Hopefully not my last post at Democratic Underground...

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Will Democracy survive without all the elements of the Bill of Rights in America? Will you survive in a police state? Do you believe Net Neutrality is important? When do you begin to speak out against oppression? Is Big Brother simply watching or are governmental agencies finally interfering with free speech and other types of legal anti-war protests? How many Americans will die today to protect freedom? How many have died to defend these freedoms since 1776?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKDHjKizKaA

I apologize for the production glitches in the preceding link. There appears to be no way to repair or re-create the short movie or any other online media of this type at this time. With a multitude of increasingly odd computer, internet and financial issues this might well be the last movie I ever post at DU. If aspects of my communications and banking remain impaired or like in the very recent past totally suspended, I have one last message for those who think these issues will frighten me into submission or stop my efforts to protect liberty in America. Listen closely the the words of a song at these links and you'll hear my attitude shining through the lyrics.

There is no reason for any governmental agency to suppress free speech or any type of peaceful protest. Exchange and expression of ideas is the cornerstone of freedom. Our Founders risked everything of Earthly value to provide the freedom many Americans still take for granted. Not only soldiers in the American Revolution but also all U.S. troops that die in combat believe they are paying that ultimate price to protect freedom. Oppression will only "survive" if good people remain silent while cowering in fear. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. There is no justification for any governmental policing agency to play politics or advance one political party over another online or anywhere else. Although my Windows Movie-Maker software is locked and cannot be removed, used, deleted or otherwise replaced, I can still run an old-fashioned printing press and will "survive." Will you survive after the internet falls under control of gigantic corporations? Can the middle class survive as an uncaring government allows fuel prices to soar while exporting jobs in an effort to serve the corporations? Will your ideas survive if no one is allowed to view or share them?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x8435

Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller was a prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known as the author of the poem First they came for the Communists.

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.

Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.

Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.

Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I did not speak out;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.