The United States Constitution: R.I.P.

Can someone please explain why the Second Amendment is treated as sacrosanct while the Fourth Amendment is treated as toilet paper?



Thanks to recent court decisions -starting with an extremely ideological misinterpretation of the 2nd Amendment by the Supreme Court- we now have the freedom to carry concealed weapons into the country's busiest airport...if you think air travel is stressful, pack a gun. When your temper flares and your frustration level rises, you can stroke the bulge in your pocket or purse and think calming thoughts of murder...me, I'll feel much safer knowing that I am surrounded by untrained, stressed-out wahoo civilians carrying lethal weapons...what could possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile, Congress ( hey Obama, WTF are you thinking?) has decided that the Fourth Amendment ( the one that prevents the Gubbermint from illegally searching and seizing your personal property ) is no longer needed- the Government can instruct the telecommunications companies to monitor and record every word of your telephone and Internet communications and turn it over to Federal alphabet agencies without probable cause or search warrants- you are guilty until proven otherwise. If you aren't happy with that, tough luck...Congress has granted the telecom giants a blanket immunity from citizen lawsuits- in other words, the White House is protecting AT&T from you, not the other way around. It's a banner day for lobbyists.

Habeas Corpus? Who needs it?

Brainwashed devotees of GOP fascism ( aka Dittoheads) say: "If you aren't doing anything wrong, why are you afraid of the Government?"
Interestingly, these same doctrine-slaves also claim that they need their handguns in order to protect themselves from intrusion by the same Gubbermint that they have nothing to fear from...somehow this makes sense to people who think Rush Limbaugh has credibility. I am not one of those people.

How about that Turdblossom? Karl (Turdblossom) Rove has just thumbed his nose at the U.S. Congress, declaring himself to be above the law, Rove failed to appear for a Judiciary hearing this morning, ignoring a Congressional subpoena...Rove claims that:

- He didn't have any conversations with the White House regarding the partisan abuse of the Justice Department -targeting Democratic leaders for investigation, quashing investigations of Republicans and rejecting qualified DoJ applicants due to political affiliation, for example.

- He can exercise Executive Privilege for conversations that he never had, using his status as a former White House aide to exempt himself from appearing in front of Congress, despite the fact that there is no legal precedent or foundation for his assertion...hey Karl, if you don't have anything to hide, why are you afraid to testify?
Sadly, there is nobody around to hold him accountable-the Democrats stubbornly refuse to do their job, so Turdblossom is unlikely to face any repercussions for his flagrant contempt of American Law. In fact, he has a lucrative gig as a professional liar at Fox News and it's unlikely he'll lose it just because he's a criminal. I see a raise and a book deal...

I recently got a summons for jury duty. I learned that it pays $30 a day and that my employer( a staffing agency) will not compensate me for time missed- in fact, I may very well lose my job if I am selected to serve. I'm hovering on the brink of financial annihilation and losing my pathetic job would place an immense personal strain on me...I called the City to ask about an exception due to economic hardship and was told "no" and that I would be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law" should I fail to appear- I could face fines and even jail-time...unlike Turdblossom, I am not above the law, even if it means that I wind up sleeping in a dumpster behind the Courthouse.
I'm not very happy about that.

I am happy at the thought of visiting Whim again. I already miss her terribly and have been looking at travel alternatives- the highway trip costs $200 in gas( nearly seven days worth of Jury Duty), which wouldn't seem like a great deal of money except for the fact that I am only earning $10 an hour- down from my year 2000 high of $25. Lucky for me, the price of living has fallen by 65% to match my dwindling earnings...except for gas, rent, food, clothing and utilities, that is...in fact, just about the only things cheaper now than in 2000 are cocaine and heroin .
I haven't priced guns, but I imagine that they are as cheap as they are plentiful.

I tried several on-line travel discounters and found that a round-trip plane ticket from my city to hers will set me back anywhere from $650 to $900 dollars -with the added bonus of taking longer than the road ! ( I'd have to go to Boston, Charlotte and/or the gun-happy Atlanta airport as part of the trip)...for that sum, we could both fly from D.C. to London and back...hey, there's a thought...
There is no train service available at all. This might be a good time to consider revitalizing Amtrak- fuel is NOT going to get significantly cheaper, ever, so we might as well deal with it and overhaul our transit infrastructure- holding my breath, I am.

There is some hope. I have a couple prospects for "real" jobs- if I get a "real" job, I won't have to worry about losing it over a stint on Jury Duty...and $200 will no longer seem such a princely sum. There's also Health Insurance on the table, something that I haven't had for a long,long time. Due to my medical history, it would cost over $25k per year to self-insure, which is considerably more than I earn in a year at the current temp job...of course,I'm confident that the next President will fix our healthcare system as promised, yeah... that will happen, suuure...christ, am I turning blue yet?