] During this crisis patriotism as practiced in the United
] States reached alarming levels of intolerance and
] violence. The right of the other to dissent was
] unceremoniously thrown aside. If we take what happened to
] the Dixie Chicks as an example, one is hard-pressed to
] justify or even comprehend the incident. One of the
] ladies said she was ashamed of Bush being from her home
] state of Texas. She said it while performing on a stage
] in London. Had the Chicks been living under Saddam, we
] know a priori what would have happened. But knowing they
] lived in the United States one thought that the debate
] would have maintained a semblance of civility.
]
] Instead, they were attacked, taken off radio stations,
] and callers to the same stations spewed so much venom
] that it inevitably culminated in on-the-air death
] threats. Obviously, democracy is skin deep. I thought it
] was just foreigners like me who received death threats
] and viruses through their emails. I was wrong. This
] raises another issue: Could the Homeland security people
] tell the world why such people were not apprehended?
] Those who threaten to kill someone for reasons of
] ideology or a point of view are terrorists. No argument
] there. In this time of high security alert, it is amazing
] that such people get away with it. In all honesty, it is
] not very different from any petty dictatorship where the
] party clique and those close to power can do what they
] like when the rest are robbed of their basic rights.

] During this crisis patriotism as practiced in the United
] States reached alarming levels of intolerance and
] violence. The right of the other to dissent was
] unceremoniously thrown aside. If we take what happened to
] the Dixie Chicks as an example, one is hard-pressed to
] justify or even comprehend the incident. One of the
] ladies said she was ashamed of Bush being from her home
] state of Texas. She said it while performing on a stage
] in London. Had the Chicks been living under Saddam, we
] know a priori what would have happened. But knowing they
] lived in the United States one thought that the debate
] would have maintained a semblance of civility.
]
] Instead, they were attacked, taken off radio stations,
] and callers to the same stations spewed so much venom
] that it inevitably culminated in on-the-air death
] threats. Obviously, democracy is skin deep. I thought it
] was just foreigners like me who received death threats
] and viruses through their emails. I was wrong. This
] raises another issue: Could the Homeland security people
] tell the world why such people were not apprehended?
] Those who threaten to kill someone for reasons of
] ideology or a point of view are terrorists. No argument
] there. In this time of high security alert, it is amazing
] that such people get away with it. In all honesty, it is
] not very different from any petty dictatorship where the
] party clique and those close to power can do what they
] like when the rest are robbed of their basic rights.

I was displaying the American flag magnet on my car upside down for a while. The flag when displayed as such is a well-known distress signal. And thats how I feel the state of the country and our freedoms are - in distress. I finally gave up - everytime I parked in a large parking lot, I would return to discover it had been "righted" again.

Moral of the story - speak your mind; exercise your freedom of speech. PROVIDED your in line with the right wing idology.

Laughing Boy