Emerson Would have liked This

I don’t usually link to things like this, but I found this link on wanna write?and had to pass it on. I’m not sure how much fun it is without a fast connection, though.

:: Don’t Mess with My Library Card ::

It’s positively dangerous taking a little time off to read about what is going on in the "real" world. As noted earlier on May 20th, I am worried about free-speech rights, particularly when something you say in a sports locker room can earn a visit from the FBI.

I’m even more upset, though, by the latest revelation of what’s in the USA Patriot Act. According to Nat Hentoff’s article in the Village Voice the government now has the right to find out what you’ve checked out of the library or bought from a bookstore with very few restrictions.

Could this possibly open the door to government abuse? (Wonder where my editor was when I first wrote this sentence? I must have lifted too many heavy rocks today. It was a secret test for ex-students. And they all failed. I didn’t get one email making fun of it.)

In fact, in retrospect, I wonder if they would have given me my Army commission if they had known that I regularly bought/checked out The Socialist’s Party’s newspaper while I was in college. Would I have been prevented from fighting for my country’s Honor in Vietnam if they had known that I dared to read propaganda from the other side?

Is thinking, in and of itself, "Unpatriotic?" I wouldn’t ask Aschroft. His answer would probably really scare me.

:: Odds and Ends ::

I have some down time before Diane and I start making some comments on Emerson’s writing. Right now I’m simply enjoying re-reading some of his Transcendental "sermons" before I shift into my analytical, or, as Jeff Ward puts it, expository mode, though I still hope to persuade some people that Emerson is worth taking another look at.

Meanwhile, Jonathon is again applying Kundera to real life.

I’m also adding a couple of new blogs to my regularly visited sites. Doug, of Doug’s Dynamic Drivel, is certainly more political than I am in this blog, though perhaps no more so than I am in real life, but I feel a need to add some diversity to my blog reading.

Dervala.net is closer to what I usually link to, but I particularly enjoy her writing style.

simply yours is another journal in the vein of "Journal of a Writing Man" that I’ve started reading regularly.

Sometimes this busy weekend I’ll also try to add some links to environmental sites, once I figure out how to work them into the page.