Dear Mr. President,
Remember the Patriot Act? That odious, anti-democracy, anti-American law passed during the hysterical days right after 9/11? I thought that sucker’d been more or less abandoned, or at least watered down, but nope, here it is, still rearing its ugly head. Turns out your guys at Justice are still using it to secretly subpoena logs and messages from phone companies and internet providers in order to spy on people. Seems like anything the government wants to do, they just slap “terrorist” or “terrorism” on it, and everybody rolls over and goes along with it. Finally someone objects and files a complaint exposing all this secret spy stuff and it comes out they can’t even say they’ve been subpoenaed without risking five years in prison. Longer than those real criminals, Bush and Company who spent not a single night in jail for their war crimes. And WikiLeaks, your great anti-secrecy nemesis, trying your darndest to shut them up too. But even if you do, others will take their place. Do you sometimes feel like the little Dutch boy trying to plug the dyke with his fingers? All these exposes of secret government shenanigans and military coverups. All this secrecy stuff is anti-democratic and makes people distrust government. And rightfully so. Shades of the KGB! Shades of the Inquisition! In the immortal words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us!” My goodness, Mr. President, where does all this end? When will somebody start asking why we’re so despised and feared around the world? When do we stop being the bullies of the world supporting corrupt totalitarian regimes? When do we stop spending 10 billion a month to kill and maim and destroy? When do we show a little compassion for our fellow man? Or is that too old school, too retro, too outdated? Hello? Mr. President, are you there? Does anyone think about this? Does anyone care? Or is it all just a charade to keep power and control and authority? Tis a sad sad day for America, Mr. President. For all of us, Americans and Iraqis and Afghans and everybody else. It’s really hard to hold onto any sliver of Hope nowadays. That’s all for today, Mr. President. It’s just too depressing to think about any more. Shame on you. Shame on all of you.
Free Pfc. Bradley Manning!
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