Truth be told, not one of us has civil rights currently. * and Cheney spent 8 years gutting

[Skidmore]

the Constitution even to the point of removing the right of habeus corpus. Any person can be shut away for life at the whim of one man provided that person is willing to ascribe a motive of terrorism to his/her actions or words. The Republican party spent decades using the construct of "state's rights" to circumvent the Constitution. What passes for a workable system now is being held together by crepe paper and nutty putty--by the will of a few good and vigilant people who have refused to cede power to those who would destroy it, and by the sheer power of the political myth that we are a free nation currently. It seems to me that we need to make some very fundamental changes to restore rights to ALL people. There is much work to be done and many hands and minds needed.

[H2O Man]

1. The assault on the Great Writ

was a two-step process. The current administration's second step was made possible by the first step, which was taken by the previous administration.

[Clio the Leo]

2. Yep, while a man who does not believe in equal rights for....

.... gays and lesbians is giving a two minute prayer, two men who have successfully taken away the rights of EVERYONE will be giving speeches lasting 10 mins or longer (Bush and Cheney.)

It's all a matter of what we allow ourselves to grow accustomed to I guess.