marichiko

Well, thank you for your concern in regard to my reading list. I can't recall ever posting that the US=Syria or some other totalitarian regime (of course we all know about me and my stupid memory, but that doesn't seem like an analogy I would make).

Yes, I am deeply concerned about the erosion of our freedoms under the Patriot Act and various laws that have come out of the war on drugs. The Patriot Act allows the government to arrest people who are suspected of being terrorists and hold them for indefinate lengths of time without access to a lawyer or the right of habeas corpus. These people essentially get disappeared, and that is frightening. There have been more than 1200 presumably terrorist-related arrests and 750 people deported, and no one outside the government knows their names, or how many court docket entries have been erased or never entered. Secret federal court hearings have been held with no public record of when or where or who is being tried. (I'll get you the cite on this). Here it is, Bill Moyers: http://yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_13509.shtml

I agree with the words of Pastor Niemöller 'First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.'

When we see something which is unconstitutional being done to a group of people who may indeed be guilty, but where some may be innocent; we need to speak out. Even the worst criminal still has certain basic rights in our country. We protect that criminal's rights because they are also the rights of an innocent person who may have been falsely accused. These rights under the constitution are MY rights and YOUR rights, and we should oppose ANY governmental attempt to undermine them for ANY reason. Who will speak out for you, UT, if someone makes a false accusation of terrorism against you and you get taken away?

I have traveled in totalitarian countries. I spent almost a year in Brazil in the early 70's when that country was under an extremely repressive military dictatorship. Soldiers stood on every street corner. One had to be extremely careful of what one said in public. I heard story after story of dissenters being taken from their homes in the night and never being heard from again. I had a Brazilian friend named Augusto B. who had fled Sao Paulo for the northeastern Brazilian town where I was staying because he was an activist against the dictatorship and it was no longer safe for him to reside in Sao Paulo. Everytime I got on a plane going to, from, or within Brazil I had my passport scrutinized and re-scrutinized. I was actually strip searched a couple of times by female members of Brazilian customs. I know what it is to live in a totalitarian society.

The US is not Brazil. I hope to God it never becomes like Brazil. We citizens need to speak out when we see bad things happen in our country. Thank God we still can.