three recent events show the true America. How sad we have become

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1) The 8th grader who just died in Florida - being shot after a friend told a teacher he had a gun. Police not permitting dad to talk to son. Police shooting a kid with a pellet gun.

2) the case of the deadly flashlight. An entire town put in to a defensive mode because a homeless guy dropped a flashlight. He remains in prison on trumped up charges.

3) A mentally ill man off his meds shot to death - again in Florida, because the TSA goon squad shoots first and asks questions second. No, third or fourth, after they concocted their bullshit cover story.

These three events are symptomatic of a deep problem which infects our country. It is getting worse, not better. The land of the free? Home of the brave? Bushllit. Neither applies anymore. Are we free? Is our mail searched, our cell phone tapped, our computers bugged and police used to follow suspicious anti-war groups like Peace Now, Quakers praying for peace and Students against War? And while it all continues to happen, America sits and watched the football playoffs. Actually, that is understandable. The truth is harsh, difficult to accept, and disrupts one's digestive system, if the truth be told, fully and honestly.

Home of the brave? Show us the color orange, and we rush out to buy duct tape. Threaten us with 9/11 in a presidential speech and people say they trust our president on terra. Claim that we are fighting a war on terra - fighting them there (?) so they won't bring their little nukulars over here, and people keep their mouths shut. Accuse war critics of a lack of patriotism, and people shut up. Demand that people put more religion in their lives, and even the cable news stations start saying god bless.
How did it ever come to this? Where is that famous American spirit? Brave discoverers, proud supporters of the constitution, rational lovers of freedom. Even our journalists have become administration cheerleaders, paid prostituts and religious messengers. Where is the real America? Where are the real Americans?

All gone.

We have become sheep, led by religious bigots, political thugs and forced to accept insane policies that are destroying the country. I will say something I have refused to say my entire life. SHAME on America.

Shame on us for letting it happen. Shame on me for voting for GWB in 2000, thinking that we needed adults in the white house. Boy, was I wrong, or what?

[bahrbearian]

1. "We have become sheep, led by religious bigots, political thugs "

Whats this WE shit?

[Old Vet]

2. You forgot the events in Pakistan,Thinking the same as you.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. good point. A very good point.

we are still not being told the truth.

If the CIA is now a killing force, what does that mean for our country's future?
There is no due process, no jury, no procedural protection, no evidenciary rules, nor right to see your accuser.
There is no return if the final decision is to stop someone's life.

Given the truly awful results we have seen, admittedly much of it due to Tenet and data mining by Cheney, now that that Florida congressman is turning the CIA into a political arm of the GOP and the White House, just how far can we trust their decisions to kill, capture, shoot missiles or rendition people in foreign lands?

[The Doctor.]

3. Very true.

Watched "Bullworth" again last night... very creepy, very prescient.
I highly recommend it.

[MellowOne]

4. Evil prevails

When good men do nothing....time to clean up our country.

[Nitrogenica]

5. A Country sick with fear. I am sooooo tired of it.

[samhsarah]

29. Great bumper sticker!!!!!!!

Where can I get one?:kick:

[Nitrogenica]

32. My wife is gonna post them on e-bay later today.

I'll give you a link when it's ready.

[samhsarah]

33. thanks! nt

[Nitrogenica]

34. Link

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7738117351&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

[DistressedAmerican]

6. I'll Agree On Number 2

#1 and 3 strike me as suicide by cop.

I know that is not a popular opinion around here. But, I saw the gun that kid had compared to the model it was designed to simulate. There was no way of telling them apart at a distance. If I was being threatened with it, I would want the cops to shoot. The Florida incident I feel much the same about. If I genuinely thought a deranged man has explosives, I would be tempted to shoot too.

It is way too easy to second guess these police action when you are not the one with the gun pointing at you or in blast range.

[bahrbearian]

11. Yet the cops had body armor, and were trained to kill,,even

though the kid fired no shots " from a pellet gun"? .." It is way too easy to second guess these police action when you are not the one with the gun pointing at you or in blast range."?/ Blast range? your with us or against US ? Blast Range really ? Another Summary Judgment ? No one was in danger, no-one!

[DistressedAmerican]

15. Does Body Armor Stop You From Getting Shot In The Head?

No one knew until it was over that it was a pellet gun. IUt was impossible to tell until the even was over. Body armor does not make you invincible. My advice to people it do not point guns at cops. Regardless of the type. especially when they look just like the real thing.

Yes blast range. Noone could have known with any degree of certaity that they guy did not have a bomb. they certainly did not know what the safe blast range was. It is all well and good to cry foul play after the fact when every detail has been investigated. It is a much harder call to make if you are the guy that thinks with good reason that he may be hurt or killed.

I'm sorry that they died. But both of these individuals brought this on themselves. Do not threaten cops. It rarely works out good.

The flashlight was just fucking stupid and irresponsible.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. Why didn't the SWAT team tear gas that kid?

They had him trapped. Why not throw a tear gas canister in that restroom and disable him instead of killing him?

[unblock]

12. #3 -- suicide by UNDERCOVER cop??

ANYONE in an official armed capacity should be trained to know that a bomb with a complete lack of physical evidence has a 99.8% chance of not existing, whether the guy is hallucinating or lying or trying to get shot or trying to commit evil, whatever. if someone has a real bomb, why on earth would he alert you to its presence yet not show it.

that case was ridiculous, and the suicide theory, when the tsa guys were undercover, is the most bizarre take on that case i've heard yet.

[DistressedAmerican]

16. He was undercover until they tried to apprehend him.

Pretty sure the act of trying to remove the guy pretty much blew his cover.

Yes, suicide by cop. Sad. I'll admit. But not the cops fault. He did not create the situation.

[unblock]

17. you're saying he created a situation, then tsa guys appeared

and then he decided to commit suicide?
so he had this plan cooking for, what, 2.5 seconds?

from what i understand, the guy freaked out and left the plane on his own, the tsa guys followed him into the jetway and shot him there, supposedly when he didn't follow orders, or did so in a way that made the tsa guys somehow think he was reaching for a completely hidden detonator.

you know, the funny thing is, i have a bipolar paranoid schizophrenic brother, and he imagines he sees bombs and such all the time. it's OBVIOUS that the bomb doesn't exist. the scenario for "shoot the crazy guy" just doesn't add up, unless you think all crazy people should be put on death notice and/or that tsa guys never screw up.

real, actual bombs are extremely rare, and it's even more rare for the guy with the detonator to run out of a plane still on the ground and run to the jetway to detonate it there, all the while ANNOUNCING that he has a bomb, yet demanding nothing. it's a bizarrely ridiculous story. the guy was obviously delusional, and anyone in a security position should know how to tell the nutcases from the mass murderers.

[CountAllVotes]

7. good thing you saw the light

and I'm not a member of the "we" group either. Never was, never even came close even once to being one of "them".

Too bad you voted for * in 2000. I'd be more ashamed if I had voted for * and would not admit it. For being forthright, I commend you.

It is time to take back our America and throw these crooks OUT ASAP!

:dem: :kick:

[bluestateguy]

8. You'll have to fill me in on the flashlight story

That's news to me.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. West coast, a few days ago.

A suspicious object was found in a Starbucks. The Authorities called it an IED, a domestic improvised explosive device, meant to spread terror and fear through out Starbucks everywhere. In fact, some GOPers cited the event as support for the Patriot Act recently at some fundraisers.


The Police brought a super pressured water cannon to "kill" the device.
It turned out to be a flashlight with a leaking battery.
The domestic terra-ist turns out to be a homeless man, probably a vet, who got coffee for 50c at that starbucks. They have concocted some trumped up charges while the authorities are wiping the embarrassment from their faces.

The case of the deadly flashlight.

[Sydnie]

13. #4 - We keep announcing that we have killed the number 2 guy

I am just amazed everytime I hear the words "we have killed" anybody, usualy said with such excitement and joy. but, the fact that they keep announcing that we have "killed the #2 guy", yet haven't been talking at all about the #1 guy, just infuriates me.

We now measure the sucess of our country by the people we kill.

[niallmac]

23. How many number one fathers, mothers,sisters, brothers, sons and daughters

have we killed trying to get the number 2 guy? Sometimes the stupid in this country is so thick I can hardly breathe.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. It is so sad and depressing

I do think people are waking up but we've been silenced by voting fraud and the corporate owned media that would like to brainwash us.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. I have been reading "1776," a new book about the American Revolution,

and thought about the courage those people had then, to revolt against what was at the time the most powerful country in the world and form a new government. Washington and Jefferson would be spinning in their graves if they knew what became of what they sacrificed so much to create, and what a bunch of chickenshit cowards many of their descendants turned into.

Benjamin Franklin supposedly was asked what kind of government had been created during the Constitutional Convention -- was it a republic or a monarchy? And Franklin answered, "A republic, if you can keep it." Looks like maybe we haven't been able to keep it because we haven't the guts to stick up for what we were given then. Are some of us -- those who aren't too afraid of "terraists" to give up our duct tape -- going to have to do it all over again?

[Redstone]

19. It's goddamned depressing, isn't it? You said it well.

Wish I could argue with you, because that would mean things aren't as bad as you say they are.

But I can't. You're right.

What's perhaps more depressing is the fact that the Gun Worshipers, even on DU (of all places) can think of no other reaction that to rush in to defend their Precious Sacred Objects.

Redstone

[f-bush]

20. Well said

I'm gonna kick this!

[scarletlib]

21. Great editorializing

May I suggest that you neaten up the grammar a bit and submit to your local newspapers?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

22. thank you. it was an emotion rush job. I will do just that.

[lonestarnot]

25. Do you really think bushitler didn't cheat in 2000? Don't you remember

who won that election?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

26. and we let that happen, as well.

More of the same symptom, only it has gotten worse with time.

Rarely did we see any video of the protesters, including those being pushed around by police when Bush first entered the white house grounds. Funny, that. It should have been on every TV, every news program, every front page.

[Gregorian]

27. This started long before 2000

This has nothing to do with Bush. I've been watching this phenomenon with great concentration. This became evident to me even before Reagan took office.

If I started giving example, you wouldn't get it. Maybe it takes someone like me to see it. It's little things. One by one. And small changes in personalities. Laws. Things that should have been rejected, but went accepted. Products. TV shows. Societal change in general. Very small things. But I saw it. We saw it. My circle of friends couldn't help but see it. And long ago. We used to sit around at night and marvel at how freakish people were starting to behave. All little things. You all are very lucky to just be seeing it now. Some of us have been creeped out and disgusted for over thirty years.

[Surya Gayatri]

31. You know Gregorian, I had

the same feeling all through the 80's. From the perspective of an ex-patriot living abroad, I began to notice those same "little things" you mention. Encroaching corporatism, now full-blown fascism. I was literally open-mouthed to read about what was happening under the Reagan regime, and kept wondering why nobody was speaking up. SG

[Surya Gayatri]

28. Touching and beautiful rant, anti

This passage really hit me between the eyes:

"How did it ever come to this? Where is that famous American spirit? Brave discoverers, proud supporters of the constitution, rational lovers of freedom. Even our journalists have become administration cheerleaders, paid prostituts and religious messengers. Where is the real America? Where are the real Americans?"

I'm especially impressed at your lucidity considering that you actually admit to voting for the BFEE in 2000! :thumbsup: SG

[samhsarah]

30. kick

:kick: