Back in the day, a bunch of protesters were, well, protesting, and a politician named Nixon had the National Guard called out (by a crony of his), loaded weapons and all. Here’s what happened:
Nobody needs automatic weapons pointed at them when they are exercising their First Amendment rights. No one deserves that. And no ethical politician should EVER make that their option of first resort.
” Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. ”
Mr. Blunt and Cranky
They are upset about oppression, a non-responsive and discriminatory government, and taxation without representation. Yes, that is correct. The good people of Ferguson we see out there picketing and marching may not be dressed like, say, George Washington, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson; but their complaints are eerily like the ones identified in the Declaration of Independence.
Here is a good article on the matter. Ferguson is making up for revenue shortfalls by levying burdensome taxes and fees upon the populace; said charges not having the consent of the governed:
Traffic fines are the St. Louis suburb’s second-largest source of revenue and just about the only one that is growing appreciably. Municipal court fines, most of which arise from motor vehicle violations, accounted for 21 percent of general fund revenue and at $2.63 million last year, were the equivalent of more than 81 percent of police salaries before overtime.
And the fees are applied in a discriminatory manner, much like what King George did back in the 1770’s:
“If you’re black, they’re going to stop you,” the study quoted one traffic defendant as saying.
In 2013, 86 percent of all Ferguson police traffic stops involved black drivers, the largest share since the Missouri Attorney General’s Office began tracking the data in 2000. According to 2010 U.S. Census data, the city is 63 percent black and 34 percent white.
Got it? The local government is a minority oppressing the majority, and doing so via corrupt, discriminatory and violent means. Just like what sparked the American Revolution. The differences are minor when compared with the similarities.
And just like the American colonists, the people of Ferguson aren’t asking for anything unreasonable: to be treated fairly, have their rights respected, and to have a voice in how they are taxed by the government. Unfortunately, the local administration is likewise resembling its historical counterpart and therefore refusing to change its corrupt and mendacious ways. No way this is gonna end well.
If you repeat the mistakes of the past, you’ll repeat the consequences of those past mistakes. There may not be many powdered wigs to be seen on the streets of Ferguson: but then, when s*** was getting real back in 1776, not many of the American Revolutionaries were wearing them out in the streets, either.
Mr. Blunt and Cranky (whose ancestors were here before the revolution in 1776)
Another day, another lying, anti-ObamaCare hit piece. This one on NPR, “showing” how it would hurt Dems in the next election. Lots of readers would be surprised to hear that NPR is participating in the anti-ACA witch-hunts that litter the mediascape like so many bloated buzzards, because NPR is supposedly a “liberal” outlet. But that is no longer the case, and hasn’t been for quite some time.
The truth is, 95% of the American “news” media is neither liberal nor conservative: they are driven by revenue, not ideology. NBC and Fox, for example, get paid by their advertisers and owners to put out stories that make more people watch their networks, because that makes more money for them. NPR does the same thing, except they call their paymasters “underwriters”. Same thing, different labels.
Back in the day (the 60’s and the 70’s), we used to say, “remember who the real enemy is”: it wasn’t the soldiers or the National Guard, it was the politicians and Military-Industrial Complex that gave the orders. Orders meant to increase the wealth and power of a very few, at the expense of the rest of us. So it was then, so it has always been, and so it is now. The real enemy is the class of powerful, wealthy, power-hungry motherf***ers who manipulate our politicians and media outlets in order to manipulate us.
“Remember who the real enemy is”. It is a truth that bears repeating. And this writer was pleased to hear it in the Dystopian allegory du jour (“The Hunger Games”), because a helluva lot of people need reminding. Generations of humans have been herded like cattle, and used in much the same way. We are NOT cattle, however; and we needn’t and shouldn’t compliantly chew our cud, being used up and milked of all our resources while we live, and eventually getting it where the livestock gets it.
Whenever you hear the “news” media harping on a single theme in near-unison, you can bet someone is paying for that chorus to sing those notes and recite those lyrics. Maybe the lyrics are lies, maybe they are selected bits of truth, but they are all chosen to deliver the message of our enemy. And that enemy has no single skin color, political affiliation, location, sexual orientation or gender: it is defined only by its ruthless rapacity and relentless creativity in fooling the foolish, gulling the gullible, and screwing the screwable.
And the Media take their silver and play their scripted part, making them (if not the enemy themselves), at least the willing accomplices of that enemy.
Tomorrow: trickle-down economics, and how successful it has been in robbing and dividing us.
Mr. Blunt and Cranky
bluntandcranky 