Devasted

[RAKASA 0]

it's all so cryptic - but I hope you come out on top.

[SMOKE 1,426]

ok, so what did you see?

[SaadBell 0]

Sorry to be so secret, but on the advice of my attorney not to really talk about the details.

[Gringita/Morenito 0]

Sorry to be so secret, but on the advice of my attorney not to really talk about the details.

I wish you the best. May God watch over you and your loved ones....

[SMOKE 1,426]

Sorry to be so secret, but on the advice of my attorney not to really talk about the details.

ok, follow your heart & take your lawyers advise. hope it works out for the best. good luck!

[Mina76 0]

I hope you, your husband and family find peace in whatever situation you may be in, GOD bless you.

[ayesha4akram 0]

[~*Dorothy*~ 2]

Hope that you will find peace and your faith in humanity will be renewed...

[kerewin21 2]

I'm glad you've found an attorney, and I hope that you find the faith to move past this.

Sharon

[PetraPerson101 0]

OIC.

Sorry to hear.

:\

America's a big place. Bigger than many countries out there.

I'm sure most of us have seen what else is out there - and from my experience, some places here - you won't find much better elsewhere in the world.

Come up north. We're friendlier.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Sorry to be so secret, but on the advice of my attorney not to really talk about the details.

sounds like hogwash to me. people get arrested because they are usually doing something. most of the people in guantamo were working with al qaeda and if the usa takes someone into custody stateside.... theres a pretty big reason. If you have to be so cryptic... something is not right.... thats for sure. and after watching all the terrorism taking place in algeria this year and all the innocent dead....I support the us doing doing due diligance to arrest and look for agents of terror stateside. Go live in mena and see if you have 1 quarter the freedoms you have here....

[allousa 1]

Sorry to be so secret, but on the advice of my attorney not to really talk about the details.

sounds like hogwash to me. people get arrested because they are usually doing something. most of the people in guantamo were working with al qaeda and if the usa takes someone into custody stateside.... theres a pretty big reason. If you have to be so cryptic... something is not right.... thats for sure. and after watching all the terrorism taking place in algeria this year and all the innocent dead....I support the us doing doing due diligance to arrest and look for agents of terror stateside. Go live in mena and see if you have 1 quarter the freedoms you have here....

Your comments really struck a nerve!

Oh really???? How come over HALF of the inmates that had originally been in there were released only after several years because the government had NO EVIDENCE against them? Many of these people never had access to legal counsel and let's not talk about the Geneva Convention that we are supposed to uphold. That's been pretty much spit and pissed on!

I don't deny for one minute that there are some scary people out there who wish us harm and I would support a LEGITIMATE campaign of protecting this country if this adminstration's tactics didn't involve scaring the people through MSM or arrest, detain and torture...ask questions later.

You talk about being such an expert in Algeria...have you neglected your knowledge of other Middle Eastern countries???? Lets not forget some of the torture and death that we have inflicted on innocent Iraqi civilians. Lets not forget the innocents that have died because the US government supported some brutal regime because it served their purpose. I would agree that America has more rights than most any other country (however, the Patriot Act is quickly robbing us of those), but our government is certainly not all candy and roses!

Unless you have personal knowledge of Ganja girl's situation, how can you even make a comment that it's "hogwash"? Think of how you feel when people question your feelings and make light of them.

[doodlebugg 10]

Sorry to be so secret, but on the advice of my attorney not to really talk about the details.

sounds like hogwash to me. people get arrested because they are usually doing something. most of the people in guantamo were working with al qaeda and if the usa takes someone into custody stateside.... theres a pretty big reason. If you have to be so cryptic... something is not right.... thats for sure. and after watching all the terrorism taking place in algeria this year and all the innocent dead....I support the us doing doing due diligance to arrest and look for agents of terror stateside. Go live in mena and see if you have 1 quarter the freedoms you have here....

Your comments really struck a nerve!

Oh really???? How come over HALF of the inmates that had originally been in there were released only after several years because the government had NO EVIDENCE against them? Many of these people never had access to legal counsel and let's not talk about the Geneva Convention that we are supposed to uphold. That's been pretty much spit and pissed on!

I don't deny for one minute that there are some scary people out there who wish us harm and I would support a LEGITIMATE campaign of protecting this country if this adminstration's tactics didn't involve scaring the people through MSM or arrest, detain and torture...ask questions later.

You talk about being such an expert in Algeria...have you neglected your knowledge of other Middle Eastern countries???? Lets not forget some of the torture and death that we have inflicted on innocent Iraqi civilians. Lets not forget the innocents that have died because the US government supported some brutal regime because it served their purpose. I would agree that America has more rights than most any other country (however, the Patriot Act is quickly robbing us of those), but our government is certainly not all candy and roses!

Unless you have personal knowledge of Ganja girl's situation, how can you even make a comment that it's "hogwash"? Think of how you feel when people question your feelings and make light of them.

I agree 100%. She is in PAIN and you're bashing her wahrania? I really think you need to get some help.

[SaadBell 0]

Oh how I wish this was all hogwash, to have my old life back and live in my false protective world, where if you are right you will be heard. WRONG We are not yet living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted Congress to create whole new departments and agencies that purport to make us safer- always at the expense of our liberty. But security and liberty go hand-in-hand. Members of Congress, like too many Americans, don’t understand that a society with no constraints on its government cannot be secure. History proves that societies crumble when their governments become more powerful than the people and private institutions. Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress don’t believe America is becoming a police state, which is reasonable enough. They associate the phrase with highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we ought to be concerned that we have laid the foundation for tyranny by making the public more docile, more accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting of arbitrary authority- all in the name of security. Our love for liberty above all has been so diminished that we tolerate intrusions into our privacy that would have been abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a manner that reflects poorly on our great national character of rugged individualism. American history, at least in part, is a history of people who don’t like being told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering the federal government and its agents to run our lives. Terror, fear, and crises like 9-11 are used to achieve complacency and obedience, especially when citizens are deluded into believing they are still a free people. The loss of liberty, we are assured, will be minimal, short-lived, and necessary. Many citizens believe that once the war on terror is over, restrictions on their liberties will be reversed. But this war is undeclared and open-ended, with no precise enemy and no expressly stated final goal. Terrorism will never be eradicated completely; does this mean future presidents will assert extraordinary war powers indefinitely?

Washington DC provides a vivid illustration of what our future might look like. Visitors to Capitol Hill encounter police barricades, metal detectors, and paramilitary officers carrying fully automatic rifles, police dogs, ID checks, and vehicle stops. The people are totally disarmed; only the police and criminals have guns. Surveillance cameras are everywhere, monitoring street activity, subway travel, parks, and federal buildings. There’s not much evidence of an open society in Washington, DC, yet most folks do not complain– anything goes if it’s for government-provided safety and security.

After all, proponents argue, the government is doing all this to catch the bad guys. If you don’t have anything to hide, they ask, what are you so afraid of? The answer is that I’m afraid of losing the last vestiges of privacy that a free society should hold dear. I’m afraid of creating a society where the burden is on citizens to prove their innocence, rather than on government to prove wrongdoing. Most of all, I’m afraid of living in a society where a subservient populace surrenders its liberties to an all-powerful government.

It may be true that average Americans do not feel intimidated by the encroachment of the police state. Americans remain tolerant of what they see as mere nuisances because they have been deluded into believing total government supervision is necessary and helpful, and because they still enjoy a high level of material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however, as our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt, endless deficit spending at home and abroad, a declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest rates, and failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes toward omnipotent government may change, but the trend toward authoritarianism will be difficult to reverse.

Those who believe a police state can’t happen here are poor students of history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. We must understand this if we hope to remain a free people.

[Jenn! 918]

Oh how I wish this was all hogwash, to have my old life back and live in my false protective world, where if you are right you will be heard. WRONG We are not yet living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted Congress to create whole new departments and agencies that purport to make us safer- always at the expense of our liberty. But security and liberty go hand-in-hand. Members of Congress, like too many Americans, don’t understand that a society with no constraints on its government cannot be secure. History proves that societies crumble when their governments become more powerful than the people and private institutions. Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress don’t believe America is becoming a police state, which is reasonable enough. They associate the phrase with highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we ought to be concerned that we have laid the foundation for tyranny by making the public more docile, more accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting of arbitrary authority- all in the name of security. Our love for liberty above all has been so diminished that we tolerate intrusions into our privacy that would have been abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a manner that reflects poorly on our great national character of rugged individualism. American history, at least in part, is a history of people who don’t like being told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering the federal government and its agents to run our lives. Terror, fear, and crises like 9-11 are used to achieve complacency and obedience, especially when citizens are deluded into believing they are still a free people. The loss of liberty, we are assured, will be minimal, short-lived, and necessary. Many citizens believe that once the war on terror is over, restrictions on their liberties will be reversed. But this war is undeclared and open-ended, with no precise enemy and no expressly stated final goal. Terrorism will never be eradicated completely; does this mean future presidents will assert extraordinary war powers indefinitely?

Washington DC provides a vivid illustration of what our future might look like. Visitors to Capitol Hill encounter police barricades, metal detectors, and paramilitary officers carrying fully automatic rifles, police dogs, ID checks, and vehicle stops. The people are totally disarmed; only the police and criminals have guns. Surveillance cameras are everywhere, monitoring street activity, subway travel, parks, and federal buildings. There’s not much evidence of an open society in Washington, DC, yet most folks do not complain– anything goes if it’s for government-provided safety and security.

After all, proponents argue, the government is doing all this to catch the bad guys. If you don’t have anything to hide, they ask, what are you so afraid of? The answer is that I’m afraid of losing the last vestiges of privacy that a free society should hold dear. I’m afraid of creating a society where the burden is on citizens to prove their innocence, rather than on government to prove wrongdoing. Most of all, I’m afraid of living in a society where a subservient populace surrenders its liberties to an all-powerful government.

It may be true that average Americans do not feel intimidated by the encroachment of the police state. Americans remain tolerant of what they see as mere nuisances because they have been deluded into believing total government supervision is necessary and helpful, and because they still enjoy a high level of material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however, as our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt, endless deficit spending at home and abroad, a declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest rates, and failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes toward omnipotent government may change, but the trend toward authoritarianism will be difficult to reverse.

Those who believe a police state can’t happen here are poor students of history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. We must understand this if we hope to remain a free people.

By Ron Paul