WTO Seattle 1999


A page dedicated to Freedom of Speech: Mine.
Here are articles that made me glad, sad and mad.
I hope they do the same for others.


I am oh-so upset with what we are doing with this war, as you can tell by my rantings

And I am not just upset about what we are doing, but how we are discussing it. I just can't believe the simplistic level at which we are debating these issues. I am so ashamed of our leaders. I have only a high school education (with a dribble of college courses) and I would think that the greatest minds of this country, when debating these events, would be using terms, creating concepts, broaching solutions that would make me stretch mentally and at least have to look up a new word or two in the dictionary.

Instead, I listen, with a dropped jaw, to the most simplistic, childish, jingo-istic clap trap imaginable, and no one calls them on it.

God, I wish they would talk to me as an adult! Make me work, challenge my intellect, put me in mind of the men of the Enlightenment. But no.

Here are a few articles that I have come across that say the obvious, say it well, and agree with me:

Can't believe I am recommending an article by Pat Buchanan, but I am. He's absolutely right on.

Sol Squire: American Relations with The Third World and Islam, great speech by my brother about how we look at Islam, and the rest of the world. Great read, informative and fun!

What has happened to Freedom of Speech? This is a fine piece by Ellen David Friedman, 12-4-01 Morning Edition-NPR

FINALLY, someone with some answers: Thomas Friedman, NY Times, 12-6-01

Stunning article: "Brutality smeared in peanut butter," by Arundhati Roy, Indian Author

9-11: Excerpts from an important interview with Eqbal Ahmad in November 1998.

Remarks by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on the Senate Floor regarding the 2002 Foreign Operations Bill (October 24th, 2001)