Don't Complain When Your Mouth Is Full

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Happened on the ms Maasdam last time out, during one of our wonderful suppers and I wanted to hit the woman with a fish.

“We have no rights in our country any more,” she said. “We have absolutely no rights at all.” Then she went on and on, sounding as if she had been listening to Rush Limburger too much, maybe Glenn Beck or one of those other people who can’t understand the reality of our country even if they stepped out of their studio.

Rights? Lady, you didn’t have to have your papers examined as you went from state to state on your way to the ship. Nobody asked why you wanted to leave the country for your vacation. You could bring any book on board to read without being questioned and you could even make that statement without being arrested.

Just yesterday, there was an article in the newspaper (which is not, nor can ever be, under government control) saying how some guy gave the finger to a cop. The ACLU argued it was protected free speech under the Constitution and he won the case. In many countries, he would have been shot on the spot.

We just had a huge judicial scandal here, which extended in many directions. The judges are on their way to a long term in jail, the juveniles whose rights were trampled had all their cases dismissed and expunged. The citizens are enraged and have voted out of office anyone connected to these crimes. Yes, we have rights.