I've been silent for nearly a week due to some maddening brower issues -- all my fault, actually, and too boring to talk about. What was ironic: I had this whole concept about the First Amendment, and accomplishing a thorough gloss on the Bush Administration's assault on all three prongs. If the stupidity weren't so obvious, I'd suspect foul play in these erasures.
What's also obvious: some people take free speech seriously. Thanks to Roxanne for the fabulous photo of people in Uruguay, who brought to my mind the amazing example of the Ukrainian people. Both face governments (in Ukraine's case including Russia, who just incineraed a school) far more repressive than ours has been.
Until now. I was on 16th Street, the week of the Convention, and watched as passersby and peaceful activists were wrapped in yellow netting and herded into buses. I know people who got sick in that toxic pit, the Guantanamo on the Hudson, without access to lawyers or doctors or even the ability to notify their loved ones. Kafka with a smile. All this just metonymy for the erosion of our democracy.
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