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If more citizens were armed as you have stated, then the police would shit their britches. Yes, and then the military units would move into place, like they do in any major riot or uprising. I live in S. Calif. and I have lived near the violence when the police cannot handle the violent uprising of the people and then they call in the National Guard. The guard arrives in full combat gear, tanks and all. Example, the Watts riots of 1965 and the so called Rodney King riots. They don't screw around, they shoot to kill and the whole damn mess turns into a war zone, not much different from Syria today. Have you ever been a war zone like Vietnam or even the local riots of the 60's? I doubt it because it isn't the troops or police that are "shitting their britches", it is the citizens being fired on. So be really careful what you wish for or fantasize about because death is the final and end solution in that game. Massive peaceful marches are the only way the citizens can get the point across to the politicians, boycotting of stores and goods produced by the corporations are the only sane way to win this battle. It worked for civil rights movement and it worked for the ending of the Vietnam War. Any nation that takes to the streets with armed renegades destroys itself in the rubble it creates. As far as the police go, show the world what they are doing and they will be dealt with by the powers that are in charge, especially if those politicians have to answer to the people during their next election, and they know that. That is why the Anaheim mayor is asking for a full investigation of what started the mini riots or uprisings in his city. He wants to be reelected, not removed and the police chief is in the same position. Creating jobs of all types for the masses of people is how you handle crime. Locking more and more people up only worsens the problems of civil uprisings, it has been proven that people would rather work then riot. But if we allow the police or the people in the position of running our local, state and federal governments to continue ignoring the social problems that created the uprisings, then and only then should violence be considered as a means to accomplish the changes needed and expected from their elected officials. We have seen the Middle East self-destroy (with our help) when violence is the only force used for change. And, because the powers that rule think they can maintain their status by ignoring the needs of the people and invoking violence against their own people too keep them inline, their destruction along with the end of their nation is the end result. The Middle East will be a place of death and war as long as the needs and wants of the people are only gained through violent uprisings..
Having a Black president was a great opportunity for us to bury the hatchet with the black race once and for all and prove that all of the races can live together peacefully. But it has backfired in rather dramatic style. Republicans have embarrassed the rest of us by absolutley refusing to work with Obama, black people are still being shot on the streets for being guilty of walking while black and now we hear that Mitt Romeny believes that being a white anglo saxon will make it easier for him to work with foreign countries like England.
This is all just very embarrassing and humiliating; we are not the believers in equality that we think we are and that some of us want us to be.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if riots bring down the entire town of Anaheim and how can you blame people for protesting the shooting of a suspect?
The proper procedure, in case anyone needs to be reminded is to put handcuffs on suspects, cart them off to jail where they will be tried in a court of law. Shooting people who are running away is totally unacceptable. The only time an officer is allowed to shoot a person is when his life is in danger. Clearly the crowd of mothers and infants did not pose that kind of risk and neither did the man running away.
The police are taking their job WAY too seriously. "To protect and to serve" has become "harasss and abuse". If you can't get a pair of handcuffs on a suspect then you do not belong in the police department.
Could it be a case of racial profiling by the police and they see this group of people more likely to be violent because they are Hispanic? We have seen this type of action against minorities in the past. What would have been the response of the police if the demonstraters were less confrontational? I know I have seen this type of violent response by the police even when the demonstrators were non violent, as with the students being pepper sprayed in a N. Calif. university and with the Wall St. protesters. It appears the police perceive any form of demonstration by the citizen population as a threat. I am not sure if it has anything to do with the political or financial problems we are having and perhaps more to do with the tactics the police of our nation employ in any situation where their authority is seen as being challenged. We seem to be living in a police state mentallity by the authorities in charge. I have been pulled over and had my papers checked(license, insurance, registration) because I was driving an older vehicle in an upper middle class neighborhood. I asked, was I pulled over because I am driving an older car and I fit your profile to be checked and her answer was YES....and I am a white, middle aged man. So I guess they profile everyone that doesn't fit their idea of who should be their neighborhood....and race is only one of the ways we are profiled by the authorities in charge....Damn crazy way to run a nation and it seems fear is the only logical reason why the police do what they do.....
The self described Risk-Takers certainly have achieved one thing on their own....they've made society more violent and much more risky for everyone but themselves.
The real Risk-Takers are those who take out a school loan, mortgage, car loan, and decide to start a family.There is always the risk that some piggish jackass will come along........ loot their workplace.......set up an illegal 100 million dollar 401K for himself...... and leave all of the real Risk-Takers jobless.
Honestly I think that Citizen's United is going to win Romney the presidency and a repub majority in the senate. They will pass the Paul Ryan budget and.......scenes like this in Anaheim are going to become an everyday event all over the country. I hope that I am wrong, but I think the CU decision was huge. But in the long run it may be the necessary medicine for those of us that have been disenfranchised by the system to be desperate enough to put together some serious opposition to the present status quo. If that's what it takes to move quicker towards a more evolved system of democratic socialism, than so be it. Just my two cents.
Thanks for all you do Thom, Lois, and company
Ya worried about government armed take over!!!???? Here in America? What joke.
While you've been closely guarding your precious gun the money has already bought and sold America several times over.
Don't worry your gun is perfectly safe, no one is going to take it away, they don't need to, they already OWN you.
There are some Miami Metro neighborhoods where the threat of an inevitable riot is the way the residents protect themselves from being shot while just walking home from the Qwik Stop looking too black. When the police shoot a "suspect" in the back or unarmed, the community has no qualms about rising up, getting religious leaders on the pulpit, politicians bewailing their cause, and creating a media frenzy.
The Tourist Authority and Chamber of Commerce do not want these views of Miami to get around, and past riots in Liberty City have shown that if an unjustified shooting takes place, it's not going to be let go and soon forgotten.
" all signs that our system of vulture capitalism, free-trade Reaganomics, and Republican Austerity are pushing our nation to the brink. Dangerous times may be ahead."
I certainly agree with that statement!!! It would just be very nice if instead of the violence being located in areas where you probably wouldn't find the people that are responsible for our perilous times, the people need to move it all to the door steps of the ruling elite...wherever they are...wherever they live. Take it to Washington DC...right on the steps of the Capital.
The ruling elite send out their useful idiot puppets to quell dissent in the streets and they only, perhaps, read about it or watch it on the news. They don't have to worry. I suppose they may even think to themselves..."Better they kill them over there (in the streets) than on my front door step...or in my home!"
I'd bet more than a few policemen would sh!t their britches if the citizens were all armed themselves.
Straight up folks? as i posted elsewhere earlier. there is a school that shall be nameless that by petition will now be turned over to the parents to become a charter school. the article about the school also mentioned the unbeliveably low test scores in said school. once again it is the blame game as a group of parents, who in my opinion are equally responsible for the teaching of thier children, are looking for a scape goat. Teaching begins in the home!!! ignorance breeds stupidity, murder mayhem and incivility the job of the teacher is to help develope the mind of young people but when you have ethnic groups of "all" colors who certain sub groups therin have scarce little knowledge or education on community responsibility, respect and seemingly an underlying contempt for the law, three things rarely taught in school anymore, then you will inevitably have an angry mob, ill informed and stuck in an ignorant culture of thinking. I've listened to at least 3 talk show hosts this week blathering about this issue all of them being so safe as to not truly address the issue as boiling down to ignorance. Me? personally? I'm actually sick of my tax dollars being wasted on jailing gangster, gang bangers and thugs only let them back out on the street just to continue bad mouthing the citizen as well as the law and thinkig they can get away with it. if in fact those parents in sub cultures within each ethnic group that have such low scoring students and drop outs did the job of parenting and proper guidance in conjunction to the school teacher then maybe instead of it getting worse it might get better. but to put it on the cops? sure these days cops are a bit over reactive but hey if the dude didn't have anything to hide or run for? dude should not be running. We have become an ill society where more and more the touble makers are getting away with more and more at the expense of the tax payers. so what is the solution? starve 'em prison and let them know what punishment really is? Maybe cops are just fed up. I know i am. 3 busted out windows in cars on my way to work the other day. some punk walking the night thinking how cool it might be to destroy someone elses property....Get it?
Hey Thom...
I've got an idea I've been thinking about for awhile, and I would like to introduce it to you. I unsuccessfully tried to call the Ed Schultz Show, so I decided to send it to you via your blog. Strangely enough, my idea was precisely something you mentioned minutes ago. Weird...
My thought is based on an article I read following the Wisconsin recall election that was written by Jeremi Suri (apparently written just prior to the election). The article is about both sides of the argument living in their own "echo chambers," and how we're going to have to transcend those chambers in order to move beyond our current state. As an outspoken free-thinker who can't argue with ENOUGH folks day-in, day-out, I too often feel trapped myself as I listen to many progressive programs and recognize the same, albeit more frightening, homogenous "circle-jerk" whenever I tune in to see what the enemy is up to.
We've got 3 1/2 months to do all we can to help the President get re-elected keep the Democratic majority in the Senate and if at all possible gain control of the House. As I sit and listen to your show, Ed's show, Rachel Maddow, etc., I can't help but think we're all just treading water, sharing our frustrations and working each other into a justifiale lather. Alas, most of us will then go home pissed off, not knowing what to do and take it out on our unsuspecting family members and our television sets; only to wake up the next day, hit the reset button, and head off to work with our hands at our sides and our mouths shut. I know, I know... what's your plan dude?
Okay, to my plan... get together with all of your fellow progressive radio, tv & print movers & shakers and reinstitute the "program callers" initiative among us progressives. I've thought about this for a while, and would love to help set up templates. My thoughts are: bring only one idea/question to challenge the host, write down your points prior to making the call and continue to ask the same, well-thought-out question repeatedly.
Where your influence could help would be in networking with other powerful progressive voices and providing facts & arguments many good, naive citizens are unaware of, like the Bane "troubled youth" story told on Ed's show today. The program could begin calling shows and attempt to get on honestly, but if that fails... and it probably would; as Malcolm X once said, we will infiltrate their echo chamber "by any means necessary." It may seem dishonest and/or "below" some progressives, but I say this is not the time for playing nice. We have been far too nice for far too long; it makes me feel as if the majority of American people are simply scared, and don't know what to do. Now is the time to give them another choice...
That is all for now... I hope you get this and think it's worthy of a mention on your show and/or with your fellow progressive voices.
Thanks for your time, and have a great day.
Peace,
Erik
Glad to see you are fighting back in an intelligent and well informed manner....good work...
What the World Trade Center Building Designers Said: Before and After 9/11
[before 911]:
"A previous analysis [by WTC building designers], carried out early in 1964, calculated that the towers would handle the impact of a 707 traveling at 600 mph without collapsing."
[Early 1984 through October of 1985]:
However, O'Sullivan consults one of the trade center's original structural engineers, Les Robertson, on whether the towers would collapse because of a bomb or a collision with a slow-moving airplane. He is told there is little likelihood of a collapse no matter how the building was attacked."
[1993]:
[Building designer] John Skilling recounts his people having carried out an analysis which found the twin towers could withstand the impact of a Boeing 707. Our analysis indicated the biggest problem would be the fact that all the fuel (from the airplane) would dump into the building. There would be a horrendous fire. A lot of people would be killed. But, he says, "The building structure would still be there".
"The buildings have been investigated and found to be safe in an assumed collision with a large jet airliner (Boeing 707 or DC 8) traveling at 600 miles per hour. Analysis indicates that such collision would result in only local damage which could not cause collapse or substantial damage to the building and would not endanger the lives and safety of occupants not in the immediate area of impact." However, besides this paper, no documents are known detailing how this analysis was made."
note: These 911 planes, while not 707s, were traveling at much slower speeds of about 400 mph.
[2001]:
[Leslie Robertson:] "The twin towers were in fact the first structures outside the military and nuclear industries designed to resist the impact of a jet airplane."
[Frank A. Demartini:] "The building was designed to have a fully loaded 707 crash into it. That was the largest plane at the time. I believe that the building probably could sustain multiple impacts of jetliners because this structure is like the mosquito netting on your screen door -- this intense grid -- and the jet plane is just a pencil puncturing that screen netting. It really does nothing to the screen netting." Frank A. Demartini, on-site construction manager for the World Trade Center, spoke of the resilience of the towers in an interview recorded on January 25, 2001.
[Sept 3-7, 2001..just before 911]:
The Boeing 707 was the largest in use when the towers were designed. [Leslie] Robertson conducted a study in late 1964, to calculate the effect of a 707 weighing 263,000 pounds and traveling at 180 mph crashing into one of the towers. [Robertson] concluded that the tower would remain standing. However, no official report of his study has ever surfaced publicly.
[After 911]:
Go to the web site to read everything said after 911...
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/210207designers.htm
...and remember the tremendous pressure brought to bear on anyone immediately after 911...the patriotic fervor and subsequent "witch hunts". Some may have realized, right away, that this was a demolition done by powerful people within our country. And one's life just might be in danger if you say the wrong things.
Here's another web site by an engineer whose design architectural firm that worked on the design of, from 1970 to 1972, the WTC buildings. He also has some original photos of the construction.
This engineer is saying that if any floor structural support in any quadrant..or even half, failed, it would have asymmetrically failed...ie: instead of pancaking straight down...would have tilted over. He said that the buildings had massive, over-designed internal structures.
http://www.the-office.com/pancakecollapse.htm
How much easier would it have been for those citizens in countries like Libya, Egypt, and now Syria to overthrow their corrupt and evil ruling regimes had they all had weapons...ie: guns? Had every citizen had a gun it would have made the ruling regimes a little less oppressive. I believe the succeeding French governments always had it in the back of their minds, since the mass beheadings during the French Revolution, that they had better not tick off the populace too much.
You respect and/or fear those who have the capacity to kill you. Since the government has most of the guns we are all at their mercy. They don't fear us. We fear them. Just as it was in Libya, Egypt, Syria, and a whole lot of other places where a few arrogant a$$holes, with all the firepower, can bully people into submission.
It is supposed to be different here in America. We are supposed to have democracy but, in reality, it is not a democracy...a corrupt democracy is not a real democracy at all. It is no better than what they had in Egypt or elsewhere.
When our country wants to overthrow the regimes in other countries, most likely for some "strategic" reason or just because a few ruling elite in the US wants to profit on their raw materials or cheap labor, they used to send in our armed forces...still do..but they also use another tact...fomenting internal strife and dissent...and providing weaponry and other assistance to the dissidents.
An organization that sounds liberal and progressive, International Center for Nonviolent Conflict, is actually an organization that foments dissent in those countries the US wants to dominate.
"Overthrow Inc.: Peter Ackerman’s quest to do what the CIA used to do, and make it seem progressive"
Posted on March 5, 2012
http://prolecenter.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/overthrow-inc-peter-ackerman...
This outrageous legislation would establish egg factory CAGES as a national standard that could never be challenged or changed by state law or public vote. Instead of outlawing cages, this crazy measure would outlaw the BANNING of cages. That is why it is being pushed by the egg industry itself! The Stop the Rotten Egg Bill (http://www.StopTheRottenEggBill.org) campaign is getting it right. Check it out. This bill would stop cage-free laws dead in their tracks and take away our voting rights!
Michelle Bachmann is the perfect cure for Homosexuality. Can we get her to provide therapy for all Gays? Look what good she did for her husband. I'm pretty sure he's been and would continue to be Gay would it not for Michelle....What a psycho woman. Facts be damned. There isn't a wild conspiracy theory she won't embrace.
Way to go, Idaglia!!! That was really great!!! I hope others do the same.
A lot of long respnses here, so I'll keep mine short. The Patriot Act is unconsitutional period. It's a direct violation of our rights under the Constitution, so why doesn't SCOTUS throw that law out?
Poll taxes? I thought those were against the constitution? At least the amendment I read, but don't recall when it was passed, but suspect it was prior to the 1950's.
I wonder if the suspicious chatter algorithm includes key words related to domestic economic terrorism....acts such as utilizing off shore bank accounts for massive tax evasion and the outsourcing of jobs.
I don't know how anyone could terrify a citizen more than creating the threat of loss of job, home, healthcare, retirement savings, and paid for social safety nets....... which is exactly what the end result of behavior of guys like Romney is doing. In fact it's no longer just a threat, it's the reality of what is actually happening...FEUDALIZATION of the economy!... Will our Big Brother stand up and look out for the best interests of the 99.999%?
So, I am a latina that ends up voting at a predesignated posh republican retirement community.
At the last election, I was suspiciously (if you could have seen the triple sneer on this senior citizen volunteer) asked for my photo ID. So, in conservative Virginia, I decided to create a scene that brought in the voting staff's manager, the retirement communities' manager, and the security officer (a black man). I shot back with, "Not until you show me your photo ID that authorizes you to ask the same from me. After all, why would I let an unauthorized volunteer violate the Privacy Information Act (PIA) that protects me?"
TO THE VOTING STAFF MANAGER: "How do I know you aren't a commie fascist? Are you a republican? 'Yes.' Well then, you folks have chosen the color RED as the conservative's mask . . . put a single gold star on it and what do you have?
No,! no! no! You want photo verification of my identity? Then do it the right way . . . renew all voter registration cards with photo IDs across the board to make it equal. This half ass shit doesn't work with me. So, until then show me her authorizations that allow her to ask for my photo ID in public while violating PIA.
THE SECURITY OFFICER: While trying to pipe me down, backed-off when I mentioned PIA. He turned to the staff manager and told her, "She has a point regarding the Privacy Information Act. Show her the volunteer's authority. They could not furnish a signed agreement so they let me through to vote without showing my ID.
On the way out, the security officer asked me, "Are you for real on the Privacy Information Act?" My response, "Don't know, all I had to do was scare the shit out of her. If that didn't work then I'd have humbled myself and shown my ID. Try it next time you vote. And, make sure you also wear the uniform . . . you'll feel good . . . and, it will start a trend with those that follow."
Thom,
As a vegan, I want to know how far you think we should go to protect animals? I know you're a vegetarian or vegan yourself. Radical as it may sound, shouldn't we be thinking more as a society about making it illegal to murder another sentient being? Shouldn't it be illegal to kill and eat animals? Why tip toe around this topic about supporting small farms, etc as if they don't also cause harm to animals? And why no mention about factory farming (whether corporate or ma and pa) being the single greatest contributor to global warming/climate change? Banning animal farming would be the most effective way to reverse the harmful effects of climate change. So what are we waiting for? It's all or nothing and not a topic that should be politicized. Scientists know what needs to be done. So why aren't we following that advice?
Thanks for all you do Thom!
As to the remarks of those others, in particular, my response is a bored, "whatever." The Supreme Court has succeeded in neutering the voting rights of all Americans except those of the very, very wealthy, those who can buy our elections. Our founders are spinning in their graves, while we are trying to figure out how to take back the vote, for we the people.
My mother was a lifelong political activist. She and her "fellow" League-of-Women-Voters members, unpaid poll-watchers all, dug into their own pockets to pay the poll taxes for the folks who otherwise would not have been able to vote ($0.50 per voter in the early-to-mid '50s in northern Virginia). By the way, the polling places were the schools, closed statewide on Election Day! What better way to teach children the importance of voting?!
The League members also organized among themselves a pool of drivers to drive car-less people to the polls. When my father returned home after a politically-charged day at the Pentagon, and after voting (of course), he and my mother openly discussed the nuances of the current election while preparing dinner, thus providing daily civics lessons to my brothers and me. There was something about those discussions, their underlying fervor, perhaps, that caught our attention and the message has remained with us. I took up the challenge when my children were small by inviting them into the voting booth with me and showing them how to use the machine (mechanical, in those days), and teaching them the significance of having placed their vote when they pulled the lever, followed up with watching the election-night returns, and they "got" it!
In the Spring of 1992 Bill Clinton's campaign headquarters opened in Montclair (NJ). At that time the electorate of our township was 89% Democratic (what a treat)! My "children," then young men aged 14 and 17, walked past the Clinton headquarters every day on their way home from school, and before long they both volunteered to do phone-banking after school (with absolutely no urging from me)--I am still proud of them for that!
As they were doing their part by telephoning prospective voters while I was driving home from work, I asked how I could help and they mentioned that the campaign needed volunteers to drive people to the polls on election day—a song with a chord familiar to me :-). I signed up, of course, took the day off from work and drove people all day and into the evening. And Bill won on the wave of the collective effort of everyone in this country who found him refreshing and was enchanted by his optimism. I was first enchanted at hearing him interviewed, with Hillary, on NPR in Oct '91. When I heard that interview, driving home in the dark from a job working for the president of a company being outsourced to West Virginia (at that time the states were competing for the manufacturing resources in this country), I was enthralled and thought, "Now THAT is someone I can vote for!!"
Years later (in 2003), I met him on a London-to-JFK flight (I wish I could find the photos right now, but NOT)—while shaking hands with him in the bulkhead of between Business and First(I was obviously pleased!) I told him how much I admired him and stated, “Not only did I VOTE for you twice, I drove OTHER PEOPLE to the polls to vote for you both times!!” To which he responded by asking, “Where are you from,” and when I told him “Montclair, New Jersey” he grinned widely and exclaimed, “You didn’t just VOTE for me twice, y’all ELECTED me twice!!” Biggest thrill of my life, even bigger than being hoisted up from the lawn by Adlai Stevenson when I was 5! :-)
The book also provides a attractive glimpse into life in France before the uprising, spider man turn off the dark tickets and of the requirement to put the good of the society before personal needs and requests. He flees to Paris with Cosette where she grows to be beautiful and falls in love with an separated student named Marius.discount mary poppins tickets
Conspiracy theorists, backing of the KKK, taking our guns away and waiting for the next civil war, and Obama is the boogey man taking away our rights and those of you who think we should carry guns in public. Not to mention Thom showing how the government is spying on everyone in their e-mails and phone calls. All the nuts are not in the jar after reading the comments of people living in fear. Do any of you remember when the Russians were the bad guys and we had to duck and cover in our school classrooms? I guess those were the good old days, when the world was on the brink of mass extinction! Wow, I guess it is time to stock up on ammo and wait for the federal troops to kick in the door….And of course there is no threat of radical Muslims plotting to launch another attack, because it was the government that took the buildings down in New York, especially after the architect who designed the buildings said there was a single flaw that helped bring down the towers. The design defect was that the buildings were designed with the structural skeleton on the outside and not the traditional method of having the main support beams in the inside to support the separate floors. Causing the pancaking of the floors one on top of the other, or was he bribed to lie about his building…Oh yes, this country would be in great shape if we still hated each other based on skin color and the KKK still ruled the South. And the rich want us to go to the state of civil war in this country to hide what they are doing too destroy the American way of life. Could it be the bastards are just plain greedy and have figured out ways to defraud the whole damn World. You do realize the derivatives were sold all over this planet, not just to us poor Americans. The banks on Wall St. have schemed for decades on ways to defraud the world out of their money. The Fed. Reserve has been headed up by ex-Wall St. Executives for decades, not just the last few years, giving them an even greater ability to cover up their crimes. And the government of our country just has not figured out a way to protect us from the crazy Muslim radicals, so they spy on everyone, that I believe to be true. Obama is a rightwing democrat and has taken some of our civil rights away, because he listens to asses who think it is the only way to protect us and it could be the military-industrial complex wants to keep us nervous so we keep buying weapons we do not need. My friends it all comes down to basic greed and power grabbing by our President and politicians who want to retain their positions at any cost. But to cry the sky is falling, the sky is falling and all is lost is a losing mind set. If I woke up every morning believing what you do, I guess I would be paranoid too. The World and our present economic situation have been worse and we still found our way out, to a better world. And, I believe we will finally take the politicians and banksters by the balls and demand change. Hopefully there will be real changes in the laws that give the crazies 6000 rounds of ammunition and swat military gear over the internet, while still giving Americans the right to bear arms in their homes, just not weapons that can hold a 100 round mag., and are capable of turning assault weapons into killing machines for the nuts out there. It is proven living in continual fear leads to a state of paranoia, where everyone and every entity is out to get them and there to destroy what we have built as a society, get some therapy and good medications. As far as Thom goes, he makes his living bring up the most disturbing facts of life too keep everyone coming back for more the next day! Good work buddy, it appears by the ranting’s of your viewers, it is working……….