"The president is threatening me"

[babylonsister]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/325688_threat31.html?source=rss

The president is threatening me

By MARIE MARCHAND
GUEST COLUMNIST

In case I get picked up and taken away under President Bush's Military Commissions Act of October 2006, I want it on record that I am not a terrorist or an enemy combatant, and that the organization I run in Bellingham is not associated with any terrorist cell.

snip//

There's no doubt that the administration preys on our civil liberties, and that the effects of unjust policies filter down to the local level. In 2003, a Quaker Meeting House in Florida was put under surveillance through the Pentagon's domestic spying program and labeled a threat. But Quakerism is a religion of pacifism; naturally, they would be against war. The Department of Defense spying on a group of draft counselors? Come on.

In 2004, the FBI approached the Whatcom County Library in Deming with a grand jury subpoena demanding librarians turn over the names and contact information of every person who checked out "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America." The library pursued legal action and the FBI eventually withdrew the subpoena. The director of the Whatcom County Library System, Jane Airoldi, received a human rights award for refusing to hand over patrons' private information. "Libraries are a haven where people should be able to seek whatever information they want to pursue without any threat of government intervention," Airoldi said.

When our government no longer equates terrorism with violence, but with the perceived threat of an unsubstantiated rumor of intent to "pose a significant risk of committing an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the government"; or when non-violent pacifism is misconstrued as a tactic that undermines national security, no one is exempt from capture, detention and possible torture.

I perceive Bush's July 17 executive order as a personal threat. When someone makes a threat, their intention is often to scare, isolate and subdue the other person into silence through fear.

I will not be silent.

Like millions of dissenters around the world, I want my name to be included among those who resisted those unjust policies and decrees. The American people must have the courage to resist. Otherwise, our friends and neighbors may begin to disappear, and we may not hear them being carted off in the middle of the night. As a patriotic American who holds steadfast to a belief in justice, I do not accept Bush's threats to my constitutional and human rights passively. If I disappear, I disappear. But I will not go willingly, and I will not go unnamed.

Marie Marchand is executive director of Whatcom Peace & Justice Center in Bellingham.

[agent46]

1. I will not be silent!

K&R

[Robbien]

2. This is one brave lady

This country is getting scary

[MatrixEscape]

34. Getting?

Where have YOU been?

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Most definitely recommended. n/t

[Subdivisions]

4. That EO also made me feel like the president of United States

had threatened me. By his definition, the very act of posting on this message board is an act that he can declare is a threat to his efforts in Iraq.

Listen up, president, you ain't gettin' NOTHING of mine. You hear me? You work for me and YOU'RE FIRED!

[glitch]

5. K & R for a real American hero. nt

[Bonobo]

6. Bush et all are the terrorists! They have terrorized the world, their people!

She is a brave woman, as are we all in writing on this board. It can be seen by the entire world and as such, it will become part of history which writes that GWB was never a legitimate president of the USA and that he and his minions STOLE the election through manipulation of various kinds. We have not had a duly elected POTUS in office since Clinton who was impeached as part of the same process involved in the coup that brought Dick Cheney to power.

[bonito]

7. Link to her site.

http://www.whatcompjc.org/

[Maestro]

8. And why would they need those names?

Some people might just be curious. In fact, all of them probably were just curious to see what this guy is about. Faux and the Crap News Network talk about him all the time. Completely unnecessary invasion of privacy. I'm glad she stood up!

[yellerpup]

9. Kick! n/t

:kick:

[trashcanistanista]

10. kick

:dem:

[tavalon]

11. Wow, I was just up there in Whatcom County

this weekend. I noticed a lot of antiwar and antibush sentiment there, in a place I perceived as being the red country of Washington State. Mayhaps I was wrong.

[woofless]

14. Honk next time you drive up Mt. Baker Hwy.

We're DAMN proud of our librarians.

Woof in Maple Falls

[rucky]

17. best. snowboarding. ever. n/t

[truedelphi]

12. No one shoul dbe silent. Otherwise the silencers have won

[MatrixEscape]

42. No one should be without action ...

Otherwise the actors have won!

If you do not act on what you think, than thinking about what your action should be is totally worthless. Why even bother?

If thinking were simply enough, than acting would not be at all necessary. Why think?

If speaking was enough, then there would be no point in telling others what you think should be done. Why not keep your mouth shut, then?

If writing was the only point of being an author, then no audience would be necessary. Why waste the pen and the ink, or the expenditure of energy applying fingers to keyboards?

If you cannot act on and do what you intend with thoughts and ideas, you may as well go write fiction novels and hope to titillate an audience of entertainment seekers and call that a revolution while you are at it. The result of not doing anything while thinking,, writing, and excommunicating about it is as good as any movie or work of fiction, in my book.

Today's mover's, shakers, and controllers already know just how prone to catharsis and fiction and comfort this population has been groomed to be, really is. That is factored in, so most of the complaints, comments, and reactions, are factored in and, if you pay attention, are factored in as ineffectual forms of catharsis that are only being related based on the legacy of great thinkers of the past who could actually motivate and move people to the point of some kind of observable and obvious result in the body politic. We don't see much of that today, do we now?

Mumble, grumble, mumble. Put your life and your life-style where your mouth is and you can move mountains.

[truedelphi]

50. Liking your Howard Zinn sig line. n./t

[djjimz]

13. Mercy me...

"Take me if you will, but I will not go quietly into that good night..."

:hide:

[G_j]

15. May '07, Bush issued NSPD 51/HSPD 20 which would suspend constitutional government and....

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=23032

Bush Executive Order: Criminalizing the Antiwar Movement
by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky

<snip>

This latest executive order criminalizes the peace movement. It must be viewed in relation to various pieces of "anti-terrorist" legislation, the gamut of presidential and national security directives, etc., which are ultimately geared towards repealing constitutional government in the case of an impending "national emergency".

The war criminals in high office are intent upon repressing all forms of dissent which question the legitimacy of the war in Iraq. The executive order combined with the existing anti terrorist legislation is eventually intended to be used against the anti-war and civil rights movements. It can be used to seize the assets of antiwar groups in America as well as block the property and activities of non-governmental humanitarian organizations providing relief in Iraq, seizing the assets of alternative media involved in a critique of the US-led war, etc.

In May 2007, Bush issued a major presidential National Security Directive (National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive NSPD 51/HSPD 20), which would suspend constitutional government and instate broad dictatorial powers under martial law in the case of a "Catastrophic Emergency" (Second 9/11 terrorist attack.

On July 11, 2007 the CIA published its National Intelligence Estimate which pointed to an imminent Al Qaeda attack on America, a second 9/11 which would according to NSPD 51 immediately be followed by the suspension of constitutional government.

NSPD 51 grants unprecedented powers to the Presidency and the Department of Homeland Security, overriding the foundations of Constitutional government. It allows the sitting president to declare a “national emergency” without Congressional approval The adoption of NSPD 51 would lead to the de facto closing down of the Legislature and the militarization of justice and law enforcement.

The executive order to confiscate the assets of antiwar/peace activists is broadly consistent with NSPD 51. It could be triggered even in the absence of a "Catastrophic emergency" as envisaged under NSPD 51. It goes one step further in "criminalizing" all forms of opposition and dissent. to the US led war and "Homeland Security" agenda.
..more..

[Liberal Lassie]

16. They won't shut me up either. I may disappear too.

At least we will be among friends if they snatch us.

[G_j]

31. nice pic

I begin to think my one Impeach! sticker is not enough!


:hi:

and yea, Pat Robertson can kiss my ass too!

[MatrixEscape]

35. Then can we agree with Lt. Cmdr. Worf, yet?

That good old Klingon phrase comes to mind these days:

"Today is a good day to die, Captain!"

It has come to that and there is no other choice. All the words, dissents, protests, political actions, and brouhaha, along with the movements, retorts, replies, and various other impotent actions seem to indicate that something more might be in order.

Well, we could leave it be and let our kids, their kids, and our nieces and nephews and their kids, and so on, get a good dose of a nightmare of a growing, looming, Orwellian, Big Brother society in progress, if we want just kick back and enjoy the game with all of the goodies that we are being fed by corporate America. We love the total distraction of products and entertainment because they are as good as opium in the way we covet them and destroy our own freedoms for their sake.

Fiddle with your remote or joystick and let Romerica burn, or get serious and take the risk of risks. Now, there is a rub for a fat, overworked, complacent society of consumers. Is it not?

[stlsaxman]

39. Actually Worf got that from the Cherokee, I believe...

I may have the nation or tribe wrong but I believe the translation is "ho ka heh"...

I learned it from the movie "Little Big Man" with Chief Dan George and Dustin Hoffman.

And yes- it IS a good day to die.

[MatrixEscape]

41. Thanks!

And yes, for every warrior, small or great, that is the POV, no matter what source you use, (and there are others).

Every good soldier can put their potential death in a simple, but meaningful way so that it does not get in the way of their service: "There is a bullet with my name on it out there! If it manages to hit me, I may die. If it does not, then I was not meant to!"

Simple, but true. You cannot live your life fully if you live it only in fear.

[MatrixEscape]

36. This should be front page news all over the land ...

but sadly the MSM is owned and payed for by the Fascist movement that is working to overthrow any semblance of power the people once thought they had. Nothing in the way of a revolution or even a revolution pertaining to our total, digital, technologically-enhanced enslavement will be televised or printed in newspapers.

But then, this is not a major issue at all when it comes to those who put trust and belief in the media that informs them, is it? No, they leave the truth to the debates on the Internet where, when push comes to shove, there are enough differences in opinions and logically obvious and useful detractors that hardly anyone will be able to filter out the growing din of white noise from a truth that would, when revealed, would sound out like a trumpet and glare as bright as the sun to the all the peoples of every land that look, seek, and want to know what is really going on.

The machine is in place, (you can call that paranoia, subversive, or conspiratorial if you like) and it is most scientific and methodical in its every action and reaction. It works so well because it not only trumps what even the best of us knows, or can find out, about what is really going on, it can react quickly to insert new information or misinformation as needed via its controlled and consistent venues of dissemination.

I can't think of any tyrant or repressive government, past or present, that would not envy and crave the sheer scope and ingenuity of today's propaganda machine. It works far better than most of today's large systems. In fact, it works so well that people can use the failings of other, more flawed bureaucratic systems as a means to deny and avoid that very fact. Yet, there is no other system on Earth that is so well funded by money, minds, science, and manpower. It is the power of social engineering and there is a very good reason, (and there has always been one) to keep it evolving and strong. After all, consider just how very much is at stake.

If you were an Elite with great wealth, just how much would you expend and do to assure that you and your family line would always maintain and gain power over an exponentially growing number of lessors? Priceless!

[BonnieJW]

47. I have emailed both of my senators

and Harry Reid. I cannot believe there hasn't been an outcry over this.

[lonestarnot]

18. Silence kills.

[kestrel91316]

19. They'll never shut me up. They've possibly been using the IRS

to try to intimidate me for a while (audited three years in a row with minimal minor bookkeeping errors found). I happen to think Bush is probably worse than Nixon in this regard.

A statistical analysis of the audit rate of liberal, vocal Dems vs the population at large could prove VERY interesting. But we'll never see the numbers. I'm sure they're "classified" for national security reasons.

[Flatulo]

20. Where are the true conservatives and libertarians on this?

EVERYONE is threatened by this. There should be 100% solidarity in opposing this EO from the whole political spectrum.

[MatrixEscape]

43. There will never be solidary on this ...

and the threats won't mean much, until we are ready to look at the lifestyle that corporate America has fashioned and sold to us, (goods creating needs rather than the other way around) as a major factor and incentive in the this dilemma.

Who lobbies and funds your representatives in government? Who creates and provides the largest part of the things you know value, (they were not at all known or valued one-hundred years ago) and would be most uncomfortable without? Think, need a FIX!, (monkey on my back) and all the other things that go with kicking an addiction or a habit. They knew we would get here, they banked on it, and now the real windfall profit is coming in a political/power way.

This is no longer really just about party politics anymore because corporations have become legally people, just like you and I. And they are now very empowered people that are on every block, in every store, in almost every mind, on every radio and TV and newspaper. They are the real enemy and they hold all of our goods and services and jobs in their hands as we speak. So far, they have already won and most of you don't even see that yet because you think of them as some sort of benevolent entities that are good and comprised of conscientious people like you and I and such. Well, if you and I are only con-men, snake oil salesmen without any flag but a dollar sign, where the bottom-line is more sacred than any human life or a child in hunger, then yes, they are just like us!

We have a lot to think about and consider in a very big way. It is going to be a way where we either consider changing our lifestyles across-the-board in order to starve and stop the Beast that is consuming us while calling us consumers, or that Beast will eventually turn us all into nothing more than items of its own consumption with no more meaning an value than a disposable diaper in a land-fill, in the end. It is our choice to follow the model where it leads and do everything we can, with ACTION, to stop it in its tracks before we are rendered unable to do anything at all, (and trust me, it may become compulsory to not do anything at all if we continue on this entertaining, media-controlled course to total enslavement!)

[Senator]

21. EVERYONE Needs To Write One Of These Letters

We are all justified in feeling threatened.

Everyone needs to say so.

What do I mean by "everyone?" -- http://january6th.org/files/everyone.wav">WAV Audio file

---

[MatrixEscape]

37. Write all you want to ....

It seems to be nothing more than a catharsis for what should be action, now.

Certainly, the pen is still mightier than the sword, but wait ... who has the biggest most powerful pen these days? The MSM not only has a pen bigger than the number of Agent Smith clones, but it has a totally illustrated, 24/7 salvo of visual illustrations to back it. And yet, we still think that our conveyed words of grievance are anything more than a factored-in outlet for our reaction to the results we observe. Our verbal and written complaints are already a part of the larger program in that they serve more as a catharsis for our growing frustration and incredulity than as a means of enacting change or growth.

While I always encourage good writers to write and wield their mighty pens as if they were almost atomic swords, that encouragement does not apply at all to those who are the readers and receivers of their mental efforts. For, without both strong reaction and action on the part of their audience, all hope is certainly lost. Their insights and words are in vain when there is no corresponding result that is dedicated to enact what has been offered in a concrete and tangible way.

So, we can all bitch and moan and write all we want to. We already see how far that gets when you wade through a swamp of menu choices when you call a company and actually want to speak to an executive to voice a complaint: there is a wall there, a veil. The peons give you the policy they think is law and you know that the executive has the power to look above and beyond it and easily justify a fair and reasonable complaint in the quickest way.

So, write your little hearts out in a way that waxes nostalgic. It won't make much difference except for the fact that you will be able to eventually write a very good confession for all your thought crimes towards the corporatocracy when they catch up with you and confront you will your obvious history of ungood reactions to what is true, fair, and right under their benevolent auspices unto the final solution. Yes, write often and write well now, in place of visceral and powerful physical actions, for that writing may just take you from a work camp and back into the more benevolent service of the Party where you can drink your Victory Gin and gushingly praise and love Big Brother above all else!

[rambler_american]

22. I stand with you.

"I want my name to be included among those who resisted those unjust policies and decrees."
My name is Donald Andrews and I defy this dirty dishonest corrupt government to come and get me. I have nothing but contempt for this administration.

[MatrixEscape]

40. Your name is just another word amongst billions of words ...

Would you include your body? Your life? Your creature comforts? Your family?

Well, we do know that our people that we have allowed to go to Afghanistan and Irag are doing that already for a cause that is not a cause for us and a purpose without our purpose. Well, maybe SUV's and modern life-styles are a cause and a valuable purpose for many here.

The pen is certainly mightier than the sword. Don't let that phrase trick you into not seeing who has the bigger pen and how huge the paper is that the writing is taking place on.

Words without any and every action possible is as good as silence, to me.

If you are worried that this is about violence or sudden revolutions, relax. No, it is much worse. Hey, the above would be easy compared to considering that this is about Fascism in the form of powerful corporations run by a wealthy caste of Elite that have the science and people to keep you in line and stem any attempts you might make to stop them.

This is about who currently provides what you have and want and tells you what you need to be happy. This is about being able to consider just what kind of break you and yours would have to make in order to be free of this growing and powerful Beast without conscience or concern for anybody real, or anything that does not concern a profit.

Yes, it is about what you don't want it to be about. Change. Questions about what you have been told life is and should be, and even will be. If you can't face that challenge and make it a major issue in your circle of influence, then I give you your much desired card of freedom from all that might endanger your way of life. Go away now! Stop reading any sites that might make you want to change things or be anything but complacent with what you are TOLD to do and think. Do that now before anything upsets your current state of comfort, consistency and complacency.

If that did not throw you off then now is the time to start thinking about just what the scope of change you are facing as a real part of a revolution is concerned. Short of revolutionary violence, (which is now factored in and is a matter of technology versus the common people. hence, the alpha-monkeys win) the real battleground and front-lines are going to be about major changes in our personal life-styles from that bottle of soda at the convenience store to turning off the sat/dish and even gardening. And yes, that is going to mean job losses as punishment as we do this, (but then, job-losses are ar part of this new regime we are under, is it not). It might even mean more solidarity in the way of helping those who get hit by the results of what we manage to do as we throw off the corporate mono-culture and pave a new way for life itself. After all, we already see that their way is not at all sustainable for our species, (or for other species) and the signs of the times tell us that there is going to be a natural foreclosure on the loan they have enticed us to join them in taking when it comes to our planet's capacity and resources.

Al Gore may want us to make minor changes that will become a new profit industry to follow his lead, but we all need to see that as a band-aid or a distraction from the kinds of sacrifices we have to make that will not only place hardships on ourselves for a long time, but on those who worked so very hard to put us all where we are, with our misplaced trust in their greedy, exploitative guidance.

[davekriss]

23. No More Silence!

Reminds me of a great song by Clan Dyken from 2004. Lyrics below, but link to the site and play the mp3, it'll get your activist juices flowing for sure!

http://www.clandyken.com/Music_Lyrics/music_lyrics.htm


No More Silence words and music by Darryl Purpose except the junior Georgie rap by Bear Dyken

I'll tell you a story and it won't take too long
About the people from the fancy land who know right from wrong
They got a serious sense of pride and they want to be strong
But they won't be around in the end to say what went wrong

(chorus)
I don't want to live in ground zero no more
I don't want to push war with my silence
I don't want to love fear or fear love no more
No more silence
No more silence

I'll tell you a story and it won't take too long
About the boy from the fancy house who knows right from wrong
He's got a serious sense of pride and he wants to belong
But he won't be around in the end to say what went wrong

(chorus)

So let me tell you a little story about junior Georgie
Ever since he stole the election he's been making history
When the planes into the buildings slammed he soon bombed Afghanistan
And his daddy and his buddies were getting fat on war money
He never once did slow he never once looked back
The whole world said NO! he said yes let's bomb Iraq
He had to cook up some fiction, sex up his diction,
keep the people scared for fear of weapons of mass destruction
He had to lie he had to spy he had to deny those who asked why
In the end he said "we're the super power we'll decide who'll die
Besides we got cash and weapons stacked up to the sky
We need to use 'em we need to lose 'em we need a war that's what they're for
Then he said he was talking directly to the big guy
He's got a hot line to the god mind and god said to the victor goes the spoils
And to the American corporations goes all the Iraqis oil
And by the way move over we'll take over if you please
Shucks, damn, we still didn't find any wmds
Flash to a picture of Rumsfield shaking hands with Saddam Hussein
They're setting 'em up and knocking them down and setting 'em right back up again
Talking tough on the terrorists when everybody knows ya
Daddy was running guns and drugs with the Ayatollah
And what ever really happened with Manuel Noriega
And Pinochet, we could go on all day about these guys that used to work for the CIA
Working to make the people of the world feel the way the people of the world feel today
And then junior Georgie bowed his head and prayed for the Jewish souls that were lost
He said that we should never ever forget about the Nazi Holocaust
He said that guys like Hitler shouldn't get no more chances
I bet he hopes nobody checks into his Granddaddy's finances
You see making profit off of war is in the family
Prescott Bush in World War 2 was in thick with the Nazis
Using polish slaves from Auschwitz to make the Third Reich's steel
To make the guns and bombs and bullets the American boys would feel
Money money was made hand over fist
Bush was doing business with the fascists
Money money was made where did it go?
It's in the family coffers and it still does flow
Like the blood that was spilt from the people who were killed
And the voices of injustice that will never be stilled
Echoing down through history 'til it's in your living room
If the rat gets away with the cheese he's coming back real soon
We can talk and talk all day it really doesn't matter
What matters is the future and what they got on the platter
Exporting more fear and repression and high tech violence
We need some answers we need some justice
We need no more secrets and we need
No more silence
No more silence
No more silence
No more silence

Repeat first verse

(chorus)

[Pastiche423]

24. This column reminds me of a thread

from maybe 3-4 years ago, where we all "signed" our posts w/our real names. Anyone else remember it?

I will not be silent

Victoria Folker

[babylonsister]

25. I remember, and will look for that. nt

[Maat]

26. I remember that one ..

it sort of saved my sanity. I felt so sad at that time - hadn't DimSon just been 'selected' again?

[petunia.here]

27. They'd have to put the whole of Bellingham

on lockdown. We Do Not like Bushco one bit up here.
We've got each other's back.
Fuck them.

[Fearless]

28. The most important thing we all must understand...

Multiplicity. It's better to be safe than sorry. Don't tell one person, tell ten, tell a hundred. Spread the word. CC everything you know about this whole thing to everyone. Get others involved. The more minds working on this sort of stuff the better. I'd like to see tens of thousands of well-informed people disappear. Likewise, tread with caution and leave a trail. It's better than an accident is seen falsely as a cover up than a cover up to go unnoticed.

-The paranoid man sees everything coming and may be right once, but the unprepared man sees nothing coming and needs only to be wrong once.-

[Richard Steele]

29. K&R

[BlooInBloo]

30. I love people from hippie-towns.

[grasswire]

32. wow, the comments are nasty

Lots of morans on that site.

[ninkasi]

33. A big K&R

although this post already has 81 recommends. It can never have enough. I applaud the author, and am grateful for her article.:kick:

[malaise]

38. This is how you deal with bullies

and criminals.
K & R

[iamahaingttta]

44. They've called themselves "History's Actors..."

... I call them "History's Scumbags."

Seriously, it's gotten so that everything I do and say has become a pacifist rebellion against everything that the CheneyBush administration stands for. I like the idea of "History's Actors" and have decided that it's appropriate for normal people like me to view ourselves in that light. I would rather not play my role in a scene that includes disappearance and all that goes with it, but if that happens, believe me, I'm going to take a few testicles with me on my way down.

Isn't it sad that Americans have come to the point where we even consider thinking in these terms? That's why these people need to be removed not just from office, but from polite society.

[Mad_Dem_X]

45. We will not be silent!

I refuse to be cowered by this evil administration. We need to speak up LOUDLY and often.

[baghdad_bush]

46. I'd like to see them try and shut me up.

[The Backlash Cometh]

48. Is the ACLU taking up their case?

[G_j]

49. kick