Think we don't live in a police state already? Think again...

My recent experience crossing the border to and from Canada afforded me a brief firsthand experience of the heavy and blunt hand of our police state (not too bad tho - many, many others, mostly minoroties and legal immigrants have had it much, much worse - they just searched our car and checked our creds for no apparent reason). So here are a couple recent stories of people I work with (albeit, heard second hand and so probably missing some details):

1. If you live in northern NY you have probably heard about the constant roadside checkpoints the state police have set up on the northway about an hour south of the Canadian border (despite the fact that such checkpoints are illegal - I think they get around this by shutting then down briefly on occasion). Evidently, we are fast approaching a time when you will need all your identification documents just to travel within your own country. This Chinese born citizen and his wife, both legally in and working in the US were just making a trip up to Plattsburgh. However, they were stopped by the checkpoint and not allowed to pass because they did not have all their papers with them. So they were forced to go back home, get their papers and return. And this was all to travel within the same damn state!

2. An african born naturalized citizen and his wife (who is a legal alien) were travelling to Canada so he could present a research paper at a conference. At the border, they were stopped and poked and prodded and they simply would not let this guy's wife over the border, despite the fact that she had all her papers with her. Now I'm not sure what the rules are for legal aliens as far as travel, but this guy had to drive all the way back home, drop off his wife and then go back!

Police states are not only ruled by violence and suppression of dissent, but by fear and fanatical patriotism (or more accurately, nationalism). Which then leads to the subtle erosion of civil liberties and privacy and the loss of a presumption of citizen innocence. Here are some news items to illustrate these points:

• Police handcuff unruly kindergartner (11 year old girl) in the classroom! http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/04/handcuffed.girl.ap/index.html
• 11 year old girl prosecuted for defending herself against unruly boys: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4689459.stm
• Law Enforecement agencies spying on innocent civilians: http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/16.html
• Torturing of US citizens and the abuse of "national security": http://babelogue.citypages.com:8080/ecassel/2005/03/14
• CA National Guard spies on peace protesters: http://progressive.org/?q=mag_mc070905&PHPSESSID=07e26fe22544eef9b11bb741e1ea88da
• Public fenced out of public spaces: http://babelogue.citypages.com:8080/ecassel/2005/07/04
• US Military to increase domestic surveillance: http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2005/0804/dailyUpdate.html
• Secret jails and renditions: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/03/world/main713863.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=World_713863
• Beatings and other torture by US gov't personnel: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/080305I.shtml
• Support for open racial profiling is alive and breeding fast: http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10059

So to sum up: our country is getting more and more f*cked up by the day. We're losing ourselves in fear and are fast slipping into a new, mass-media-controlled form of fascism. 'nuff said? Ok - then write letters to the editors of your fav newspapers or mags, open-mindedly discuss these things in earnest with your family, friends, neighbors and colleagues; compile your own research on this stuff - do something!

b/c any little effort to speak up for all our rights is better than nothing...