TOMMY CHONG IS SAFELY BEHIND BARS

Whew, folks! Our national fear level has just been reduced from orange
alert to yellow alert. The dangerous criminal Tommy Chong (age 65) of
Cheech & Chong fame has been sentenced to nine months in prison for selling
glass pipes (aka paraphernalia).

Never mind that the petty villains Osama bin What's-his-name and Saddam
Somebody are still on the loose. We can thank the Bush-Ashcroft zealots for
this new assurance of homeland security.

Actually, Chong's real crime over the years has been to use the weapon of
mass destruction -- ridicule -- to expose the absurdity of the misguided
war against the heart of the axis of evil, the evil weed, marijuana.

We can all breathe easy for nine months now that this desperate terrorist
is safely behind bars.

David L. Edwards, Olympia