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| The Real Problems with the Police | |||||||||||||||||
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I've been on the side of the police in the recent bomb scare incidents in Boston. The police were unfairly blamed for doing their jobs and doing their jobs well in those instances. That does not mean, however, that I believe the police can do no wrong. In fact, there are many recent incidents that show there are real and significant problems with the police, including (but far from limited to) the Jena Six, the tasering of the student at John Kerry's speech, campus police breaking a high school student's wrists over crumbs, racial profiling, overuse of heavily armed SWAT teams for what used to be considered relatively minor drug offences, and police outright threatening to make up crimes. We have secret prisons and the right to habeas corpus has been revoked. The police believe they can behave with impunity, because much like the soldiers responsible for the massacre at Haditha or the Blackwater employees slaughtering civilians in Iraq, the police within the United States are generally allowed to act with impunity when dealing with those outside the power structure &mdash they know they will not be held accountable for their actions. That is why I get so upset about the whining that occurs in Boston whenever the police do what they are actually supposed to be doing — it draws too much attention away from the real problems. | |||||||||||||||||
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melancholy| And Yet Again | |||||||||||||||||
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What is it about Boston that attracts this special brand of idiocy? Sure, maybe the agent's questions were invasive, but I knew when I was 6 not to joke about bombs at an airport. They take these things very seriously. This is not some new post-911 thing, this is the way it's been as long as there has been high traffic commercial airports. | |||||||||||||||||
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awake| MIT Does not Teach Common Sense | |||||||||||||||||
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I just have to wonder "What the hell was she thinking?" She was asked by an airport employee about the strange device she was wearing and walked away. What did she expect to happen? People who are already blaming the police for this should put themselves in their shoes: they didn't know what the device or the putty she was carrying was and she refused to answer questions about it. What were they supposed to do? She's lucky be alive after a stunt like that. Use some common sense. | |||||||||||||||||
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sick| Videotaping the Bomb Squad | |||||||||||||||||
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Well, he's screwed. If you buy his lawyer's claim that he just happened to be innocently taping the incident, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. | |||||||||||||||||
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cynical| Bad | |||||||||||||||||
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North Korea has successfully tested the bomb and Kim Jong Il is the kind of person who just might actually do scorched earth. MAD is meaningless. This is bad. Very very bad. I don't know how this is going to play out or who will suffer, but people are going to die. | |||||||||||||||||
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scared| Al Qaeda vs. the World | |||||||||||||||||
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I talk a lot about why United States foreign policy sucks, and why Bush is evil and just pissing everyone off around the globe. However, Bush isn't the only one pissing the world off. Al Qaeda and associated Islamic extremist groups are doing just as good a job at getting everyone to hate them as Bush is. Al Qaeda isn't just against the United States. Al Qaeda isn't just against the West. As today horrendous bombings in Mumbai reiterate, al Qaeda is against the world. Not only are all non-muslins their enemy, many muslins are as well. One of Bush's key failures has been not treating al Qaeda as a world problem that requires a world solution. Instead of concentrating on stopping terrorists, Bush and Company have turned the "war on terror" into an excuse to further U.S. imperialism. The enemy of your enemy is not always your friend; and no one, not Bush, not al Qaeda, can take on the world. | |||||||||||||||||
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angry| Disengagement or Clearing the Way | |||||||||||||||||
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I can't shake the feeling that the Israeli government might not have pulled the settlers out of the Gaza Strip for the sake of disengagement, but instead pulled out the settlers so that they could lay waste to the Gaza Strip without having to worry about Israeli civilians being in the way. I hope the Israeli government proves me wrong. But the water pumps are no longer functioning since the bombing of the power stations and there is less than a fortnight of food left. Israel's extreme military response over one soldier is on the verge of turning the Gaza Strip into a death trap and if things don't change quickly that is exactly what it will become. If that comes to pass, I (and likely many others) will be at a loss to interpret Israel's actions in any other way. | |||||||||||||||||
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| Mark of the Beast | |||||||||||||||||
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Poll #742031 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All Which of the following do you think has a high likelihood of occurring on Tuesday (06/06/06)?
View Answers Small scale cult or religiously motivated terrorist attack tied to the date Small scale politically motivated terrorist attack tied to the date Large scale cult or religiously motivated terrorist attack Large scale politically motivated terrorist attack Cult mass suicide Nuclear war Large scale natural disaster Death of the pope Assassination of a powerful political leader Dick Cheney unmasked as the Antichrist Pope Benedict XVI unmasked as the Antichrist Mariah Carey unmasked as the Antichrist Something else Nothing of historical note | |||||||||||||||||
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10 (19.6%)| Free Bush Icons | |||||||||||||||||
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| Low Ground | |||||||||||||||||
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I hear time and time again the Islam is the religion of violence. Islam is the religion that endangers the world. The only reason the fundamentalist Christians have not resorted to terrorism more then they have (and, yes there have been plenty of terrorist attacks by fundamentalist Christians) is that they often have access to more "acceptable" avenues to pursue their agenda, as carpet bombing civilian populations with white phosphorus is deemed more acceptable than a suicide attack. If fundamentalist Christians lose their political prestige you can expect a series of terrorist attacks from their ranks. "Last Days Crusade" would be a likely organizational name. I'm not saying all Christian are violent, the same as not all Muslims are violent. What I am saying is that Christianity holds no moral high ground over Islam. Both have factions that want to kill all the infidels. Fundamentalism is the problem, not any particular religion. | |||||||||||||||||
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| Political Poll | |||||||||||||||||
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Do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements? Poll #661241 Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All Abortion should be legal.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Gun ownership should be considered a basic right.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Psychiatric medication should not be administered without consent.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Marijuana should be legal.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Porn degrades women.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Prostitution should be legal.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree The war in Afghanistan was necessary.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree The war in Iraq was necessary.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Iran should not be permitted to possess nuclear weapons.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree The United States should not be permitted to possess nuclear weapons.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Capital punishment should be abolished.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Suicide should be considered a basic right.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Capital punishment should be abolished.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree China should relinquish control of Tibet.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree The United States should relinquish control of Aztlán.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Too few hold too much power.
View Answers Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Oops... put the capital punishment question in twice. Can't edit polls, so it's stuck that way. | |||||||||||||||||
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curious