My Country, Wrong or Right?

Is it wrong to question the actions of government?
Does it make you unpatriotic if you, especially during wartime,
question the decisions of leaders?

President George W. Bush said, in his September 2001 speech
to a joint session of congress,
"Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

So....if we happen to disagree with methods chosen by
elected or non-elected officials in dealing with threats,
are we, indeed, being unpatriotic --
even terrorists ourselves?
Or should we, rather, more closely examine that
assertion and determine its validity?

Being critical of elected or appointed leaders
is not the same as being critical of the country.
They are not one and the same.

The way I see it, the Constitution is our government --
not those who have been "hired" by the people
to do a particular job, for a specified period of time.

It is the duty of a patriotic citizen
of the United States of America
to weigh the statements, the actions,
and what can be determined of the motivations,
of those in positions of power against the principles
the country was founded upon.

Likewise, it is a patriot's duty to ascertain if leaders
are following the guidelines, set forth in the Constitution,
that were meant to safeguard our liberty --
liberty that was not granted by the constitution
or by any laws enacted by men, but by God himself.

And if our leaders
are not "securing the blessings of liberty"
for the citizenry,
if they are, in essence,
putting a lien on our inalienable rights,
it is the duty of patriots,
of people who love their country,
to do what they can to
remedy the situation.

I wish you a thoughtful Independence Day.

Stupid Human Tricks

(click to enlarge)
Knifeses - yore you're doin' it wrong
lolcat lolhuman lol human lolhumanz
icanhascheezburger

Hey, I've got a great idea....

Let's raise money for the state of Pennsylvania
by leasing the PA Turnpike to a foreign company for
75 years. It's not like we'd be selling it, even
though for IRS purposes it's considered pretty much
a sale after 30 years. Let's lease it to a company
in Spain, for, oh about $12.8 billion. Sure, they'll
raise tolls 25% the first year, and then just a
little bit more every single year after that, but
hey, that's no biggie, right?

Yeah, let's do that.