by James Glaser
July 5, 2002

I took my own advice and read our Declaration of Independence and had these thoughts. If America still believes that all men are created equal, with certain unalienable rights, like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then why are we constantly attacking other countries? Twenty three or four since WW2. Why does America support dictators, kings, and self styled potentates the world over? Do not the people in these foreign lands have those same rights that we do? Why are we not working to help these people?

In June of this year the United States gave two hundred million dollars to the businessmen in Egypt to help them recover from the economic after effects of September 11. Really we did this. Many in Egypt live in squalor and 200 million would have helped tens of thousands, but we chose to help those in power already, because they were hurt when we got attacked?

IT WAS LIKE A ABATTOIR!! That is how one eye witness described our attack on a wedding in Afghanistan. "Blood was every where." Ahmed Jan Agha, a musician at the wedding said "first the women's section was hit by a rocket and then the men's" "Then everyone started running. The aeroplanes were shooting rockets at the people running away. They were chasing us." Donald H Rumsfled, Secretary of Defense, voiced his regrets, but said such mistakes are inevitable. "My heart is burning in anger. The Americans should be put on trial" is how one survivor felt. Just where are these peoples rights? Is it really "inevitable" that America takes them away." Are we making Terrorists?

George Bush opposes the International Criminal Court. George has some allies in this opposition. There is China, Russia, Israel, and yes sir, the whole "Axis of Evil," Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. What about the people of this world having some sort of recourse in crimes against humanity. Where are the rights that these people have? Who is America siding with now?

To stay with George Bush for a bit these head lines "Memo Cited Bush's Late SEC Filings," "Bush Corporate Record Examined," and "Bush Defends His Business Tenure" It seems that George Bush did the same things those at Enron and World Com have been caught doing, selling his shares of the company before bad news hit the streets and changing a loss to a profit to make the company (Harken Energy) look profitable when it had just lost 10 million that quarter. Where were the rights of the share holder and the public there? It is called "cooking the Books." Back then George's dad was President.

America has just given earth quake aid to Iran, but we were so worried about helping the little guy in a "Axis of Evil" country that we had the UN agency UNICEF do it for us. "Unicef has been charged with delivering $300,000 worth of aid and the crew of the plane are Ugandan. There is no American on board" Even now, when America does something right we are so worried about image that we have to screw it up and hide what we are doing. Boy oh boy does Washington ever like secrets now.

From The Salt Lake Tribune. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is starting to subpoena library patrons records to see what they read. "The FBI search is authorized by the newly minted Patriot Act" with little more than "a reason to suspect" a person is somehow affiliated with terrorism. Think back, did it say that those rights were "unalienable"?

Does that Declaration also say "governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed" Consent means we say it is OK to curb our freedoms, not that Washington says it is OK.

It is not time yet to go the next step which is, "that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principals, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness"

George Bush has not destroyed America yet, but he is making it harder to claim we are really free. When the President was doing his "Enron" thing, his dad was the President and if you don't think that kept him out of court, you are living in "Fairy Land". This administration watches out for the corporations and those that have the money and we as Americans have to watch out for ourselves

Elections are coming up this fall. I will not pretend to think I know how you should vote, but my votes I hope will tell those in power that they can't continue to go down this path that George has us on. American Freedom is a fragile thing, we can lose it and we have only kept it this long because other Americans were willing to give their lives for it.