Resident Scholars of the A.P.I.
Democracy Massacred in Minneapolis/St. Paul
Fascism - a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, supression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. b. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.
*Note - I periododically repost the Early Warning Signs of Fascism to remind everyone of what we are facing here in America. Fascism is on the march in the United States.
...............Early Warning Signs of Facism.............
1) Powerful And Continuing Nationalism
2) Disdain For Human Rights
3) Identification Of Enemies As A Unifying Cause
4) Supremacy Of The Military
5) Rampant Sexism
6) Controlled Mass Media
7) Obsession With National Security
8) Religion And Government Intertwined
9) Corporate Power Protected
10) Labor Power Supressed
11) Disdain For Intellectuals & The Arts
12) Obsession With Crime And Punishment
13) Rampant Cronyism & Corruption
14) Fraudulent Elections
My husband and I are both members of Veterans For Peace. Last week we flew to Minneapolis to attend the 23rd Annual Veterans For Peace National Convention. The theme of this year's VFP convention, my first convention ever, was 'Peace, Liberty, and Justice for All' and the focus was on the use of nonviolence to promote a culture of peace. It was a positive and enlightening experience especially in the face of the 8-year systematic assault on American Democracy by the Bush neoconservatives and the Christian Right.
THE REPUBLICANS HATE OUR FREEDOM!
As veterans we have taken an oath to "support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic". As Veterans For Peace we have pledged to use nonviolent means to do so.
Together, Republican Nationalists, neoconservative corporatists, and the Christian Right have succeeded in leveraging the most profound and dangerous threat to American Freedom ever faced by this nation. The eight dark years under the reign of George W. Bush have seen the Constitution set forth by our founding fathers red-lined and the consequent rise of American Fascism. The threat to our country is domestic. The terrorists who comprise the threat live among us. They seek to destroy not only the Constitution upon which American Democracy is based, but all of our inherent rights as well.
What happened in Minneapolis/St. Paul during the farcical 2008 Republican Convention is very telling. The FBI, Secret Service, and local law enforcement, under the questionable leadership of Ramsey Co. Sheriff, Bob Fletcher, violated the Constitutional rights of the press, and pro-peace, anti-McCain demonstrators every chance they got. Weapons (including an AR15) drawn, the Minneapolis/St. Paul law enforcement traitors excuted pre-emptive, warrantless raids on private homes against the peaceful citizens that they were sworn to protect.
Please explore this site; http://iwitnessvideo.info/
The invasive aggression by the Minnesotan army of Darth Vader look-alikes was pre-emptively excused by Bush operatives under the guise of "probable cause" and "conspiracy to commit civil disobedience". It is unfortunate that our employees in the intelligence and law enforcement communities seem to have confused Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto with the Constitution. They have crossed into the realm of "thought police".
View the RNC/ police actions in Minneapolis/St. Paul here:
Unnecessary force was employed to confiscate computers, cameras, video cams, cell phones, printed and written materials, press cards and credentials and journalist's notes. The Bush conspirators have not only violated the freedom of the press, they have proven that they will stop at nothing to suppress the freedom of speech to advance the manufactured truths and propaganda required to move Americans toward acceptance of the fascist form of government they all support.
Please review the following Amendments:
.......... Amendment I ..........
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
.......... Admendment IV..........
The right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath of affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
*Note - There were children in the private homes that were the targets of the pre-emptive home invasions. One man was asleep in his bed when yanked to his feet by the armed intruders. He was naked. He was not allowed to cover himself but was zip cuffed and told to lie face down on the floor. He remained on the floor cuffed and naked for an hour! These methods have been employed against the Iraqi people by the occupying American forces for over five years now.
The whole world is watching as the USA is bludgeoned back into the Dark Ages by Republican barbarianism. It is only those who've chosen ignorance over patriotism who do not see.
AMERICA HAS BECOME A VERY SICK COUNTRY UNDER REPUBLICAN RULE.
We must fight to save our nation with nonviolence.
................Kitchen Window Woman................
P.S. - We are on vacation in Michigan visiting family. I felt very strongly, however, that this piece needed to be written - KWW
posted by Kitchen Window Woman at 5:24 PM
4 Comments:
hey there- i am a buddy of spadoman's
http://spadoman-roundcircle.blogspot.com/
i am afraid that fascism is already here. amerika is a full fledged police state complete with corporate mercenary armies and national guardsmen with ak 47s called in at every turn. ice raids continuously throwing out that net to scoop people up. our democratic republic is over. what we have known as the ideal of america is over.
I agree that fascism is already here. We have to do whatever we can to keep it at bay. We have to mount a resistance against thee army of ignorant Republican thugs who threaten us. We must put peace into action. I am 58 years old and this is the scariest time I can remember. Al Qaeda is being used to shield the dirty doings of the Repug fascists as they stomp the Constitution and drag the flag through s**t. Enough!
Hey, KWW, you should have let me know you were in Minnesota; you were a hop, skip and ten minute bus ride from me!
The sights here in the Twin Cities are sickening. The total disregard for the all of us in Saint Paul and Minneapolis are outrageous. The streets are packed with people expelled form both of our downtown areas.
The many colleges and the U of M are in full swing this week; the Twin City public schools started classes. The city buses have been diverted and are running many tens of minutes behind, making people miss secondary connections. Half hour commutes have been doubled, tripled. Parents are late to gather their children from school, late home for dinner, late to work.
My husband and I attended Take Back Labor Day, a concert on Harriet Island. We were across the river from downtown Saint Paul. I left early to go home; my bus was subverted for an hour and a half until they had figured out an alternate route around downtown. Laura Bush and Cindy McCain were in town. I stood in the heat and sun, with no seat or shade.
At the bridge leaving the island there were four huge city trucks blocking access. Police were everywhere, behind barricades and in helicopters. All around the island were groups of officers, blockades, and police cars. Just in case we burst out of song and into violence, I guess.
Once I finally got on the bus it took me around downtown Saint Paul to hook up with the second bus - a half hour ride turned into a one and half hour ride. There were transit supervisors there, telling no one anything. Oops, the Republican's are in town, freedom and movement is compromised! The streets of this city did not belong to the people of this city, they were co-opted by the civil authorities.
I was standing there not knowing all that was going on downtown. I have a friend with the protesters so I was a little more informed than some. I watched police cars speeding by, some with sirens, some just speeding. There were ambulances flying trough traffic, sirens screaming. A rented Hertze-Penske van rushed by filled with riot police!
My husband left three hours later to find the next bridge over the river blocked by four more huge city trucks, denying access to an area outside of downtown Saint Paul. These are cities of rivers, and our passages across were being denied and funnelled away from our homes. Neighborhoods were taken over by the National Guard. Every overpass and ramp to and from the freeway had police cars.
Is Saint Paul in the Green Zone?
Is this all because those with money felt that they should finish their August vacations and then come to our town and take over during one of the busiest weeks of the year? The Republicans are using the gun of government, and it is being pointed at us. They have seized control of our city, and now it is not ours. Their lives are untouched by we who know how many houses we have. For too many of us, the answer is none.
Apparently, our cities and our towns are only ours when they deign to let us have them. The Republicans invaded us like they invaded Iraq, with total disregard for anything but their desires and motivations. Their bombs here were mace and pepper spray.
The results of this did not result in our lives lost, our property destroyed. We were only inconvenienced, and I do not mean to compare our discomforts with what the Iraqi people go through every day. I only mean to compare the disregard for anyting beyond Republican wishes and desires.
This all feels like a first step to more dangerous thoughts, far beyond our small version of civil disobedience. Our own civil authorities not only allowed but participated in this debacle.
Our media is painting the protesters with their broad brush, or not portraying them at all.
Our leaders have forgotten where American sovereignty lies.
janissima (Becki's Mom)
pinkhighways.com
Wow! I can't remember things like this in NYC right after 9/11! WTF?
Well, Sister, I'm all for non-violence, but if someone, "legit" or otherwise, busts open my front door, they're in for a nasty fight. As Popeye once said, "I has had enuff, and enuff is too much!"
Good post.
d.
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