Open letter to my representatives

Please go to http://www.congress.org, input your zip code, and you will automatically be able to write an e-mail to all of your political representatives in government. It’s that easy.

Open letter to:
President George W. Bush (R),
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX),
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX),
Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX 30th),

As a registered voter, I call on you to support the State of Israel not in blind devotion, but based on the following truths. As a national leader you have the unique ability to support freedom and democracy and reaffirm each country's right to freedom from terror and pursuit of happiness and peace.

Whereas, Hamas is an Islamic extremist terrorist organization, as designated by both the United States and the European Union, which calls for the eradication of the State of Israel;

Whereas, Hamas rockets from Gaza have purposefully targeted vulnerable southern Israeli cities, specifically landing on or near private homes, schools, colleges, hospitals, daycares and recreation centers;

Whereas, no sovereign government in the world would stand by and allow its citizens to be under steady and heavy attack;

Whereas, Hamas continues to hold hostage Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped on June 25, 2006, in southern Israel and refuses even basic humanitarian conditions or international Red Cross involvement;

Whereas, Israel is taking maximum precautions to avoid harming civilians in Gaza;

Therefore, let it be known that the State of Israel, the strongest standing democracy in the Middle East and long-time friend to The United States of America, has every right to defend their citizens from outside attack.

Let it also be known that The United States of America supports Israel unequivocally in its pursuit of measured and targeted military response and pursuit of peace within its borders and the region.

Facebook causes death?

Which causes more deaths per year, saccharin or Facebook? (Answer below.)

Imagine this. You just broke up with a significant other and upon the next Facebook login you realize you are no longer considered “in a relationship” or “married.” Thus, you change your status to “single.” Nothing out of the ordinary here, right? I’m sure many of you have done this exact thing. Seems pretty innocuous.

Well, not in this day and age. Mr. Wayne Forrester of Croydon, England was on the other end of such a Facebook experience and decided to take things into his own hands. I mean, how dare his soon to be ex-wife tell her friends via Facebook that she and her husband have split.

Hell, we share everything else on there. The idea of personal privacy has certainly changed in the last decade or two. Imagine in 1984 if you were told your friends knew your every move (granted at the time my friends and I thought girls had cooties and Danny White was the best quarterback ever, but just pretend.) Most people would have had two reactions: first that of disbelief, and then of outrage.

“Surely no one has such an ability, and if they did what an affront to personal liberty!”

The cry of the fruition of an Orwellian future would sure bring people to act in outrage. They would rise up against Big Brother and shed their shackles of doublespeak.

Nowadays many of us couldn’t imagine not knowing everything as soon as it happened. With tools like Twitter we’re actually broadcasting, sometimes to complete strangers, our every activity. And, we do it in our own type of doublespeak.

WTF? @TEOTD IMHO we r nutz & F2F comm will die AFDN. But, wca?

You understand it? You know at least half of it I’m sure. Translation: “What the fuck? At the end of the day we are nuts and face-to-face communication will die any fucking day now. But, who cares anyways?”

Yes, these are all accepted, if not commonly used “words” in the new doublespeak. So, have we entered into the beginning phase of Orwell’s futuristic society? If we have, are we the ones to blame? There’s plenty more to talk about regarding privacy and liberty in our present day, but I’ll leave you with this.

Mr. Forrester of Croydon arrived at his old house in the early hours of the morning and, upon entering, attacked his ex Emma with a kitchen knife and a meat cleaver. He stabbed and hacked her to death. His defense? The Facebook posting “ totally devastated and humiliated” him. Unfortunately, this violent act based on on-line communication isn’t an isolated incident.

So, to answer the question, Facebook causes more deaths. Saccharin has never been proven to be a carcinogen and as of 2000 the USDA has proclaimed saccharin as safe.

Next time you reach the keyboard to update your status, pause and think. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7676285.stm

Happy 4th of July?

Happy birthday America! Wow, you sure look a young 230-something. You know, they say the 230s are really the new 220s. So rock out with your cock out this birthday.

Since patriotism is the natural topic of the day, let me share a little something with you. Now when people talk about civil liberties and freedoms the mind instantly focuses on the war in Iraq/ Afghanistan and the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Let’s leave that alone this 4th of July and focus instead on something closer to home.

I, your humble Jewish redneck blogger, am considered a terror threat by the TSA and the U.S. government. I am a second class citizen when it comes to travel or large loan amounts. Many of you know of my Kafkaesque experiences when purchasing and wire transferring money for the purchase of my two homes over the years, but as I draw within 24 hours of once again boarding a plane for a simple jog down to Austin for a long weekend, I once again am faced with the accusations of an unknown, faceless complainant. I’ve pursued the available actions for recourse with the end result being, I’m still in the “no-fly” list and the government continues to deny to inform me why. When asked, the response comes back, “The U.S. government doesn’t have to give out that kind of information.” And they don’t.

You’ve heard of babies being on the list, Nelson Mandela and his entire African National Congress (the governing body of South Africa), and of course, Ted Kennedy. Seriously, were they afraid he’d drink them dry of gin and send the entire city of Washington, D.C. into a panic if he got on a plane back from Vegas? Well, now you can say you actually know someone on the list.

Yes, this American born, tax paying, voting, working citizen, Jewish 30-something is on the terror watch list. Why? I have no idea. What I do know is I get extra special attention at the airport, I can’t check-in on-line or even at the airport kiosks, and I’m sick and tired of it.

How can we claim to be fighting for the freedom of others when we continue to deny even basic due process to our own citizens? How can we let OUR government continue to flip their nose up at the 4th, 5th and 6th Amendments to OUR precious Constitution? Will we continue to offer up our freedoms and liberties in an effort to protect ourselves from those we claim are coming to steal it?

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniencies attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." Thomas Jefferson, December 23, 1791.

This holiday weekend, think long and hard what being an American means to you. Then, consider what the reality of being an American in this day and age really means.

Have a safe 4th of July weekend.