Rules Of The Game
This is my Speaker's Corner. This is my soap box. This is my rainbow wig and Bible verse. This is my chance to get a file opened on me if I don't have one already. This is my opportunity to be arrested without charge and convicted without evidence. This is the first motion of my last gasp. This is the least I can do while I wonder how to do more.
I'm scared about our country. Everybody always believes that they are the good guys, and it could be that I am just way too late in losing the last of my naivete. But let me lay out a scenario for you. In a certain hypothetical country, the following could happen:
* A foreign national inside the borders can be surveilled without a warrant;
* Arrested but not charged;
* Moved to an undisclosed location for interrogation;
* Treated in ways prohibited by the Geneva Convention's limits for prisoners of war;
* Convicted based on secret evidence.
If I asked you to name the country and the year, would the USA in 2006 be your first guess? No, not mine either. But read the news. This is the country in which we currently reside.
Is this my America? No it is not. I want my country back.
I want to get my thoughts straight. I want to get them out and share them with others. I want to be a purveyor of good but not safe ideas. Here are my rules.
1. I will back up my opinions and assumptions and rumormongering with facts. I will not waste your time or mine with empty rants
2. I will use freely available verifiable and respected sources wherever possible. Sources like Wikipedia.org for history, AP and Reuters news wires for current events. When quoting a government official directly, I will do my best to link to that person's exact words on either their own website or a news wire.
3. If I make an error of fact, please correct me using the same standards I apply to myself (a verifiable source of known reputation). If I make an error in judgment, I hope you'll do me the courtesy of telling me how and why we disagree. In both cases, please post your discussion to the blog. I promise to give as good as I get insofar as I am able, and to give you the same respect for your opinions I hope you will have for mine.
And so it begins.
I'm scared about our country. Everybody always believes that they are the good guys, and it could be that I am just way too late in losing the last of my naivete. But let me lay out a scenario for you. In a certain hypothetical country, the following could happen:
* A foreign national inside the borders can be surveilled without a warrant;
* Arrested but not charged;
* Moved to an undisclosed location for interrogation;
* Treated in ways prohibited by the Geneva Convention's limits for prisoners of war;
* Convicted based on secret evidence.
If I asked you to name the country and the year, would the USA in 2006 be your first guess? No, not mine either. But read the news. This is the country in which we currently reside.
Is this my America? No it is not. I want my country back.
I want to get my thoughts straight. I want to get them out and share them with others. I want to be a purveyor of good but not safe ideas. Here are my rules.
1. I will back up my opinions and assumptions and rumormongering with facts. I will not waste your time or mine with empty rants
2. I will use freely available verifiable and respected sources wherever possible. Sources like Wikipedia.org for history, AP and Reuters news wires for current events. When quoting a government official directly, I will do my best to link to that person's exact words on either their own website or a news wire.
3. If I make an error of fact, please correct me using the same standards I apply to myself (a verifiable source of known reputation). If I make an error in judgment, I hope you'll do me the courtesy of telling me how and why we disagree. In both cases, please post your discussion to the blog. I promise to give as good as I get insofar as I am able, and to give you the same respect for your opinions I hope you will have for mine.
And so it begins.