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Welcome to the Republican World of Diminished Freedoms and Fewer Unions
Author: m-hadley    Date: 09/01/2008 11:04:44

Welcome to the Republican World (View)
Land of Diminished Freedoms and Fewer Unions (Happy Labor Day :P)

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States:
The right of the 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 or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


Well, well, well, as Hurricane Gustav heads toward the Gulf Coast the GOP has decided to cancel or at least severely scale back the first night of their convention so as to avoid the split screen shots of Republican revelry juxtaposed against a flooding New Orleans – thereby recalling for all of America the complete and utter failure of the Bush/Cheney/McCain administration to address the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. This move, hailed by many political pundits as an example of compassionate conservatism, is not entirely magnanimous. It has the added benefit of cutting out the scheduled appearances of both Bush and Cheney, whose approval ratings are somewhere around the mid-20s (Bush) and under 10% for Cheney. Nice perk to be able to attribute a beneficent reason for canceling an unwelcome appearance. But that is not the only news that is dribbling out of St.Paul, Minnesota. First reported by FourFreedoms own MNRN there have been numerous pre-emptive raids on homes where groups have gathered in advance of the Republican National Convention. No-knock raids that involved M-16s and battering rams, and that involved throwing residents on the floor, handcuffing them and in some cases arresting them on trumped up charges. Glenn Greenwald, who blogs over at Salon.com, has posted an entry on this devastating violation of the Fourth Amendment:

Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.



As the police attacks on protesters in Minnesota continue -- see this video of the police swarming a bus transporting members of Earth Justice, seizing the bus and leaving the group members stranded on the side of the highway -- it appears increasingly clear that it is the Federal Government that is directing this intimidation campaign. Minnesota Public Radio reported yesterday that "the searches were led by the Ramsey County Sheriff's office. Deputies coordinated searches with the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments and the Federal Bureau of Investigation."


Watch a video of one of the raids at Feministing.com.

In this land of the free – it seems that these days the words that Janis Joplin sang are even truer today “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” (Bobby McGee, Kris Kristofferson).

In honor of Labor Day I give you this seeming non-sequitur, I give you a History of Labor Unions and Labor Law in America

And in your comments today I challenge you all to make the connections between the assault on freedoms in American today, the decreasing Union membership in this country, the eight years of Republican rule and the Hurricane that is approaching the Gulf Coast all wrapped up in a show of political theater that will take place in St. Paul, Minnesota this week under the guise of the GOP Convention. I can't wait to see what this crew comes up with - :D
Cheers,
mfaye
:fbump:

 

102 comments (Latest Comment: 09/02/2008 07:17:35 by livingonli)
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