What if they torture people and nobody cared?

Blogging the vigil for a lost freedom...

Today, there were to be demonstrations against the "military commissions" act signed by a man who probably hasn't even read what he signed let alone read the constitution it violates. On NPR I heard report of the Washington DC protest...google news knows nothing of it at this hour.

Four of us made it to the post office on a busy street out in a "metro west" Boston suburb. Last minute messages to several area churches and the mosque were probably too late for anyone to respond. Nobody called us any names, 6 people signed the National Religious Campaign Against Torture petition. A small number until you know that was around 50% of the people we actually got to talk to in the parking lot of the post office. We tried to take up more visible spots but people in cars should not be mistaken for people who are actually present. A cop [the police station was just across the street] chased us away from the intersection. His gruff "I know what's good for you" mien probably meant he figured we'd get run over trying to talk to people stopped for the light. What?! A professor of computer science and a software engineer can't handle a situation hundreds of homeless people hawking papers and flowers do every day?
On second thought, don't answer that. You are all a bunch smartasses and I don't want to hear it.
One of us is quite resourceful and whipped my "holloween costume" into a proper placard:

Some people did read the sign if the traffic slowed but all the rest had a phone or a cup of coffee in hand and remain, even now, doggedly unaware the world is going to hell around them. Being ignored, I discover, is much scarier than being called names. After an hour, the P.O. manager came out and told us we were on government property and would have to leave. No lawyers here, just tax payers, end of vigil.

How do you tell a nation it no longer wears the crown of "conscience of the world" and is in fact, far from it? What a change there has been here, even in my lifetime.

The data entry from the petition, which I also signed, is world class and I got an email back from them by the time I got to work:

*********************************************************
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
*********************************************************

Dear [did you think I was going to dooce myself?],

Thank you for endorsing the NRCAT Statement.  Your name has been
added to our growing list of supporters.  Please add
nrcatlist@nrcat.org to your friends list so we may keep you
informed about the campaigns progress.

Thank You,
National Religious Campaing Against Torture
www.nrcat.org