Happy Birthday, Independence

The disclosure by the New York Times and other newspapers of the secret bank data surveillance program has again split pundits down party lines. The Left is crying "First Amendment Rights", while the Right is crying "Divulging secrets in wartime is bad."

I wholeheartedly agree that secrets should not be divulged during wartime. If that is the defense that Mr. George W. Bush wants to use, however, there are a few matters he will have to attend to first, to wit:

- Since the President cannot declare war, he will have to get Congress to do so before he can claim this is wartime. See Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution

- He needs to define who the enemy is. Mr. Bush stated, "We’re at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it, does great harm to the United States of America." The definition of the enemy keeps changing, as evidenced by the fact that the CIA unit hunting down Osama Bin Laden was shut down. Remember Osama Bin Laden? He was the one who was actually complicit in the attack on the US, unlike the Iraqis. This is a simple concept. During WWII, we were at war with Germany, Italy, and Japan. During the Korean war, we were at war with North Korea. The Vietnam war? Then-North Vietnam.
Who are we fighting now? Terrorism. Oops, that's not a country.

- Those prisoners in limbo in Guantanamo? They become prisoners of war, with all the rights accorded them under the Geneva Convention.

Mr. Bush, you can't have it both ways. You can't pick and choose which pieces of the Constitution or which laws you wish to follow and throw out the rest without being treated the same way in return. If you want war powers, you have to adhere to worldwide standards of statesmanship in waging war, or, at the very least look back at your Oath of Office. There was that part where you swore " to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Wouldn't that have made all of this simpler?

Finally, whether you're the President or just another one of us, you owe it to yourself to read Jimmy Carter's essay on the Freedom of Information Act, which turned 40 on Independence Day.

Here's hoping we all survive the rocket's red glare this year. Seems a bit more menacing this year.

A PSA from The Veggies

If you cook for vegetarians, please don't ever assume that what they don't know won't hurt them.

I went to a BBQ at a friend's house yesterday. I know I should have been more alert as to what was going on at the BBQ, but there were people cooking stuff on it all afternoon. One of them is a graduate of a cooking school. I saw him pouring sauce over the veggie kebabs and didn't think anything of it.

I later had my grilled Portabellos and a few of the veggies from the skewers. They were really good. He saw me reach for the bowl and said nothing.

Flash forward to just before the fireworks. I started to get cramps. The lines at the two portapotties were really long, but I made it and only missed the first salvo of fireworks. I was in distress the rest of the night.

People were complimenting the veggies afterward, and he said, "They should be good, I used the chicken marinade!" Oh. The stuff with the chicken juice in it.

Folks, vegetarians get sick if they things with meat juice. It isn't psychological, it's physical. Other people are not responsible for my lifestyle choice, I know. But it's nice if you let me know when something that looks safe is not safe.

This has been a public service message from your friendly local rabbit food eater.