Lew, driving past La Shish tonight with its lights out, empty parking lot, and the federal government's green signs on the front window, was both maddening and sad. La Shish started out as one restaurant, and became many, all over the Detroit Metro area. When they opened one 1/2 mile from my house, it quickly became one of my favorite restaurants, and has been ever since. It's the best Middle East food on the planet, with a huge and unique menu of healthy, clean food items, along with unique, fresh-made fruit or vegetable smoothies. It was a great business and the restaurants were cherished by Detroiters.

But I knew this was bound to happen, as the feds have become extremely agitated that the restaurant's owner would not return to the US to face their tax evasion and terrorist charges. Note how the media stories have reported that Talal Chihine "skimmed from the business." Of course "skim," as it is used in this case, denotes the illegal theft of property. But how can a business owner, who takes cash from his own profits, be a thief? It's just another case of word exploitation on the part of government propagandists who want to label any and all dissenters as criminals who ought to be severely punished. Chihine took his own money and he "skims," while the government takes mine and yours and they call that the law.

And of course, the government can steal your money and contribute it to its murderous foreign policy, torture chambers, the militarized police state, and its assorted killing fields. Or one can donate to the mass-murdering Republican Party and it is considered to be a political contribution. But alas - no one, especially those people of the wrong persuasion (Arab-Americans), can contribute to their own political causes without being deemed to have "supported terrorism."

Truly, I am sad that I lost my favorite go-to spot, and I am sickened about the way it happened.