We Are Lessened
Molly Ivins wrote these words that were published as part of Creators Syndicate three weeks ago. Now she's gone, taken from us by breast cancer at age 62:
This country is being torn apart by an evil and unnecessary war, and it has to be stopped NOW.Go to this link and read the rest. And then send up a thank you prayer to Molly for speaking her mind during these past years when it has been so difficult to find any voice crying out in the wilderness for circumspection, foresight, and simple human decency.
This war is being prosecuted in our names, with our money, with our blood, against our will. Polls consistently show that less than 30 percent of the people want to maintain current troop levels. It is obscene and wrong for the president to go against the people in this fashion. And it's doubly wrong for him to send 20,000 more soldiers into this hellhole, as he reportedly will announce next week.
What happened to the nation that never tortured? The nation that wasn't supposed to start wars of choice? The nation that respected human rights and life? A nation that from the beginning was against tyranny? Where have we gone? How did we let these people take us there? How did we let them fool us?
It's a monstrous idea to put people in prison and keep them there. Since 1215, civil authorities have been obligated to tell people with what they are charged if they're arrested. This administration has done away with rights first enshrined in the Magna Carta nearly 800 years ago, and we've let them do it.
posted by Howard at 12:40 AM
1 Comments:
Since I first read her book "Shrub", Molly Ivins was immediately one of my favorites and she will be deeply missed. This particular passage (or words to this effect) has been going thru my mind since we first heard about the prisoner abuse scandal. Granted, when I was growing up in the early 60's we didn't have access to CNN and almost immediate media coverage of all the "news", so maybe we were just ignorant but there was a feeling that America stood for all things noble. Just as Molly asked, "Where have we gone? How did we let these people take us there?". This has gone from a national embarrassment to a national tragedy, and I hold all those that voted for Bush Jr. and the Supremes that appointed him responsible.
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