The Onion was ahead of its time – from back when conservatives still thought that Bushcroft was one of them.

The Fourth Amendment, which long protected citizens’ homes against unreasonable search and seizure, was among the eliminated amendments. Also stricken was the Ninth Amendment, which stated that the enumeration of certain Constitutional rights does not result in the abrogation of rights not mentioned.

Speaking of ‘conservatives’ and ‘back then’…I remember when conservative commentators used to say that liberals were shrill and hysterical in the way they went on about Bush and Ashcroft and Cheney and Delay and Gonzales and Addington and Rumsfeld and Perle and Wolfowitz and the rest. If liberals back then were anywhere near as shrill and hysterical as Andrew Sullivan has been over the last few months – they were very shrill indeed. Presumably, they were shrill for the wrong reasons.

In most respects, it is encouraging to hear conservatives finally finding their voice but it’s depressing too. It’s depressing because so many liberals have lost theirs. So many liberals I know don’t even read the news any more because its painful to keep hearing and saying the same thing year after year. They think it doesn’t make a difference to keep going on about the loss of freedom or the tragedies that are caused in our name.

But it does make a difference and that’s why I salute people like Brian Marick who, at considerable professional risk, take a public position on such an important matter as the end of 700 year old tradition of justice. To quote the Onion’s fabricated Aschcroft statement:

“We’re not taking away personal rights; we’re increasing personal security,” Ashcroft said. “By allowing for greater government control over the particulars of individual liberties, the Bill of Rights will now offer expanded personal freedoms whenever they are deemed appropriate and unobtrusive to the activities necessary to effective operation of the federal government.”