In Bush's America, Even Nuns Can Be Terrorists

These are scary times we are living in. George Bush and Dick Cheney now have one hundred days left in office but the damage done to our civil liberties is readily apparent. Authorities regular infiltrate the anti-war movement in order to do something supposedly that protects us, or so they say. It is complete bullshit of course, we know it, they know it, but nothing is really done to combat their abuse of power. In fact, it has gotten so bad that even women of the cloth can be branded as terrorists.

From The Washington Times:

BALTIMORE | For decades, Sister Carol Gilbert and Sister Ardeth Platte have practiced their Roman Catholic faith with an unwavering focus on world peace. Their antiwar activities even landed them in federal prison earlier this decade for trespassing onto a military base and pouring blood onto a nuclear missile silo.

Now they face fresh infamy as two nuns secretly branded by Maryland State Police as terrorists and placed on a national watch list.

"This term terrorist is a really serious accusation," Sister Ardeth, a nun for 54 years, told The Washington Times on Thursday in the first interview that the women have given since being informed they were among 53 people added to a terrorist watch list in conjunction with an extensive Maryland surveillance effort of antiwar activists.

"There is no way that we ever want to be identified as terrorists. We are nonviolent. We are faith-based," she said.

The women freely acknowledge their participation in antiwar activities.

Not only are they dedicated to the tenets of their faith that preach world peace, they go above and beyond as patriots of our country. They are among the many that are active citizens that put the government in check, for it is merely an instrument of the people, contrary to what those in power think it is there for. For their actions at a missile base to protest war, they were sent to prison for a few years. Now for merely speaking out against the outrageous and horrific wars that our government starts, they are branded as terrorists.

George Bush likes to think that history will be his saving grace and prove he was a great President despite all evidence to the contrary. However, it is much more likely that these women who are labeled as terrorists now will be vindicated and be called heroes long before anyone would even try to say that Bush was anything other than the worst President we've ever had.

"Endless War" Chanters Thrown Out Of McCain Rally

I'd have thought that those that agree with McCain for endless war would have not been thrown out of the audience. Unfortunately security and his campaign thought otherwise:

Arresting War Protesters Already

The time has barely passed ten in the morning and already authorities are detaining American citizens that are demonstrating against the war. What are their crimes you ask? Peacefully protesting at the gates of the I.R.S. can get you thrown in jail, despite the freedoms that were written down in the Bill of Rights. Our founding fathers were adamant about people having the right to assemble and it was one of the first additions to the Constitution. So how are Americans treated in 2008?

From The Guardian:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Police have arrested about a dozen people who crossed a barricade at the entrance of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington at the start of protests marking the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.

Anti-war protests and vigils are planned across the country.

Dozens of people gathered at the IRS, chanting ``This is a Crime Scene'' and ``You're arresting the wrong people.'' A crowd marched around the IRS before gathering at the entrance.

Protesters are blocking the main entrance of the building. But no federal workers appear to be using that entrance to go inside the IRS.

So even though the entrance wasn't being used by anyone, they decided to arrest people demonstrating as is their right as American citizens. How nice.

The Audacity Of An Obama Staffer

Usually a Presidential campaign wants to be friendly with the media, but that wasn't the case for Obama's outfit on this frigid day in Iowa. Several anti-war protesters came to the office in Des Moines to get an answer to why he will not support getting the troops out and the press wanted cover the story, but that wasn't going to happen with staffer Josh Earnest around. Instead of this being a minor story, Earnest blew it up by kicking the press out the front door while having the protesters escorted out the side into the waiting arms of the police.

From The Atlantic Free Press:

Though he knew who the protesters represented and why they had come to Obama campaign headquarters (this reporter heard an Obama staffer say, “We knew they were coming and we have a plan to deal with them”), Earnest told one Iowa newspaper, “They basically just sort of came into the front office and were talking loudly and being disruptive.”

In a remarkably short-sighted and unsuccessful bid to minimize news coverage of an event that he perceived to be unflattering to Obama, Earnest did not stop at ejecting reporters and insisting that they conduct their work on the city sidewalk, about 30 feet from the headquarters main entrance. When he decided to have the non-violent peace activists arrested and removed by Des Moines Police Department, Earnest had the officers take the activists out through a side door, away from the gaze of reporters and the cameras of photojournalists.
According to Brian Terrell, executive director of the Catholic Peace Ministry and one of the eight arrested, VCNV has noted a number of areas in which Obama’s positions are troubling.

“Not only has Obama supported sanctions against Iran, he has also stated emphatically that in dealing with Iran, all options including military ones have to be on the table,” said Terrell.

“It’s astonishing, too, that he supports an increase in military spending,” said Terrell.

I can't wait to see the back-pedaling Obama is going to have to do because of this staffer. A good assumption is that he'll be fired either today or tomorrow. The important thing however is why those protesters from the Catholic Peace Ministry were there. Obama refuses to talk about a real plan to get our troops out and shows it by not even responding to anti-war activists. Plenty of Iowans and the majority of Americans want us out of Iraq, but while Obama vaguely talks about change, he certainly does not seem committed to making it so.