Of rights, risks and relocation

Yesterday, I posted a quotation (George Kennan) that came to me from Helen McCloskey. I would like to amplify the issue today with a reference to the August 30 column of Mike Fitzgerald in the Stockton Record. He takes the essence of Kennan's quotation and shows us that it is something that we need to be concerned about right now, today, as the war on terror begets our unique brand of xenophobic terrorism.

Where Kennan warns us about becoming "intolerant, secretive, suspicious, cruel, and terrified of internal dissension because we have lost our own belief in ourselves and in the power of our ideals" Fitzgerald tells us that we already have. He is writing about the issue of suspected Islamic "fascist" terrorism in Lodi, CA.

The latest wrinkle: Federal authorities won't allow two Pakistani-Americans related to Lodi terror convict Hamid Hayat to come home from an extended stay in Pakistan until they take a lie-detector test.

Muhammad Ismail, 45, and his son, Jaber Ismail, 18, are U.S. citizens. They are charged with no crime. No U.S. official publicly has alleged any wrongdoing on their part.

But their constitutional rights seem to have done a Houdini.

Fitzgerald asks whether we have learned anything. "The people with badges got the Japanese relocation tragically wrong. What have we learned? How are we better?" I think that the answer is clear. Those in power will use any means possible to retain power and the easiest method is to unite against a common enemy. "We have met the enemy and he is us. "

I think that I would like to see out Senatorial Candidate in Lodi, holding a news conference. If anyone is going to speak out on this issue, it should be Chretien.