spidey sense.

i think i've mentioned that i read glenn greenwald, on salon.com. a political blogger. he's made a couple statements in the past few days that i really like...

one post was about how there are lawyers in our country stepping up to represent people accused of terrorism or being terrorists in our country, and it damages their careers and reputations. they do it because "we" (this country) boast of our sense of justice and everyone's right to a fair trial, and they actually believe that.

"We all have a tendency to look back on shameful events in our nation's history -- slavery, the internment of Japanese-Americans, the McCarthyite witch hunts -- and like to believe that we would have been on the right side of those conflicts and would have vigorously opposed those responsible for the wrongs. Here we have real, live, contemporary McCarthyites in our midst -- Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol -- launching a repulsive smear campaign, and we'll see what the reaction is and how they're treated by our political and media elites."

that thought can apply to so many things. how do we feel about accused (please note the emphasis) terrorists getting a chance to present their case (because there is no evidence against a lot of them)? but also...what do we do about sex trafficking? childhood slavery? will we look back and be proud of where we stood and what action we took? or be ashamed because we pretended it wasn't happening, or because we were biased and prejudiced?

and:

"There are many legitimate ways to measure Craziness; the extent to which one deviates from the orthodoxies of the political establishment is most assuredly not one of them. If anything, given the character and record of the American political establishment, such deviation is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for actual sanity."

i know i've mentioned that i voted third party in the presidential election, and i feel better about that decision every time i think about it. i'm not crazy! and neither is the guy i voted for.

and here's a fun quote from the federalist papers:

pause. who am i?? reading political blogs, reading the federalist papers...i feel like i'm too ridiculous to care about these things. it seems like i shouldn't be allowed to even speak of them. one time i wrote an ode to nyquil in haiku form. and now i'm quoting alexander hamilton. anyway...

"Necessity, especially in politics, often occasions false hopes, false reasonings, and a system of measures correspondingly erroneous."

i see that. people try to make change in our nation and government because that change really needs to be made. but without an appropriate amount of consideration...well. we'll see, won't we.