Something To Ponder

***** WARNING!!! *****

This dangerously illegal and immoral subversive underground resistance message is being surreptitiously monitored by the Beaming Internet Government Broadband Radio Oscillation Telecommunications Hearing Electronic Reconnaissance (i.e., B.I.G. B.R.O.T.H.E.R.) as part of a coordinated official clandestine domestic surveillance investigation, in cooperation with the National Administration of Zealous Interrogation (i.e., N.A.Z.I.) and the Commission On Message Monitoring Investigative Electronics (i.e., C.O.M.M.I.E.).

Serious felony criminal charges are pending, with extreme penalties yet to be determined!

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Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space:

Last year, I was riding on the AMTRAK "California Zephyr" from Chicago, Illinois to Grand Junction, Colorado.

I was joking with a couple of my fellow passengers about being an "inmate" in the "United States Military Asylum", because I was a "convicted war criminal".

Of course, to understand that joke, you have to know a little bit about American history.

To begin with, the very historic Soldiers' Home, which is the retirement facility where I live in Washington, D.C., is identified on old Civil War maps as the "United States Military Asylum".

During the Viet Nam War, an international people's tribunal was convened in Stockholm, Sweden by Lord Bertrand Russell, and they tried and convicted in absentia every American soldier who served in Viet Nam of being a "war criminal".

So, of course, I enjoy having a bit of perverse fun teasing folks with those obscure facts.

Anyway, my companions on the train car (we were in adjoining first class accommodations) were federal employees and when I mentioned the words, "war crimes", they quickly became rather paranoid, looking furtively around, and quietly cautioning me not to say another word.

A few days ago, I was joking with someone during a telephone call, and told them of an e-mail, in which I had typed "Al Quaida", "Ambush", "Sniper", "Explosive", or similar words, mixed in with the regular text, just as a joke "for the benefit of whoever's monitoring this message."

Their response was to worry that I might get them (the e-mail recipient) in trouble.

Repeatedly, I've encountered similar reactions from numerous individuals.

We all know that no one is allowed to make jokes at the airport or aboard an airliner about bombs, terrorists, or skyjacking.

Further, no passengers at an airport are ever permitted to raise their voices to object to their mistreatment by T.S.A. personnel or airline employees.

We all know that we're not permitted to joke about assassinating the President of the United States.

In our contemporary society, no white person is permitted to ever say anything bad about black people, no Christians can ever say anything bad about the Jews, and no heterosexuals are allowed to openly condemn homosexuality.

(But, on the other hand, black people ARE permitted to be derogatory and disrespectful towards whites, Jews ARE permitted to say bad things about Christians, and homosexuals are encouraged to do or say anything they please.)

Do you see anything wrong with this picture?

Where have we seen this sort of thing before?

Germany?

Russia?

China?

Cuba?

But, this is the United States of America.

Aren't we supposed to be better than that?

What happened to our inalienable right to freedom of expression?

Why are American citizens worried about "getting into trouble" because of something I joke about?

Even if I were not joking, and was dead serious, why should anyone worry that we might "get into trouble"?

Get into trouble with WHO?

WHY would we be in trouble?

Do you see my point?

Something is terribly wrong here!

This is not something that's supposed to be happening here in America.

I don't care about the attacks of 11 September 2001.

That shouldn't make one whit of difference.

We do not obtain safety and security by willingly giving up our individual liberty.

People living in a police state are never safe.

If we are so safe living in a police state, then why are my fellow citizens worried about someone overhearing our private conversations?

What - - - you don't think the United States of America is a "police state" - - - yet?

Thank you.

John Robert "SAIGON" Mallernee, KB3KWS
Official Bard of Clan Henderson
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

NOTE: "My unpopular and controversial personal opinions are independent of my Scottish clan."