When will Americans awaken from their sleepwalk through the criminal presidency of George W. Bush?
The events of 9/11 were terrifying and made us all feel vulnerable, but this tragedy doesn't justify the president's assumption of absolute power.

Soon after September 11, I had a conversation with someone who said, "I don't care if there are terrorist attacks as long as they aren't on American soil." I was appalled.

It's unfortunate that some Americans place a higher value on American life than on any other. Certainly, people in many countries have felt the insecurity for years that struck us that day.

I heard a woman on television say, "Why would anyone want to hurt us? We do so much good all over the world."

There's the problem. We have a citizenry with little knowledge of the atrocities we've committed and continue to inflict. Many believe that our fingerprints all over the globe are gentle touches to help the needy when, in reality, most of our involvement is brutal and usually motivated by greed.

On 9/11, I e-mailed a friend, lamenting the ramifications of our duplicitous actions.

She was furious. Her reply was that she couldn't get out of her mind that beautiful little girl on the plane headed for Disneyland and how afraid the child and her mother must have been when the hijackers took control.

I agreed with her. The image of all the adults and children who died when the planes crashed is almost too much to bear. And so is thinking of those who jumped from the towers--making a choice between two horrendous paths to death.

But I had to remind my friend that our sanctions in Iraq killed many children whose lives were just as worthwhile as our own. In fact, those sanctions were weapons of mass destruction. She became angry and so did I, and our relationship was broken for awhile.

I haven't spoken with her since it was revealed that George W. has crowned himself public enemy number one to our civil liberties. I wonder if she'd support the dictator's invasion of our privacy. The Bush Clinic is open seven days a week for colonoscopies that probe our lives. And don't forget that Dr. Condi Rice's Club Med Rendition Cruise which offers complete physicals is an efficient use of outsourcing. Seems many people applaud these tactics because Bush insists that they are the means by which he keeps us safe.

It must be emphasized that if safety of the American people is the president's greatest priority, why has he failed to take seriously the findings of the 9/11 Commission? And why isn't the mainstream media asking this question?

Why isn't this being demanded by everyone? When polls indicate that many Americans believe the war in Iraq has made us less safe, why do we see this on the crawl, submerged beneath the faces of those who take themselves seriously as transmitters of breaking news? Why is so little of this reported by anchors? Because they are obsessing on Scott Peterson's hiring new attorneys. Frankly, I don't give a rat's rump about Scott. I'm more concerned about the lies of this administration and the rats who are spying on us, eating away at our rights with their sharp little teeth. And I'm wondering why reputable newspapers who knew about the government's activities waited so long to tell the public.

Is it because they're afraid too? That's exactly what Bush demands. As long as he repeatedly tells us that terrorists want to kill us, he destroys our confidence in holding him accountable. We are a battered electorate suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome. George has turned us into loyal defenders of his policies, prisoners of war who've bonded with the victimizer.

Those of us strong enough to resist the hazing must demand that it stop.

And, then, we'll have to conduct a huge intervention. Bring in the deprogrammers, please. Our Constitution is in peril.