I'm scared.

[labelleizzy]

An old friend of mine who I've just found again on Myspace, posted the following video interview with Naomi Campbell, author of The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.

Seriously. The radio interview here (sorry I don't know how to embed) is enough that I am heading to check out the website she cites as supporting the necessary actions to:

Restore the Rule of Law
Hold the Criminals Accountable
Restore Habeus Corpus
Forbid Warantless Wiretapping
Remove Torture from "this is what we do in America"...

what the fuck happened, and how have I been so asleep as to not realize how grave the situation has become?

I'm adding SF, BBC, and Canadian newsfeeds to my blogroll.

The website is http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org.


Over the last several years, under the pretense of the "war on terror," the White House has dismantled the Constitution, concentrating power in the President and undermining the rule of law. THIS IS UN-AMERICAN.

That's why I just visited the American Freedom Campaign and signed the American Freedom Pledge to protect our Constitution and oppose giving any President unchecked power.

Please take a moment to show your support for this effort and add your name to the American Freedom Pledge. Click the following link to add your name: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1029/signUp.jsp?key=2491


Take a minute. This is not the nation I used to pledge allegiance to when I was not in grade school.
This is not Mr. Reagan's "City on the Hill", a shining beacon of democracy.
This is not a country I am proud to be a part of.

Go read, and decide for yourself.

Please.

Comments

[ribbin.livejournal.com]

I have never been proud of this country. I always thought that pride in America was a thing for fat rednecks from the deep south who wore trucker caps with rebel flags, had more dogs than teeth and who drove around the countryside brailling up roadsigns with 12-gauges. Eventually, I learned what it means to be proud of your country, when I realized that I was proud of my state. America can get lost, I'm a Californio, damnit!

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

unless California secedes, it's old Ben Franklin's aphorism:
"If we do not hang together, we will most assuredly hang separately."

One good apple in a bunch of rottens doesn't stay good for very long.

[ribbin.livejournal.com]

I'm all for cessetion!

[dortheleus.livejournal.com]

Any thoughts of becoming Canadian?? I'm sure Canada could take an 11th province :)

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

if California, Washington, and Oregon all seceded at once, I think that would be a near-ideal solution.

and yes, more seriously, I have thought about becoming Canadian, but it's a fear-based motivation. While I can, I think I will stay here and do what I can to fight the criminality endemic in my government.

[dakini-grl.livejournal.com]

Add these elements to murmurs of "peak oil" and you have a very interesting cocktail. I strongly encourage you to join the American Civil Liberties Union. They help me understand the issues and they are perhaps one of the most powerful champions of the few liberties we still have. They are waging a major war over the loss of habeas corpus, and defend things like teaching evolution in schools:

http://www.aclu.org/

[angelbob.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Things have been getting bad for awhile. There's actually progress on several fronts, which is honestly an improvement from where things were two or three years ago.

The folks fighting back have a fair amount of outrage fatigue, but at least it looks like the Bushies are starting to tire -- and the rats are starting to flee this sinking administration, while congress finally makes them at least *explain* some of the awfulness they're perpetrating.

It's not a fix. But it's a start. As a Californian, I recommend you call Feinstein regularly. Boxer and especially my (our?) representative Pete Stark are decent about taking them to task, but Feinstein's been rolling over far too often, particularly on 'security' matters.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

thank you. good information to have.

[satyrlovesong.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you woke up.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

asleep is easier, awake is necessary.

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

what the fuck happened, and how have I been so asleep as to not realize how grave the situation has become?


questions I ask myself about most of America, every day.

suggest you add www.dailykos.com to your blogroll, and have your eyes opened to information/outrage a la Little Alex in Clockwork Orange. :-D

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

thanks for the link.

[chrisfs.livejournal.com]

I visited DailyKos and look at select stuff. I would also recommend going to Google News, it collects new stories from sites all over the world. So you can regularly read stuff from British newspapers

[chrisfs.livejournal.com]

BBC rocks,
and KALW 91.7 FM in SF carries BBC World Service newshour at 2pm, 7pm and world service broadcast all night from Midnight to 5am.
So you can listen on an actual radio if so inclined.

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

thank you for the suggestions.
since I've been completely cut off from news though I think I will need to ramp up my intake gradually.

I'll save this email thread for future reference.

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

I actually find BBC really heartbreaking - because it's fantastic journalism compared to what we get here, and yet, that's true only because our standards for 'good journalism' have dropped so far..

[ophymirage.livejournal.com]

no worries. it'll peg your outrage meter to 11, and probably cause some of the fatigue Angelbob mentions above.

But the readership (and participant-ship) is large enough that I often get news days or weeks before it breaks nationally, because someone on the scene of that news locally writes a diary and posts it to Kos. it's also searchable, so if you want everything on the Plame affair, you can get it. (though that's probably 2000 diaries, so refining becomes important.) The kosopedia also serves as a repository for collecting info about the really big issues.