At the November protests against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations, Police Chief John Timoney and the Bush administration’s Department of Homeland Security launched a violent assault on American democracy. With $8.5 million supplied from the famous $87 billion allocated for the War on Terror, thousands of officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department and several federal agencies,… return to article
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Reader Comments (14)Page 1 of 1 pagesThe act of “X-clusion of pro American supporters, and the Inclusion of pro Bush supporters as shown on CBS’s evening news this last week, is another great example of the real intent of the Republican Party and it’s supporters. The dismantling of the US Constituition and the installation of the tenants of “MEIN KAMPF”!!! The major differance between Bush and Hitler is the fact that Hitler wasn’t an IDIOT!
Posted by Bill Schultz on Dec 5, 2003 at 4:43 PM Unfortunately Bill, Bush is not an idiot. Or at least he has been smart enough to surround himself with smart and dangerous people. Kudos to In These Times for allowing myself and others to see the truth of events. It scares me to realize that mainstream network media are now puppets of the government party-line. The great majority of Americans recieve their “information” from these outlets and do not realize they are being fed half-truths and lies. “Embedding” reporters should be used ONLY for physical protection of journalists in a real combat situation, NOT as a political favor between government and media as it has been. Miami and the other protests were NOT real combat situations (although the cops really tried to make it that). “Embedding” journalists with police at protests should raise a warning signal to us all and be a cause of alarm and concern to anyone who values American freedom and democracy and wants these values to become real instead of myths to placate the masses. Feedback anyone?
Posted by Brian Siefke on Dec 5, 2003 at 11:24 PM Ms. Moothart’s, “Goon’s Over Miami”, is well written and she appears to have her facts straight - except for the reference to the “...$87 billion allocated for the War on Terror,”. Shouldn’t that be, $87 billion allocated for the reconstruction of Iraq?
Posted by Gary Kimball on Dec 6, 2003 at 12:28 AM Why should I, a Canadian citizen be interested in the above? Well, I am because what happens in the United States inevitably become something that happens in Canada.
Now that Canada has been pressured into the “security fold” we are likely to see repeats of what happens when Freedom to congregate, or to protest goes out the window in favor of those who rule and are in turn ruled by Big Business Interests.
As for the author using the fact that X number of millions have been syphoned off to doing exactly what the author has stated...is certainly well known in the media and in Canada. She told no lies.
Posted by Frances Greenfield on Dec 6, 2003 at 11:33 AM So Bill, are you saying that those who support Bush don’t support America? And those who are against Bush support America? Yeah, right, Osama and Saddam are bigs fans or America.
Thats funny, how you said “The major differance between Bush and Hitler is the fact that Hitler wasn’t an IDIOT! “ Because Bush is not dumb, thinking like that led to his presidency. I always thought that the major difference between Bush and Hitler is that Bush didn’t attempt genocide. Or that Bush would serve for the 12-13 yrs that Hitler served for. Or that Bush isn’t attempting to take over the world.
That whole “Buush=Hitler” argument is so dumb as it makes no sense.
Posted by brad on Dec 6, 2003 at 1:13 PM Brad-
I’m amazed at how calm and reasonable your posts always are. I don’t have the patience for idiocy that you do. Keep up the good work man.
Posted by Ty on Dec 6, 2003 at 9:12 PM Aw, Bush won’t serve 12 years. Someone will probably cap him before that.
No, he’s not an idiot. He’s a greedy asshole with absolutely no concern for the people of this nation, except those who can further his political and economic future.
He isn’t very bright, though. Daddy B. and his other buddies keep his speeches cleared most of the time of the ad-libbing that has always shown his true bias and hypocritically extreme religious views.Though I wish no harm to come of him, I do wish impeachment. Brad, Ty, I know you’ll disagree with me, but my instincts haven’t failed me on this, the lies and controversy continue about Iraq and every day some new assault on workers or veteran’s rights/benefits comes into light.
Ann Coulter is a lying cunt, and Fox “News” just makes the party continue to look bad.
A point was made earlier about the desperation. I remember these such actions during the Vietnam protests. The same people doing the protesting were called commie sympathizers, un-American, so forth.
Though I’m a Democrat, I think Johnson was an abominable president. The way he handled that war was criminal. And I think the actions this administation have taken on Iraq are the same.Patience. Yes, my disagreeing ones.
Posted by neil on Dec 7, 2003 at 10:20 PM I guess it all depends on your vision of America. Some people do see America as a place of freedom, justice, equality, and kindness.
Some of those people try to demonstrate peacefully against policies they see as detrimental to the above attributes. Sadly, today police somehow have been led to believe that it is their job to ensure political meetings that affect millions go off unimpeded, rather than simply enforcing the law, and protecting the innocent. Their confrontational style only leads normally peaceful people to react defensively.
I was here in Philadelphia during the 2000 RNC, and saw Timoney’s tactics firsthand. It is very ugly to see unarmed individuals who are trying to defend justice and promote peace attacked by armed cops, many of whom are plainly ignorant of the situation and “just following orders.”
It’s a bad scene that keeps getting worse. And it amazes me that the mainstream media puts the blame on demonstrators.
What do these people have to gain? Why do they spend their time and money organizing and attending such demonstrations? Is it for their personal monetary gain? Obviously not. They’re there for the people with no voice. These are unselfish individuals putting themselves on the line for all the people who are on the short end of these government policies. For the media to denegrate them is sickening.
Meanwhile you have the police force using violent means to end these protests or to incite the protestors. And now you have embedded media dressing and acting like cops, to the point of engaging in violence against demonstrators themselves…
And these are the “good guys”??
Posted by mike on Dec 8, 2003 at 2:39 PM whoever the guy is who wrote under my and Ty’s name is a moron. Are you trying to be funny?
Clever?
Posted by brad on Dec 9, 2003 at 4:23 PM Apologies to brad and ty for any anonymous posters who might be posing as you. We are testing a new system that will require all posters to identify themselves before joining the discussion. I will ban the ip address of the offender until then. Thanks for your understanding.
Posted by Seamus on Dec 9, 2003 at 5:10 PM I have also removed the fake postings. Again, my apologies for the intrusion.
Posted by Seamus on Dec 9, 2003 at 5:28 PM Did I say 12 years?--what was I smoking? I mean eight, oh man, whatta moron I am!
Posted by neil on Dec 11, 2003 at 4:05 AM The Goons are obviously on the internet as well. Their modus operendi is to use multiple fraudulent identities to post pro-bush, anti-democracy statements on numerous boards and sites. I have encountered them on other web-sites. Their manipulative technique is similar to the RNC’s astroturfing of our nation’s newspapers to give the appearance of vast support for bush.
Posted by Wes on Dec 24, 2003 at 9:02 PM Liberal’s are a breed that is all but dead.When you have to resort to comparing Bush to Hitler your desperation is quite evident.How could the uninformed masses survive without the superior minds of liberals to guide them?Oh how long ago the 60’s feel now.
Posted by Rob on Dec 26, 2003 at 5:22 PM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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