Freedom is a funny thing.  Too borrow and pervert an aphorism, freedom is like oxygen: most people don’t think about it until it’s missing. Think of me (and this article) as a canary in a coal mine. I only hope you’ll actually notice — and then do something about it.

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Over on the blog, Defending People: The Art and Science of Criminal Defense Lawyering, after a post titled “Thoughts on a Hanging,” a character named “Y” comments: Wait. A. Minute. How can we have real liberty if we lack safety? How is a man free to “pursue happiness” — another key phrase to our country’s […]

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Several blogs I read have been linking to a well-written first-hand reaction of someone outside the United States to the now-entrenched paranoia of the United States. If democracy were sick and terrorism were the disease, the Bush Administration’s “cure” has surely killed the patient.

In fact, this is exactly what has happened.

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As new polls suggest 49% of Americans believe the First Amendment provides too much freedom (freedom of the press is cited as the biggest flaw in the Constitution by these folks), the Federal Government has announced plans to put cameras everywhere, starting with airplanes, to monitor pilots and passengers in case somebody makes a no-no.

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