A sad laundry list of rights erosion

robert kuttner in the boston globe enumerates the subtle and not-so-subtle creeping denial of basic rights and liberties...

Countless recent news stories have one thing in common -- denial of rights.

A British-born pilot for Cape Air is denied the right to take a course to qualify him to fly larger planes as a security risk. No evidence is offered.

The Bush administration reasserts its right to torture and hold indefinitely prisoners at Guantanamo, on the premise that it is part of Cuba (tell that to Castro!) where presumably totalitarian rules rather than American rules apply -- even though the United States runs the place.

A distinguished and moderate Muslim British educational leader is denied entry at the US border, en route to a conference discussing religious reconciliation and healing. No reason is given. [See my earlier post here.]

Immigrants attending required classes on worker safety find that the safety agency is doing the bidding of the immigration police. They can be detained indefinitely if the country of their birth won't admit them, even if they came here as infants.

The administration reasserts that citizens as well as immigrants can be detained indefinitely as security risks.

Congress is on the verge of reauthorizing the misnamed USA Patriot Act with only very modest refinements of its worst features.

Governors complain that Congress rushed through a national ID law with little concern for cost or privacy.

[...]

In America, certain practices are not permitted -- in any context. We have the right to confront accusers and know the charges. We cannot be arbitrarily detained indefinitely. Trials must be speedy and public. We may speak freely without political retribution.

Now there is a perfect authoritarian storm -- a genuine terrorist threat coupled with an administration that disdains the Constitution and will soon control all three branches of government. As a pretext for arbitrary rule, we have the premise of permanent warfare predicted by Orwell combined with the unchallengeable denial of rights described by Kafka.

my take...? it's all so very convenient, fitting perfectly with the plan to extend control and maintain power through fear... just watch as more "convenient" opportunities present themselves...

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