Kate's Blog - Archived Entry

Everyday it's something new.

Today's headline story in the Seattle section of the Post Intelligencer recounts the tale of a 15 year old boy questioned by the Secret Service for his gory representations of Bush in his sketch book. Apparently he placed Bush's head on a stick, colored burning flames around the constitution & titled the drawing The End of The War On Error. He probably had some fancy sketches of Bush as Satan, Bush as Bin Laden, Bush as his principal in there too.

Reported by his school officials, he was questioned to see if he was perhaps going to carry out his dastardly plans. The Chief of Police from the town is quoted as saying this is a "cut and dry case." His parents are mortified.

So here we are in a post-9/11, post columbine era. Police can't trust the kids- they might have guns. We must take all actions as a legitimate threat, but it seems to me we've backed ourselves into a corner. The government is giving itself the leeway to call anything it chooses an act of terrorism, or a potential threat towards the president.

The Patriot Act: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.

Kids sure are sneaky these days.

Click on this link link to follow the ACLU through a potential scenario involving the Vieques Island protesters as they find themselves in a quagmire of patriotic hell.