Pandora's Bush
By SEAN HANNON

3-25-2006

Dear Editor,

The president says he will not be restrained by any congressional proscriptions against torture. He reserves the right to make you disappear at anytime, without consultation of judge or due process. He says he can hold you in isolation for days, years, decades, at his whim. He says that he is above any laws that congress may enact, and will observe them only when it suits him.

This is now. No more warnings. No time outs. This is happening... now.

He says that he doesn’t have to abide by congressional oversight controls in the PATRIOT Act. He says he can wiretap your home or business without notice. He says he can invade your home, at any time, without a warrant. He says he can remove anything you own, catalogue it, and never tell you that it happened.

This should scare the hell out of anyone, be they Democrat or Republican.

He says he is fighting for your right to free speech, while arresting and detaining you if your t-shirt says the wrong thing. He says he is fighting for our national security, while allowing the sale of sensitive technologies and critical infrastructure to foreign countries like communist China and the UAE. He says he is guarding your right to privacy, while allowing the IRS to sell your most personal information to the marketplace. He believes he should be allowed to run this government in secret, and that no one should ask what’s going on.

Republicans in congress won’t rein him in because to do so would open themselves up to the glare of inspection. Democrats in congress by and large remain powerless to investigate and lack the political courage to fall on their swords if need be for the good of the nation. Those that do possess courage, such as Senator Russ Feingold with his motion for censure of the president, have been left to dangle in the wind. The RNC put out an ad that was a bald lie to the public, saying Feingold wanted to censure the president for pursuing suspected members of Al Qaeda. In fact, he is censuring the president for lying to the American people about illegal wiretaps without a court warrant, and misleading us about its legality.

Support Feingold’s action now! Call your congressperson now and tell them we refuse to let our country and Constitution be dismantled any further. It's in all our interest to bring this country back from the Twilight Zone and to retire the insane cabal which has wrestled and wormed its way to the top for far, far too long.