Sad Statistic

"Fear factor: 44 percent of Americans queried in Cornell national poll favor curtailing some liberties for Muslim Americans" (link)

What!! What century and country am I living in? Didn't anybody learn anything from the Japanese internment camps we set up during WWII? Here's an interesting quote from Lessig.org

"The major civil liberties issue in World War II arose out of the internment of 120,000 individuals of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, representing 90% of all American citizens of Japanese ancestry. It is useful to compare how the United States dealt with individuals of German and Italian ancestry. All German and Italian citizens who were in the United States during World War II (that is, citizens of those nations) were reviewed by the FBI and military authorities. If they were determined to be dangerous to the national security, they were detained. If they were found not to be dangerous (as was the case for the vast majority), they were allowed to remain in the U.S. under relatively modest restrictions. Of course, no effort was made to round up American citizens of German or Italian origin."

And another quote:
"The forced removal and internment of more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the west coast of the United States during World War II constitutes a dark chapter in American history. More than 65,000 were Nisei (second generation), American born, American educated and American in heart and mind. No charges were filed, no hearing held, only the vague term, "military necessity" was used and it was to destroy the social, economic and cultural lives of a population which had been in existence in the United States for more than 50 years."

I guess 44% of Americans look at that as a bright chapter in American history. I really strongly believe that teaching young kids that America is perfect and doesn't make mistakes can have longterm consequences. Is constructive criticism really unpatriotic?

While I'm on a quoting rampage, here is a quote from "A Christmas Carol" that I found kind of funny (and timely). I guess I could try to reach and say that the doornail is the first amendment and that our ancestors are America's founding fathers, but I won't.

"I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail."