No, not the freedom train, but rather boxcars loaded up with the freedoms you and I used to enjoy.

The train is being pulled along by the present administration in an effort to force people into a dialog on a single issue, under a predetermined script, with a single predetermined outcome. If you disagree —“ loose a freedom.

Ask Flynt Leverett. The former CIA, Department of State, and National Security Council specialist has been censored. His crime, he criticized Bush Administration policies. You see, former CIA employees must clear anything they write by the CIA. He wrote an article based on previously published, publicly available information. He submitted that article for clearance and was denied, not by the CIA per-se, but by the White House. For the whole story see: Flynt Leverett Blasts White House National Security Council Censorship of Former White House Officials Critical of Bush Policies from TPM Café.

These boxcars contain much of what we hold dear: Habeas Corpus, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to seek redress, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment.

This train, fueled by the Patriot Act and similar legislation with an added boost of egomaniacal energy, is fully under the direction and control of George Bush.

The real problem, the one beyond the obvious, is that once this train chugs through its long uphill slog and passes the crest of the hill, it will careen out of control – the whole rest of the way. When curmudgeonly uncle Bob, the self styled critic of the government, disappears one night and can’t be found, then you’ll know the train is at ramming speed.