[Elspode]

Someone told me that Paranoid said: "If one disagrees with "military operation" (which is an euphemism for war), if one disagrees with invading another country or with killing innocent civilians and is willing to stand for her beliefs, that is a great person. And it is not treason, but the highest form of loyalty to be able to say "my country is wrong" and attempt to correct while risking your life."

Ergo, the current US regime is as abusive, dictatorial and oppressive as those in Communist China and the former Soviet Union?

Forgive me if I respectfully disagree. If our regime was as oppressive as those, and as that of Badhdad, you would be having your door kicked in right now and being dragged out into the street to be run over by tanks *involuntarily*.

We have problems in this country, but nothing that requires us to sacrifice our lives in martyrdom toward the overthrow of a corrupt regime for which human rights violations are a means of civil policing.

Protest and sacrifice are noble, especially when the alternative is being put to death by your own government. That doesn't happen very often in this country, and when it does, the people who get squished are usually doing a little more than leading peaceful, productive lives and exercising their freedom of speech. We have abuses of power in the US, but not for long...our people don't stand for it for more than the average four year term.