For a long time I stopped watching or reading any political news because it depressed me so. But a started again recently mostly becasue you can't really get away from it. And outside of the war (I'm pretty sure you all realize that I'm not too keen about it), there have been two recent developments that I just have to shake my head at.

First we have this new bill introduced in Oregon that would jail protestors as terrorists for at least 25 years! The mind boggles. Come on guys, free speech is the foundation of our country. It doesn't matter if you agree or disagree. Ugh! Disgusting.

Next up, is the story of Mike Hawash a programmer for Intel arrested, well actually, detained, as he arrived for work on March 20 by FBI agents carrying assault rifles and wearing bulletproof vests. He's being held in solitary confinement with limited access to his wife and lawyer. Mr. Hawash isn't alone, there are dozens more detainees with similiar stories. And of course there is Jose Padilla who has been held under even tighter conditions for a year now. Now Jose is a bad dude that probably needs to be locked up, but as an American he should still get his day in court. Anyway, there is additional commentary on Mike Hawash on Slashdot, Warblogging, and Wired.

I didn'tget a chance to experience McCarthyism back in it's day, but I imagine those days we similar to these.