Where is the Outrage?

I'd like to ask you to use your imagination for just a moment. Imagine a typical house of college aged American kids. There might be band posters up on the walls of some of their rooms. There's probably the remains of a pizza and a six pack of beer in the fridge. There's an Xbox in the living room. These kids pay their rent. They are nice to their neighbors. They don't cause trouble.

Now imagine that the kids who live in this house are politically active. They are attached to certain political causes, and they are planning to peacably assemble to protest on behalf of those causes. Maybe they are sitting in the living room excitedly planning out their protest. Maybe they are on the floor with poster board and markers, making up signs.

Now imagine that the police, along with the FBI, show up to this typical house of college kids and break the door down. With weapons drawn, they force our typical American kids down on the floor and bind their hands behind their backs with handcuffs. The kids ask to see a warrant, but the police refuse. They proceed to search the house. After completing their search and finding nothing, the police set the kids free and leave.

Is this the sort of thing that should happen in the "land of the free?" No. Of course not. This is the sort of thing that happens under dictators, not under constitutions. Nothing of the sort should ever occur in the home of typical American college kids planning to exercise their freedom. If this really happened in our country, you'd be pissed, wouldn't you? If this really happened in our country, you'd expect the media to be all over it, right? You'd expect heads in the FBI and on the local police force to roll, no?

Well, it did happen. Several times. Police and FBI have been raiding the homes of those suspected to be planning protests at the Republican National Convention. You can read about it and see videos here, here, here, here, here and here. And that's just a taste.

Now, I've taken a little poetic license in my description of events. I don't know the exact circumstances of each raid. Maybe those raided weren't typical American kids. Maybe they were hippies. Maybe they were communists or anarchists. But they are Americans; Americans who are guaranteed the right to protest and the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. It shouldn't matter whether they are typical kids or circus side shows, investment bankers or suffering artists. They have rights, and this seems to be a gross violation of those rights and a gross violation of the principles on which this country is founded.

Of course, I don't know for certain that these people weren't all planning on bombing the RNC and causing chaos. They say they weren't and the police aren't talking. You know who else isn't talking? The mainstream media. I haven't seen a peep about these raids on the 24 hour cable news channels. Nothing in the Washington Post. Nothing in the Chicago Tribune. Not even anything in the "liberal" New York Times. With the exception of a few independent media sources and bloggers, no one is pissed. No mainstream media is anywhere near the story. No heads are rolling.

The police in Minneapolis and the FBI acted like they operate in a police state, and where is the outrage?

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In the olden days, did they shred documents?

The reason for my curiousity on this matter will become apparent in short order. See, while John McCain is only aware of the internet, his new running mate, Sarah Palin, apparently has a little experience as a hacker. And that experience has apparently come in handy. Her wikipedia page was altered favorably the night before it was announced that she was the Republican VP nominee. And the internet scrubbing continued from there. After all, we wouldn't want people to know that the "anti-corruption" politician was super cozy with Rep. Ted Stevens - you know, the corrupt one. Nor would we want people to know that she supported Obama's energy policy. (How does that work???)

Unfortunately for the apparently internet saavy Palin, for every forty-four year old who knows something about the internet, there is a twenty something year old who knows a hell of a lot more. You can't hide from the true techies. Hence my question. In the olden days, did they just shred documents? And if so, wouldn't politicians be better served by returning to the days when no amount of digging through caches could bring that information back and they could actually hide their dirty deeds and unfortunate statements? Too bad for Palin we're in the information age.

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More of Ben Stein's true colors

You remember Ben Stein, right? He's the nutjob who made that disgusting, piece of filth creationist propaganda film Expelled. He also claimed that science leads you to killing people. Well, he's at it again, this time claiming he "abhors racism" while basically calling Barak Obama an angry black man (video of the statement below).

Now, I'm not saying that you are automatically a racist just because you call someone an angry black man. I mean, if the shoe fits... right? Nor is there necessarily anything wrong with being an angry black man. There are, after all, some things that blacks in the US have a right to be angry about. But in this case, Stein's statement seems like blatant pandering to the racists in this country. I mean, c'mon. How is Barak Obama an angry black man? Since when did talk about hope and change make someone angry? Since when was expressing idealistic (perhaps even overly idealistic) optimism actually expressing deep seated rage? In my opinion, the problem with Obama is not that he's vitriolic, it's that he's saccharine, to the point of making this cynic a little nauseous at times. So why would Stein make such an obviously false statement? The only motive I can come up with is scaring those low information, low education voters with the specter of the one thing that terrifies an ignorant bigot more than anything else - an angry black man. I know not all Republicans will be using race to come after Obama, I just happen to think it says something significant about Stein that he's chosing to play this card.

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Flip Flop on the Bridge To Nowhere

Sarah Palin told a fib. She claims to have been opposed to the notorious "bridge to nowhere". Well, it looks like she must have been for it before she was against it, then. And the mainstream media, worthless talking heads that they are, can't seem to inform the American public about it. CBS hasn't done their homework. Nor has the Wall Street Journal. Nor has Forbes.com. Of course, what should we expect from the rest of the media when even the supposedly "liberal" New York Times is falsely putting forward the idea that Palin is some sort of centrist. Yeah. Cuz centrists oppose gay rights, deny global warming and oppose abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Please.

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Palin doesn't know what the VP does.

Sarah Palin is the republican nominee for VP, but two months ago...

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I love Dennis Kucinich

I may not always agree with him, and FSM knows I'm horrified by the whole UFO thing, but I really wish that more politicians had his passion.

This is Rep. Kucinich addressing the DNC.

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Wow...

just....wow.

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