Digital Ink Los Angeles

The first known use of the word freedom in a political context dates back to the 24th century BC, in a text describing the restoration of social and economic liberty in Lagash, a Sumerian city-state.

Urukagina, the king of Lagash, established the first known legal code to protect citizens from the rich and powerful. Known as a great reformer, Urukagina established laws that forbade compelling the sale of property and required the charges against the accused to be stated before any man accused of a crime could be punished. This is the first known example of any form of due process in the history of humanity.

Sumer is also known as the “Cradle of Civilization,” or Mesopotamia. The Tigris and Euphrates are the fertile, nutrient-rich rivers that flow southward into modern-day Persian Gulf, which geographically separates Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, and the Saudi Arabian Peninsula.

The Iraqi government has been awarded autonomy and sovereignty of its laws and lands by the U.S. government, effective as of July 1, 2009. The tank-mounted machine-gun in this picture would have been an alarming image until “Operation Iraqi Freedom” liberated the country from its previous government.

The notion we have to celebrate July 4th, because of our adoption of the Declaration of Independence on this date in 1776, is ironic because it takes several long years before the loose confederation of colonies becomes a real nation.

Indeed, the Unites States’ Constitution Day is observed on September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787. That’s eleven years of struggle and perseverance. Baghdad (New Sumeria) has their work cut out for them.

Happy JULY 4th Holidays! Live freely.

Was sitting at home yesterday evening, listening to the Dodgers on the radio, checking my blog comments in between stirring my pot of soup, listening to a basketball bouncing on the street outside my house, when three gun-shots popped in the night air.

Teenagers in a car, riding with a gun, looking to put an end to some other kids’ basketball game. Thankfully, the kids with the basketball seemed better shots than the losers in the car. No one was hit or injured in the production of this blog.

Been a while since violence in Los Angeles has been at the levels of the 80s and 90s, but something in the air last night made it seem all different, a little more caustic. Times are tough. People are mad. Jobs are scarce. Guns are available. Now what?

There’s a line in Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s “Mr. Saturday Night Special,” when Van Zandt sings:

Saturday night special
Got a barrel that’s blue and cold.
Ain’t no good for nothin’
But put a man six feet in a hole.

Don’t know, but I prefer kids shooting hoops instead of guns…

Can’t say as I didn’t warn you. These guys, or girls, are tough, they’re mad, and they’re trained to kill. But, what’s perception and what is reality when it comes to these terrorists? There are some that seem talented in their endeavors and focused with their energies to consummate an American prize. These are the images Americans conjure when thinking of newly created agencies like Homeland Security and TSA. And the broad spectrum of Ashcroft and Gonzalez sponsored initiatives to lasso these terrorists in our midst.

What is really scary, and any doomsdayer will tell you it’s real, is the domestically nurtured terrorists we see making their way to the forefront of any Islamic movement. These guys are like Guns-N-Roses meets an episode of “24“, with a little Borat mixed in as well.

In a recent mess-up, British-style, the leader of 10 Downing Street’s Counter-Terrorism outfit, Bob Quick, was caught with his proverbial pants down, except it was a more disconcerting display of state secrets with regards to an upcoming raid on Pakistani militants who sought to destroy the already teetering kingdom.

You can view the NPR.com article here.

The raids were strikingly academic in their focus, with many of their dozen or so suspects rounded up in dormitories and college commons around the Liverpool area. These kinds of domestically born terrorist operations have become increasingly threatening in recent years. There’s evidence of a Somalian terrorist organization developing out of the Great Lakes of the northern U.S., with ties to al Qaeda and Somalian pirates.

Makes you wonder about the perceived threat and the real threat. Can you picture a college kid, already socially disengaged because of his immigrant status, his less-than-stellar Western style, and his misogynistic tendencies?

He stays up late at night, watches bad cowboy-movies, maybe drives a taxi to make ends meet outside of his engineering scholarship? Maybe the taxi-driving student loves the “Hard Rock” music played at the local nudey bar he has been to — but only once. He begins to call himself “Travis” to his friends. The taxi terrorist gets a handgun permit to protect himself while he drives the dangerous streets at night, then he begins to like the guns…