American Tears

I wish people would stop breaking into tears when they talk to me these days.

I am traveling across the country at the moment -- Colorado to California -- speaking to groups of Americans from all walks of life about the assault on liberty and the 10 steps now underway in America to a violently closed society.

The good news is that Americans are already awake: I thought there would be resistance to or disbelief at this message of gathering darkness -- but I am finding crowds of people who don't need me to tell them to worry; they are already scared, already alert to the danger and entirely prepared to hear what the big picture might look like. To my great relief, Americans are smart and brave and they are unflinching in their readiness to hear the worst and take action. And they love their country.

But I can't stand the stories I am hearing. I can't stand to open my email these days. And wherever I go, it seems, at least once a day, someone very strong starts to cry while they are speaking.

In Boulder, two days ago, a rosy-cheeked thirtysomething mother of two small children, in soft yoga velours, started to tear up when she said to me: "I want to take action but I am so scared. I look at my kids and I am scared. How do you deal with fear? Is it safer for them if I act or stay quiet? I don't want to get on a list." In D.C., before that, a beefy, handsome civil servant, a government department head -- probably a Republican -- confides in a lowered voice that he is scared to sign the new ID requirement for all government employees, that exposes all his most personal information to the State -- but he is scared not to sign it: "If I don't, I lose my job, my house. It's like the German National ID card," he said quietly. This morning in Denver I talked for almost an hour to a brave, much-decorated high-level military man who is not only on the watch list for his criticism of the administration -- his family is now on the list. His elderly mother is on the list. His teenage son is on the list. He has flown many dangerous combat missions over the course of his military career, but his voice cracks when he talks about the possibility that he is exposing his children to harassment.

Jim Spencer, a former columnist for the Denver Post who has been critical of the Bush administration, told me today that I could use his name: he is on the watch list. An attorney contacts me to say that she told her colleagues at the Justice Department not to torture a detainee; she says she then faced a criminal investigation, a professional referral, saw her emails deleted -- and now she is on the watch list. I was told last night that a leader of Code Pink, the anti-war women's action group, was refused entry to Canada. I hear from a tech guy who works for the airlines -- again, probably a Republican -- that once you are on the list you never get off. Someone else says that his friend opened his luggage to find a letter from the TSA saying that they did not appreciate his reading material. Before I go into the security lines, I find myself editing my possessions. In New York's LaGuardia, I reluctantly found myself putting a hardcover copy of Tara McKelvey's excellent Monstering, an expose of CIA interrogation practices, in a garbage can before I get in the security line; it is based on classified information. This morning at my hotel, before going to the sirport, I threw away a very nice black T-shirt that said "We Will Not be Silenced" -- with an Arabic translation -- that someone had given me, along with a copy of poems written by detainees at Guantanamo.

In my America we are not scared to get in line at the airport. In my America, we will not be silenced.

More times than I can count, courageous and confident men who are telling me about speaking up, but who are risking what they see as the possible loss of job, home or the ability to pay for grown kids' schooling, start to choke up. Yesterday a woman in one gathering started to cry simply while talking about the degradation of her beloved country.

And always the questions: what do we do?

It is clear from this inundation of personal stories of abuse and retribution against ordinary Americans that a network of criminal behavior and intention is catching up more and more mainstream citizens in its grasp. It is clear that this is not democracy as usual -- or even the corruption of democracy as usual. It is clear that we will need more drastic action than emails to Congress.

The people I am hearing from are conservatives and independents as well as progressives. The cardinal rule of a closing or closed society is that your alignment with the regime offers no protection; in a true police state no one is safe.

I read the news in a state of something like walking shock: seven soldiers wrote op-eds critical of the war -- in The New York Times; three are dead, one shot in the head. A female soldier who was about to become a whistleblower, possibly about abuses involving taxpayers' money: shot in the head. Pat Tillman, who was contemplating coming forward in a critique of the war: shot in the head. Donald Vance, a contractor himself, who blew the whistle on irregularities involving arms sales in Iraq -- taken hostage FROM the U.S. Embassy BY U.S. soldiers and kept without recourse to a lawyer in a U.S. held-prison, abused and terrified for weeks -- and scared to talk once he got home. Another whistleblower in Iraq, as reported in Vanity Fair: held in a trailer all night by armed contractors before being ejected from the country.

Last week contractors, immune from the rule of law, butchered 17 Iraqi civilians in cold blood. Congress mildly objected -- and contractors today butcher two more innocent civilian Iraqi ladies -- in cold blood.

It is clear yet that violent retribution, torture or maybe worse, seems to go right up this chain of command? Is it clear yet that these people are capable of anything? Is it obvious yet that criminals are at the helm of the nation and need to be not only ousted but held accountable for their crimes?

Is it treason yet?

This is an open invitation to honorable patriots on the Right and in the center to join this movement to restore the rule of law and confront this horror: this is not conservatism, it is a series of crimes against the nation and against the very essence of America. Join us, we need you.

This movement must transcend partisan lines. The power of individual conscience is profound when people start to wake up.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey said No: he told colleague that they would be ashamed when the world learned about the Administration's warrantless wiretapping. A judge today ruled that the U.S. can't just ship prisoners out of Guantanamo to be tortured at will -- she said No. The Center for Constitutional Rights is about to file a civil lawsuit -- against Blackwater: they are saying No.

In Germany, according to historian Richard Evans, in 1931-1932, if enough Germans of conscience had begun to say No -- history would have had an entirely diferent outcome.

If we go any further down this road the tears will be those of conservatives as well as progressives. They will be American tears.

The time for weeping has to stop; the time for confronting must begin.

Comments

[jschultz13]

Nine-Eleven
By J.W. Schultz

Everyone knew that poor Iraq
Must carry all the blame
Especially their president
The late Saddam Hussein

For sending in the terrorists
To New York’s finest city
And bringing down the Twin Towers
They were known as W.T.C.

But history may laugh at us
And have the last to say
When proof of Nine-Eleven’s guilt
Points another way

Unexplained anomalies
So many clues are here
Crimes of the highest order
By men who deal in fear

The President and all his men
Have blood upon their brow
And what you’ll hear you’ll hear from me
You’ll hear it from me now

You’ll hear about a government
That’s surely gone astray
By men who’ve sold their souls for gold
But the Devil, soon, they’ll pay

NORAD blamed the FAA
And failed to scramble jets
To intercept the highjackers
And foil their nefarious acts

Buildings, fall straight down
And of their own volition
As if someone had pulled a switch
In a controlled demolition


Explosions, heard by everyone
But no one seemed to listen
Especially the one’s composing
The Nine-One-One Commission

Building number Seven
Never hit by planes or bombs
Falls into a perfect heap
Upon the lonely ground

The plane in Pennsylvania fell
Losing all its souls
Not a single thing was left of it
But a ten by fifteen hole

And then there is the Pentagon
Whose walls were penetrated
The fact that a plane had hit it
Could not be demonstrated

And who’s to blame for all the blood?
Who benefits the most?
Who now controls the oil fields
That poor Iraq has lost?

And who has gained the power
And control of all our lives?
And who is it that gains the most
Deceiving US with lies?

The President and all his men
Have blood upon their head
And what you’ve heard, you’ll hear again
From the unsuspecting dead

The President and all his men
Will never see God’s heaven
For they are all responsible
For that fateful Nine Eleven

[SherryBaker]

Wonderful, so-truthfu­l-it-hurts column.. thank you. I would urge you and your readers to think critically about our options to restore our republic. And I would urge you to ignore the mostly lazy and inaccurate reporting by the media about the candidacy of Ron Paul -- he is not a cartoon good ol' country boy doc nor an isolationist radical nut. He is an intelligent leader, an intellectual who has a thorough grasp of not only our constitution and what our form of government is SUPPOSED to be ( including where the executive's power stops) but also an understanding of economics and foreign policy from an historical and global viewpoint. Google him. Go to YouTube and look up his recent PBS and C-Span interviews. This is a true leader with a brain, a moral compass and the passion to lead our once great country out of this morass that, yes, brings tears to anyone who has an independent thinking mind and a heart left.
Sherry Baker
www.ronpaul2008.com click on the issues and READ what he says and stands for.

[tothnews]

I'm so sick of calls for bipartisanship. It's like every candidate in every election calling for "real change."

The right wants a culture war. In the words of their leader, "Bring it on."

[Superfelo]

Walt Whitman has become more relevant than ever

because our leaders leave a lot to be desired.

They have a right name for the political organizations that are in the runnning as political institutions: "Parties"-that is the correct name they are having a party on us.

Look who is running the country; look who the Speaker of the House is; and then look at the rest: gutless, inmoral, spineless, no character weasels. I am very offended and they are worrying about offending their supporters? No wonder we are in the mess we are in. Here is what Walt Whitman said; in light of the leaders we have and we have become like sheep:

To the States:



"To the states or anyone of them, or any city of the States. Resist much, obey little,

Once unquestioning obedience, once full enslaved, Once fully enslaved, no nation,

state, city of this eart, ever afterward

resumes its liberty."



Resist much;obey little.



Pass It On!

[bumpersticker]

A very good post. Thanks.
We underestimate the chilling affects of even the possibility that we are being watched. The apologists say that if you are not doing anything wrong, then you should not be concerned. My response to that argument is that they should invite the neighborhood over to watch them and the spouse have sex if they really believe their premise. Privacy matters, and the issue is not whether we are doing something wrong.

[Bad actor]

This is more than a post--it is a call to arms. Blind obedience to the bastards who perpetuate the assault on our country must stop. Forget the oath of allegiance, flag burning and other flak and simply open your eyes to the traitorous behavior. Protest every move of the Bushies and the gnats who swarm around the White House. Their goals are oppression and greed devoid of any concern for the citizens of the USA. They have used fear as a weapon and it is beginning to turn against them. Trials for war crimes is the answer.

[drblack]

Naomi,
This is the best Blog Post I have ever read.
It gets to the heart of the biggest threat to America and the Freedoms of its people today.

[crabcake]

I honestly don't believe that it makes a difference whether there are liberal democrats or neo con conservatives in power. Neither has the best interests of America in mind. They are all globalists. It reminds of the old Soviet Union, which dictator will I vote for?

[EvereaderinSC]

There ARE far fewer of them than of us. But then again, look what happened in Deutschland, circa 1933. The whole list thing is one insidious way to make everyone fearful. I agree with another commenter - let's ALL get on the list.

If you haven't already done so, please go to Loose Change 911.com and watch the video. If you want to know how this whole fear / paranoia / homeland security thing got started, just watch. There are SO many questions about 911 just waiting to be answered. What better way to instill fear than to hold 911 out all the time & say look at this...do this, OR ELSE.

I truly think that the reason they kept showing the plane hitting the building, over and over and over again in the weeks afterward was to get that mind virus into everyone's brains: plane hits building, plane makes building go down, NOT gee buildings implode like that due to bombs, not planes. Why was it again that the security system at the WTC was shut off for three days two weeks before 911? Why was it firemen in the tower on a tape of their call just before the building collapsed are saying they have the fire nearly out & they're about to leave? Plenty to ask about the Pentagon & Shanksville too. Why haven't any of the families of those on any of the planes collected/claimed any of the money set aside for the "victims of 911." The oddities, coincidences not to mention the fact that six years later and with the largest military budget in the WORLD we've not caught the man supposedly responsible, really starts to bring things into focus, no matter how surreal all this feels.

You can call me a "conspiracy theorist" if you want. But what does your using of that label on me make you? There are legitimate questions to be asked as well as legitimate hell to raise...GI­VE THEM HELL, NAOMI. I intend to do the same from my end of all this...

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

Some Americans already know of these intrusive violations.
Some already are preparing for the Revolution.
We have found a leader that believes us and is willing to lead us.
He agrees with the theme revolution. He is ready for the fight to save our way of life and restore us to the constitution.
Please join us.

Ron Paul r3VOLution

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

Some Americans already know of these intrusive violations.
Some already are preparing for the Revolution.
We have found a leader that believes us and is willing to lead us.
He agrees with the theme revolution. He is ready for the fight to save our way of life and restore us to the constitution.
Please join us.

Ron Paul r3VOLution

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

[marlee]

Poor babies.
I hope some of these "fearful' people aren't the ones who 'patriotically' rooted for the invasion of Iraq for the last 5 years.
Now they are waking up?
To this day I can't understand why everyone wasn't out on the street at the very beginning demanding a STOP to Bush's war on Iraq!

[knowhelpnow]

FEAR

[Nommo]

Worse. Comfort and sloth.

[chaszz]

The Democrats in Congress are the enablers. They should be impeaching. Instead they worry only not blowing about the next election. They are trading the Constitution for an election victory. They are the real traitors.

[Galvestonians for Dr. Ron Paul]

I agree with you...Any Democrat that stays with this party and votes for this party(again) are no better than Republicans and are TRAITORS.
I left the Republican party when Clinton was being Impeached.
I left the Democrat party when they handed the election to Bush the first time in 2000.

I will never vote party line again.
I will only vote progressive candidates and no longer care which party they belong to.
Parties are for followers.
Our founders had a vision of Independence for ALL.
Good men do not need leaders. (women too!)
We need tools.(law­s, constitution, regulations, checks, balances..­..all tools.)

Ron Paul refers to himself as a tool for people to use to get to our constitution.
The people better hurry and wake up and use this conduit, it wont be around for long...
We have little time.
We received our passports in 6 days.(appl­ied at G.C. court house)
this was 1 month ago.
Yet some wait 6 mo....?
Something is afoot.

[DontSpin]

Naomi... you are incredible! This is what journalists should be doing! the media is too busy covering if larry whatever gets the custody of Anna Nicole Smith that they don't have to time to cover stories on how our constitution and civil liberties are going down the drain. Bush says Al Queda wants to destroy our way of life, or he is trying to make sure he does it first.

[mbaty]

We have the power, WE do--with our thoughts and our emotions and all of the passion that fuels these dicussions; all of us, together, have the power to change this country and save it from what seems to be a rapidly closing system. The government can't keep secrets very long anymore--there's too much communication, too many leaks, and hopefully we'll see more "whistleblowers" with the courage to speak out about corruption.
Remember the tazering incident when a student was assaulted for asking a question and then taking "too long?" If we cower in fear, then the terrorists have won, and as a country we need to decide just who the terrorists are.
But we also need to remember that we have immense power--united, and focused on the country we want to live in. As you said, many Americans don't need convincing, only organizing.

[knowhelpnow]

Who is going first?