Washington is like a grand intestine, it digests a lot of indeterminate material and generates a lot of gas and most often the results of its actions stink to high heaven. The Senate and House, our Legislature, is supposed to be the main digestive stomach of this mammoth government. It has looked more and more like an appendix lately and a few of us have wondered if it is becoming obsolete. Luckily the obstructions that let it do its job of slowing down the government are starting to reappear. Passing everything fed you by any Administration is often bad for the nation. It can also be bad for you unless you pass it really fast and get rid of it before anyone can notice what you are passing. "Patriot Acts" that increase the power of the government at the expense of the rights of the people are one example of legislation that passed through the whole system before they reached the intellect of the nation. National intelligence always resides among the people, and they always take a while to absorb the damage being done to their interests by the legislators and administrators that run the government. That is why the system of checks and balances devised by the founders has lasted so long. Our Government was designed to slow down the process of taking action long enough for people to have time to consider what the results of that action might be.

In times of crisis the argument for quicker action always gets some great amount of acceptance, until the people see how foolish quick government action can be. Once that sinks in the government slows down again. The process can take time but it always follows that course, or at least it always has in the past. Patriotism is a dangerous tool for the government to use in manipulating the people, it is really, really, really powerful. It has destroyed nations as it did Germany in WWII, also Japan, and large parts of Italy. Of course France suffered too and Patriotism didn't save them from Germany, nor did it save Poland or even Russia from the ravages of war. Every nation's most important product is its people. You can severely damage a free people's ability to think by stimulating their emotional patriotism too much. The result is often to turn other true patriots into the enemy and to suppress their rights in some way either overt or covert. Overt ways include putting them in jail or killing them, covert ways include marginalizing their important objections to government actions as unpatriotic. Narrowing the public debate about issues of war and peace is always attractive to those who fear the power of informed opposition. Lying to a public in the throes of emotional love for the nation is the most profoundly unpatriotic act a person can commit.

If you look at things from the right perspective, that of an old departed friend of mine, everything is more easily viewed as humorous. He used to tell me stories about horrible things that happened to him or other people and we would always wind up laughing. His amusement at human life stemmed from the fact that he accepted that humanity was fundamentally flawed. He determined that the flaw was in the sense of humor that we inherited from our primate ancestors. Humor is a response to threat removed or another human's pain. Essentially laughter is a reflexive response that releases the relief drugs that our body produces when threat is lifted. So everything that has threatened you is open opportunity to laugh once the threat is over. Even threats long past can be milked for their humor over and over again. Humor never leaves you once you let it into your mind and heart. Nothing threatens us more than if our government runs amuck with our rights and out in the rest of the world in general. Therefore nothing should be funnier when the threat of that is over. Laugh at our government every chance you get; it will help you put the dance of power in Washington in the proper perspective. God bless you, our troops our protestors and our funny, funny leadership and help you laugh in these amusing trying times.