Lynch at Large

Here's one that ran on the Voices page of today's Democrat-Gazette. This guy is absolutely right and, furthermore, the government has long had a policy of monitoring letters published in newspapers to find out who are the troublemakers. You might have heard about this from some FBI testimony concerning the Waco fiasco in 1993. Anyway, it is sure one more reason for me not to ever fly again!

Letters may lead to scrutiny

Last year, I wrote a letter critical of the Bush administration that was published in the Democrat-Gazette. Since then, I have been pulled aside for extra screening at airport security every time I fly. I assumed it was a coincidence. Now I'm not so sure.
According to The Progressive, New Mexico nurse Laura Berg wrote a letter to her local newspaper criticizing the Bush administration for its handling of the Katrina disaster and the Iraq war about the same time I wrote mine. She wrote, "We need to wake up and get real here, and act forcefully to remove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and vicious deceit."
Berg is now being investigated for sedition. While no reasonable person would confuse her letter to the editor with inciting a revolution, invoking the sedition charge under the USAPATRIOT Act allows the government to conduct warrantless home searches and wiretapping. It also would trigger enhanced airport security screening.
Like Berg, I said publicly that we should act to remove the Bush administration. The Bush administration seems to treat Americans who oppose it as traitors. I say we are patriots. Vigorous public opposition may be our last remaining defense against tyranny.
DAVID GRIFFITH
Arkadelphia