Never Assume The Obvious Is True.

This Is Not Some Alarmist Orwellian Scenario; It Is Here, Now, Financed By $20 Billion Last Year And $15 Billion More This Year Of Federal Money Appropriated Out Of Sheer Fear. By Creating The Means To Monitor 300 Million Visits To The United States Yearly, This Administration And A Supine Opposition Are Building A System Capable Of Identifying, Tracking And Spying On 300 Million Americans.

Cast Aside Any Column About Two Subjects. It Means The Pundit Chickened Out On The Hard Decision About What To Write About That Day.

In Lieu Of Those Checks And Balances Central To Our Legal System, Non-citizens Face An Executive That Is Now Investigator, Prosecutor, Judge, Jury And Jailer Or Executioner. In An Orwellian Twist, Bush's Order Calls This Soviet-style Abomination 'a Full And Fair Trial.'

After Eating, An Epicure Gives A Thin Smile Of Satisfaction; A Gastronome, Burping Into His Napkin, Praises The Food In A Magazine; A Gourmet, Repressing His Burp, Criticizes The Food In The Same Magazine; A Gourmand Belches Happily And Tells Everybody Where He Ate; A Glutton Empraces The White Porcelain Alter, Or More Plainly, He Barfs.

The Ceo Era Gave Rise To The Cfo (not Certified Flying Object, As You Might Imagine, But Chief Financial Officer) And, Most Recently, The Cio, Chief Investment Officer, A Nice Boost For The Bookkeeper You Can't Afford To Give A Raise . . .