When I began this blog in 2001, I was appalled by President Bush's headlong rush to an illegal war (we were not in fact under attack). As time wore on and Bush began his assault on the Constitution and any people bold enough to criticize, I believed that "the republic is endangered more by actions of our own government than by those of any terrorist." With the election of a high-minded, compassionate, intelligent man like Barack Obama, my fears have ceased.
"Honor them with peace, not war"
United for Peace
Thursday, November 15, 2001
_ _ _ _ ___
1.
Seizing Dictatorial Power
November 15, 2001
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
WASHINGTON -- Misadvised by a frustrated and panic-stricken
attorney general, a president of the United States has just
assumed what amounts to dictatorial power to jail or
execute aliens. Intimidated by terrorists and inflamed by a
passion for rough justice, we are letting George W. Bush
get away with the replacement of the American rule of law
with military kangaroo courts.
---
2.
Congress bristles at military trials
... Democrats said on condition of anonymity that lawmakers are
increasingly uncomfortable with the possible erosion of civil
liberties stemming from the government's activities, but have also
kept their powder dry out of concern over impeding that war --
or facing untoward political consequences for questioning the
government's motives during such a sensitive period. That could
be changing.
"World public opinion can go south on this [war] really fast. I'm
not sure how long it might take for American public opinion to go
the same way," one staffer following the investigation said.
3. A three-fold pamphlet
originating from the Phoenix FBI office allegedly distributed to help law enforcement officers identify domestic
terrorists, defines domestic terrorism as
-- The Phoenix FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force
... By classifying any
politically motivated criminal activity (rather than violence or rampant
property destruction, specifically) as terrorism, the government gives
itself legal justification for oppression against anyone who engages in
civil disobedience, demonstrates peacefully without a permit, or happens to
violate some unimportant law while engaging in political activity.
By ignoring violence or the intent to terrorize a population as factors,
this definition makes Gandhi, Thoreau, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks --
along with millions of other people, including such creative folks as
Greenpeace activists -- into terrorists.
4. Conservatives denounce dissent on Campus
By Patrick Healy, Globe Staff
A conservative academic group founded by Lynne Cheney, the wife of
Vice President Dick Cheney, fired a new salvo in the culture wars by
blasting 40 college professors as well as the president of Wesleyan
University and others for not showing enough patriotism in the
aftermath of Sept. 11.
_ _ _ ___ __
The day's excerpts are a greatly shortened form of a newsletter by Tom Atlee who runs something he calls
The Co-Intelligence Institute ( PO Box 493, Eugene, OR 97440). Read more at
Atlee
President Eisenhower
Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
_ _ _ _ ___
Excerpts from here and there
1.
Seizing Dictatorial Power
November 15, 2001
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
WASHINGTON -- Misadvised by a frustrated and panic-stricken
attorney general, a president of the United States has just
assumed what amounts to dictatorial power to jail or
execute aliens. Intimidated by terrorists and inflamed by a
passion for rough justice, we are letting George W. Bush
get away with the replacement of the American rule of law
with military kangaroo courts.
---
2.
Congress bristles at military trials
... Democrats said on condition of anonymity that lawmakers are
increasingly uncomfortable with the possible erosion of civil
liberties stemming from the government's activities, but have also
kept their powder dry out of concern over impeding that war --
or facing untoward political consequences for questioning the
government's motives during such a sensitive period. That could
be changing.
"World public opinion can go south on this [war] really fast. I'm
not sure how long it might take for American public opinion to go
the same way," one staffer following the investigation said.
3. A three-fold pamphlet
originating from the Phoenix FBI office allegedly distributed to help law enforcement officers identify domestic
terrorists, defines domestic terrorism as
Groups or individuals operating entirely inside
the US attempting to influence the US government
or population to affect political or social change
by engaging in criminal activity.
-- The Phoenix FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force
... By classifying any
politically motivated criminal activity (rather than violence or rampant
property destruction, specifically) as terrorism, the government gives
itself legal justification for oppression against anyone who engages in
civil disobedience, demonstrates peacefully without a permit, or happens to
violate some unimportant law while engaging in political activity.
By ignoring violence or the intent to terrorize a population as factors,
this definition makes Gandhi, Thoreau, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks --
along with millions of other people, including such creative folks as
Greenpeace activists -- into terrorists.
4. Conservatives denounce dissent on Campus
By Patrick Healy, Globe Staff
A conservative academic group founded by Lynne Cheney, the wife of
Vice President Dick Cheney, fired a new salvo in the culture wars by
blasting 40 college professors as well as the president of Wesleyan
University and others for not showing enough patriotism in the
aftermath of Sept. 11.
_ _ _ ___ __
The day's excerpts are a greatly shortened form of a newsletter by Tom Atlee who runs something he calls
The Co-Intelligence Institute ( PO Box 493, Eugene, OR 97440). Read more at
Atlee
President Eisenhower
The people want peace; indeed, I believe they want peace so badly that the
governments will just have to step aside and let them have it.
Palema
4:45 PM
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Copyright © 2001-03 Pam Shorey
(except the specific sources credited in quotes)
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