Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
--Amendment I, Bill of Rights
I should be a pile of ashes from all the things that have been burning me up lately.
Things like independent journalists being brutally treated by police outside the Republican National Convention (and, I'm sure, the Democratic National Convention last week). Are they criminals? I don't think so! :-( Just listen to Democracy Now! and get a glimpse of the real world outside the political conventions.
The comments from the veteran groups (Iraq & Afghanistan, Vietnam) have been the most stirring...and shocking, in their sharing of their experiences.
I can't believe that last week, and likely, this week, protesters were confined to a caged area, like animals. Their area was designated as the "free speech area"! It all sounds like something that would be happening in a country like Myanmar/Burma, or some other developing country where human rights are ignored and scoffed at.
Police roughed up, detained, and arrested Democracy Now! staff and other journalists in the past few days, invading the places they were staying at (presumably without a warrant), and taking some of their equipment and/or taking the batteries out of their equipment. :-(( The NSA (National Security Adminstration) personnel stripped the journalists of their media passes into the RNC building. Literally ripped them off their necks. Is someone or some governing or corporate entity trying to hide something so as to prevent news from reaching people outside the convention? Interesting how the journalists and protesters are open and willing to speak the truth, and the opposing forces are brutal and secretive by not telling why their press passes are being taken or even if they will be returned or not.
All this excessive police force is very chilling, and counter-productive to what I thought they were supposed to do: maintain law and order. That sort of behavior will sow mistrust between law enforcement and the citizens on a regular everyday basis. Why go after journalists whose job is to report what is going on, and hopefully, bring the truth to the citizens?
I hope the protests will become increasingly LOUDER as the week goes on, and all the way to election day in November!
Normally, I don't care a fig for politics, though one might think I ought to since political science was my minor, and communication (with emphasis in print journalism) was my major in college. But this year, it's hard to avoid! And with my increasing interest in women's issues and everything related to it, I feel it is my responsibility to pay attention to what elected representatives are going to say because it is my future and everyone else's they're talking about!
I absolutely do not want an anti-women, war-mongering president in our White House. Not at all.
Last night, I read a New York Times article on the G.O.P.'s stance on abortion: they do not even allow exceptions for rape, incest, or the mother's health! So it won't bother them to have thousands of women die from back-alley abortions as in the decades (centuries?) before Roe vs. Wade?
Women are human beings, not pieces of property whose sole duty is supposedly to pump out puppies. It's THEIR choice how to live their lives. Uncle Sam should not enter a woman's womb, especially if he does not intend to go after the guy who fucked her up in the first place, literally and figuratively. :-(
Why is the burden always placed on the woman? Why is it only her fault for becoming pregnant? Is she really responsible for his uncontrollable, raging hormones?!
Between hearing about women-unfriendly stances by one party and the excessive police force against innocent journalists and peaceful protesters, I feel like we really are living in an Orwellian police state. 1984 was the scariest novel I've ever read, and I've read it more than once. In recent years, some unsuspecting citizens have found that if you say or write something criticizing Uncle Sam, or even participate in a peaceful protest, you could find yourself on the government's No Fly List.
All in the name of security? What about our civil liberties? When has might ever made right? I wonder if the people in charge ever heard of Ben Franklin, who wrote:
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
My wish is to live and prosper in a free, progressive country, not a regressive, police-state-like one! If my name were ever to show up on some godforsaken list, I would be even more determined to defend my civil liberties and those of my fellow citizens. Tooth and nail.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
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