Re: LOTR and 20th Century Western European Prejudices

Robert J. Kolker wrote:

> > No you don't. You hate the Bush administration which is busy subverting
> > every political ideal ever held sacred in the USA.
>
> If I held my breath waiting for the anti-war protesters to be carried 
> off to the Gulag I would turn purple and die. Civil liberties are in no 
> peril at this time, in the U.S.. That does not mean they won't be in 
> peril in the future. We are engaged in a war, and certain adjustments 
> have to be made, but nothing serious is happening to our rights.

Not at all.  You've merely in the last three years:

given a single man the authority to arbitrarily strip anyone,
including an American citizen, of any rights they have under the
Constitution or international law, and hold, try, convict, and
possibly execute them in secret; amd granted unprecedented powers
to law enforcement and intelligence agencies to invade your
privacy to collect information without having to get permission
froma court.  Assuming they don't get word from the aforementioned
person and simply make you disappear.

Of course nothing serious is happening to the rights of most
people at the moment.  Just a few unfortunate innocent bystanders,
some unsavoury sorts, even some real criminals.  I'm sure nothing
whatsoever would happen to the rights of the ordinary American.

What was that quote from Martin Niemoeller?

--
Keith