It's 3:26 a.m. as I write this and I should be asleep.
About an hour ago, the dog's barking woke my wife and me.
Lucy doesn't bark a lot and when she does bark it means something and I've learned not to ignore it. (See 'And now for something really scary' for details.)
Tonight when she barked I opened the door, grabbed a hammer and my mag light and followed her out. We went outside and Lucy headed for the same window -- now the bedroom of my wife and I -- as the July incident when someone attempted to enter my 9-year-old daughter's bedroom.
I patrolled the yard and searched through the strip of woods on that side of the property, shining my light like an aggressive cop on the street except cops don't normally just wear boxers. Not in West Virginia at least.
I didn't see anything or anyone so I don't know why she barked. For all I know she had a bad dream about the July incident. She's a fiercely loyal and protective dog.
So now I'm sitting here when I should be back to sleep because I'm worried about my daughters.
I'm not worried so much about protecting them here. I've changed the outdoor lighting and made sure windows and doors are locked and anyone who might be out there has seen a madman in his boxers eager to resolve the situation. I'd like to say this is the first time I've gotten up in the dead of night and gone around the property shining the flashlight every where, but I'd be lying. I've scared some field mice and startled an owl, but that's been about it.
So I've got this side of it covered.
But there are so many other threats facing my children. Fools for presidents who drag our nation into unjust and unnecessary wars. Corporations willing to cut consumer protections to add pennies to their profit margins. A healthcare system that is falling apart.
When they grow older, I worry whether they'll control their bodies or will the government want to make those decisions based on the misguided, misogynistic morality of religious zealots. Will they work in workplaces where safety regulations must be followed or where the corporations write the rules and can get safety inspectors fired or demoted for doing their jobs? Will the nation get attacked yet again because a president will remain on vacation in Crawford, Texas after ignoring a PDB warning of an imminent threat? Will the planet be irreversibly damaged by environmental damage so that the future is catastrophic?
Republican leaders want the public kept fearful as a way to keep voting for them. They've got me worried alright. But not about the things they want me to fear like gay people or "liberals" or brown people or people of other religions or people of no religion or people who believe in the separation of church and state or of people who might want to use those "sacred" stem cells for medical research and cures or of federal agents who would seize my friend's old service revolver that I loaded and took with me on my second sweep around the property.
No they've got me worried about the things they have done and would like to do to the nation and the world. I've listened to their barking and I know where the real threat lies.
But there's only so much I can do with my hammer and mag light and especially in my boxer shorts.
That's why I need you. Not you kossacks. I know many of you are involved like I am in trying to make the country better. Maybe you're not doing it specifically for my daughters, but you're doing it.
No, I mean you, our elected Democrats in Congress.
You see, we elected you to the House and Senate to do what I'm doing at my home and that is do anything and everything necessary to protect the people.
Too many of you are ignoring the barking from the bloggers on the left of the threat facing us. Too many of you are willing to compromise to protect the indefensible among your colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle. Too many of you aren't willing to take a God-damn stand for us when we've stood by you and worked for you to protect the U.S. Constitution, to protect the environment, to protect our service members in Iraq.
I'm fortunate to have a Congressional caucus where four out of five them are Democrats. When it comes to the Iraq war, few have been as eloquently on the right side of history as Senator Robert C. Byrd. Yet Senator Byrd also voted to confirm that rightwing supporter of despotic government Sam Alito. I so agree with many of the positions taken by Congressmen Nick Rahall and Alan Mollohan when it comes to the war and to protecting civil liberties -- except when it comes to protecting the rights of women to control their own bodies. And I am so thankful for the work done by Senator Jay Rockefeller when it comes to providing healthcare for uninsured children. Yet I get angry when he votes for bills like the Torture Act of 2006.
So I need your help to protect my children. All I ask is for you to do your jobs properly in Congress. You can even wear your pants when doing so.