In his State of the Union, which was full of misleading statements and rhetoric, President Bush made references to how important our freedom is and that it must be protected. Meanwhile he’s acting in ways that fly in the face of these comments.
First, the wiretapping is unlawful. There’s no gray area here. It’s illegal and the administration knows it and is now involved in a campaign to defuse the issue with talking points. He tried to sell us on the concept by suggesting that we might have caught the 911 hijackers if we had this approach back then. That’s crap, plain and simple. The intelligence community knew plently about key hijackers and did nothing about it. The breakdown was not due to a lack of intelligence, it was due to a lack of intelligence response. Had the administration paid any attention to the report titled “Bin Laden determined to attack Ameria”, perhaps we could have done something. If the intelligence community had translated the information they had on September 10th, they’d have exposed the plot. Instead they drug their feet and waited until the 12th. Phone calls would likely received a similar response at the time.
Most of you probably didn’t hear this, but just before the President went on about never forgetting the families who have lost loved ones in this war, his security staff arrested Cindy Sheehan at the Capitol before the speech. What was her crime? She was invited to attend the speech by California Representative Lynn Woolsey and showed up with a shirt that said, “2,245 Dead. How Many More?” For this she was handcuffed and lead off out of the building and processed as a criminal. Apparently she was asked to cover up the shirt and when she declined, she was arrested. Is this the freedom we’re supposed to be protecting? Think about this. Several times last night the Democrats didn’t applaud when Republicans did. In fact, in response to his comments that his Social Security plan was shot down, the Democrats loudly clapped and stood up. How much longer before this administration moves to have them all arrested? You think that’s ridiculous? Just how far is that from arresting a citizen for wearing a shirt you don’t like?
I’m really concerned about the direction this country is heading in. When our government is afraid of T-shirts, we’re in deep trouble people.
