First of all, let me say that this is the last political article before the election, sometimes you just have to let it out.

We, as humans, have a very strange trait. Actually we have more than one, but let me talk about one in particular. We get used to things, things that we should never get used to, things that might even violate our privacy and our constitutional rights. In my day we used to be able to say what we wanted, go were we wanted, as long as it was legal, and do what we wanted. This was mostly true for the countries of Europe also. Of course you didn't want to walk around praising Hitler or some such nonsense, but aside from things like that, you pretty much could say anything you wanted. You might provoke an argument, but that was about the height of it.

Today we are told that certain things are required to prevent terrorism. One of these things is being able to just pick up someone and lock them away. There are no formal charges or trial. We are told that if we have things like trials, then it will hurt the war on terrorism, because our plans may get exposed. Well EXCUSE ME, isn't this the same tactics that were used by secret police of tyrannical governments the world over? Stalin was famous for making people disappear. Are we now going to run American Gulags? Hey this is the price of freedom,we are told, or at least this is what is whispered into our ears over and over. There are certain things about making people disappear, besides the obvious that it is immoral and unlawful, according to our constitution which recognizes the Writ of Habeas Corpus. Oh I forgot a court ruled against our constitution but basically a writ of Habeas Corpus provides that someone must be produced for a hearing. It means that you can't just throw them in jail or detention and not tell anyone. Usually the writ is used to prevent unlawful restraint. There are some web sites that are saying that anyone that is for the Writ is pro terrorist. I certainly can't believe that anyone would say that, it is just so ridiculous. I served in the armed forces of this country as did many others who believe that the Writ of Habeas Corpus is a necessary instrument to prevent unlawful imprisonment. It has served this country well since it's founding.

The Writ of Habeas Corpus was considered so important by our founding fathers that it was included in the constitution itself. The U.S. used to be held up as an example to other nations who saw our Bill of Rights as something wonderful. So what has happened? Sure we are fighting a war on terrorism, but are some using this as an excuse to tighten the grip on the freedom of Americans? It is unfortunate, but if we want to have complete control over everyone entering and leaving this country and be able to monitor all their movements, we would have to become a totalitarian state and this is the road we have embarked on. This means that we would not be the America of the free people anymore. If this is true than what would we be protecting? Are we going to have to have papers to travel between states or cities some day like they did in Communist Russia? Will there be block watchers reporting our every move and getting even with neighbors that they don't like by turning them in for something they didn't do?

So much of the new technology that is coming about, is not only used to look for terrorists, but it seems to be used against us too. My goodness we can't even be sure of fair elections anymore. Look, I try and stay away from partisan politics, but since the current president has been in office, we have invaded countries in the name of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction and neither existed as a threat to us from Iraq. Did you know that there is a rumor on the internet that Saddam agreed to everything we asked for, four days before the invasion. I am not saying that this is true, just that if it was true, it wouldn't surprise me. I have never seen such a loss of liberty and such corruption as I see currently. It makes me long for the U.S. of days past. Some of these political ads are so disgusting that they make me sick. The Tennessee Senate race has Harold Ford Jr, Democrat against Bob Corker Republican. Ford is black and Corker has run ads with jungle drums beating in the background when Ford is spoken of and White women at the Playboy club calling Ford over. This is the deep south folks and Corker has stooped so low as to play on people's racial fears. Shame on him. He finally had to withdraw the video ad. Russ Limba, the premier Republican talk show host has gone so far as to make fun of Michael J. Fox's terrible illness. I know that he wants to kill the sympathy vote, but this is beyond human decency.

What is going on with all those cameras everywhere. Many people think that these are a good thing. They are in some areas, I am sure that they help in crime prevention, but that is only one side of the coin. Even an honest citizen doesn't want to have his every movement tracked and that is what is beginning to happen. With the cameras should be certain protections. Laws should be passed that guarantee that in civil matters or even private matters that camera evidence shall not be made available. At least this would provide some protection to us and yet the video would still be available for preventing terrorism and crime. Congressman Duncan Hunter of California just announced his candidacy for President in 2008 on the Republican ticket. I watched him on the Lou Dobbs show on CNN and when Dobbs asked him what he would do, I wanted to cut my throat. All he talked about was making the military stronger and spending more money on it. No mention was made of improving the lot of the American public. Dobbs kindly said to him that if he would throw in a provision for helping the middle class he might have something and politely wished him luck.

It certainly seems to me that if you are not a large stock holder or sitting on a bundle of cash, this administration has nothing for you. If you employ illegal aliens you might get something, but if you are just a working stiff trying to bring up a family and if any of your kids joined the military as a way to get money for college, you have a problem, a big problem. At the rate that soldiers are dying or the much higher rate of being wounded, things are not very good for parents, wives and children of the military. To compound this, the tours of duty are expanded, meaning you can be sent back to Iraq again and again. You know what they say, you can't keep tempting fate. As for middle class people, they have lost their jobs and been forced to take lesser paying ones and sometimes two jobs just to survive. Tons of well paying jobs have been sent overseas without the government providing any incentive to keep them here. You keep hearing that more Americans are employed than ever, sure there ARE more Americans than ever, but you never hear about the quality of the jobs they have. There are places in this country that college graduates are forced to work in stores and burger joints at minimum wage or slightly above, because someone in Asia has the job that they should have. I have nothing against people in Asia and wish them well, I am just saying that we need those jobs that were sent overseas.

As far as the middle class goes a summation of the last 6 years of government would look like this:

1. War in Iraq - no weapons of mass destruction and no connection to terrorists. Escalating American deaths and causalities and repeated terms of service for the military. Afghanistan beginning to also escalate.

2. Good paying jobs lost to overseas by the millions.

3. Deficit climbs to unthinkable heights

4. Federal Agencies such as VA lose veterans personal information leaving vets open to ID theft.

5. Some of the no bid contractors have repeatedly been over charging, including at least one with direct links to the administration.

6. Long list of corruption among Republican politicians

7. Loss of American prestige all around the world.

8. Loss of Veterans benefits for some veterans

9. A powerful lobbyist made hundreds of trips to the White House.

10. Highest fuel prices in history.

For a couple of years now, authorities have known that there is a very big problem with computer voting, yet nothing was done. Could this be because it might be to their advantage somehow? I would hate to think things have not gone that far, but then, why wasn't anything done about this? Now we have some voting machines that are from a foreign country. My goodness isn't even the voting process sacred. There is no provision for recounting votes, you have to go back to the company and RELY on their honesty. I am not saying that they won't be honest, but this is not the way to protect our votes.

We seem to have trillions for war, but nothing for job creation or incentives to companies to stay in the U.S. or keep all of their operations here. So what have we had in the last 6 years? We have had large tax breaks for the rich. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that everyone, no matter how rich they are shouldn't get a break, all I am saying is that everyone should have a break. The problem with this thinking is that it leaves less for the wealthy and that seems to be a no no. We have leaders that have never served in the armed forces heading our troops and telling the generals what to do. I think that this in itself is bizarre. We are accused of torture and while we can't tell either way if this is true, it seems to be, just look at what happened in Abu Grave prison in Iraq, and who got punished? Lowly ranking individuals like privates and sergeants. We have brought our debt to the point that we could go bankrupt.

We are in a fine mess folks. I believe that this administration will go down in history as the worst we have ever had in this country. Lets hope that we can reverse the damage, but it just might be too late.