Conversation with a Muslim South of the Border

Based on a true story.

". . .So what else is new?"

"Not much. I might be coming down there sometime soon."

"Oh really. In my neck of the woods?"

"Yeah. I'll come and survey potential targe- - er, I mean, visit."

"That's not funny!"

"I'm laughing."

"You're an idiot. Echelon's listening."

"Well, all I can say is: 'Jihad, bomb, Sheikh bin Laden, Satan, fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, death to America!'"

"Shut up!"

"Now Echelon's listening!"

"You don't know how things are down here."

"Canada's not that different."

"It's different enough. We have Echelon down here. We have warrantless wiretaps. I don't have citizenship!"

"Relax. They aren't going to come after you just for keywords."

"They've come after people for less."

"Listen, if things have already gotten that bad - to the point where you have to watch what you say over the phone - then it's too late. They're coming for us anyways. They're coming for us anyways, and the only question we have to ask is whether we want to live these last days as free men, or whether we want to live them as cowards, waiting for them to come for us. -- I don't think things have gotten that bad, though."

"That's easy for you to say from Canada."

"Maybe. Maybe not."