I declare...

I remember watching "The Hunt for Red October", there was a scene where Sean Connery is talking to Sam Neill. They are talking about escaping to Montana once they defect from the Soviet Union. Sam Neill's character asks, "You don't need papers to go to Montana from Washington?" And he's astonished.

This line was put in to put the situation in Soviet Russia in stark contrast with the Free United States.

Our freedom...

But, really, do we still have freedom?

I used to think this was part of 9/11, but it's not... it's been happening steadily since the 80's. You can't do anything anonymously anymore... if you do, you are instantly thought of as a criminal.

(Not -as it may seem- that you don't want to end up on sales lists as why I typically don't give out my vital data).

Test it out; rent a room at a hotel. Try to order books online, heck, just try to get an old car crushed at the crusher...

You have to have papers, proof that you are not a criminal.

The difference is, of course; without papers you aren't going to be killed as might have happened in Soviet Russia, but you can't do anything without papers.

Maybe that, in itself, is nothing to worry about... but...

Now, you can't fly anymore without being thoroughly searched, intruded upon. Upon entering an airport you are now surrendering your constitutional rights...

Did anyone notice that?

Amendment IV:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I saw no warrant for my search at the airport… I don’t think they have probable cause to search Maia…

Now, the counterpoint I hear is: "Then would you rather be blown up?"

Here's the twist: Yes. Damn straight, and so should you.

We are all willing to fight for freedom, but are we ready to die for freedom? Maybe you never thought of it that way, maybe you have seen that as a given… but either way, we need to see it as it is. Bluntly. It is time to make this choice now. We need to make that decision. I truly wish it weren’t so, but it is. Either we get ready to die for our freedom, or we sacrifice freedom for our lives. There isn’t a middle-ground. It doesn’t exist.

I think we have forgotten what it means to die for freedom. It means to die. Not to send someone else over to some obscure country to die... it means we need to know we might, ourselves, die at any moment.

So, would I rather be blown up in an airplane than have to surrender my fourth amendment rights? Every part of my logical, rational mind says NO! ...But my heart says yes… and in the end, my heart is right.

9/11 wasn't a war against 3,000 people in a tall building in New York, it was a war against us. Terrorism means that we are -all of us- legal targets in this war. Anytime, anywhere. It won’t happen because you chose to get into a “Terrorist-bombing-zone”. It can now happen anywhere. My house, your house, my city, my airplane flight. Like London or Brussels in World War II, the next bomb just might have your name on it.

Sacrificing freedoms will not protect us in the end, because every time we sacrifice one freedom to stop one plot, they find a way around it for the next one.

…There are an infinite number of terrorist plots… and a finite number of freedoms… it’s a lousy trade.

We don't give up and we don't give in, but we can't destroy the Constitution.

We need to stop retreating and take a stand.

If this is a war, than it is a war. There will be casualties. I might be one of them; you might be one of them. Do I want this? No, of course not. Our forefathers were not idiots; they didn’t want to die, either. But we need to face it. Not shy away and look away. It's tough to think about the remifications of this statement, but it is true.

I don’t want to die. But if I do, I don’t want to die feeling that my country sees me also as a terrorist. Giving me that cold, dispassionate stare as it examines every inch of me, insuring that I will not hurt it.

"This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory."

---Franklin D. Roosevelt; First Inaugural Address. Saturday, March 4, 1933

If, as George Bush has said, this is a war against freedom then we need to evaluate our losses, not in men and women, but in ideals. This isn't a war against men and women, this is a war against ignorance, arrogance, intolerance and ideals.

Mister President, please do everything in your power to stop this war. If this means negotiation, compromise, or gunfire, then so be it. Let me draw the line at destroying freedom in the process though for the enemy does enough damage as is. We don't need to help them. I declare now, that I am willing to lay down my life in the process of saving freedom for all. As awful a concept as that may be, it is far worse to let them win over us. However, should I lose my life in this war, do not let me die in vein. Protect what we stand for.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are winning every one of the battles, but we are losing the war.

---Me.