EDITOR'S NOTE: By way of further introduction, Bernard Weiner's columns have been appearing on Scoop.co.nz for the past
six months.
Statement Introducing Crisispapers.Org
By Bernard Weiner/Ernest Partridge
The Crisis Papers was launched about 24 hours before Election Day, 2002. The title, and the reason for starting up yet
another progressive website, could not have been more appropriately timed. For we are now in as severe a constitutional
and political crisis as has befallen our country in modern times.
Let's face it: we Americans no longer have the protection of the law, for the Bush Administration has placed itself
above the law. To these outlaws, corporate law does not apply, securities law does not apply, the Freedom of Information
Act does not apply, election law does not apply, international treaties do not apply, and the Bill of Rights is no
longer "operative." At the whim of the Attorney General, any citizen can be labeled an "enemy" and held without counsel,
charge or limit -- as some have.
We hope that there will be protests -- many of them. But if so, any protester, according to the letter of the "USA
PATRIOT" Act, is subject to arrest and confinement, perhaps, as we have noted, without charge, counsel and trial.
The courts, dominated by ideological brethren of the Administration, can no longer be counted on to protect us or to
uphold the law. Nor are such abuses likely to be publicized in the corporate-owned media. What opposition remains in
print, on the air, and on the internet, exists at the sufferance of these outlaws and the media. If ever any of that
opposition rises above insignificance and irrelevance, watch out!
We hope you will agree that, given the malaise abroad in the land and the failure of our ostensible liberal leaders to
address the crisis aggressively, something needs to be done at the grassroots level in terms of organizing legitimate
resistance to the leaders and policies of the Bush regime.
So, welcome to The Crisis Papers, where we will offer you the best of what remains of free and dissenting opinion. We
don't have a lot of time before things are locked down even tighter. So let's get moving!
-- The Editors (Ernest Partridge & Bernard Weiner, 11/10/02)