Without Warrant

WARRANT
1. Authorization -- evidence for or token of authorization
2. Guarantee, Security
3. Grounded justification
4. Confirmation, Proof
5. A document giving authority to do something
6. A precept or writ issued by a competent magistrate authorizing an officer to make an arrest, a seizure, or a search or to do other acts incident to the administration of justice

WARRANTLESS
The absence of the above qualities

WARRANTLESS WIRETAPS
"The program's legal, it's designed to protect civil liberties, and it's necessary. But I want to make sure that people understand that if the attempt to write law makes this program -- is likely to expose the nature of the program, I'll resist it." George W. Bush, President of the United States.

WAR AND LESS
Maybe it's just me being me - but I see some contradictions in the President's logic.

It offends me that our government has created a program to monitor the actions of citizens in this country without issuing a warrant.

It offends me that an estimated 53% of my fellow citizens are willing to accept warantless surveillance of their lives because - why? They're afraid of "the enemy". You chicken-shit cowards.

It offends me that tens of thousands of people are dead, that this country is steeped in a bloody war, that the reason for this war was truly warrantless, that the information that justified this war was false and misleading.

And you know what?

We get what we got in this life. We get what we got when folks don't give a shit. We get what we got when justice is blinded, but allowed to listen to whatever our government decides. We get what we got when words like warrantless lose their meaning and are replaced by, " Because I said so. Trust me."

Well, trust is earned and it is fostered by agreeing to a set of rules and abiding by them. The loss of trust can lead to many things from disappointment to disillusionment to disgust. It can, quite naturally, also lead to fear.

So I guess what I'm wondering these days is who and what are we supposed to trust?

Is it really in God we trust up here in America? Or is it that we just distrust each other more?

Are your fears for real? Are they grounded? Are they reasoned? Are they warranted?

Fuck - I dunno.

I don't what that word means anymore.