For the last day, I've been reading glowing stories cheering Venezuela's Chavez's 49/51 "defeat" (I guess Die(a)bol(ical)d got their switches flipped) and sad sorrowful laments about Russia's Putin's election victory and what it means for "freedom". As if Chavez doesn't have a few more tries before his current term ends in 2013.

Meanwhile, as usual, these events have provided convenient distraction for the ThoughtCrime Bill that sailed through the House of Reprehensibles like a fat woman going downhill on a buttered slip-n-slide, and is now before the Cynic. First there was the Military Commissions Act. Now this new one has a title so long you need a coffee break halfway through. Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism (pause ... sip) Prevention Act of 2007. The Ministry of Peace's latest means of saving us ... from the new enemies they are about to create. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1955 (decided not to hotlink it) It's vague enough that you can be considered a terrorist by ... um ... someone deciding you are. Of course they assure us that this power won't be abused, and US citizens won't be either. Right. Of course, if you're stripped of your citizenship, well...

***Social security numbers will only be used for social security purposes. This tax is only temporary. I'm on the "pill". The check is in the mail. There's no plan to merge North America (ignore Vicente Fox on the talk show circuit, there's nothing to see here). ***

But that and many other things take a backseat (waaaay back) to the skanklet-of-the-month's substance abuse and/or child custody issues.

We should all be safer now, as "The Enemy" hates us for our "wealth and freedoms". Checking the new laws and the exchange rates, we're about to be safer than ever. Ugh.

(Sweden, Finland, & Denmark (and many other places) are wealthy & free, yet no one seens to hate them. Hmmm.)