ON PATRIOT'S DAY, FREEDOMS ARE ERODING

GREEN BAY - Today, Wisconsin observes Patriot's Day - the day of Paul
Revere 's ride from Boston to Lexington and Concord, to warn colonists that
British "regulars" were coming to confiscate their weapons.

Triumphant in the War for Independence, the patriots needed a law of the
land, a Constitution. Because of injustices suffered under King George, the
states weren't about to ratify any constitution unless pre-existing rights
(i.e. Bill of Rights) were included to guarantee personal freedoms. How are
those pre-existing rights holding up today?

. "Freedom of speech": In the business world, an unwanted compliment to the
opposite sex is sexual harassment. Government whistleblowers lose their
jobs. Common sense would dictate not yelling "bomb" on an airliner; but no,
we need a federal law. Tomorrow, will "lawyer jokes" be federal hate-speech
crimes?

. "Right to bear arms": Forgive them, Founding Fathers, for they know not
what they do. Could they have imagined schoolchildren being prosecuted for
toy guns?

. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures": Echelon,
Carnivore, Patriot Act are equivalent to having the Gestapo surveilling you
and your property 24/7. Warning! Citizen: To resist is futile.

. "Nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process":
Unless you are a small business owner who uses cash, a parent whose
teen-ager has a "weed" growing in the house or the owner of a cool car
suspected of drug involvement. Due process means your cash, your house,
your car are seized, enforced in the name of the War on
'Fill-in-the-blank.' You may seek recovery from the courts, but black-robed
conspirators will uphold the stealing of property and rights.

Happy Patriot's Day, minus three days to Earth Day hoopla.