People are staring to get a little weird with the whole paranoia thing. The idea that duct tape will save your ass if the Big Bad (to borrow a phrase from Buffy) comes knockin� is just too bizarre for words. The whole country needs to take some Paxil and put on some chill music. Listen, the Europeans have been dealing with terrorists for the past 30 years and Paris isn�t burning yet. We need to get over ourselves and realize that, sometimes, bad stuff will happen and there isn�t much we can do about it. We should certainly try to stop the bad guys when we can, but we�re becoming a nation of hysterics and it�s sad to watch.
In a bit of good news, Congress has prevented Total Information Awareness from being used against American citizens. TIA is a project designed to collect vast amounts of information on individuals via the Internet, telephone records, credit card records, and other sources in an attempt to identify �suspicious� patterns. Charming, no? Interestingly enough, you can buy clothes with the TIA logo here (proceeds go to the ACLU). I mean, look at this thing. It looks like it was designed by the Freemasons.
I was going over some old poems of mine a couple nights ago. I�m always reluctant to tell people I write poetry. For whatever reason, poetry has, for many people, become a therapy instead of a craft. People write poetry to confront their past traumas or tragedies. And that�s fine. But I love it for the rhythm of words and the images they conjure. Anyway, most of my stuff is terrible, but the poems I was editing the other night sounded pretty good to me even after a few years. And that�s a rare thing.
