Misc. Ramblings

Do extreme Islamic terrorist read Mao? I guess President Bush's Department of Homeland Security must think so. It seems a student at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth (that hot bed of revolutionary activity since 1895) who is taking a class on "Fascism and Totalitarianism", requested an inter-library loan of Mao's famous tome on godless communism "The Little Red Book."

The book was to be part of a research paper for the class. However, based on that request and perhaps his travels to Europe, two Homeland Security agents knocked on the student's door demanding to know why he wanted the book.

Now, I realize "connecting the dots" is not an easy thing to do. And I'm not pointing fingers at the individual agents. I'm sure they're trying to do the best job they can given an impossible mission. More over, get it wrong and people could die. There are in fact terrorists out there who mean to kill US citizens. So, you can be sure Homeland Security will probably err on the side of safety.

But that said, there is no evidence, that I am aware of, that deeply religious Muslim terrorists are looking to Mao for enlightenment. The man was an atheist and preached a godless government system antithetical to Islam. Communism is discredited as an economic failure that collapsed in Soviet Russian and is collapsing in China due to widespread government and business corruption. Why would extremist Muslims study Mao's teachings for anything - much less reasons to attack the US?

Secondly, how is it that the government is spying on what books are being borrowed? Was there a court order to allow this? Was there any prior, independent judicial review to ensure no rights were being trod upon by Big Brother Government intrusion into citizen's private lives? Or was all of this made legal by the so called Patriot Act or President Bush's signature on a piece of worthless paper?

Where's all this so called profiling that the security experts were going to use? Yes, Homeland Security may be looking at more that just Middle Eastern terrorists. But should they? Do we have so much time and money that we will monitor what Chinese communist books people borrow as proof that they are threats to the US? Shouldn't we be focusing more? Shouldn't we stop wasting time on wild goose chases and start tracking down real terrorists?

Heck, I'm more afraid that China will buy the US (since they are major holders of our debt instruments) than afraid that they would invade us. Yet, Mao's book is on some kind of terrorist watch list. Sigh. Your (Big) Republican Government at work. Or as Mark Twain is quoted as saying: "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." Right now, it's hard to see how it deserves it.

Aloha!