Aug. 23, 2002 - 17:58 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Memo To Self

Two things self, I have told you a billion times - - - - don't exaggerate ! Secondly and more importantly - - - - If an idea for a good entry pops into your brain, WRITE IT DOWN ! ! ! ! Yeah I know it was in your dim brain when you woke this morning. You were going to make an entry right after coffee. el Stupido, when you sat down to the keyboard that entry had poofed off into where ever good ideas disappear. WRITE IT DOWN. ! !

Friday Five has made its appearance once more. On the stand is The Wondering Jew.

1. - What is your current occupation ? A. - A very happy retired man. is this what you choose to be doing at this point in your life ? A. - Oh, absolutely. Why or why not ? A. - I have served my time. I can now spend much more time with our family. We can decide to go somewhere without having to consider if it will clash with my work schedule. We now have time to smell the roses and look at pretty things and do things such as hang out at our new library about a mile away. Time to spend on the internet, as much time as as I want to take.

2. - If time/talent/money were no object what would your dream occupation be ?

Deep research in the history of guilds and unions. Research in historical matters. Research in matters of fine arts. Research in Philosophical thought.

3. - What did your parents do for a living ?

A. - My Dad was cashier for the Denver office of a communications corporation, my Mom was a branch office manager for the same corporation. Qa - Has this had any influence on your career choices ? Aa - No, but what they taught me at home about morals, ethics, and a positive work ethic had great impact on how I live my life.

4. - Have you ever had to choose beween having a career and having a family ?

A. - There is no way that such a choice would ever be thinkable to me. Family and the care thereof has been my favored career. What I had to do, I did and was happy at it for the most part knowing that I was providing for my family.

5. - In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world ? A. - Being a researcher, working in the Library of Congress. Qa - The hardest ? Aa - Being a school teacher such as many are today, with no backing from the upper echelon. Qb - Why ? Ab - Seeing that my efforts are not having any success due to circumstances beyond my control. It would be heartbreaking to see the kids who needed and wanted to learn but couldn't because of disruption in class made it impossible for them to do so.

--------------------------------------------

Here is a court that we have, how much longer is debatable though. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in May issued an opinion made public August 22 which is stinging in its criticism of the FBI and the Justice Department. Here is what I get out of the mess, FBI and Justice Department are trying in every way they can to interfere with the rights of American Citizens. To me, regardless of who it is if one is an Amercian citizen, it is a gross violation of that person's constitutional rights -- regardless of suspicions -- to imprison, hold secretly and violate their civil rights in other ways. Seems like James Ujaama, an American Citizen is the subject in Virginia today of a closed (CLOSED) hearing in order to determine whether certain hearings regarding the said Ujaama should be open.

At issue is the constitutionality of the "material witness" statute. That is what the government is using to justify the month-long detention of Ujaama an American citizen.

On down in the newspaper article in The Rocky Mountain News is the telling statement, "After all, the government has decided that the war on terrorism justifies its power to detain an American citizen indefinitely - and indeed not even formally acknowledge that it has that person in custody. It has also denied Ujaama his right to disclose the fact that he has been subpoenaed and to discuss matters that he might reveal to the grand jury."

Why do I keep nattering and kvetching about this ? Because doggonit, the very same thing can happen to you or me ! I could disappear in the next ten minutes and nobody would know that I have been taken by our government. Nobody would know why I had disappeared, where I was or any other information. All we have is the oral statements that, "Oh, we would never do that to one of ours !" Yeah riiight !

We have seen in history books and read information on how these things have been an accomplished fact in other countries, for years and are still ongoing. Government doesn't like a persons connections, politics and/or faith -- he disappears, sometimes forever.

So this the kind of entry that I do, because I have strong feelings about what is going on today in our government.

But when I do lose a good entry in outer space there is the need for me to write a Memo To Self . . . . . . . . .

Blog