Mean Gene

Chasing Poker Players Instead of Al Qaeda

If Glenn Greenwald isn't the best political blogger out there then he's near the top of a very short list. He's just written a post about how the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is just another Republican assault on our personal liberty. It used to be that conservatives (and Republicans) loathed government intrusion into the lives of private citizens and believed that what you did with your hard-earned money was your own damn business. The Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans obviously do not share those beliefs, and the UIGEA is just another brick in the wall, as you might say.

Another law that's gotten some attention the last few days is the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, thanks in large part to the fact that it's Republican sponsor in the House, Mark Foley, stands accused of violating it. That law also targeted people who produce Internet pornography, which is protected under the First Amendment but, again, is something the far-right doesn't like. And therefore that right must also be wiped off the books in any way possible.

The never-to-end War on Terror is usually given as justification for the eradication of our Constitutional rights, but, as Greenwald says:

FBI agents are not being used to search for IslamoFascistJihadists sleeper cells because they are too busy satisfying James Dobson by searching for poker players and spending the day at the homes of single-person pornographers ensuring that their record-keeping is in compliance with the Byzantine requirements of Mark Foley's new law.

So, torturing people is OK. Arresting people and holding them without charge is OK. Ignoring laws you don't like is OK (so long as you're the President). But playing poker is WRONG. Porn is WRONG. So sayeth this virulently anti-American segment of the population. And the rest of us should therefore fall meekly into line and live our lives as they say.

Well, bullshit to that. November 7th is coming up fast. VOTE, people. Vote out the bastards who think they should be the ones who decide how we should live. Let's not forget--Rick Santorum is on record as saying oral sex should be illegal. Does ANYONE think Rick Santorum has any business being in a position of power over our lives? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

To quote Greenwald again:

It has been obvious for quite some time, and certainly since the Schiavo travesty, that the Bush-led Republican Party is the very antithesis of individual liberty and a limited federal government. The administration and its Congressional loyalists not only seek unlimited state power in name of combating terrorism but also in the name of enforcing private morality.

Vote the bastards out. The electorate has the power to fire Representatives who do a lousy job of representing. We need to send out lots of pink slips on November 7th. Vote, dammit.

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