Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - I think something bad is going to happen...

archetypal fool · 05-22-2007, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by powerclown

On second thought, I'm going to erase my mock-post above, but I remain bewildered that people in America, circa 2007, live in fear of their own government. I can't fathom it. I, for example, and most people I know, go about their day as they have for years, without fear of governmental reprisal of any sort. I can go to any restaraunt I want. I can travel anywhere I want, whenever I want. If I were a good enough writer, I could pick my subject, have it published, and make money from it. I could start my own business. I can buy all the booze I could ever want. I can watch just about any movie thats ever been put to film, same with listening to music. I can speak out against my government in public, without fear of death, if I so chose to. I can get a job whenever I needed one. I have all the food, clothing and shelter I'll ever need, right down the street. I have the worlds greatest amusement parks, art museums, and sporting events ever devised by human imagination for diversion. I have free and unfettered access to public libraries, the internet, videogames, rice cookers, porn, guns, dental floss, drugs, beano, educational subsidies, car washes, jewelery, on and on and on. Compared to someone in, say, Mexico or Uzbekistan, I would feel embarrased and ridiculous to whine about the government to the extent we do here. What has America come to? Are we even the same species that discovered and created this great country 200+ years ago?

That's a rhetorical question.

I understand what you're saying, but all these little happy things you get to enjoy without fearing your government are starting to disintegrate. For example, from your quote, if you were to go to public and speak out against the government, and if you got a few more friends to come along, or if you publish work critiquing the administration, there's a good change you'll be put on the No Fly List, and so you won't be able to fly where ever you want. People are being flagged as possible terrorists and being denied flight, merely because they opposed the government.

Take the case of Walter F. Murphy, denied flight because he was in the terrorist watch list, despite being a retired Marine Colonel, and a Princeton Professor Emeritus. Why? Because of his opposition and critiques of the Bush administration. So now he's a domestic terrorist. Don't you see the problem here? Doesn't this bother you?

[^^edited for incorrect information^^]

Quote:

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Another Enemy of the People?

Mark Graber

Link

I am posting the below with the permission of Professor Walter F. Murphy, emeritus of Princeton University. For those who do not know, Professor Murphy is easily the most distinguished scholar of public law in political science. His works on both constitutional theory and judicial behavior are classics in the field. Bluntly, legal scholarship that does not engage many themes in his book, briefly noted below, Constitutional Democracy, may be legal, but cannot be said to be scholarship. As interesting, for present purposes, readers of the book will discover that Murphy is hardly a conventional political or legal liberal. While he holds some opinions, most notably on welfare, similar to opinions held on the political left, he is a sharp critic of ROE V. WADE, and supported the Alito nomination. Apparently these credentials and others noted below are no longer sufficient to prevent one from becoming an enemy of the people.

"On 1 March 07, I was scheduled to fly on American Airlines to Newark, NJ, to attend an academic conference at Princeton University, designed to focus on my latest scholarly book, Constitutional Democracy, published by Johns Hopkins University Press this past Thanksgiving."

"When I tried to use the curb-side check in at the Sunport, I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list. I was instructed to go inside and talk to a clerk. At this point, I should note that I am not only the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence (emeritus) but also a retired Marine colonel. I fought in the Korean War as a young lieutenant, was wounded, and decorated for heroism. I remained a professional soldier for more than five years and then accepted a commission as a reserve office, serving for an additional 19 years."

"I presented my credentials from the Marine Corps to a very polite clerk for American Airlines. One of the two people to whom I talked asked a question and offered a frightening comment: "Have you been in any peace marches? We ban a lot of people from flying because of that." I explained that I had not so marched but had, in September, 2006, given a lecture at Princeton, televised and put on the Web, highly critical of George Bush for his many violations of the Constitution. "That'll do it," the man said. "

"After carefully examining my credentials, the clerk asked if he could take them to TSA officials. I agreed. He returned about ten minutes later and said I could have a boarding pass, but added: "I must warn you, they=re going to ransack your luggage." On my return flight, I had no problem with obtaining a boarding pass, but my luggage was "lost." Airlines do lose a lot of luggage and this "loss" could have been a mere coincidence. In light of previous events, however, I'm a tad skeptical."

"I confess to having been furious that any American citizen would be singled out for governmental harassment because he or she criticized any elected official, Democrat or Republican. That harassment is, in and of itself, a flagrant violation not only of the First Amendment but also of our entire scheme of constitutional government. This effort to punish a critic states my lecture's argument far more eloquently and forcefully than I ever could. Further, that an administration headed by two men who had "had other priorities" than to risk their own lives when their turn to fight for their country came up, should brand as a threat to the United States a person who did not run away but stood up and fought for his country and was wounded in battle, goes beyond the outrageous. Although less lethal, it is of the same evil ilk as punishing Ambassador Joseph Wilson for criticizing Bush's false claims by "outing" his wife, Valerie Plaime, thereby putting at risk her life as well as the lives of many people with whom she had had contact as an agent of the CIA. ..."

"I have a personal stake here, but so do all Americans who take their political system seriously. Thus I hope you and your colleagues will take some positive action to bring the Administration's conduct to the attention of a far larger, and more influential, audience than I could hope to reach. "

I won't even get into the illegal detention of immigrants AND American citizens.

All these things happening around you may not concern you and your friends, because you haven't been affected by them; but others needlessly have, attacked because of their political opposition to the administration, a right given to us by the Constitution. But who cares, right? Shame on us for being critical of our wonderful administration, after all they've done for us (never mind the fact that none of these things you and your friends enjoy was provided to you by Bush & Co.). After all, they're the ones who are giving you safety; all you have to do is give up a little freedom. Just a little, they promise. It hasn't affected you and your friends, so, obviously, there isn't a problem.

Yet.