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Republicans Plan To Disenfranchise Active Duty Military.
>> 1) This is pretty much exactly how they've disenfranchised people before (oh, we mailed your confirmation to your address in the 9th ward, and you didn't respond. you can't vote!)
That's my point though, you don't need confirmation. You contact the department of elections in your state, they mail you a ballot at your overseas address. That simple.
Republicans Plan To Disenfranchise Active Duty Military.
Here are the rules for overseas vote-by-mail request in California: http://www.sfgov.org/site/elections_index.asp?id=60428
Notice that all you need to do is provide proof you're a citizen and give them the last address you stayed at in Cali (they probably cross-check it with tax records to make sure you're actually a California resident).
So, I fail to see how this could be a plan to disenfranchise military voters since 1) it wouldn't work and 2) don't most active military vote Republican?
imstellar28 (Member Profile)
^Theres this thing called "degrees" you ever heard about it? Once we are at that stage its too late to peacefully act against the police state. Don't you realize that? I don't understand your argument from confiscation. How do you even know there aren't thousands of such videos being confiscated--you wouldn't hear about them if that was the case...
If theres anyone who needs to do something its you. How about you have the courage to stand up for even a single thing you believe in, and go try to protest for it? Then report back to us about your feelings on America.
I'm sure you know what they say about making assumptions. I live in San Francisco where we protest just about everything. And I do go to the anti-war protests thank you very much. Was going back when it was still about Afganistan, not Iraq. You know who I see getting arrested at these protests? Nobody.
So tell me imstellar28, what protests have you been to recently?
Police arrest Amy Goodman at RNC (what police state)
SDGundhamX:
You are a fool, "we do not live in a fascist police state and that freedom of speech is alive and well"
Freedom of assembly? blah blah.. something about grievances? Oh nevermind, because your white ass knows better. It's not like you've ever tried to march in the streets or even attend a protest. I mean things look fine to you from YouTube, so clearly all is well and good. Some day you will have one of these paramilitarized stormtroopers with their boot on your throat confiscating your computer in a preemptive raid because of your thoughtcrimes or FISA snooping, and I hope to God at that moment you realize how foolish your statements were.
First off, I live in San Francisco where we protest something just about every day. I've been to the war protests--never saw anybody getting arrested that didn't deserve it (ie started disrupting traffic by sitting in the street, etc.). So before you start talking smack about people you don't even know maybe you should just ask them a point blank question--like, have you ever been to a protest? I would have happily answered you without resorting to name calling.
Second off, you need to rein in your paranoia. You know how many people have been arrested at the RNC protests? Less than 300. You know how many people are protesting? Over 10,000. So I fail to see how your delusion of us living in a fascist country holds up. The vast majority of people who went to protest at the RNC got to get their message out peacefully.
Now, those 300 or so that have been arrested weren't just randomly targeted. The cops didn't just say, "Hey let's grab that guy." Those arrested were parts of crowds that were engaged in violent acts including the smashing of windows and the slashing of tires. That's not peaceful demonstration; that is by definition rioting.
Was everyone arrested guilty? No. Some asshat anarchists started it and obviously some people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time got caught up in the sweep. The courts will view the evidence and decide who did what. I imagine most of the charges will be dropped--something that would not happen in your imaginary fascist state.
Look, you're entitled to your opinion. You think America is becoming a police state? Great. I think you have the right to voice your opinion. But if you're going to go out there and shout that the sky is falling and that we're all fools because we don't agree with you then you shouldn't be surprised that you're met with total apathy or downright hostility in return.
Police arrest Amy Goodman at RNC (what police state)
Please check your facts: she was not charged with inciting a riot. She was charged with interfering with an arrest. Off-camera, two producers were being arrested (they were subsequently the ones who received the felony riot charges)and she tried to break through the cops to get to them. http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2008/09/02/3295/amy_goodmans_arrest_when_journalists_are_the_story
What does how famous she is have to do with anything? She tried to walk through a police line while they were making an arrest. They asked her kindly to get back on the sidewalk. She ignored them. So they gently but forcefully moved her back to the sidewalk. What does she do? She turns right around and tries to charge right back through them. She ignored the officers' warnings, tried to interfere with the arrest, and deserved what she got.
Look, if this were a real fascist police state, guess what? There wouldn't even be a video of this. The cops would have whisked her away, confiscated the camera and the video, and no one would know this even happened and probably would never hear from her again. People who are claiming the U.S. is a police state or fascist nation need to go spend some time in North Korea and learn what a real police state looks like.
RNC Eve: The Police Raids Begin
Considering that Hitler and the Nazis were only able to accomplish their rise to power through assassinating political opposition and terrorizing the streets with gangs of thugs, I think the comparison is a bit overly dramatic.
No one is preventing these people from peacefully demonstrating. The cops have arrested no one. My guess is there was a threat on the RNC (bomb threat or otherwise) which set off the searches.
Ironic German Techno.... Now With More Nazi Elf!
Shawn Johnson: Ortega makes my taco pop
What happened before Code Pink was Hit? Here it is.
And for the 10th time, SDGundamX, what would be the point of finding out what she said beforehand--are you just curious or something? Because it has no bearing on the argument of excessive force.
10th time? I'd like to have what you're smoking, because this is the first comment I've seen from you addressing me. This video bills itself as showing what happened before the confrontation. It doesn't. So I pointed that out.
And what happened before has EVERYTHING to do with excessive force. There are no rules out there that say "this is excessive, this isn't excessive." It's all relative to the situation. So if you don't know what happened before that hit there can be no determination of whether the force was excessive or not.
But as I pointed out in the other thread, there can be a lot of jumping to conclusions and conjecture, which people still seem to be doing quite well. Does it look bad from the vid? Yeah, it does. But that's why we have a justice system to look into these things, interview witnesses, collect evidence, and ultimately find out what was actually said and done. I see no merit in arguing about whether excessive force was used in the vid or not when a) we don't have all the facts and b) we won't be the ones to decide anyway.
And yes, also, I am just curious about what happened before this as well.
What happened before Code Pink was Hit? Here it is.
ABC Reporter Arrested: Taking Pictures of Senators, Donors
I found the more complete story of what happened here: http://www.cpj.org/news/2008/americas/usa28aug08na.html
Wait, What? (Blog Entry by Doc_M)
I found the more complete story of what happened here: http://www.cpj.org/news/2008/americas/usa28aug08na.html
Code Pink protester Hit with Baton: BOOM HEADSHOT!
I do agree with MG though that on the Sift people all too often watch 30 second clips (like this), make a TON of assumptions, and then act as if all of those assumptions are indisputable facts. I would really like to have seen the footage leading up to this clip. Clearly it exists, but the original poster probably felt that this edit would accurately get out his/her political message.
>> ^imstellar28:
>> since we don't have a video of the events leading up to what is shown, but we have brains--how about you go ahead and describe an event leading up the start of the video which would justify the officer assaulting her in the manner he did.
heres one:
"the woman just shot another cop in the face, dropped her weapon, and started to get in this cops face"
even in this situation, you cannot justify the cops actions! in fact there is no possible situation that you could conceive that happened before this that could have justified it. so why don't you get over your prejudice and wake the f ck up?
You just made my case for me with that post right there. Exactly where is the prejudice in my original post? Exactly where do I state in my post that the cop is justified? All I said was that I wanted to see what happened leading up to this and somehow you jumped to the conclusion that I blindly approve of all police actions in this video and beyond. You claim to have a brain--please use it more effectively to stop acting like your assumptions are categorically true.