go forth and set the world on fire.

Will someone please explain to me which of our civil liberties are being lost because of the Obama administration? The pundits on Fox News are going on and on and on about it, but they won't tell us exactly which civil liberties they are referring to, just that they affect commerce, industry and security. They won't say exactly which policies are destroying our civil liberties, either.

Could it be illegal wiretapping? Could it be torturing? Could it be holding people without arresting them or officially accusing them of anything? Could it be practically abandoning the war in Afghanistan so that the Taliban has been able to make it within 60 miles of the capital of Pakistan? Could it be ignoring global warming and global climate issues?

Hmm...wait. No. That was the last guy!

I understand that Republicans and Democrats have different opinions. And I recognize that as Jed Bartlett said (what can I say...the West Wing applies to practically everything) "Every once and a while there is a day with an absolute right and an absolute wrong. But those days almost always involve body counts," and "Complexity is not a vice." (That one is courtesy of CJ Cregg). There are lots of different arguements and lots of different questions that need to be asked. But making things up isn't okay. Stretching the truth so far that it snaps isn't okay. Every report has a slant, every station has a side. But let's not get carried away here. Civil liberties are civil liberties. Illegal wiretapping is also a crime against civil liberties. At least as bad as whatever they are claiming Obama is doing, if not worse.

Note: Fox News also was hypercritical of Obama's scaled back, private approach to National Prayer Day. Because religion has a place in government? What are civil liberties again? Separation of church and state? Anyone?


In other news:

It's spring - practically summer, with all the promise that practically summer brings. 3D sidewalk chalk and iced tea and paddle boats and picnics and the way heat seeps into your skin and puts things in perspective. Because nothing is bigger than being warm and golden and alive and drinking milk and eating warm brownies on a playground and seeing movies at night. Because sand and salt water and sunglasses are still what you dream of during dry, sarcastic winters. Because life is better in a bikini :-)