kampers.net

Straight from the horse’s mouth:

We’re taking urgent measures against clear vulnerabilities, and now we must also prepare our government and our people for the long-term vigilance that the new threats will require. I say “long-term” because this is a determined enemy we face. This isn’t just a one-battle war; this is a war that will occupy not only our time, but will occupy the time of future Presidents and future members of the United States Congress and future agency heads. The number one priority of this government and the future governments will be to protect the American people against terrorist attack… Protecting American citizens from harm is the first priority, and it must be the ruling priority of all of our government.

Protecting American citizens is the “ruling priority” of our government? Bush wants to make “unprecendented changes in the way the government is run,” and he wants to make those changes permanent. He says that America’s “state of war” mandates these changes. State of war? I don’t remember hearing about the declaration of war. You know, the one required by the Constitution of the United States of America. The one he swore to uphold and defend?

On the whole, I think the executive branch becomes more powerful every day — an undeclared war against an undefined people is being used in a power grab. And the majority doesn’t care, due mostly to ignorance or complacency.

Killing civilians and taking hostages — in a country most Americans can’t place — is no way to fix the social, economic, and religious problems that cause the schism between the eastern and western worlds. You can’t stamp out an idea (islamic fundamentalism in this case), but that’s exactly what Bush would love to do.

If someone accused me of being an ally of the Taliban tomorrow, the federal government could hold me indefinitely as a prisoner of war. With no trial. With no warrant. With no proof.

I’m scared, but it’s not our enemy in the middle east. It’s our own government that scares me. #