'We are facing a massive assault on our liberties' (interview with Al Gore)

The Observer (U.K.) ^ | 11/05/06 | Henry Porter

[Pokey78]

HP: I wonder if you feel that a constitution like the American one makes people more aware of their rights.

AG: I think it does. Those who wrote the constitution were very steeped in the culture of the printed word and the essays that were written to define the theory of representative democracy. The debates and the Constitutional Convention were all re-capitulated in elaborate written accounts. The debates over each precise word actually did focus public attention then, and continue to influence public attention now, to individual rights.

HP: Is a constitution a way of putting certain rights beyond the reach of ambitious men?

AG: If I felt that was the principal effect of having a written constitution, I would say yes. If I were a citizen in your country, I would be in favour of it. But being a citizen of the US and seeing the shocking ease with which these principles have been violated in the US, I'm worried that the causes of this invasion of rights may be deeper.

HP: The public here and in America have been prepared to put these rights on hold to a degree.

AG: Well, they have, but [in America] these rights have been weakened since the Bush-Cheney administration chose to use the war against terror as a basis for both political argument in a partisan context and for an assault on the individual rights, including the right to be free of government eavesdropping. The conversation of democracy has been degraded, emotions and appeals to fear have been given a priority over reasoned debate.

HP: Has there been a pumping up of this climate of fear?

AG: Yes, sure.

[WakeUpAndVote]

ManBearPig

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I like England but can you keep this POS a long time.

[Dallas59]

AL GORE: No, and it should be seen as shocking, in America at least, that so many individual rights have been lost so quickly. I believe that there has been a diminishing of the role played by reasoned debate. And when logic and reason are withdrawn from the public sphere, it creates a vacuum into which ideology and religious extremism rush in...

I haven't been arrested for openly opposing the President on some issues...I come and go freely...No road blocks, no black helicopters...According to Al we should be negotiating with Terrorists instead of killing them...The old idiot needs to stay in Europe.

[My2Cents]

Those who wrote the constitution were very steeped in the culture of the printed word and the essays that were written to define the theory of representative democracy.

Reminds me of the video clip Rush used to show on his TV program of Clinton and Gore driving by bus to Washington prior to the inaugration in '93. The group arrived at Monticello, and on the clip, Gore points out a bust and asks, "Who's that?" The guide responds: "That's Thomas Jefferson."

[Dallas59]

What rights are now gone? Please Al, a list...

[xcamel]

'We are staging a massive assault on your intelligence' (interview with Al Gore)

there, fixed it.

[denydenydeny]

Oh yes, the Left is the stalwart defender of individual rights:

The software, which will be used in the forthcoming revaluation of all 21 million homes in England, contains astonishingly detailed data on the number of households, even those who have pets, wear contact lenses or are vegetarian.....The move is a further blow to homeowners who are facing the prospect of being fined for refusing to let council tax inspectors come into their homes to photograph any improvements.....The Acorn computer system uses marketing information obtained from companies, such as credit card and stores, to create a detailed analysis of individuals and their neighbourhoods based on 287 'lifestyle variables'....This includes information on the age, sex, ethnic profile and profession of residents in different 'localities'....Highly personalised information about what families eat, drink, and earn is also taken into account.

[Leo Farnsworth]

All of your rights are belong to us.

[cardinal4]

AL GORE: No, and it should be seen as shocking, in America at least, that so many individual rights have been lost so quickly. I believe that there has been a diminishing of the role played by reasoned debate. And when logic and reason are withdrawn from the public sphere, it creates a vacuum into which ideology and religious extremism rush in...

Name one right we have lost, ya dope. They love this argument until someone asks them to enumerate the rights lost..

[buffyt]

Will that loser NEVER go away????????????

[Reily]

Al Gore got into the hallucinogens again !

[Names Ash Housewares]

Algore must be talking about terrorists rights.

[fifthestate]

..there is no controlling legal authority

[My2Cents]

One right that's been lost: The right to steal elections.

[NewLand]

algore is like the stench of a bad f@rt... you put up with it, only because you know it will eventually just go away.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

algore, the 4th ditzy chick.

[John Lenin]

Why Did the U.S. Intern the Japanese During WW II?
By Jonathan Dresner

Mr. Dresner is Assistant Professor of History (East Asia) at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

It is sixty years since the biggest case of racial profiling in U.S. history. February 19, 1942, FDR signed Executive Order 9066, usually referred to as the "Japanese Internment Order." The order actually called only for the creation of security zones over which the military had control of access and residence. That Japanese residents and Japanese-American citizens were the intended target was no secret: Roosevelt had been suspicious of this population since at least 1936.

[Cobra64]

Actually, the liberals are legislating away our rights. And government in general is confiscating time from our lives in the form of taxes.

[manapua]

How dare Gore complain about assaults on our liberties? Three words for that douchebag: clipper chip, asshole.

And that's what any responsible journalist would tell him. In more polite terms.