Monday, November 26, 2007

Control the courts, steal the elections, fill the prisons with your opponents


I remember being galvanized when, as a senior in high school, I saw the Costa-Gavras film Z. It politicized me in a way that newspapers, and magazines, and even peace rallies had not before. It was, and is (still powerfully) a polemical work of art that demonstrated how a government can insidiously transform from a bureaucracy designed to serve a people into a state which could suppress and enslave people. It convinced me of the need for a vital press in a democracy. And it was an early lesson about not trusting leaders.

So when I read this investigative piece by RawStory, about the arrest, kangaroo trial, conviction and incarceration of former Democratic Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, by Bush cronies, I got a chill. It demonstrates that bad people with treacherous motives can take control of the government, if we let them, and we show no concern that they have. It shows just how easy it is to justify the jailing of opponents (right, Pervez?) This is essential reading.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The three big Alabama papers have twisted everything that they have printed about Democrat politicians.

Every time I see Riley on TV I want to change channels knowing what a liar and cheat that he has proven to be. If a book is ever written about Siegelman it will be a best seller, because I don't know of anyone who has been abused and thrown into prison with the perpetrators still in office.

Joseph the son of Jacob was beaten and sold into slavery and later falsely accused by Potiphar's wife and thrown into prison to rot; however, he remained faithful to God and ended up being put in charge over all his perpetrators and saving mankind from a 7 year famine.

I believe that Bob Riley and the others who stole and lied to take the governor's job from him and who threw him in prison will one day appear before Him. I believe that Siegelman will be acquitted of what he has been charged with and that he will be appointed to a high position under the next Democratic president.