Quick thought of the day...

The folks at the First Amendment Center came up with a really great quote for the day...

''A right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from you.''
- Ramsey Clark, U.S. attorney general, 1977

And if you think about it, it's pretty much the truth. Whether you believe that these rights are bestowed upon you by birth or through some deity, these rights are YOURS to begin with.

Unfortunately we have way too many people in government (i.e. Bush Imperium) who believe that these rights come first from GOVERNMENT and then to you. As such, they believe that your rights are conditional to whatever limits they set and thus can be taken away from you at their whim.

So here are a couple of thoughts...

* If your rights are yours to begin with, and the government takes them away from you, would that be considered criminal theft (criminal case) or intellecutal theft (civil case)?

* If you believe that your rights are given to you by God, does that mean that any religious figure who claims to speak on behalf of God can take those rights away from you?

And finally...

* If a right is something that nobody can take away from you, why is it done on a routine basis by governments large and small with not even an appology afterwards?

Hmm....