It's another instance of abuse of people who speak out against the government, for whatever reason. They silence critics and find various ways of punishing them.

That's one reason there's so much drug abuse: people are not shown other ways to alter their consciousness. All we have is the mall and the video rental shop; that's our cultural experience, our museums.

Silence, too, can be torture.

He has embarrassed the government. By continuing as minister without portfolio he has earned himself a price for silence.

The reason we've shifted to deficit spending is largely due to a shift from very robust economic growth and a booming stock market into a recession. The bottom line is, I'm not particularly concerned.

We continue to see undeniable evidence that abuse and torture has been widespread and systematic, yet high level government officials have not been held accountable for creating the policies that led to these atrocities.