Our pulse is being taken...

...and I'll tell you why.

Today was Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday holiday. We celebrated by getting free tickets, from MoveOn, to go see/hear Al Gore speak about the dangers of unchecked executive power. It was no coincidence that the speech happened on a day meant to reflect on the dreams of Dr. King, as he is a very famous victim of systematic illegal surveillance by the FBI. All this has, of course, been brought into sharp focus in recent days by the current administration’s brazen admission that they have, for four years, conducted extensive electronic monitoring of US citizens without adhering to any of the established rules on doing so, and they have no intention of stopping now. I’m sure this entry does nothing to help keep me off those lists. I can hear them beaming the message into my brain using radio waves and satellites, “You just made the list buddy.”

I thought it was a good speech, and I see it got mentioned on the Chronicle’s website, SFGate. Here is their article. It was cool to see it in person here in DC! It was over an hour long, he quoted George Orwell, I stood up and clapped when he talked about the Bush administration’s obsession with consolidating power into the executive branch, and I got choked up when he suggested that one of the groups which needed to be taken to task was the American people. That’s us, folks. He hammered the Judicial Branch and Congress for not fighting to properly check and balance the Executive recently, which they should do, but then he said it’s also time to take the pulse of the American people. It’s not someone else’s job to make sure “they” don’t fuck with “us.” When Thomas Jefferson said “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance” he was talking to me, and I suspect that, when you aren’t feeling too overwhelmed, you know he was talking to you too.

“Can’t we just put someone we like in charge and let them do the work?” Nope, and here’s why: because you can’t even trust the nuns! I saw a preview for the movie “The Magdalene Sisters” tonight and I said to myself, “Dear god! We can’t even trust the nuns!” (Which I thought was a pretty funny thing to think.) Even if we like that one with the wing-a-ling hat who can fly, the ones who run the refuge for girls who “need to be saved”? No sir, can’t trust ‘em. Sorry. Here’s the sad part, you can’t trust me either! You can’t trust anyone to be in charge if their power is unchecked. It can’t be done. I’m not saying we all have to live in paranoid fear of each other, never trusting anyone; it’s all about trusting unchecked power and secrecy. Don’t do it. Nobody has ever had all the power and used it benevolently. Work together, debate, discuss, think. We’re the only one’s who can save us from each other and from ourselves.

*sigh*

Boy, look at me! One week in DC and I’m already all political and shit! Sometime soon, ask me about how I think eating yummy international food will save the world.

Ps: I’m sorry for the small amount of potty language. At least I’m using capital letters properly, instead of my traditional e-mail typography!