You’re The Decider
Vote Nov. 7
 
 
 
Yup, melodramatic. Out of the realm of possibility? Sadly, no.
 
The New York Times reports today that the Department of Defense is keeping tabs on war protesters, from Akron, Ohio to Santa Cruz, California. It is a bad sign when the military has civilians in its targets.
 
The whole point of a military with a civilian leader is to prevent coups. The whole division of labor between the FBI and CIA is supposed to keep us from having a secret police, one that grabs people in the middle of the night and disappears them.
 
Can’t happen here? No, not really, today. But that law that Congress passed, just before the Foley scandal happened. Well, Bush has until October 17th to sign it. If he does, American citizens can be:
  1. ★Picked up off the streets
  2. ★Held without access to lawyer
  3. ★Held without charges
  4. ★Imprisoned without trial
  5. ★Subjected to beatings and torture
 
And they’ve got a database of bad guys, already. You know, those terrorist Quakers. (Whose loudmouth forebears wrote the constitution. I’m sure the Brits thought they were terrorists, too.)
 
Can’t happen here? I leave you with a thought from Martin Niemöller:
 
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
 
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
 
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
 
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
 
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
 
Personally, I find protests to be an inefficient means of communication. If you want to change the system, change the system. Plus it leaves a mess that my tax dollars probably have to clean up. But I won’t stand for protesters being scooped up and tortured. It’s bad enough that they lose their jobs.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Torture the Quakers