if you want to probe my reasoning, feel free. I wish I proof read more consistently as I wrote because I am going to be pained when I see that my respone it littered with misspellings and grammatical errors…sigh…blame it on life in TN!
Oh dear, do I seem so intolerant of different ideas? Thank you for your comment, I think it is important that we keep an open dialogue about important topics. Please don’t ever feel uncomfortable expressing a different point of view.
Spoken like a true liberal hack. This is nothing more than a disguised bashing of the Bush administration. I support our President, The Patriot Act and if it means infringing on a few civil liberties to kick those Muslim bastards asses, I say AMEN! It’s so easy for you to sit and criticize, but I bet you haven’t walked a mile in my shoes. I have a PERSONAL stake in this. My sister was killed on 9/11 in Tower One of The World Trade Center. Get my point now? I would do anything to get her back and I don’t quite care for your pacifist views or BS uber-Liberal attitude. Maybe you’ve forgotten the HELL of that day, but I haven’t. I live with it everyday, and with Christmas next week,
it is all the more painful having another Christmas without her.
I have ZERO feelings for those people, OK? They want us DEAD and they could’nt care less about your beliefs or mine. YOU GOT IT? D.E.A.D! Lock them up, torture the crap out of them and hold them as enemy combatants. Who cares? These are people that cannot be reasoned with and do not follow the rules of human law. They will do whatever it takes to kill us. What will it take for you to wake up….a nuke going off in Washington D.C. or New York? Screw this sensitivity crap. Kill them before they kill us. Trust me, they will do it again. What will you whine about then? That our government didn’t do enough to protect us?
So the next time you wave the Constitution around and spew your anti-government rhetoric, perhaps you could use a little sensitivity
training yourself and hold your tongue until you see how someone who has had their heart ripped out feels.
By the way, I am not appalled and I pay DO attention. With people like you, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton running around it WILL be too late if we coddle terrorists and don’t hunt them down. So go ahead liberal….live your life on Primrose Lane with your head in the sand and pray to God that what happened to my family does not happen to yours!!
Thanks, Devereaux! You sure changed my mind!
Wow, Devereaux is angrier than the former hostage who got on my case for questioning our policy on Iran. Thank goodness there’s nothing forcing them to read our words…
Whew, nothing restained or measured about Devereaux words and yet, the passion evoked by the raw wound of tragic loss touched me. I can’t pretend to imagine what it feels like to live on with such a burden but I respect her right to give voice to her feelings and I hope the act of expressing them gives this person some release from toxic anger. I totally believe in Devereaux’s right and justification to feel this raging, vengeful anger but I also suspect it is very costly to mental health. I hope there are moments when something else fills her (for some funny reason, I’m picking a female gender for Devereaux and I’m probably completely wrong) senses and the weight of all consuming hatred lifts. Even if this particular commenter’s story is a fabrication for the excuse of saying angry things, there are real people who experienced the devestating loss of family and friends in the world trade center and I’m sure some truly do feel this exact same way. I have a horse show friend who was Jeremy Glick’s (one of the passengers on flight 93) aunt and I believe that she and her family are entitled to say anything they want about how much they hate islamic terrorists.
We in this country are luckier than I ever thought we’d be in these ensuing four years not to have had another terrible attack on our soil. I thought for sure we were going to be in for an Israeli kind of lifestyle with horrible, unexpected events killing innocent citizens on a too frequent basis…where getting a cup of coffee at Starbucks could become a dangerous and life threatening choice. Sadly, I will not be surprised if that day comes and that’s why it is OK with me if the government does what it thinks it needs to do to keep us safe. And I don’t which political party is in charge as long as they accept that their highest duty is to keep the citizenry protected from enemy attack. Step one is: make sure there is a country…then we can pay attention to our rights and privileges. Please don’t misinterpret my commitment to “step one” to think that I don’t care about the importance of our being a democratic republic. That’s what our soldiers fight to preserve for us.