Chill out, or don't use your real name

Oboy, Vleeptron got 2 simultaneous Ballistic Moments going on.

One -- which Nostrabobus predicted was gonna happen -- is about an Old Dead White Guy who also knew his New Big Idea was going to make everybody go ripshit, so he published his Big New Idea anonymously.

(He was a Protestant minister, btw. And the guy who read him and got his own new sudden Gestalt, Darwin, had also been studying to become a Protestant divine. And also was afraid to publish. And now he's long Dead and there are still big angry Flame Wars over his Idea, too.)

Yes, thank you for clarifying that Bob di Vleeptron is NOT a senior official of the Bush Administration or the Republican Party. So this is Not Bob's Fault.

(This week I feel compelled to add: I happen to be an excellent rifle marksman, and fired a riot shotgun a few times, but I have Never shot Any Living Member of the Animal Kingdom, or any lawyer.)

If that part of the U.S. Constitution is still working, George W. Bush will have to turn over the keys to the White House to Somebody Else on 20 January 2009. Before you call the caterer for your Big Party, early guesses about who the Somebody Else might be are:

* Jeb Bush
* Mitt Romney
* Hillary Rodham Clinton
* John McCain
* Condoleezza Rice
* Evan Bayh
* Bill Frist

(Anybody who wants to Place A Bet with Vleeptron on any of these horses, or any other Dark Horse, so your Powers of Prophesy can be Recorded Here for posterity to admire, please Leave A Comment.)

(Just guessing, but I don't think Dick Cheney will be running for president in 2008.)

Cool Your Jets.

Yes, the USA is having a terrible political mess, and two nasty overseas wars, one of them more disastrous than the other -- but Ghastly Politics is just Something we all have to Endure and Get Through. As the Philosopher Little Orphan Annie sang (over and over and over and over and over again):

The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There'll be sun!

Just thinkin' about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
'Til there's none!

When I'm stuck in a day
That's gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And Grin,
And Say,
Oh!

The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
'Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You're always
A day
Away!

=====================

Unfortunately, it's still Today. Try to Get A Grip before This happens to You. Or do what Malthus did: Don't use your real name.

=====================

sedition (noun): incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority

-- Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition

=======================

Editor and Publisher
America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry
Saturday 11 February 2006

Nurse Investigated
for 'Sedition'
After Writing Letter to Editor

by E&P Staff

NEW YORK -- Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has asked Veterans Affairs Secretary James Nicholson for a thorough inquiry of his agency's investigation into whether a V.A. [Department of Veterans Affairs] nurse's letter to the editor criticizing the Bush administration amounted to "sedition."

Merely opposing government policies and expressing a desire to change course "does not provide reason to believe that a person is involved in illegal subversive activity," he said. Bingaman said such investigations raise "a very real possibility of chilling legitimate political speech."

Laura Berg, a clinical nurse specialist for 15 years, wrote a letter in September to a weekly Albuquerque newspaper criticizing how the administration handled Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War. She urged people to "act forcefully" by bringing criminal charges against top administration officials, including the president, to remove them from power because they played games of "vicious deceit."

She added: "This country needs to get out of Iraq now and return to our original vision and priorities of caring for land and people and resources rather than killing for oil ... Otherwise, many more of us will be facing living hell in these times."

The agency seized her office computer and launched an investigation. Berg is not talking to the press, but reportedly fears losing her job.

Bingaman wrote: "In a democracy, expressing disagreement with the government's actions does not amount to sedition or insurrection. It is, and must remain, protected speech. Although it may be permissible to implement restrictions regarding a government employee's political activities during work hours or on government premises, such employees do not surrender their right to freedom of speech when they enlist in government service."

He said he wants the matter investigated so V.A. officials will have guidance about handling similar situations in the future.

Berg signed the letter as a private citizen, and the V.A. had no reason to suspect she used government resources to write it, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, which last week asked the government to apologize to Berg for seizing her computer and investigating her.

V.A. human resources chief Mel Hooker had said in a Nov. 9 letter that his agency was obligated to investigate "any act which potentially represents sedition," the ACLU said.

Peter Simonson, executive director of the ACLU of New Mexico, told The Progressive magazine: "We were shocked to see the word 'sedition' used. Sedition? That's like something out of the history books."

In a press release, Simonson also said: "Is this government so jealous of its power, so fearful of dissent, that it needs to threaten people who openly oppose its policies with charges of 'sedition'?"

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