Coming
Soon!
From Common Courage Press
Recent
Stories
May
29, 2003
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Jason
Leopold
Despite Thin Intelligence Reports,
US Plans Overthrow of Iran Regime
Ron
Jacobs
Popular Uprising, Inc.
Michelle
Ciaccorra
Bush's Nuclear Policy: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Yves Engler
The Economics of Health Care in
America: Pay More to Die Sooner
Kimberly
Blaker
Vouchers for Jesus
Harry
Browne
Stakeknife: Britain's Army Spy at
the Top of the IRA
Stew
Albert
Cops of the World
Steve Perry
Greens 04: In or Out?
May
28, 2003
David
Vest
DubyaCo.: It's Not So Funny Any More
Dave
Lindorff
My Grandfather's Medal
John
Stanton
America's Dying: Arts and Philosophy Hold the Key
Bernard
Weiner
A PNAC Primer
Robert
Jensen
Texas Dems Set a Standard for the Rest of the Party
Ahmad Faruqui
The Oil Business of Regime Change:
the CIA and Iran
Hammond
Guthrie
Disarming Conundrums
Steve Perry
What If There's No Such Thing as Al-Qaeda?
May
27, 2003
Kurt
Nimmo
Condoleezza Rice: Huckstress for Israeli
Myths
Anthony
Gancarski
Hillary: a Dem the NeoCons Could Love?
Patrick
Cockburn
Terror, Bush and Joseph Conrad
John Chuckman
an Interpretation of Bush's Character
Kathleen
Christison
What Sharon Wants, Sharon Gets
Jeffrey
Blankfort
AIPAC Hijacks the Roadmap
Steve
Perry
Trouble in the Hinterlands
Hot Stories
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
May
31, 2003
Wake Up, America
Or Is It Already
Too Late?
by ELAINE CASSEL
I teach law and psychology, and also do a good
deal of public speaking, mostly to lawyers, educators, and social
workers. Since September 11, 2001, I have been watching closely
what the Bush dictatorship is doing at home and abroad. I continue
to be disgusted and dismayed by how little presumably well-education
Americans know about what is going on at home in Bush's "other
war," the war against you and me, and the American way of
life.
For instance, many people do not know what I mean by the Patriot
Act. They don't question the airports' resemblance to National
Guard training weekends. A mother this week told me that she
had to pour out or drink the breast milk she had pumped for her
baby's consumption on the trip (she drank it, to recycle it,
so to speak). I asked this mother if that did not outrage her.
Not particularly, she said. She figured "they" were
doing it to protect her. From what, I asked? Did it make sense
that her breast milk could be a weapon to be used to terrorize
the passengers?
I have spoken to at least a dozen people this week who had no
idea when I mentioned the FCC's plans to hand over the airwaves
to conservative conglomerate media sources. Granted, this has
not gotten huge coverage in the press--of course not--that would
be counterproductive to mainstream media's efforts to control
the access to information. But, it has been there--if you at
least thumbed through the front section of a major daily paper
(I live in the Washington, D.C. area, so poor as they are, there
are two daily newspapers). I urged them to get online and send
their emails to the FCC immediately, for time is running out.
I spoke to a friend last night about analogies between so many
aspects of the most recent activities of the Bush administration
(for instance, Rumsfeld insisting that he, and he alone, will
have control over all Department of Defense employees, in addition
to the military--that would be 700,000 people. That ought to
scare everyone to death; given that Bush has control over another
300,000 employees of the Homeland Security (make that Insecurity)
Department. One million government employees under the control
of Bush and Rumsfeld. If you are not thinking Hitler, then you
better start reading about how his rise to power consisted of
actions like taking control of government departments (including
the judiciary--which topic I will cover at another time).
Virtually everything I have been writing about is far from common
knowledge to most Americans, regardless of their education level.
But people in other parts of the world are watching. And thus,
I share with you an email (with his permission) from a
reader in Chile who responded to my Memorial Day post .
Read it and weep--and learn from the mistakes they made before
it is too late. Time is really running out.
Dear Elaine.
Having read your article "Supreme Sacrifice," I cannot
but feel vertigo at the awesome power that has become unleashed
in your country for the sake of the profits of a few and the
suffering of the many.
Being from Chile, I may tell you about the 1000 days it took
for the Chilean people to accept the loss of freedom, which has
become one morning in your country. After 30 years we are still
unable to recover and take offf from where we left, back in 1973.
Get ready for torture, denial, selfishness, bullies, assassinations,
within and without your territory and mass ignorance, brought
on with the connivance of the philistine media. I could go on
and on. My sympathy to you and yours.
Kindly,
Javier Merrill
Pity that few Americans have Javier's
knowledge or insight. The Germans slept through Hitler's rise
to power, the Chileans through Pinochet. We through Bush. I
hope that my articles, and those of my colleagues, are not someday
historical records of the descent of American from democracy
to dictatorship.
Elaine Cassel
practices law in Virginia and the District of Columbia, teaches
law and psychology, and writes Civil
Liberties Watch under the auspices of The City Pages.
She can be reached at: ecassel1@cox.net
Today's
Features
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Jason
Leopold
Despite Thin Intelligence Reports,
US Plans Overthrow of Iran Regime
Ron
Jacobs
Popular Uprising, Inc.
Michelle
Ciaccorra
Bush's Nuclear Policy: Do As I Say, Not As I Do
Yves Engler
The Economics of Health Care in
America: Pay More to Die Sooner
Kimberly
Blaker
Vouchers for Jesus
Harry
Browne
Stakeknife: Britain's Army Spy at
the Top of the IRA
Stew
Albert
Cops of the World
Steve Perry
Greens 04: In or Out?
Keep CounterPunch
Alive:
Make
a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online!
home / subscribe
/ about us / books
/ archives / search
/ links /
|