"Moral, Ethical, and Righteous Thinking"
- From: "Her Lao" <hawjlauj@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 21:36:49 +0000 (UTC)
Whenever, in the history of a society, a one-person ruler, a small group
of rulers
who beliefs in a locally-defined set of correct ideas, or a government
NOT only
DECIDES but gets to STAMP into "law" a "LIST" of words, phrases,
utterances, or
incorrect or bad thinking that, if said by any person, is liable to have
him or her
being punished severely by the government (with the intentions of
"making an
example of bad people, so as to teach the correct and good ideas to
others"), the
society has spiraled down to undemocratic lawlessness, EVEN if those
punitive
measures are supposed to ensure "law and order" in the said
society,,,,,,,
Look at the EXAMLE below in the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, and you will
understand
why it is MORE dangerous to live by the decrees of a few wise leaders
(politicians)
than it is to live in a seemingly unruly place where compromises are
hard to
come by but liberalizing and progressive forces THRIVE well, and which
are seen
in how a diverse people behave diversely in seemingly unpredictable
ways, some
of which indeed the INSULTING of leaders, elders, parents, etc.
I'm sure those who believe in "law and order," like so-called
CONSERVATIVES who
yearn for days in the past they say more lawful, more meritocratic,
fairer, less
divisive, what-not,,,,, I'm sure those LOVE eras like those during
Lincoln's time,
or BEFORE that, or around the late 1910's, when THE SEDITION ACT could
send
you to jail/prison, to do had labor, IF you SIMPLY SAY "BAD THINGS"
about
your OWN COUNTRY, like these German Americans.
Those of us who know a bit of REAL HISTORY, we know that 1918 or so was
neither the beginning nor end of such outrageous, unconstitutional acts
against Americans who have view points different from the majority. In
the
1940's, in fact, you did NOT need to SAY any thing. If you SIMPLY
BELONGED
to a certain race/ethnic, and you're rounded up,,, Of course, the "law
man"
says you're only being rounded up and put in camps FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!
THESE historical experiences show WHY and HOW societies like LAOS, like
North Korea, like Burma, like Saudi Arabia, like Iran, like China, etc.
ARE NOT
THE TRENDS of societal movements, of social and political trajectories.
But
more than that, THESE NOTED societies are --- if they had to work for
a living, which countries sitting atop oil fields like Saudi Arabia do
not
have to do --- also the slowest, most impoverished, most backward,,,,
because they are the most restricted, intolerant of different people and
different ideas,,,
Contrast those with oil-poor, land-poor, resource-poor countries like
Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, etc. in rugged, cold, and sometimes
barefly plantable terraintial landscape (like Iceland),,,, These have no
vast oil field for which all they had to do is open them to the world,
which sends them the needed monetary currencies to import whatever
food or clothes they want, without having to actually making them,,,,
these northern Europeans USE THEIR BRAINS, instead, and they
design BROAD, sound, and cogent governance systems,,, so their people
are FREE, or more so than others, to think broadly ("bad" or "good") and
so they ACHIEVE, PER CAPITA, MORE than others.
This latter shemata, then, is THE TRAJECTORY of societal movements.
Those who catch on early and CHANGE best, move to the front in
societal accomplishemnts; those who don't but INSIST they have some
unique or "correct" ruling ideas which THEIR LOCAL citizens crave for,,,
they suffer,,, like Laos and other restricted, governmentally
monothiestic
societies, including most of the "Islamic" nations,,,, Turkey is among
the
most developed "Islamic" nation, precisely because Islam does not
strangle its people. Turkey also WANTS to volunteer itself as a part of
the European Union. And for that it must FURTHER change its laws
to make them as broad as possible, so broad that, in fact, they are
virtually interchangeable with most EU laws,,,, otherwise there's no
sound
reason for Turkey to be part of a HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL European society,,,
+++++++++++++++++++
Pardons Granted 88 Years After Crimes of Sedition0
Montana Historical Society
Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana will posthumously pardon 78 people
convicted of sedition during World War I, including the four here.00
By JIM ROBBINS Published: May 3, 2006
HELENA, Mont., May 2 ? When Steve Milch found out recently that his
great-grandfather, an immigrant from Bavaria, had been convicted of
sedition in Montana during World War I, he was taken aback. It was
something no one in the family had ever talked about.
Anne Sherwood for The New York Times
Clemens P. Work of the University of Montana wrote a book about the
sedition convictions, leading to the pardon ceremony scheduled for
Wednesday.
For the past 88 years, a lot of secrets have been kept in Montana
families, especially those of German descent, about a flurry of wartime
sedition prosecutions in 1918, when public sentiment against Germany was
at a feverish pitch.
Seventy-nine Montanans were convicted under the state law, considered
among the harshest in the country, for speaking out in ways deemed
critical of the United States. In one instance, a traveling wine and
brandy salesman was sentenced to 7 to 20 years in prison for calling
wartime food regulations a "big joke."
But the silence ? and for some families, the shame ? has ended. The
convictions will be undone on Wednesday when Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a
descendant of ethnic Germans who migrated here from Russia in 1909,
posthumously pardons 75 men and three women. One man was pardoned
shortly after the war.
Forty-one of those convicted, including one woman, went to prison on
sentences from 1 to 20 years and paid fines from $200 to $20,000.
"I'm going to say what Gov. Sam Stewart should have said," Mr.
Schweitzer said, referring to the man who signed the sedition
legislation into law in 1918. "I'm sorry, forgive me, and God bless
America, because we can criticize our government."
Dozens of relatives of the convicted seditionists will be at the State
Capitol to witness the signing of the pardons, with some traveling from
as far as Florida. Marie Van Middlesworth, the 90-year-old daughter of
one of those convicted, Fay Rumsey, will be coming from Medford, Ore.
She was among 12 children put up for adoption when the family farm
failed after her father was imprisoned.
Mr. Milch said the official acknowledgment, even after so many years,
offered comfort and closure to the families.
"The whole Milch clan is appreciative of making things right," he said.
The pardon ceremony is a result of a book by Clemens P. Work, director
of graduate studies at the University of Montana School of Journalism,
called "Darkest Before Dawn: Sedition and Free Speech in the American
West" (University of New Mexico Press, 2005). The book chronicled a
contentious period in Montana history when people were convicted and
jailed for voicing their opinion about the war.
"It was an ugly time," Mr. Work said.
After reading the book, Jeffrey Renz, a law professor at the University
of Montana, asked Mr. Work what he intended to do about the convictions.
Mr. Work had no plans, he said, "but I told them in my box of dreams I
hoped these people would be exonerated."
Professor Renz's students took the project on as part of a criminal law
clinic. Some contacted family members of the convicted seditionists, and
others researched the law, leading to a petition for pardon being sent
to the governor last month.
The sedition law, which made it a crime to say or publish anything
"disloyal, profane, violent, scurrilous, contemptuous or abusive" about
the government, soldiers or the American flag, was unanimously passed by
the Legislature in February 1918. It expired when the war ended, Mr.
Work said.
During that time, though Germans were the largest ethnic group in
Montana, it was also illegal to speak German, and books written in it
were banned. Local groups called third-degree committees were formed to
ferret out people not supportive of the war, especially those who did
not buy Liberty Bonds.
"They leaned on people to ante up and buy bonds, and if they didn't,
they were disloyal and considered pro-German," Mr. Work said.
Farida Briner said she was told that a committee showed up at her
father's farm. "They threatened to hang him and tar and feather him,"
Ms. Briner said. Her father, Herman Bausch, was taken to town,
interrogated and later convicted. He spent two years in prison.
Officials encouraged neighbor to inform on neighbor, and one person's
accusation was often enough for an arrest.
Mr. Milch's great-grandfather, John Milch, was turned in by an
undercover agent named Eberhard Von Waldru, who was working for the
prosecutor in Helena, the state capital. Mr. Von Waldru went into a
German beer hall and drew out people's feelings on the war. His
testimony was used against Mr. Milch; his brother, Joseph; and six other
men. All were convicted, and four went to prison.
John Milch was sentenced to three to six years, but the law had expired
by the time he was to begin serving his term. Joseph was fined $1,800.
Steve Milch said that although his family was not aware of the arrest,
they did know about the anti-German sentiment of the time.
"There was a story that a mob of people was going around asking Germans
to kiss the flag," Mr. Milch said. "My great-grandfather told them he
didn't kiss anybody's flag, whether it was American or German."
Mr. Milch also had another surprise in store. He discovered that the
great-grandfather of another lawyer in his firm was the Helena
prosecutor who hired Mr. Von Waldru. "His great-grandfather prosecuted
my great-grandfather," Mr. Milch said.
Mr. Work, who was conducting research for the book when the Sept. 11
attacks occurred, said he had found the similarities between 2001 and
1918 to be eerie.
"The hair on the back of my neck stood up," Mr. Work said. "The rhetoric
was so similar, from the demonization of the enemy to saying 'either
you're with us or against us' to the hasty passage of laws."
Twenty-seven states had sedition laws during World War I. Montana's
became the template for a federal law, enacted by Congress later in
1918. More than 30 Montanans were arrested under the federal law, though
none were convicted, according to the Montana Sedition Project, which
Mr. Work directs.
Mr. Work and other historians believe that the harshness of the Montana
law was influenced by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, which
dominated the state economically and viewed the law as a way to deal
with labor unrest. Many of those charged with sedition were immigrant
laborers.
But blame should also be laid at the feet of Governor Stewart, Mr. Work
said.
"In the last 100 days of his term, he commuted 50 sentences, including
13 murderers and 7 rapists," he said, "but not a single seditionist."
--
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