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Police Go On Military Offensive at G20by George Ziemann -- September 26, 2009 The headline elsewhere* says, "Police Overreact at G20 Summit." One small problem: From the videos I've seen on YouTube, the police were not reacting, they were taking the offensive -- unless herding college students into a stairwell in their residence hall and then tear gassing them (Clip One) is the normal procedure in Pittsburgh for welcoming students to a new semester. Even more interesting is another piece (Clip Two) wherein the police declare the gathering to be an "unlawful assembly." Although one man with a bullhorn makes a valiant and heartfelt attempt to educate the police as to the contents of the U.S. Constitution, they go into this bizarre half-step "march of the jackboots." When this intimidation failed to elicit the response the police desired, the "sonic cannon" was brought in, a military "non-lethal" weapon that had not previously been deployed against U.S. citizens.
If I wanted to jump to conclusions, it would be time to say that Obama is no better than Bush when it comes to the First Amendment, as it still no longer is valid unless you're way to the right of center. The Anarchists, who represent what I consider to be the left-wing fringe, obviously did not enjoy the same freedoms of speech and assembly that the TeaParty protesters received a couple of weeks ago. I consider both groups to be about equal, in that the extremity of their views makes it difficult to take seriously. Both threaten violence -- the Teabaggers takes guns to Town Hall meetings; the Anarchists vandalize. The primary difference (although I'm not really familiar with the Anarchists' political viewpoint, just the logo) seems to be that the Teabaggers were protesting on the basis of distorted claims, ignorance and special interest funding, while the Anarchists's complaint is born from the reality that the world's leaders have totally fucked up the global economy. Too bad their solution is anarchy, which would only make things worse. Both of these groups are unwilling to listen to logic, as it would negate their reason for being. Neither of them is ever going to ever get what they want, because what they want is unreasonable. The problem is that the actions of the government are becoming just as unreasonable. Supposedly, it was the Chief of Police who declared any assembly unlawful, not the government, which begs the question of why the city of Pittsburgh had these military weapons in the first place? We were using them in Iraq, which is bad enough, but now we're selling them to cities? Is there a price? Or do you have to prove your police department worthy, as determined by their ability to kill people with the other popular "non-lethal" weapon, the tazer? In this case, the police appeared to be way over the line, both legally and as Americans. The offensive was planned and tightly executed. It was not a reaction; it was an assault. After seeing those videos, imagine my surprise to find this headline at the New York Times -- "Thousands Hold Peaceful March at G-20 Summit." The multimedia presentation which goes along with it is titled, "G20 Protest Turns Peaceful." At least until the police decided to attack the students in the stairwell. CNN has nothing about it. Neither does Fox News, ANC, CBS or MSNBC. The Washington Post did notice that the G20 meeting was taking place, and suggests the participants must focus on climate. But I haven't seen one story about this in the major mainstream "liberal" media. This wasn't considered newsworthy. It didn't happen. It was all invisible and I just imagined it. Just like the anti-war protests in 2003 that Fox News will tell you didn't happen. Oh wait, the Associated Press had a story. That explains it. I keep forgetting that they own all breaking news, at least according to themselves. Day by day, we move deeper and deeper into the Twilight Zone. |
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