I don't know that it will do much good, but I find the following article from today's NY Times encouraging. It at least tells me that many people are aware of the dangers which have surfaced since we began this "war on terrorism". You know - the dangers to our basic rights and civil liberties that I and others of my ilk have been screaming about for the past year.

Cities Urge Restraint in Fight Against Terror

By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., Dec. 20 � Nearly two dozen cities around the country have passed resolutions urging federal authorities to respect the civil rights of local citizens when fighting terrorism. Efforts to pass similar measures are under way in more than 60 other places.

While the resolutions are largely symbolic, many of them provide some legal justification for local authorities to resist cooperating in the federal war on terrorism when they deem civil liberties and Constitutional rights are being compromised.

Most of the resolutions have passed in liberal bastions like Boulder, Colo.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Cambridge, Mass.; and Berkeley, Calif., where opposition to government policy is a tradition. But less ideological places have also acted, with more localities considering it, from big cities like Chicago and Tampa, Fla., to smaller ones like Fairbanks, Alaska, and Grants Pass, Ore.

Many communities are getting help from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, a grass-roots group in Florence, Mass.

"People are very, very willing and committed to do everything reasonably possible about terrorist threats," said Elliot Mincberg, legal director of People for the American Way, a nonprofit group that works for constitutional protections. "But there is a growing concern about the executive branch is handling this, a unilateral assertion of power that, in many instances, intrudes on people's privacy and is carried out in a very secretive manner."

Art Babbott, the City Council member who sponsored the resolution in Flagstaff that passed last week after intense debate, said: "We've been singing the same song in this country for more than 200 years. It's a very good song, and I want to keep singing it. I'm very leery of changing the lyrics."

Supporters of the resolutions say the measures have grown out of a belief that the Patriot Act of 2001, the Homeland Security Act passed this year and a series of executive orders have given the federal government too much muscle in its war against terrorism at the expense of average Americans, especially Muslims. The 2001 act expands government powers in such matters as electronic surveillance, search warrants and detention...

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company

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My weekend was nice. Saturday morning I got my hair cut and I love it! :)

As I wrote previously, my hair appt. was followed by a day with Bobbi and Cathy. We drank many Mimosa's, exchanged our gifts, went out to a late lunch at a favorite Chinese joint and then went to play a few games of darts at a local bar. We played three games, all of which were won by Bobbi. There'll be no living with her for a year.

Cathy has had a rough year, money-wise. She left the corporate world behind in favor of becoming a Massage Therapist and she also works as a Pampered Chef Consultant. Anyway, so my point is that she baked "goodies" for us for Christmas (and gave us a bottle of wine). um...her "goodies" are far from it. The poor woman just can not cook or bake. So I brought the goodies in to work so they'll actually be eaten. Those guys in the warehouse will eat anything! I feel bad, though, that she worked so hard on all of these food-stuffs and they aren't any good.

Anyway, we had a very nice time. Lots of laughs and we went to the bar early enough to avoid annoying men attempting to converse with us. Take note - every annoying man south of Bakersfield appears to hang out at the bar we went to. In fact, I stopped going to that bar like two years ago because of that fact. Plus, they allow people to smoke there (which is illegal in Cali. - no smoking inside any buildings, even bars) and it gets so smoky and disgusting. Even though there were only like ten people in the bar Saturday afternoon, I was there all of two minutes before my nice new hair-do stunk of cigarette smoke. ICK!

After Barbi kicked our butts at Cricket, we drove around looking at Christmas lights, which was fun and festive. Over-all, it was quite an enjoyable day.

Sunday, Amy came over to help me do some things around the pad in preparation for holiday festivities. She was there for like seven hours and was a huge help to me. We also talked a lot about various family issues. It's long and involved, but suffice it to say that she and her siblings are rather bitter about the way they were raised. I honestly can't blame them. Their mother (my sister, Linda) is truly a great person - kind, friendly, caring, generous and very, very smart. She's awesome. Everybody loves her...well, everybody except herself. And that has led her to making some really bad decisions and since she has three kids those decisions have affected them immensely. Anyway, it's great that Amy feels she can talk to me about intimate things, but I felt really bad for her and her siblings (and for Linda) and still do.

Anyway, on to happy thoughts for this Christmas week...

I had another sex dream about ex-crush dude last night. Let's just say that he had a really great time...so then, of course, who is the first person I run in to when I walk in this morning? Ex-crush dude. After a few moments of some serious blushing and silently thinking "tee-hee. I've seen your weenie", I was able to croak out a "Good morning." In his defense, he's actually been very nice to me since our little fax-machine bru-ha-ha and even went out of his way to thank me for something a couple of weeks ago. Maybe he was just having a bad day that day.

John seems rather happy these days. His son, Johnny, has been visiting him for the last week and comes back home today (he lives down here). So they've been goofing around and having a lot of fun together, which is cool. Johnny is twenty years old now and has grown up so much. It's really awesome to see. Like most teenagers, he had a lot of "issues" a few years back. He seems to be on track now and is doing well in college, which is quite remarkable considering he barely graduated High School. Plus, they get along very well now. :) Now why couldn't they have done this when we all lived together? They're both better people now. What the...? :)

~~~

Bye-bye Joe. I just heard that Joe Strummer died. Man, I am now very sad. I love him so. He will be greatly missed.

~~~

Guess that's all for now. Should I not get the chance to write for a couple of days, let me take this opportunity to wish all a very Merry Christmas (whether you celebrate it or not - have a merry couple of days!). Let's hope we make some moves toward a peaceful new year.

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~~~~~~~~~~~peace, love and smooches~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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