Thought for the day:

From a letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison concerning the recently-drafted Constitution, written from France (where Jefferson was living), Dec. 20, 1787 [from Kuro5hin]:

"I do not like... the omission of a bill of rights providing clearly and without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies, restriction against monopolies, the eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury in all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land..."

Of course all those things made it in to the Bill of Rights. It just seems to me these days that a lot of people deciding policy in Washington, starting at the top, have become a la carte in what they choose to be guided by in both Constitution and Bill of Rights, while fervently invoking the word 'patriotism'.