Feb. 20, 2002 - 21:05 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Farce

Okay, I see it all now, I think. Our corporations send all our manfacturing off shore to cheapie factories with grossly underpaid labor, hide their money in offshore companies so they do not have to pay taxes. That is so simple, just a few fees and a mail drop, basically.

Which leaves the rest of our population who can't afford technical education to work at retail, car washes, janitorial services or Burger Kings, none of which really pay enough to support a family. The carrot on the end of the stick ? Work hard and you can become a manager earning a few cents more an hour to where you and your wife working together might make enough to afford to have a child and a small apartment in a bad part of town.

So now the biggies evade taxes and the populace can't come up with the tax money needed and only the rich can afford to buy stock. Oh, yeah, raise the sales and use taxes . . . that'll solve it. Uh oh, which of the underpaid hoi polloi can afford more taxes ?

Foregoing is in accord with Molly Ivins column in her column, "Off-shore tax dodge megatrend," in our Rocky Mountain News of February 20, 2002 plus what little I think has been gradually seeping into my mind.

Nat Henthoff of Newspaper Enterprise Association in his, "A sly attack on 1st Amendment," column - same paper, same date. Brings up a little light on the matter of, "One of the sections of Attorney General John Ashcroft's USA Patriot Act, which allows the FBI to demand from bookstores and libraries the names of books bought or borrowed by anyone SUSPECTED OF INVOLVEMENT IN INTERNAL TERRORISM OR CLANDESTINE INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES." (Caps mine). What really makes this a hummer are Mr. Hentoff's following words, "What causes great concern among librarians and bookstore owners is that once they turn the information over to the FBI, a gag order is imposed on the bookstore or library that prohibits them from disclosing "TO ANY OTHER PERSON . . . . . THAT THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION HAS SOUGHT OR OBTAINED TANGIBLE THINGS UNDER THIS SECTION." (Caps again mine) -- to me this stuff is grossly, frighteningly, threatening, and maybe we should understand the possibility of having a secret finger pointed at us because we bought or checked out a book that Ashcroft type fear is threating to all of us.

He goes on to say, "This means that the librarian or bookstore owner cannot call news papers or a television reporter to say that the FBI has conducted the search." He also mentions that, "Gag orders have occasionally been imposed by judges on attorneys on both sides as well as the press, in certain cases where, for example, classified information may be part of the evidence or one of the witnesses might be endangered if his or her identity is revealed. BUT, whenever that happens, the press can disclose that the gag order has been imposed and can contest it in open court.

Mr. Hentoff goes on to say, "However, under this particular provision of the USA Patriot Act, there has never before, to my knowledge been so rigid a gag order in First Amendment history." Mr. Hentoff finishes his column like this, "The USA Patriot Act does say that this pursuit of booklists cannot be conducted "solely on the basis of activities protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution." He goes on to say, "What that actually means is that you are still protected by the First Amendment if you stand on a street corner and criticize John Ashcroft. But if the FBI believes you are somehow connected to international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities -- under the broad definition of the act -- they can find out what you've been reading. The gag order is indeed on the First Amendment."

So, it looks to me that in this environment someone can point a finger at me and say to the FBI, "I think he is a terrorist because I saw him in a bookstore looking at books on Communism or Islam, and later saw him buy a bunch of books with a Visa card." Then the knee-jerkery begins. Who was that guy in Germany ? Niemoller was it ? who made it plain that as each type of the populace was singled out by the Nazis to eliminate no one paid any attention because it wasn't them, and when it finally got down to him, there wasn't anyone else to get rid of.

For safety's sake, I think, don't check out books in a library, don't even be seen in a library by someone who doesn't like you. If you are going to buy a book in a bookstore, make sure no one is looking over your shoulder and pay cash !

Looks grim to me and the more news I read in the papers the more threatening it is to us common folk, looks like.

It is to me today a bad dream coming to life, a nightmare or maybe the most cruel Farce . . . . . . . .

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