More Terrifying than the Patriot Act

2003-11-12 05:10:00

This article is off the beaten path, but I felt inspired to write it. Feel free to comment.

Ten Things More Terrifying than the Patriot Act

I've heard a lot of alarm about the Patriot Act but most of the hype about it seems to have as much validity as the boogie man.

These alarmists are concerned that the government will have power to find out which library books I have checked out. Oh no, I am so terrified. Maybe they'll find out I read Tom Sawyer which contains politically incorrect English. Actually, the Patriot Act has not yet been used yet to check out anyone's reading material at libraries, but if it were, so what? Unless you're reading about how to make bombs there's not much to worry about. I could care less who knows which books I've read over my entire life.

Besides, the powers-that-be can already find out the books you read by getting a court order.

The chances of a U.S. citizen being detained by the Patriot Act is about one in a zillion. The danger of being harassed over not wearing a seat belt is much greater.

Yes, we should examine all legislation that is passed and yes, we should correct any abuses, but when abuses produce fewer problems for society, as a whole, than parking tickets then we need to examine our own illusions.

I have concluded that there are many things in our society that are much more terrifying than The Patriot Act. Here are ten of them.

(1) Sleeper cells of terrorists. The possibility of a terrorist nuking us, blowing up Hoover Dam or flying another airplane into any target of their choice is thousands of times the danger of the Patriot Act. If we find the Patriot act becomes too harsh we can change it, but if Washington is nuked the damage may not be reversible.

(2) The ACLU They attack religious freedoms, seek to overturn majority referendums of the people while supporting outrageous clients such as NAMBLA, which advocates adult sex with children and sued Breen Elementary School in California forcing them to take down a banner (right after 911) that merely said "God bless America."

(3) Anti- Environment and anti Free enterprise environmentalists. The last in a long string of examples of the threat of these people are the recent fires in California. Anyone with common sense knows that if we clear brush and thin trees the fire hazard will go down to close to zero. I live in Boise, which is called "the city of trees" and I've never seen trees on fire here because they are properly spaced. And what is the pseudo environmentalists excuse for being against commercial thinning? They simply admit that they do not want lumber companies to make money. To have a religious zeal against the free market at the expense of jobs as well as the environment is indeed a threat to our way of life.

(4) Congress when it is in session. This is self-explanatory.

(5) Anyone who says they want to "tax the rich." I know they are also coming after me.

(6) The power of the media to control public opinion through the use of selective reporting.

(7) People who vote with no clue as to what the candidates believe, or the repercussions of their beliefs.

(8) An appeaser with a thought process like Neville Chamberlain becoming president. (There's lots of these around.)

(9) Traffic cops.

(10) Indigestion.

One time a cop pulled me over for running a stop sign. He said, "Didn't you see the stop sign?" I said, "Yeah, but I don't believe everything I read." Steven Wright