Hands off my breasts and my 4th Amendment!

I wanted to introduce myself with my first, new blog. I had planned to write a witty commentary on women, men and why I prefer to fly solo. Recent events, however, have made me madder than a food starved, absinthe intoxicated Vinny Van Gogh during his knife to ear period.

This past March, an event occurred in my life that changed my priorities. My Aunt Bunny passed away from a long fight with cancer. She was the woman I grew up wanting to most be like. She was smart, cosmopolitan, fashionable and a world traveler. I know she had her lapses in judgment over a man or two, but she never allowed any of them to tie her down. She flew around the world and collected friends and great experiences as she went. She always returned with a great souvenir... a leather camel from Egypt, a small, marble statue of Venus De Milo from Rome, and evil eye pendant from Greece were my favorites. She encouraged me to travel too. I started young, traveling around the United States, but then life got in the way. Vacations were spent visiting friends and family, and I put aside my desire to see the world. The loss of a loved one often makes one reflect upon the fragile and fleeting nature of life. I realized that I had put off traveling the world long enough. I had just turned 42, and this was the year I got my passport.

I gave my mom a cruise to the Western Caribbean for her birthday. We traveled in October, and had the time of our lives. We toasted Aunt Bun, and laughed about how she'd never believe mom was drinking, never mind that she was traveling abroad. I plan on going to Bermuda in April, and perhaps in October again. Next year I've got my sites set on Europe. I might have to put that off, however. As much as I want to see the wonders of the world, I want to preserve my unalienable right of privacy and I want my government to do its one job... protect and uphold the Constitution.

I'm not sure when we, Americans, accepted the notion that the federal government's job is to provide for our personal safety and protect private property.... ummm.... that's a lie. I do know when, it was 9/12/01.

We were all panicking, and the government said, "We will protect you, but you are going to have to give up some rights."

We said, "Okay, just keep us safe."

Now I'm not going to say that some members of our own government plotted 9/11, but I am going to say that if you follow the money trail it doesn't only point in the direction of Osama Bin Laden. It points straight at Dick Cheney, George H.W. Bush and James Bakker III. The Bush family are no strangers to profiting from the pain and suffering of others. Prescott Bush (W's grandfather) made his fortune laundering money for the Nazis (money directly stolen from slaughtered Jews). George H.W. Bush just happened to be the head of the board of directors of the Carlysle Group, a defense and investment firm that represented the financial interests of his friends, the Bin Ladens as well as the financial interests of the Bush family. I swear this on my favorite zebra print pumps. Follow the money trail, but turn your head to its implications, because the government says it doesn't really matter.

The winfall-out of 9/11 doesn't stop there. Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of Homeland Security, ordered the "porno-scanners" while holding the position of Secy of Homeland Security. Only problem is that Rapscan, the company who makes the scanners (now being used at an airport near you) is one of Chertoff's paying clients. Hmmmmmmm......

Quick... look away. It's for your safety. They aren't robbing you of your privacy and punishing you with molestation if you refuse to use their high tech version of x-ray goggles to make money. It's to keep you safe. It's not important that Muslims are exempt from the invasive, sexually abusive body scans and breast groping "pat" downs because it "violates their religious beliefs". Hmmmm........

Musims attacked us on 9/11. The underwear bomber is Muslim. The shoe bomber is Muslim. The guys who attacked the USS Cole were Muslim, but we aren't feeling up the Muslims because we are affraid of offending them? Really?

So, how is molesting and robbing law abiding, innocent American citizens of their Constitutional rights going to keep us safe?

As Ben Franklin said, "They who would give up essential liberty for a small measure of safety deserve neither safety nor liberty." That's kind of the position we find ourselves, isn't it? Not really safe, definitely not free, and violated without so much as being treated to a fuzzy naval or a pomegranate martini.

I ask all American's to refuse the scans and the pat downs. I also ask that you call your congressmen and women to tell them to support Congressman Ron Paul's legislature to hold TSA agents personally accountable for their actions, which include molestation, sexual harassment, pornography, and child pornography.

Oh, and to scare you even more... the scanners haven't been proven to be safe. According to Congressman Paul and many other experts, they aren't safe. Think not flying is going to keep you safe? Wrong again. The scanners have been loaded into vans and are roving the streets of the US as I write this. Freedom is but an illusion. It's time to make it a reality, once again.