The apparent apathy of the crowd in the video scared me. In my student days [back in the 70's] there would have been a riot! There would have been calls of Police Brutality, and Bullyboy Tactics, followed by protests in the streets.

The tacit acceptance of the police action was frightening. Here is a nation that is now afraid to speak out for fear [yes - fear] of being labelled “unpatriotic”. Shades of Germany in the 30’s?

It is scary. It is all scary. To someone that knows how to read the signs, there is definitely a feeling of foreboding over the entire country. Brainwashing is at its worst - I experienced it on an island called Guam; ostensibly, it is “Where America’s Day Begins.” In truth, it is a bastion of the American military; the locals faced cultural genocide at the hands of the Americans for the past century, yet to this very day they celebrate their “liberation” from Japan. The Liberation Day parade’s theme was “Celebrating Freedom.” It was really horrible to watch.

I left the States because I saw no good there. I remember my freshman year of college, standing in a common area watching the “War on Terror” begin - ironically, I was terrified. I happen to be from the Midwest, the most narrow-minded region of America - tellingly, the KKK makes its headquarters there. You’d better believe that, in the Midwest, these are people that aren’t just brainwashed, they truly believe in the rhetoric.

I’m now in Japan and, as I watch that video of the kid (jackass) getting tasered, I can only think that I’m seeing the fruit of the Patriot Act: the death of the Bill of Rights.
I know that there are rules for symposia, &c., and people have made the point that the kid was a jerk - but to watch police go from passive and arms-crossed to grabbing someone? There was no warning. The kid was absolutely right to shout, “Why are you doing this? What have I done?”

It was a lame line to put in a movie, but Luke Skywalker’s mom made a good point when she said, “So this is how liberty dies - to thunderous applause.”

I can’t wait to move to Wales and renounce my American citizenship.

Whatever the cause of the collapse, it came at a very convenient time for Bush.

Why did my last post come up with Brianf as its name?

[No idea! You must have entered his name instead of yours. I fixed it anyway. GD]

It is not foreign pinkoes that are bankrupting your country, it’s the disastrous policies of the Bush Government. 44%of US debt is now in foreign hands, Japan and China holding over $1 trillion between them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt#Structure_of_the_debt

Nor is it pinkoes who will bring about the eclipse of the US as a major economic power, it is the rampant free market capitalism of China and India.

America now is where Britain was in the late 1940s, militarily still a global power, but economically bankrupt.

Look at the facts and forget preconceived notions based on labels.

America [and by that, I mean the administration, not the people] has lost all credibility in the world. It holds its head up as the leaders of freedom and democracy. It condemns harsh regimes and dictatorships. It shouts about human rights.

Yet we see self evident contradictions to this every day.
The American media is heavily biassed, if not actually censored. Post 2001, the public were whipped up into a state of near hysteria, where they were prepared to accept virtually anything. Laws were passed which effectively leading America towards a totalitarian state.

Of course, it is all done in the name of “Freedom”.

As has been pointed out above, there are many lessons from history that give us non-Americans grave cause for concern.

Here we have a man who is elected under dubious circumstances. He starts a war on a country for no reason whatsoever, other than he claims it is a “brutal regime”. There is no evidence of links with the attacks of 2001. There is no evidence of links with Al Qaida. Why did he start the war?

Zimbabwe is in a state of crisis at the moment. Robert Mugabe is a dictator who is starving his people and murdering any opposition. The American response to this? “We do not interfere in internal matters“. Not that I would want the U.S. to have anything to do with it. It is none of their business. Just as the situation in the rest of the world is none of their business.

America is the self appointed guardian of freedom in the world. The administration even goes so far as to refer to the president as “the leader of the free world”. As a citizen of Ireland and Europe, I think I have more liberty that any American. My phones are not tapped nor my e-mails read in the name of “Homeland Security”. I can speak my mind without being tazored. I can move freely throughout Europe without disclosing personal details, other than those that are on my passport. My elections are open and undisputed [even if I don't like the outcome]. If there is a whiff of corruption, then the accused are held accountable.

Doc has eloquently given a closer viewpoint than I can. Thank you for that, Doc.

I see very few comments above that go in any way to ease my disquiet.

You do, however, seem a bit off your meds: have another vicodin and ditto on back to Rush’s place and double-check todays’ talking points…we can wait.

When you come back we will taser your ass: we will agree afterward that it was, perhaps, an excessive action to take but necessary, what with all your LOUD TYPING and disruptive use of exclamation marks!!! wjen other folks were having some quite discourse…