Political Prisoners

[sophocles07]

I haven't seen any threads on political prisoners/prisoners of the state...one of the most notable I know of is Leonard Peltier. List your problems WITH THE STATE and their persecution of the populace (under Libertarian philosophy, merely the logical execution of the GOVERNMENT's evils, as least as I see it). There are many, many more prisoners who are using up our tax dollars (what is left of those DOLLARS), and our personnel in a business sense. I see this compartment as simply an extension of US STATISM, made to screw up any freedoms our founding fathers (what would Jefferson think of this country now??), in terms of: war, internal war, etc. That is, statism and its missionaries are infections in many sectors of our republic, and we should identify and COMBAT them all: taxes, war, health care, public education, police system, fiat v gold/competing currencies, in general LIBERTY V CORPOTATISM/FASCISM.

Tell me and us about any political/social prisoners of the STATE. I'd like to know more/as much as I can about what THEY (STATE MONOPOLIST BUSINESS) are doing in my country.

[sophocles07]

no one ? wow

[expatriot]

Only those who have committed crimes of violence or aggression against person or property
are true criminals.

All of the rest - an overwhelming majority of them - are political prisoners.

[kimo]

There are many stories "around" every day. Mostly we prefer to ignore them, because we´re at the stage where all credibility in common "losing value". Hard times..and someone did a "greate work" to bring most of us to this stage.
Just one example from Izraeli paper today:

Last update - 11:59 06/03/2008
Who leaked the details of a CIA-Mossad plot against Iran?

The Bush administration is prolonging the hunting season against journalists. The latest victim is James Risen, The New York Times reporter for national security and intelligence affairs. About three months ago, a federal grand jury issued a subpoena against him, ordering Risen to give evidence in court. A heavy blackout has been imposed on the affair, with the only hint being that it has to do with sensitive matters of "national security"...

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/961337.html

[Expatriate]

Anybody jailed for non-violent offenses or "victimless crimes" is a political prisoner IMO. The idea of punishing people for using drugs or gambling or whatever is entirely contrary to the spirit of individualism this country was founded on.

I seem to remember something about everyone being supposed to have an equal right to "the pursuit of happiness". Well, some people pursue happiness by smoking marijuana, others like to play poker with their buddies. These people are in jail for disobeying laws that are completely unjust and should be disobeyed. What if the government regulated freedom of speech? Same thing.

[Expatriate]

Here's some lists of people alleged to be political prisoners or prisoners of conscience. Also some prisoners of war.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/...8/soffiyah.pdf
http://www.prisonactivist.org/pps+pows/
http://www.prisonactivist.org/pps+po...st-alpha.shtml
http://www.infoshop.org/prisons/publ...-01-01-8215711
http://www.voxfux.com/features/ameri...prisoners.html
http://www.thejerichomovement.com/prisoners.html

There are a lot of people imprisoned on what appear to be bogus charges in order to shut them up. This is sad, we are becoming more like China every day.

[FreeTraveler]

When half of what you earn is taken to finance projects that are contrary to your wishes under threat of violence, I think you qualify as a political prisoner.