Well said...

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - Barrack Obama's Inauguration Speech As Joe can attest, one of my biggest disappointments and frustrations during the last administration was the rampant trouncing of civil liberties in the name of "freedom" or "terrorism." While I do not discount the need for safety and security, I have long worried (along with many others) that we might find, at the "end" of the war on terror, that we had left our core freedoms in the dust. I agree wholeheartedly with Obama that the rhetoric of the past eight years presented us with a "false choice." We simply cannot give up our ideals, especially in such perilous times. now, back to your (ir)regularly scheduled crafty postings...