Slapped in the face with reality

Hu Jia sentenced to 3 ½ years for an attempt to subvert the state's political power and socialist system

You can read a bit about it here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23936549?GT1=43001#storyContinued

or here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/01/china.jonathanwatts

I hate hippies, but I am thankful and proud to have sacrificed my freedoms for the right of these types as well as the other end of the spectrum, ultra-conservatives like Ted Nugent. This is why I believe we have the best country/system in the world. We have such varied views and opinions, but all are free to express their views and opinions no matter how extreme, in most cases. Then, both extremes come to some compromise so that we end up with the awesome system that we have.

Unfortunately/fortunately, there is so much chatter about this that a search for the videos of his house arrest and his actual blog have eluded me. What I have read so far, though, tells me that he is just an outspoken activist who is struggling to further AIDS research and Human Rights. The fact that he, and now his wife with baby, were put on House Arrest and the phone lines and internet connection cut by the police, makes me once again thankful for our system.

People in our country whine empty slogans like ‘Bring our troops home’ and ‘change’ with no real solutions offered like a kid who doesn’t know enough to do more than just complain about how he can’t have ice cream for breakfast. However, I am thankful that they can. They can because I, and others, better than me, sacrificed so that they could without fear of the Gub’ment busting down their door and silencing them as they still frickin do in a handful of countries.

As I blog in my personal blog about how I am wallowing in my own discontentment with life challenges, I am blessed with this slap in the face with reality to remind me of what’s truly important. I can drive 2,000+ miles to California without showing a passport one time, using public restrooms at many various facilities along the way, eat fresh hot food prepared just for me, with a sign on the roof of my truck that says, ‘I hate the government’ (which I don’t), talking on my cell phone to whomever I wish about whatever I wish, listening to my iPod of whatever damn music I want, and not have to fear for my life or my belongings if a police officer pulls me over. Yes, dammit, these things are taken for granted.

Listening to: The A/C, another thing we take for granted.