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They
say that the difference between how democracy in Europe has
evolved compared to that of the United States is that in Europe the government
is afraid of the People, whereas in the United States the
People are afraid of the government. That's a dangerous
state of affairs and it looks like it's getting worse.
It's not only a matter of who we vote for... it's a matter of
how well informed we are when we do vote... and Americans
now are notorious for not being nearly as well informed as are
the citizens of many other countries. And it appears
that we Americans don't
really think very deeply about the range of choices that are
or are not available to us... and that just might be a
fatal mistake.
The videos below
are indicative of the evolving trend and consciousness of law enforcement in
our nation. And it's our 'Shock and Awe' government, with
its penchant for gratuitous and unconscionable violence — and
our
refusal to hold them accountable — that is reshaping the
nature of civil liberties going forward in this, our 'land
of the free and home of the brave.'
When we
allow fear and force to dominate the way in which our
government deals with people we don't know... we open the door
to despotism, for surely when we fail to protect the
legitimate rights of any group or person, we
sow the seeds of our own destruction. Take a look at
these videos if you want to know what is happening to civil
liberties in our country and elsewhere. I guess for some
members of our community, this is not news at all.
Apparently local law
enforcement officers are now being trained to treat
citizens in a manner similar to the way military personnel were trained to treat
Guantanamo prisoners. Our
government doesn't seem to care anymore what we think...
except maybe during an election year and even then, not so
much.
And like the military, many police officers who have been trained to just follow orders, are
doing just that...just
following orders. These videos are very disturbing to
watch. Do not view them unless you are prepared to be
upset.
Everything
by the book...?
Part 1: http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=53707&bw=
Part 2: Follow
up Part 3: Follow
up Part 4: Follow
up
Our silence
and indifference to the plight of others is what allows this
kind of thing to happen. We probably won't get a better
wake up call than this. No doubt bad public relations
will force this kind of evidence into dark corners. The
question is, will we wake up, or will we
remain silent until something like this happens to someone we know and care about... or maybe to a lot of people
we care
about?
And there's
the larger issue too: will we continue to allow our
government to inflict this kind of treatment on people who are
not part of our culture? If other people are not treated
with the same level of respect and dignity with which we
ourselves would hope to be treated, then we can be sure that
sooner or later, our government will treat us the same way
they treat others... The current state of affairs is
unconscionable... look into your crystal ball... what do you
see... ?:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19422.htm
http://www.youtube.com/v/fQnv2H4uv08&rel=1
http://www.gpln.com/followingorders.htm
http://www.gpln.com/howiseeit.htm
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