I just read a story in the LATimes about a woman who has lost custody of her kids because of the U.S. Patriot Act.  Yes, she was declared... a terrorist (cue the dramatic hamster music)!  Her crime?  She spanked her children and used profanity in public.

Dear God in heaven, how could she?

In short, the lady and her children were on a flight in 2007 to Denver, and the kids were fighting over the window shade when they spilled her Bloody Mary in her lap.  I too, would understandably be pissed.  The woman proceeded to swat her kids on the thigh.

Then, a flight attendant confronted the woman and told her to stop abusing her kids.  The woman then proceeded to use profanity and throw an empty can of tomato juice on the floor.  The woman was arrested and spent three months in prison before pleading guilty to her felony.  As a result of this incident, she has lost custody of her children.

So let's recap:  Spanking your kid for acting like a fool in public, using profanity, and throwing an empty can on the floor = TERRORISM.

Not exactly Jihadists with box cutters is it?

If this act constitutes terrorism, 99% of all mothers in the country should be behind bars.  Is there a single parent reading this that has never swatted their kid or used profanity?

Now, I'm not defending this woman's decision to cause a scene in public.  At worst she acted in poor taste, but at no point did she attempt to threaten the public safety of a single individual aboard that aircraft, much less commit an act of terrorism by any stretch of the imagination.  Regardless, she is still suffering the consequences of bullshit legislation that was recklessly and frantically pushed through congress via fear mongering and faux patriotism (come on, it's called the Patriot Act, how can you vote against that?!).

There are over 200 more cases on airlines, like this one, in which citizens have been charged under crimes stemming from the Patriot Act in which no ones safety was threatened.  The tragic irony is that laws like these were passed in an era when words like "freedom" and "liberty" were used excessively to push an agenda that included everything but the very meanings of those words.

Read the story here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-airline-felonies20-2009jan20,0,5468299.story?page=1