"They Hate Our Freedoms"

If I were an American, I'd be weeping.

Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber -- a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.
George W. Bush, Presidential Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, September 20, 2001 (emphasis added).

And then, this:

For the third time in the last four days, Keene resident Russell Kanning finds himself in Federal custody. The 36-year-old libertarian activist isn't in trouble for selling drugs, threatening officials or endangering anyone. Instead, he's the target of Federal wrath because he attempted to enter the Keene IRS office with…a piece of paper.

"I want them to quit their jobs," he said, referring to the one or two IRS agents who staff this part-time office on Keene's Main Street. His flyers contain a form which he is asking IRS agents to sign, pledging they will stop working for the agency because of what he considers the evil things it funds.

In addition to the resignation form letter, the flyers [pdf] contain anti-war sentiments, and criticism of the Bush administration for its erosion of civil rights. In a way Bush was right: those who are really terrorists hate the freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, and the people who exercise those freedoms.

[Technorati tags: russell kanning | keene | reversal of america]