The Constitution Restoration Act

If you have not heard of The Constitution Restoration Act you have better "listen up." (Wherever did such a disgusting phrase originate?). In brief, this bill will replace the idea of "we the people" as the source of law and justice with a Christian deity as the "sovereign source" of all our laws. This is not a joke. On March 3rd this was filed as Senate bill S. 520. The House version is H.R. 1070. The primary sponsor is Senator Richard Selby (Alabama, wouldn't you know), who claims to have 28 sponsors and "enough votes for passage." The implications of this are so frightening it is difficult to believe it could happen. See Znet of this day for more.

There was a large scale attack on the Abu Ghraib prison in which some 50 or more American troops were wounded (we don't know if any were actually killed). This after we are being reassured that attacks are diminishing and things are beginning to go much better. If you were to go by what we are told by our media you might think nothing happened at all in either Afghanistan or Iraq - simply non events. And we are also being told that our troops will come home as soon as the Iraqis can control their own country. Why, then, you might ask, are we building some 14 permanent bases in that unhappy country? Well, some say they are not permanent, some say they are. As the cost of these "temporary" bases is now exceeding 3 or 4 billion dollars what do you think? I think we are doing exactly what we set out to do: take over the country, establish a puppet government that will do what we want, leave enough troops there to make sure it will work, control the oil, and thumb our nose at the rest of the world. Ah, democracy at work. All that seems to have happened is that we have moved our bases from Saudi Arabia and installed them in Iraq. This may work for the short run but in the long run probably not. But when did the U.S. ever worry about the long run?

It is income tax time. Can there be anything more absurd that our current tax laws? I am convinced that no one understands them, not even the people who make their living preparing them. Frankly, I doubt there is any connection whatsoever between what people report and what they actually may or may not owe. I don't really object to paying taxes. I like roads and health care and police and fire protection and stuff like that. What I don't like is more bombs, tanks, guns, supersonic killing machines, and etc. Think what a marvelous place the earth might be if all that money was spent on protecting the environment, getting along with others, international cooperation, eliminating poverty, overcoming diseases, sharing, and so on. But I fear that as long as human beings exist none of this will ever happen. Is this all truly just the result of original sin? I don't think so. People are greedy and short sighted - that is our curse.