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It’s been roughly a week since the news of Osama bin Laden’s assassination and it seems that, for now, things are the same as they have been for the past ten years. The bogeyman that we’ve been desperately chasing since the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole is finally put out to pasture and there isn’t really any talk of going back to September 10, 2001, America. There’s no talk of getting rid of the TSA, no talk of closing Guantanamo, and no talk of repairing our foreign relationships.

Instead all we’re hearing about is how al-Qaeda had been targeting U.S. railway systems and how we may need to step up security even more. The TSA already has a hand in the railways, but are we to expect x-ray scanners and gropings to begin happening at our train stations as well? Haven’t we had about enough of this stupid crap in this country already? Apparently not. Apparently, we won’t be satisfied until you can’t cough or fart on public transportation without being accused of chemical and biological terrorism. Screw that noise.

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Now, the bit that I wanted to rant about last week was Obama’s disingenuous praise of the media and their dedication to exposing the truth. Hey, Obama, I’ll tell you what you can do with your praise. If you were serious about open and transparent government, you wouldn’t be pursuing WikiLeaks with the intense fervor we’ve seen from your administration and the Justice Department. Not only that, but Bradley Manning would have had his speedy trial that he’s constitutionally guaranteed to have, but you don’t really give a rat’s ass about that sort of stuff.

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This last bit is probably going to stir the pot a bit, but I don’t care; it needs to be said. The steady rise in DUI checkpoints (which are also used for illegal searches) has got me to thinking; are drunk driving laws really necessary? All of this can be summed up under negligent driving. It’s quite simple, really. We all know folks who can manage driving a vehicle perfectly fine after having a couple of beers, and yes, there are always folks who will make completely idiotic decisions. Having a law for every single bad decision someone could possibly make will not stop this.

Drunk driving is in the same category as driving while texting and in the same category as driving while tired. We have laws already in place to take care of this, so why can’t we simply use them? Getting pulled over simply because you came out of a bar’s parking lot at 1am and a cop assumes you’re blasted is unnecessary and encroaches on your individual liberty.