September 11th-- NO MOMENT FOR SILENCE

It would seem that we should have a moment of silence or possibly a blogless day, but you know what, I feel exactly the opposite. As I look back on the last year and see what has been wrought from the terrible, disgusting violence of that day last year, what I must note is how angry and devastated and fearful I am about what our nation, our government, the Bush Administration, Ashcroft, and so forth has done throughout the last year. We are locking up people left and right, without basic defense capabilities or even the knowledge that they have been locked up; we are creating our own country's "missing;" we are becoming more and more divided across races and religions; we are presuming guilt before the trial and before the facts; we are curtailing hard-won rights of civil liberties because, "well, it's just this time and it's just because it's so important right now, and well, trust us cuz we know best;" we are destroying our ability to dissent; we are afraid to dissent against a "popular" Bush for fear that it will hurt our political race this fall; we are afraid to say anything against a "popular" Bush for fear that our neighbor might send the information to the Ashcroft Justice Department; and on and on and on. We have become what we have said that we were not. We, us, you, me, our neighbors and friends, our government, our society, our people, us.

It's in the news every freakin day, another story about our loss of rights or the ability of the Bush Administration to just do something because no one called them on it, or the fact that we're gonna suddenly go to war just because supposedly they tell us to trust them and they know best. Well, I say, now is NOT the time for a moment of silence, any moment of silence increases their power and strength in justifying the destruction of our democracy and we must not allow that to happen. Honor the victims, remember where you were, feel the anger and pain and devastation again, but DO NOT become complacent or quiet or allow the government or others to tell you what you know is absolutely wrong and false about who we are as a nation and as a people. Fight the power and fight who we are becoming. Because we only have ourselves to blame if we lose our freedoms we so care about.

So on September 11th, the anniversary, don't use it to just do some cliche flag-waving, but actually take the time to learn about what is happening all in the name of September 11th that you and I firmly disagree with; find out what you can do to fight against the encroachment of our civil liberties and rights; register, reregister, get involved, act up, talk it up with your friends, and VOTE VOTE VOTE this November and send a message to the federal government that this is an unacceptable direction for our country. Do it, get involved, speak up, remember, reflect, but NEVER, NEVER BE SILENT.