Britney Spears & Civil Liberties

I can't believe I'm going to do this, but I'm siding with Britney Spears. Have you heard the hub-bub? She's in trouble because her car got swarmed by photographers, she felt threatened, and she drove off with her kid in her lap. Of course, those same picture-takers got her picture driving with the baby in her lap. Now, she's being investigated by CPS. Puhleeze!

Michael Jackson dangles his kid by the ankle from a three-story building and finds "companionship" with little boys. All manner of monsters caging, beating, depriving their children get the greenlight by CPS. And Britney Spears gets a visit for trying to protect her baby by driving away? Come on.

A generation ago, fifty kids piled up like dirty laundry in the station wagon and most of us managed to survive okay. Today every child must be pinned in to the vehicle. Not that I don't think that car seats are a good idea, because I do, but can we have some perspective here?

This is why five million rules and undereducated beaurocrats irritate me. The damage they can do is endless--the power of the common citizen to claim freedom shrinks. Every day, people have their freedom infringed by do-gooders in government uniforms--airport security, CPS, IRS, etc. While lots of people right now are wringing thier skinny, vegan hands over the NSA survellience flap, thousands of other decisions are made daily that chip, chip, chip away at our freedom.

Right now, some innocent person is investigated because of a vindictive or ignorant somebody. They are investigated by people with almost zero eductation and loads of apathy. The person investigated is not a person at all, but a potential perpetrator. Dehumanized, it is so much easier to enact the truly cruel government policy--forced separation (CPS), ridiculously punitive
financial penalties for making a Tax Return mistake--that often exceed the original amount due (IRS), frisking of babies at the airport (NAA). Argh!

It just occurred to me why this rankles so much. Last week, our dog got loose in the neighborhood. She is losing weight dramatically. She is fourteen years old. Blood tests reveal a failing liver. She doesn't have cancer that can be seen, but the Vet couldn't tell for sure. She is nearly blind and almost totally deaf. Her hips are degenerating. She is dying. She still eats like a puppy (a lot) and drinks well, but she is skin and bones. She doesn't seem to be in any pain. We have to be careful with her, though, her body doesn't handle temperature changes well, so she must stay in if the temp drops too much or gets too hot.

So our poor bedraggled, skinny dog got loose and does what she normally does--runs amok and has fun getting after cats. Two helpy helpers in the neighborhood didn't return Cali to us and ask what was wrong with her. No, they called the police. They worried about the dogs care. Perhaps the new doctors in the neighborhood enjoy abusing thier dog after a long day of helping people feel better. So the neighbors brought Cali back into the yard with the cops and "investigated".

To their amazement, they found a nice fluffy pillow, copius amounts of food and water--all signs of a deprived dog. Nevermind, it was illegal for the police to be snooping around our yard. Nevermind they could have found out the answer if they had come to our front door and asked.

The government's role in our safety starts at our borders--no not the borders of my back yard but our country's borders. That is why I'm all for tough border security. I'm all for telephone listening of conspirators who are interested in blowing up this or that public space. To me, this is a bare minimum requirement for government involvement. Now if it comes out that my phone is being wiretapped or your phone is wiretapped to get the hot gossip about innovations in alternative health care, that's a different story.

It is the little, ticky-tack stuff happening every day that is being ignored that needs to be focused upon. Civil liberties need to be protected and cherished. Freedom of the press must be cared for and reinforced.

Terrorist bullies being wiretapped? Fine. Their stupid ideas ridiculed in a silly cartoon? Print them. These threats bother me and the government and press ignoring them pisses me off. When the U.S. government talks blandly of respect for Islam when crazies are burning and pillaging and then CNN refuses to show the newsworthy (and offensive, but so what) cartoons out of fear, THE TERRORISTS ARE WINNING AND AVERAGE INNOCENT AMERICANS ARE LOSING. Alan Dershowitz understands this. Here's what he says in Time:

ALAN DERSHOWITZ Harvard law professor

The U.S. news media, by refusing to run these cartoons, are giving in to intellectual and religious terrorism. A separate standard is being applied here out of fear of physical retaliation. Whatever is fair to say about one group must be fair to say about another. The European papers are doing the right thing. They're being courageous. It is in the public's interest to see these cartoons that are causing so much outrage. When you see them, you see the extent of the overreaction. They are not nearly as bad as cartoons that routinely run in the Muslim media against Jews, Christians, the U.S. and Israel.

The government spending my tax dollars to prosecute people for "not cooperating" when real solid crimes like murder, rape, stealing, people and drug trafficking, etc. get ignored makes a mockery of justice. Leave Britney Spears alone. Fine a real criminal act or terrorist plot to solve.