Nacht und Nebel
Fog's a great literary metaphor. Adding just a little fog to a scene can convey a sense of mystery and menace to a story.
The problem is, it's no longer a story.
It has been revealed that President Bush, in the fit of panic that gripped nearly everyone in the country after 9/11, relaxed some of the rules regarding domestic spying in this country. As a result, the Department of Defense has cast a wide net to gather information on a large number of subversive and possibly treasonous organizations.
Like the Quakers. Yeah, those guys are awful, aren't they? Refusing to swear, always talking about peace and love. Damned traitors.
Let's make the fog a bit thicker now. The updated 'Patriot' Act (turning out to be the worst assault on our civil liberties since Nixon and J. Edgar Transvestite) has a provision written into it that could make even the act of holding up a protest sign a felony. Yes, you heard me right - you can go to prison for the simple act of protesting something you feel isn't right.
And again, thanks to the 'Patriot' Act and our Dear Leader's enlightened rule, if you get caught doing or saying something that the Government doesn't like, you can get branded an "enemy combatant" and spirited away to Goddess knows where. To get tortured? Maybe.
Hell, people, the President had to be browbeaten into accepting a ban on torture, and without the CIA exemption that the President of Vice wanted.
I chose the German phrase in the title of this post for a reason. The government of the German Reich in the 30s and 40s came out with the Nacht und Nebel Erlass - the Night and Fog Decree. People who were rounded up, questioned, interrogated, tortured, imprisoned or killed under this law were said to have vanished into "night and fog."
All of the parts of the Night and Fog Decree are now present in our country.
The problem is, it's no longer a story.
It has been revealed that President Bush, in the fit of panic that gripped nearly everyone in the country after 9/11, relaxed some of the rules regarding domestic spying in this country. As a result, the Department of Defense has cast a wide net to gather information on a large number of subversive and possibly treasonous organizations.
Like the Quakers. Yeah, those guys are awful, aren't they? Refusing to swear, always talking about peace and love. Damned traitors.
Let's make the fog a bit thicker now. The updated 'Patriot' Act (turning out to be the worst assault on our civil liberties since Nixon and J. Edgar Transvestite) has a provision written into it that could make even the act of holding up a protest sign a felony. Yes, you heard me right - you can go to prison for the simple act of protesting something you feel isn't right.
And again, thanks to the 'Patriot' Act and our Dear Leader's enlightened rule, if you get caught doing or saying something that the Government doesn't like, you can get branded an "enemy combatant" and spirited away to Goddess knows where. To get tortured? Maybe.
Hell, people, the President had to be browbeaten into accepting a ban on torture, and without the CIA exemption that the President of Vice wanted.
I chose the German phrase in the title of this post for a reason. The government of the German Reich in the 30s and 40s came out with the Nacht und Nebel Erlass - the Night and Fog Decree. People who were rounded up, questioned, interrogated, tortured, imprisoned or killed under this law were said to have vanished into "night and fog."
All of the parts of the Night and Fog Decree are now present in our country.
posted by Walt at 9:45 AM
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