The Courage Within

"May all sentient beings have the courage to look within themselves and see the good and bad that exists in all of us. May we open our hearts, shining the light of love into the dark recesses where doubt and fear reside. May we have the courage to step into that light and embrace whatever we find, letting it rise to the surface freed by the act of loving kindness".
(Beliefnet member kuliLinei. Beliefnet prayer circle.)

What has happened to our society that we live in so much fear? In the United States in a period that lasted roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, McCarthyism was a term that described intense anti-communist suspicion. During this time many thousands of Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated. Many people suffered loss of employment, destruction of their careers, and even imprisonment. Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts later overturned, laws that would be declared unconstitutional, dismissals for reasons later declared illegal or actionable or extra-legal procedures that would come into general disrepute.

In November 2005, Business Week reported that the FBI had issued tens of thousands of "National Security Letters" and had obtained one million financial records from the customers of targeted Las Vegas businesses. Selected businesses included casinos, storage warehouses and car rental agencies. An anonymous Justice official claimed that such requests were permitted under section 505 of the USA PATRIOT Act and despite the volume of requests insisted "We are not inclined to ask courts to endorse fishing expeditions". This didn't just include financial records, but credit records, employment records, and in some cases, health records.

The large scale wiretapping and tracing of calls to and from foreign countries also falls under this. Millions of phone records were harvested, fed into a database and were searched for patterns of calling to and from numbers of known terrorists. To date, there have been no announced arrests from this program.

Public libraries have been asked to turn over their records for specific terminals. A few have filed suit, because the National Security Letters that they were presented with were very sweeping, demanding information not just on the individual under investigation, but on everyone who had used specific terminals at the libraries during given time windows. Since many of the users in one case were minor children, one library felt that it had an obligation to notify the parents. The FBI has disagreed and the case is now working its way through the court system.

The FBI used the USA PATRIOT Act 13 times to request journalists that had interviewed computer intruder Adrian Lamo to preserve their notes and other information while they petitioned the Department of Justice for a subpoena to force the reporters to hand over the information. Journalists involved included newspaper writers, wire service reporters, and MSNBC writers. The Department of Justice did not authorize the subpoena requests because the language of the subpoena violated the Department's guidelines for a subpoena request, rather than recognition of any reporter/source privilege. The requests to preserve information were dropped. In some cases, the FBI apologized for the language of the request

On March 9, 2007, a Justice Department audit found that the FBI had "improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information" about United States citizens. On June 15, 2007, following an internal audit finding that FBI agents abused a Patriot Act power more than 1000 times, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ordered the agency to begin turning over thousands of pages of documents related to the agency's national security letters program.

It seems to me that our FBI has become every bit as controversial as the KGB of the old USSR. We would hear about injustices suffered under the old Russian regime such as imprisonment without trial, torture, and persecutions because of a particular belief or lifestyle - and now we have become like those very systems that we condemned.

Here are just 2 quotes (among many) from the Koran:
Be helpful to one another according to goodness and piety, but be not helpful for evil and malice. 5:3
He who slays anyone...............................shall be as though he had slain all of mankind; but that he who saves a life, shall as though he had saved all mankind alive. 5:35

I have not read the Koran, these were two quotes that I found on: http://www.johnworldpeace.com/koran1.html and I know that there are many more. The view that we are presented of the Muslim people is one of crazed fundamentalism, suicide bombers and terrorists.

The last time the media was used to promote propaganda against a race of people, the following words were used:
"The non-Jew has no idea of the scope of this struggle. He does not know the Jewish people's secret goals, or the crimes they have committed over four millennia to reach those goals, or the enormous danger it faces if these goals are revealed before they can be realized."
(Quote from article from 'Der Stürmer' that appeared in July 1933)

The Dalai Lama tells us, "We must remember that the different religions, ideologies, and political systems of the world are meant for human beings to achieve happiness. We must not lose sight of this fundamental goal and at no time should we place means above ends; the supremacy of humanity over matter and ideology must always be maintained".
(A Human Approach to World Peace http://www.dalailama.com/page.62.htm)

Are we forever doomed to repeat ourselves over and over? Obama says he will not rule out talking with any other world leader and he is being condemmed for making such a controversial statement. WAR HAS NEVER WORKED! It is time for another approach - the greatest spiritual minds have been telling us for generations - give peace a chance - let's talk.