Tuesday, August 29, 2006

[1809 - Oliver Wendell Holmes, poet, physician, author, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts]

[1915 - Ingrid Bergman, Academy Award & Emmy-winning actress, born in Stockholm, Sweden]

[1949 - USSR detonates its first atomic bomb]

[2005 - Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans]

Next Step?

Our elected representatives have extended the USA Patriot Act, that was passed with little debate and scrutiny in the atmosphere of fear and hysteria that gripped the nation and its Congress in the wake of the 9-11 attacks. Sadly, the Act was renewed with a few fixes, but with many of its oppressive features intact. Perhaps it was too much to hope for that these out of touch professional money raisers would reflect on the essential nature of our democracy, and appreciate that some vulnerability to terrorism is a cost of doing business in an open society. Prithee such misguided pursuit of safety at all costs does not succeed in making this country so secure that no free man can stand to live here any longer. As a wise man once observed:

The next step [in a Fascist movement] is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other.

Bertrand Russell

As to the name of the Act itself, another wise man once observed:

Patriot:
The person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.

Mark Twain

William's Whimsical Words:

Maybe we can borrow enough money from our children and grandchildren to increase the number of police, federal agents, border guards, soldiers, and CIA operatives so that every person in the US is under continuous surveillance. Quis custodes ipsos custodiet?

to Summer 2006

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