I do not support the so-called Patriot Act. Since it is now enacted, I do support strict adherance to its 'sunset' provision limiting the life of this draconian act.
I am embarrased to be a human today, on a planet where the dominant free society enacts a law that virtually criminalizes immigrant status. This exceeds the shame caused by Bush-the-former when he blocked HIV positive people from entering the US.
What is going on? Callers to Talk of the Nation on NPR are actually advocating torture for suspected terrorists. What's even scarier is that such torture is the scheduled topic for today's show.
I lit candles, watched the clock, shutdown everything electrical and precious (read: computer and monitor), snuggled into bed and began to read by flashlight. At 1:30 AM the electrical shut-down in my neighborhood, scheduled for midnight, had still not ocurred. When I woke, the microwave clock and the caller-id box indicated that there had been no shut-down.
The candles were nice. Going to bed early was nice, as was getting up early. Maybe the lights will go out tonight.
A sobering excerpt from a speech you should read.
... Would you like to know the memorial they would offer the almost six thousand people who died in the attacks? Or the legacy they would provide the ten thousand children who lost a parent in the horror? How do they propose to fight the long and costly war on terrorism America must now undertake?
Why, restore the three-martini lunch; that will surely strike fear in the heart of Osama bin Laden. You think I'm kidding, but bringing back the deductible lunch is one of the proposals on the table in Washington right now. There are members of Congress who believe you should sacrifice in this time of crisis by paying for lobbyists' long lunches. And cut capital gains for the wealthy, naturally, that's America's patriotic duty, too. And while we're at it, don't forget to eliminate the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax, enacted fifteen years ago to prevent corporations from taking so many credits and deductions that they owed little if any taxes. But don't just repeal their minimum tax; give those corporations a refund for all the minimum tax they have ever been assessed.
You look incredulous. But that's taking place in Washington even as we meet here in Brainerd this morning. What else can America do to strike at the terrorists? Why, slip in a special tax break for poor General Electric, and slip inside the Environmental Protection Agency while everyone's distracted and torpedo the recent order to clean the Hudson river of PCBs. Don't worry about NBC, CNBC, or MSNBC reporting it; they're all in the GE family. ...
There's more. Go read it. The truth hurts; in fact it hurts so much that it might -- just maybe, if we are strong and see with open hearts, and if we are brave and feel the full depth and breadth of our national agony -- it just might transform us for the better. There is no question it will transform us -- the only question is whether that transformation will be for the better or for the worse.