I was afraid of a star

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

Call me paranoid. But I've hung out here reading for several years now, and I've never donated to D.U.

I had this weirdly uneasy feeling that it would put my name on a suspect list. For some reason, this morning, I decided I didn't really care. That trying to keep my beliefs quiet and trying to perpetually stay under the radar had not gotten me anywhere. I also think that if worse comes to worse, and at some point down the line we are persecuted for our beliefs that I am in good company.

I donated. It's about time.

[crikkett]

1. congratulations.

[senseandsensibility]

2. I'm sorry that you felt that way

And I mean that sincerely. It is too bad that our country, under this administration, has come to this.

[Sticky]

3. Congrats!

I ran out of money and couldn't donate for a couple of weeks. I felt naked without my star. :hi:

[Wilms]

4. DHS will be visiting you shortly.

:evilgrin:

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

6. Ha

First they bugged the Quakers, but I am not a Quaker.
Then they bugged the Vegans, but I am not a Vegan.
Then they came after the 50-something Grandmas.
Uh-oh.

[benburch]

5. Welcome!

We'll make room for you in the cattle car when they "relocate" us.

[Arkansas Granny]

16. Will you save me a seat, too? I want to make sure that I'm in

good company.

On a serious note, I would not be surprised to learn that any or all of us who post here are not on some type of a list somewhere as being "unsympathetic" to this administration. However, if we allow fear to cause us to give up our right to free speech, we have already lost it.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

7. I truly understand

You are saying that you, an American citizen (that's an assumption on my part - let me know if I'm wrong) have become afraid OF YOUR OWN GOVERNMENT. I think many share your unease. But getting the star was the right thing. We will overcome if we get louder, not quieter and if we become more obvious and do not try to keep our heads down. There are more of us then there are of them. We are the majority and we should act like it!

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

12. Yes, I am afraid of my own country's government

And I know, that's a horrible thing.

[ananda]

8. I did too.

I finally found the donate button and made a contribution to DU.

Yay DU!

[Joey Liberal]

9. Congratulations!

And I'm sure that we are ALL being spied on by the Bush cartel.

[Lex]

10. On a related note, one of my favorite bumperstickers:

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

13. Exactly

Silent no more.

[jus_the_facts]

11. "Fear is the mind killer!"

....literally! :think:


:hi:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Just shows that the intimidation is working.

They don't have to go after everybody in order to shut most up.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

15. My favorite quote these days:

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.....

Don't know who said it.

And I agree, it's about time you had a star.....

[Arkansas Granny]

17. Great quote. I may have to steal that one.

[davikim]

18. I'm fairly new here

didn't even know what the star meant, now I have to get one......

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

21. Look at the top of the post on the righthand corner

There is a blue button that says "DONATE". It's fast and easy.

And welcome.

[fooj]

19. Good on you!

We must stand for something or we stand for nothing.

Peace.:grouphug:

[davikim]

20. uhm, where do I donate?

[davikim]

22. never mind, found it......

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

23. Look at the top of this post and click the blue button

The one that says "DONATE".

[HysteryDiagnosis]

24. And as soon as this admin of fools is run out of town, you would

feel paranoid about not having one.... :)

[catmandu57]

25. I don't think it matters whether or not you have a star

You can be traced just by coming here, there was a poster a couple of years ago running software that backtraced everyone who posted on his thread.
If he could do it, then I'm sure that it wouldn't be any problem for special agent mike.
All the same though your contribution helps keep democracy alive, plus you get a cool bumpersticker.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

26. Yes, I realized that

But I also thought that if they went after anybody at D.U., it would be the very frequent posters and the ones who donated money.

[fooj]

29. I understand you concerns.

Fear is palpable lately. I don't think people would be telling the truth if they didn't admit that we are in a scary place and all of us at one time or another have experienced the fear these rat bastards have propelled onto us. Here's the good news. We are in this together. :hug:

Peace.

[RufusEarl]

27. I'm very proud of my star!

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

28. I'm proud of mine, too

It just took me a while to get there.

[electron_blue]

30. good for you!

And you can justify it to yourself that anyone who really wants to find out who frequents this board can do it. It's not very hard to track down people, as long as your cable company (or whoever your provider is) co-operates. And they are co-operating. Forget Google, internet providers are already turning over records about where people go - mostly for illegal movie downloads. But it's a skip from there to turning over records to the govt.