I’m an inveterate walker. Since I happen to live in Berkeley, California, you wouldn’t be surprised that I see many bumper stickers warning us about losing our cherished freedoms and democratic liberties.

Some of my favorites are “Civil Liberties-don’t leave home without them!” “It’s 2006—Do you know where your civil liberties are?”

You expect this in Berkeley, but not in the mainstream media. Today, however, New York Times columnist Bob Herbert broke the mold and wrote what few journalists have been willing—or allowed--- to write: that the unprecedented secrecy and expanded executive power of the Bush administration could lead to a totalitarian government.

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