The goodness of the few, out weighs the wrong doing of many.

The goodness of the few, out weighs the wrong doing of many.

I think most of my regular readers, by now, are fully aware of how much I detest the current administration of this country. That I feel that George W. Bush, His appointed lackeys, and anyone who who curries favor with him, are not worth any of the rights and powers they hold. That if I had my way George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and a few other of those assholes would be facing Criminal Charges for what they’ve done to this world, and our own country. In short, I’m not a happy guy right now.

I’ve worked in both elections to fight the the Neo Conservative movement on a voter level. Trying to convince those I know, those I talk to, that what GWB/Cheney, and their right wing radical neo conservative religious policies stand for are the Antithesis of our republic. I’ve been heart broken twice in what the majority of our citizens decided on, and convinced that in some cases the elections were flat out stolen for the republican party.

I’ve ranted, written, and foamed at the mouth about this.
I’ve pissed people off, and been pissed off.
I write letters to the government, my legislators, and even the White House (I’m sure I’m on a special ‘burn on sight’ list for my envelopes), I make phone calls. I do everything that I’m supposed to do to make this country better. Simply enough, I participate. Because I see things that we’re doing, in the name of Freedom, Liberty, and America, that make me SICK to my stomach. This is not the nation I grew up and learned about as a child. This is not the nation our fore fathers built. This is not the nation that a lot of people naively think it is.

One of the worst things that has developed out of this Presidency, has been the way it has treated our citizens and legal aliens. I’ve lost count at the number of times I’ve read about a person being taken off the street, locked up, and prevented from having the due process of our legal system available to him. Jose Padilla may be a criminal, and he may be a terrorist. But he is an American citizen, and deserves his day in court. The constitution was written to protect every American from that abuse of power. Every American has the right to know the charges, and face a judge in fair time with fair representation. The acts committed against Jose Padilla, regardless of his own crimes, are of the highest nature, and should face the highest levels of judgment, and punishment.

In similar nature, the USA has committed crimes against foreigners in many of the same ways. Our Military Prison Camp in Cuba, known as Git-mo is a perfect example of the KNOWN offences against human rights that we’re committing right now. Foreign nationals, citizens of sovereign nations, who may, or may not have been planning criminal acts against our government and/or private citizens, have been snatched out of their beds, off the street, and out of their homes by our allies and operatives for the past 6 years. Thrown in these prison camps, and prevented in many cases from contacting proper legal council, or even their own governments to seek help and aid for their plight. If any other nation did this to our citizens or soldiers… Well, there would be hell to pay for that offender. America tramples over international law because it thinks its better then everyone else. Its truly a sad state for our nation to be in, that we break our own laws to protect our selves. That those who are criminals, and terrorists have been captured, I am happy, how we have done it is an embarrassment.

All of this though, to me, has been an exercise in political theory, news analysis, and acts of debate between my friends and co-workers. Farther then arms reach away, I lived in a world where I thought none of this would effect me. That I might die one day in a giant fireball, has always been something of a morbid wish, but I never expected directly that I would be one of the few people in the world killed by a “terrorist”, considering the relative affluence and luxury I live in, compared to the rest of the world. I for the most part, was arrogant, and aloof of how it felt, and how it effected me.

Recently though, all of this changed.

My mother is a foreign national, and lives here as a green card holding, legal alien. She has a passport from the United Kingdom, and technically is still a citizen of the UK. Born in Scotland, she moved here with her family when she was five years old. My mother grew up as an adventuring soul, and after high school decided it would be more fun to travel, then go to college. She traveled internationally, and through nations that back in the 60’s were much safer, and friendly to British and American citizens. I have seen amazing photography of places in Afghanistan, India, South East Asia, that I don’t think even exists more. I’ve heard stories of silent dark nights driving across deserts escorted by border guards trying to get to the next city with the threat of “desert raiders” hanging in the air. My mother has lived a life I can’t imagine.

And being the 1960’s, she’s done some things that were, and still are illegal in the USA. As my mom jokes, “If you remember the 60’s, you weren’t there.” With out covering the exact details of those crimes, I’ll state clearly, and honestly, that she paid her dues. That she went through thejudicial system, and paid for her crimes in the manner proscribed by the courts. There are no outstanding warrants, or unfinished cases that she has to deal with. And both of them happened 40 years ago.

Let me explain something before I continue this story. In the USA, when you commit a crime, and are put in front of a court to face judgement on those crimes. It doesn’t matter what the ruling is. If you are ruled innocent, or guilty. You can not, ever, be tried for those crimes again. The parties over, go home, you can’t do it over again. Its called Double Jeopardy. Direct from the Fifth Amendment…

“nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.”

Keep all of this in mind… as you read on.

On 30 June 2007, a man drove a burning car in to an airport in Glasgow Scotland. He was something of a nut job, and a badly trained terrorist if he’s even able to be called a terrorist. (The stupidity of his crime makes me think he’s just dumb, not dangerous).

At that time, my mother was flying back from Europe after having been in France for over a week. Her vacation over, she flew back to the states ignorant of what was going on in Scotland, until she landed in Philadelphia to find an extra layer of security at the air port.

Going through security, her Green card and UK Passport set off some bells in some system, and they ran a more detailed check on her records. They pulled my mom out of the line to get out of the air port, and had her sit in a secure office for over two hours answering questions about the criminal record she has from 40 years ago. In the process she had her Green card and Passport confiscated, and given an order to present her self to the Department of Homeland Security in 30 days with proof that she is not a wanted criminal from the two police departments involved in her past exploits.

The DHS agent informed her during this detention (my own word) that if she was a US Citizen, none of this would have even mattered, and that if she even began the Naturalization process during these proceedings, that it wouldprobably be waved, and that this was most likely a paperwork red tape hassle, but at the worst…. She would be deported.

I heard about all of this a day later, when my mom had gotten settled and had the time to call me.

Needless to say, I am angry, and upset.
I’m disgusted by the events.
I’m frustrated at the system.
I’m annoyed by the idiocy.
I’m stunned that its even happened.
I’m made nauseous by the violation of my mothers civil rights.

Her status as a Permanent resident is being threatened, only because she happens to be an old grown up hippy who has a UK Passport.

Her existence as a member of this society is being threatened because of the need of DHS to justify their existence in a world that Isn’t beset by terrorists, as they sit on their asses hassling old women instead of securing our ports and finding the real threats at our borders.

My mothers life, in the United States of America is in jeopardy because of a database that knows she was arrested at some point, but doesn’t have the end of the record that says she paid her dues to society!

The nature of Double Jeopardy should be apparent at this point.
The Government has dug up a loop hole, that in suggestion that at one point she violated their rules, she may now be a threat to this nation, ignoring the 40 years of innocence, the birth and raising of two sons who are full bloodedamerican citizens.

That the government is spending the time to investigate, hassle, and potentially prosecute my mother for something she already was prosecuted for, 40 years ago, makes me rage.

I’ve reached a new level of detest and anger at this government.
I’ve watched them strip money from needed social programs to fight a war that no one wants.
I’ve seen them scrap progressive plans so that a health care company can get richer.
I’ve watched them lie, cheat, steal, and violate the trust of the American people for so long, I’m numb.
I’ve fought for change.
I’ve worked for progress.
I’ve debated, argued, and taught.

I’ve never been in the sights of the government though.
and I finally understand how helpless the world feels against us.

This has been going on since July 1, and the last two months have been something of an emotional roller coaster for me because of it. The concept that there was a chance my mother was going to be forced to move back to England over this has had me in tears, with clenched fists, and 2 steps away from moving to Europe my self and saying “FUCK YOU AMERICA” as I crossed the tarmac and stepped up in to an airplane.

Whats the point of it, when no matter what you do, they just keep trying to keep you down.

The point is, that its not the government that makes this country great.
Its the people.
And its actually the people that make me fight for this place.

At the lowest point of this process so far, My mother had gone to a preliminary meeting with a Lawyer, who told her that to take the case, he’d need $8000, after the $200 she paid to sit in his office for an hour, listening to him say “You’ll probably get deported if you don’t have a lawyer”. After hearing this I was at a loss as to what to do. Sitting in a restaurant with my mother, girl friend, with tears running down my face. I honestly had nothing left to suggest. I don’t have that kind of money, and no one in my family really does. We’re not rich, and we’re not able to afford the best legal protection money can buy.

I had this mental image of my mother, my self, and some young legal aid being curb stomped by the US DOJ with Alberto Gonzales in his jack boots burning the constitution and letting its hot ashes fall on our dead bodies…. Ok maybe that’s melodramatic, but I was not a happy person at that point. And was the closest I’ve been to simply packing a bag and moving to Canada.

A few days later though, things started to Turn around.
A family friend, and her husband approached my mother, and told her simply

“We’re going to find you the best lawyer in Philadelphia, and we’re going to pay for it. We’re successful people, we have a beautiful home in a beautiful town, two beautiful children, and we’re both retired, and able to do this, so we want to do this.”

Hearing this simply put, repaired the hole in my heart.
Having felt totally alone, and violated by having the trust I had in the government, no matter how corrupt and bloated, doing the right thing taken from me, I had suddenly remembered the goodness that exists in all of us.
And that it is the goodness in you, me, and those around us that makes this country worth fighting for, makes it worth living here.

My mother, in 2 weeks has to go face a DHS review board, where they will evaluate the status of her past crimes, of which ironically, there is barely any record remaining. And that review board will decide if the case is dismissed, or if she has to go to court.

The lawyer that my mother is now using has told her that because the police departments for both cases under review by DHS, have no record of her transgressions any more, and have both signed notarized documents stating she is not wanted for any questioning or arrest in either municipality, will most likely have this case dropped by the Government.

There is still a chance that it will be in front of a Judge at some point, at which time she’ll have to provide documentation of my brother and my self being American Citizens (both of us will be there, of course), statements of character from people she’s known for years and years, and other such sundries to prove that she isn’t a burden on society, or god forbid a terrorist or some such bullshit.

All of that is enough to keep me angry and on edge about things, but my over all demeanor and feeling about the situation has improved drastically.

The nature of the beast though, is that the Department of Homeland Security is a waste of tax payer dollars, and yet another useless cabinet level office that is adding red tape and further stupidity to our nation.

We have a Immigration and Naturalization Service.
We have the FBI, the CIA, and the NSA.

At which point does it make sense to add more chefs to the kitchen, instead of getting all of the existing ingredients to work together properly.

I will update the situation as it progresses.
But as of now, it is the goodness of the few, that out weighs the wrong doing of many.

Thank you to our benefactors, from the bottom of my heart.
It is people like you that make it worth fighting for.

Thank you.

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The story continues …
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4