Thinking for Yourself is Now a Crime

[Kennedy]

Here's some food for thought....Important stuff in red.

Thinking for Yourself is Now a Crime


by Paul Craig Roberts

Global Research, January 7, 2008



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What was the greatest failure of 2007? President Bush's "surge" in Iraq? The decline in the value of the US dollar? Subprime mortgages? No. The greatest failure of 2007 was the newly sworn in Democratic Congress.
The American people's attempt in November 2006 to rein in a rogue government, which has committed the US to costly military adventures while running roughshod over the US Constitution, failed. Replacing Republicans with Democrats in the House and Senate has made no difference.
The assault on the US Constitution by the Democratic Party is as determined as the assault by the Republicans. On October 23, 2007, the House passed a bill sponsored by California Democratic congresswoman Jane Harman, chairwoman of a Homeland Security subcommittee, that overturns the constitutionally guaranteed rights to free expression, association, and assembly.
The bill passed the House on a vote of 404-6. In the Senate the bill is sponsored by Maine Republican Susan Collins and apparently faces no meaningful opposition.
Harman's bill is called the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act."When HR 1955 becomes law, it will create a commission tasked with identifying extremist people, groups, and ideas. The commission will hold hearings around the country, taking testimony and compiling a list of dangerous people and beliefs. The bill will, in short, create massive terrorism in the United States. But the perpetrators of terrorism will not be Muslim terrorists; they will be government agents and fellow citizens.
We are beginning to see who will be the inmates of the detention centers being built in the US by Halliburton under government contract.
Who will be on the "extremist beliefs" list? The answer is: civil libertarians, critics of Israel, 9/11 skeptics, critics of the administration's wars and foreign policies, critics of the administration's use of kidnapping, rendition, torture and violation of the Geneva Conventions, and critics of the administration's spying on Americans. Anyone in the way of a powerful interest group--such as environmentalists opposing politically connected developers--is also a candidate for the list.The "Extremist Beliefs Commission" is the mechanism for identifying Americans who pose "a threat to domestic security" and a threat of "homegrown terrorism" that "cannot be easily prevented through traditional federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts."
This bill is a boon for nasty people. That SOB who stole your girlfriend, that hussy who stole your boyfriend, the gun owner next door--just report them to Homeland Security as holders of extreme beliefs. Homeland Security needs suspects, so they are not going to check. Under the new regime, accusation is evidence. Moreover, "our" elected representatives will never admit that they voted for a bill and created an "Extremist Belief Commission" for which there is neither need nor constitutional basis.
That boss who harasses you for coming late to work--he's a good candidate to be reported; so is that minority employee that you can't fire for any normal reason. So is the husband of that good-looking woman you have been unable to seduce. Every kind of quarrel and jealousy can now be settled with a phone call to Homeland Security.
Soon Halliburton will be building more detention centers.
Americans are so far removed from the roots of their liberty that they just don't get it. Most Americans don't know what habeas corpus is or why it is important to them. But they know what they want, and Jane Harman has given them a new way to settle scores and to advance their own interests.
Even educated liberals believe that the US Constitution is a "living document" that can be changed to mean whatever it needs to mean in order to accommodate some new important cause, such as abortion and legal privileges for minorities and the handicapped. Today it is the "war on terror" that the Constitution must accommodate. Tomorrow it can be the war on whomever or whatever.
Think about it. More than six years ago the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked. The US government blamed it on al Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission Report has been subjected to criticism by a large number of qualified people--including the commission's chairman and co-chairman.
Since 9/11 there have been no terrorist attacks in the US. The FBI has tried to orchestrate a few, but the "terrorist plots" never got beyond talk organized and led by FBI agents. There are no visible extremist groups other than the neoconservatives that control the government in Washington. But somehow the House of Representatives overwhelmingly sees a need to create a commission to take testimony and search out extremist views (outside of Washington, of course).
This search for extremist views comes after President Bush and the Justice (sic) Department declared that the President can ignore habeas corpus, ignore the Geneva Conventions, seize people without evidence, hold them indefinitely without presenting charges, torture them until they confess to some made up crime, and take over the government by declaring an emergency. Of course, none of these "patriotic" views are extremist.
The search for extremist views follows also the granting of contracts to Halliburton to build detention centers in the US. No member of Congress or the executive branch ever explained the need for the detention centers or who the detainees would be. Of course, there is nothing extremist about building detention centers in the US for undisclosed inmates.
Clearly the detention centers are not meant to just stand there empty. Thanks to 2007's greatest failure--the Democratic Congress--there is to be an "Extremist Beliefs Commission" to secure inmates for Bush's detention centers.
President Bush promises us that the wars he has launched will cause the "untamed fire of freedom" to "reach the darkest corners of our world." Meanwhile in America the fire of freedom has not only been tamed but also is being extinguished.
The light of liberty has gone out in the United States.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com




Global Research Articles by Paul Craig Roberts

Original Article http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.p...xt=va&aid=7734

[CBRBob]

It's ok, most people in this country don't think for themselves anyway......

[Kennedy]

Originally Posted by CBRBob

It's ok, most people in this country don't think for themselves anyway......

[John712]

Most people in this country don't think to begin with neither

[Kennedy]

Originally Posted by John217

Most people in this country don't think to begin with neither

Well imagine talking to your co-worker saying how much Bush is fucking up and that he should be impeached and then being swooped away by guys dressed in all black

[Kennedy]

With that said I highly doubt this bill will pass no way.

[Smokes35]

You know what pisses me off??? Everyone hates on halliburton...


You show me ONE other company that can do what Halliburton can, as fast as they can, as cheaply as they can, and then i'll MAYBE start to think theres some creedence to this theories that everyones in their pocket...


The reason they get all the contracts is becuase they can do it and do it fast.


another thing that pisses me off is the fucking Geneova (sp) Convention...

we arent at war, thus it damn thing dosent apply... not to mention who we're fighting dosent exactly play by these rules either... they intentionally target civilians, dont wear military uniforms, etc etc etc... that damn convention dosent apply, people, read the damn thing.

[jcblitz]

Originally Posted by Smokes35

You know what pisses me off??? Everyone hates on halliburton...


You show me ONE other company that can do what Halliburton can, as fast as they can, as cheaply as they can, and then i'll MAYBE start to think theres some creedence to this theories that everyones in their pocket...


The reason they get all the contracts is becuase they can do it and do it fast.


another thing that pisses me off is the fucking Geneova (sp) Convention...

we arent at war, thus it damn thing dosent apply... not to mention who we're fighting dosent exactly play by these rules either... they intentionally target civilians, dont wear military uniforms, etc etc etc... that damn convention dosent apply, people, read the damn thing.

www.halliburtonwatch.org

[IrocRob]

Originally Posted by Kennedy

...Well imagine talking to your co-worker...and then being swooped away by guys dressed in all black...

Or posting on a website...

[Kennedy]

Ha Dick Cheney is run by Halliburton as usual the American Government has their hands in our pockets, even when its a private organization.

[Kennedy]

Originally Posted by Smokes35

another thing that pisses me off is the fucking Geneova (sp) Convention...

we arent at war, thus it damn thing dosent apply... not to mention who we're fighting dosent exactly play by these rules either... they intentionally target civilians, dont wear military uniforms, etc etc etc... that damn convention dosent apply, people, read the damn thing.

And you're right we aren't at war because Bush never recieved authority to go to War in the first place. America isn't at war Bush is.

[Kennedy]

Originally Posted by jcblitz

www.halliburtonwatch.org

Cost of War in Iraq: $454,311,462,049

And still climbing.

[Lucky7]

Originally Posted by Smokes35

You know what pisses me off??? Everyone hates on halliburton...


You show me ONE other company that can do what Halliburton can, as fast as they can, as cheaply as they can, and then i'll MAYBE start to think theres some creedence to this theories that everyones in their pocket... .

You know most most of my friends deployed in Iraq hate Halliburton. The only that doesn't is a former-Marine working for a contractor that pays him $200K tax free to do the same job our guys in the service do. These contracting companies end up cannibalizing our armed forces later through recruitment. I'm not saying its right or wrong b/c contractors do the shit no one else wants to do (for a huge price) I'm saying maybe they need to be more closely looked at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXjCtkymRQ
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2005Mar14.html

[carl_g]

Originally Posted by Kennedy

And you're right we aren't at war because Bush never recieved authority to go to War in the first place. America isn't at war Bush is.

Dude you should get you facts straight.

Congress voted and passed the invasion of Iraq. Did you know that in 2002 the Democrats were the majority in Congress?

[causef0rconcern]

i hate everyone