Extremist Laws, for your own "Safety"

In the 14 Apr06 Anchorage Daily News “Court sinks drug paraphernalia law”

One problem the court found with the paraphernalia laws was that they could apply to pharmacists as well as potheads.

Police spokesman Lt. Paul Honeman said the current law is clear and that police don't arbitrarily arrest people for owning household or medical items. "We use what we would consider the commonsense approach,"

Umm, really, okay. But what about these, these or, these?

This article and the law passed by the self-righteous and overzealous politicians caused a back flash from my days in the Marines.

While stationed at Quantico, as a young Lance Corporal one unit I was with was the Artillery Demonstration Unit (ADU) or whispered in certain circles "Alcohol and Drug Unit" (That first urinalysis nailed about 50% of the battery, so I was told). Due to this not so honorable title the officers where not to happy, and began to take corrective action. First those "busted" on the "Pee Pee" test where given an all inclusive vacation to the Drug & Alcohol Rehab Platoon, kind of like Boot Camp all over again. This came as a big surprise to those that would use the phrase "What are they going to do, shave our heads and send us back to boot camp?"

Back at ADU, every Friday we'd have room/uniform inspections. One Lance Corporal (LCpl) was a big fan of Alice in Wonderland (ya right). He had a poster of the caterpillar on the mushroom, smoking out of his water pipe. One Captain ordered it be taken down as "drug paraphernalia". Needless to say the LCpl argued that it wasn't about weed (ya right). No surprise he lost the poster.

Now the military is not the same as civilian life. I'm not suggesting the Captain over reacted; on the contrary it's the same thing I would have done several years later as a Platoon Sergeant. But when I raised my hand several times and swore to protect and defend the Constitution with my life, I knew I was giving up the very rights in the Constitution. Maybe this is why when the President, Congress and the Supreme Court trample on it, I see red. I didn't swear to protect it with my life to see the meaning changed by public opinion, the whims of some pompous, spoon fed aristocrat, or even because some lawyer in a black robe decided it was a "Living Document". I did it because that was what my father before me did, the love for Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and the knowledge that that Document guaranteed and protected our rights from an over bearing government.

Now, if the court hadn't ruled the way they did, could your daughters Alice in Wonderland poster have been next? Or why not the book itself? And ask yourself this. Would you feel confident she'd be allowed to take the poster to school for show and tell?.................................Even now?