] "The two fundamental pillars of liberty, without which no ] other rights are secure, remain alive and fairly healthy: ] the separation of powers with the judiciary refusing, so ] far, to defer entirely to the executive branch and the ] freedom of the American people to voice dissent." This is a fairly even handed look at what has gone on with Civil Liberties in the last year. Its a little wordy, and covers a lot of ground that MemeStreams readers are likely already familiar with, but it offers a reasonable conclusion on the state of things at this time. Which is to say that a lot of bad things have been attempted, but they have not been uniformily successful, and several of the key pillars of what we call freedom are still intact despite some serious challenges. |