6.19.2006
Well Past Time For A Principled Stand
"Live Free or Die" is not just a cheesy licence plate slogan in this tiny New England state. But even New Hampshire is not immune to the national erosion of civil liberties that has permeated every part of the United States since terrorists forced their way into airline cockpits almost five years ago, taking away a nation's bravado and replacing it with fear.
The exploitation of that fear by an administration intent on inflating the powers of the presidency, at the expense of a cowed Congress and with the tacit approval of an anxious nation, may be a cautionary tale for Canadians should some of that U.S.-style fear find its way north of the border in the wake of Toronto's recent terrorism arrests.
In recent years, it has become a truism that Americans will trade away some liberties because they have been attacked. Canadians have not.
But where is that rugged U.S. individuality that had helped define this nation?
Where indeed? Hypnotized by the tv, paralyzed, deer-in-the-headlight like by the ever growing mass of corruption and lies that defines "politics as usual" as breezily revealed to us daily. Cut to commercial.
During the Persian Gulf War, General Electric owned NBC (it still does). A major nuclear weapons manufacturer--which made parts for many of the weapons in the Gulf War--owned a major television network. Is it any surprise that what we saw on television looked like a military hardware show? According to the New York Times, CBS executives "offered advertisers assurances that the war specials could be tailored to provide better lead-ins to commercials. One way would be to insert the commercials after segments that were specially produced with upbeat images or messages about the war."
I could go on, rant the truth- what of it. There is no opposition party. The corporate juggernaut rules...
We the People all "wear the blue dress" now.
(A quick note for clarity: I am no Libertarian, government has a Constitutionally mandated role in civil life; referee if you will to ensure the commonwealth [air water, the natural world, "safety net" highways schools etc.] is preserved and that regular folks are protected from rapacious moneyed interests. What I see occuring is wedding of corporate power and government- soft telegenic fascism for the new millenium.
More on this later...)
6/19/2006
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