What keeps Obama safe could protect the rest of us

Okay, this isn't really fair of me to do this, but Mary Mitchell makes it SO EASY. I've blogged on dear Mary before, because, well...she's insane. As in syphilitic insanity, as in stark-staring, raving, foaming at the mouth, bug-eating mad. But I digress.

Let's examine the backdrop - the South Side Chicago neighborhood of Barack Obama.

When I pulled up near Obama's house, though, I immediately noticed a drastic change in the neighborhood.

Concrete barricades now guard both ends of Obama's block, while metal barricades, like the ones used to hold back crowds during parades, are lined up on Hyde Park Boulevard.

Whatever you do, keep moving.

Secret Service, sheriff's deputies, Chicago Police officers and plainclothes officers are scattered throughout the area.

Sounds like Checkpoint Charlie, doesn't it? Here's where the fun begins:

Frankly, I felt like I had just entered the safest zone in America.

For the first time -- in a long time --while on the South Side, I didn't worry about leaving my car parked on the street or about walking back to it several hours later in the dark.

Obviously, law enforcement is doing what needs to be done to ensure a presidential candidate's safety.

But it does make me think.

Obama's neighbors have been forced to give up certain of their personal freedoms in order to ensure his safety.

Here's the scary part, now: she's okay with this. She is willing to give up YOUR freedom for HER safety. Isn't that nice?

There's no telling how many guns would be taken off the street in gang- and drug-plagued neighborhoods if police were to set up roadblocks and search everyone going into those areas.

For those of you who argue that what I am proposing violates basic civil rights, forget it.

Okay, enough picking on Mary, because she's not the one who scares me. I mean, we know she's a lunatic already. What's really scary for me this Halloween week is this: it's how many otherwise rational, sane people agree with her. Granted, it's not a majority by a longshot, but it does demonstrate a well-worn maxim: some people will believe anything. What's worse, some of these people are voting, some of them for the first time in their lives. You need to get up off your complacent butts and vote, people. Do it now, or you'll have people like Mary Mitchell making decisions for you.