bush Policies Lead to Greater Brutalization of Citizens

posted by Bill Arnett @ 12:37 PM Permalink

Many problems created over the last years since bush has been in office are the direct result of bush policies that either directly or indirectly assume that brutal force must be used to control populations (as in Iraq), the use of assassination as a tool of government, the torturing of prisoners even long after their usefulness has passed, the spying upon and arresting of Americans for exercising their rights to assemble and their rights to free speech.

One of the chief lessons I have learned in life is that when the purported leaders of a country, police, or government espouse the use of the above-mentioned forms of violence and/or suppression of free speech and thought there will always be many others, especially those enraptured of power, to "follow the leader" no matter that that path might result in the destruction of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and other civil rights formerly enjoyed by every citizen.

We have all read the stories of free speech zones and arrests and incarceration of people violating those boundaries and attempting to speak freely. Everyone now knows that our government is spending billions and billions of dollars compiling dossiers on every American and creating databases of unconfirmed information, often from dubious sources. The "no-fly" list has amazingly increased from about five thousand names in 2001 to over 200,000 names in 2007, again often based on phony or false info (how else does Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the most easily recognizable politicians on the face of the planet find his name on a list of so-called "suspected terrorists"? The no-fly list is clearly being used as a way to inconvenience and delay service to political enemies of the White House.)

These cases are the only ones of which I am aware that demonstrate that the "trickle down" theory, which has proved to be a disastrous fiscal policy, does work to the detriment of all citizens as those policies of brutality seeps into the consciousness of police agencies that are happy to oblige the maladministrations increase of violence generally.

Here is an excellent example of this sycophantic thinking that violates societal norms and causes unnecessary violence to be used from the AP/HuffingtonPost Wires:

A day of mostly calm immigration rallies around the nation ended with a clash in Los Angeles where officers fired rubber bullets and used batons against demonstrators. Police promised to review the use of force.…Several people, including about a dozen officers, were hurt during skirmishes at MacArthur Park near downtown late Tuesday. About 10 people were taken to hospitals for treatment of injuries including cuts, authorities said. None of the injuries was believed to be serious.…The clash at MacArthur Park started after 6 p.m. when police tried to disperse demonstrators who had moved off the sidewalk onto the street. Authorities said several people of the few thousand still at the rally threw rocks and bottles at officers, who fired rubber bullets and used batons to push the crowd back onto the sidewalk.…"(Police) started moving in and forcing them out of the park, people with children, strollers," said Angela Sambrano, one of the rally's organizers.…Maria Elena Durazo, the executive secretary-treasurer at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, said the trouble was instigated by "a group of anarchists, not associated with the rally." She also criticized the police response, saying the rubber bullets were fired on a peaceful crowd with little warning.…Police Chief William Bratton said "certain elements of the crowd" started the disturbance, but the "vast, vast majority of the people who were here were behaving appropriately."…He promised an investigation to "determine if the use of force was appropriate."

Anyone who mistakenly believes rubber bullets don't cause harm have never been shot with one or seen the wounds that can result, especially on children, from their use. The rubber bullets can be quite lethal, as in causing fatalities, if they hit a person in the eye or other particular parts of the body, and no one can seriously claim that police firing indiscriminately into crowds of people including women and children in strollers are NOT taking an unjustifiable risk of inflicting serious or fatal wounds to everyone in the crowd, but especially the young, tender, easily injured babes in strollers.

And it just seems to me that there could be no more cowardly or brutal act that police can do that match opening fire on innocent women and children participating in lawful assembly to protest government actions.

Read the papers, follow the news, read and see for yourself how brutal police are being to American citizens, encouraged by the leadership of a brutal, cruel president and his minions whose belief in the use of torture and illegal confinement set the standard by example of their leadership.

Labels: Bush, civil rights, Crime, Freedom of speech, GOP, police state