Pax-salon Mailing List: letter to editor

[patty (pattypax]

This was in today's paper.  Exemplary!   wanted everyone to see it.  
patty


Begin forwarded message:

> 08/16/2008 04:23 PM CDT – Ifinally figured out what that old Simon and 
> Garfunkel song meant by warning about the "Sounds of Silence." It 
> doesn't take much to chill people from exercising their First 
> Amendment rights. Just look at the lead-up to the RNC in St. Paul, 
> which has unfortunately been characterized by misinformation, not so 
> much by police or city authorities, but by right-wing talk radio, 
> anonymous sources and the rumor mill.
>
> What kind of a democracy is this if we let citizens become 
> unnecessarily intimidated about being tasered, pepper-sprayed, 
> infiltrated, spied on or photographed by cameras installed on public 
> streets?
>
> We can prove the talk wrong and counter this threat to participatory 
> democracy by simply showing up in great numbers for all the marches, 
> rallies, concerts and artistic, "unconventional" expressions during 
> this time of national focus. Martin Luther King was certainly right 
> that there are times when silence is complicity. Therefore patriots 
> cannot stay home and keep quiet.
>
> Coleen Rowley, Apple Valley
Everywhere we go
People want to know
Who we are
So we tell them
We are the people
The mighty mighty people