The Rise of the Obama Police State —An Early Demonstration?

“We don’t want interacting,” said the police officer, to the shock of the conservative activist holding the camera. She was in Baton Rouge, LA, filming a demonstration by ACORN in favor of Barack Obama’s proposed government-run health care. And what she had just witnessed, as the officer led the offending man away who had dared speak to the activist, was nothing short of the disruption of free speech, of the press, and of the right to assemble—by the police.

As reported by the Examiner, “Things took a surprising and dangerous turn when a police officer, clearly sympathetic to the ACORN rally, attempts to shut down the opposition. At one point, during a very civil discussion between an opponent and a supporter of the president’s plan, the police officer returned and actually told the individuals opposing the president’s plan they were not allowed to speak. The man in blue shirt, a supporter of the president’s plan, later returns and attempts to defend the free speech rights of the counter protesters.”

For all intents and purposes, she was reporting on the demonstration. And yet, every time she attempted to converse with opponents of ObamaCare, the police intervened. Not exactly what one would call the protection of unalienable rights. It looks more like a police state—in its infancy.

On Wikipedia, a police state is described, “The inhabitants of a police state experience restrictions on their mobility, and on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement.” Exactly what was seen in Baton Rouge.

In this case, nobody was arrested. But it is troubling, to say the least, that the police were apparently ordered to disrupt any interaction between supporters and opponents of ObamaCare, even ones that were perfectly willing to debate.

“We disagree. We can have a civil conversation and talk while we walk. We disagree. It’s fine,” said one ObamaCare supporter, who too was disgusted by the police action.

Really, the ones who had obviously expressed a desire to avoid even civil discourse of their views were the ACORN demonstrators. Of course, there is no such thing as freedom from speech, or debate. But if one does not like what is being said, they can simply move to the other side of the street.

But since they were protesting, wasn’t the point to defend their views? When they put themselves out there, as members of a self-described public interest organization, they actually are public figures—a part of the national political debate. That makes the views expressed by the organization subject to public scrutiny by press or citizen journalists alike.

Instead, in Omerica, apparently there is the stunning emergence of a political elite. They are beyond reproach and criticism. And the police will see to that, as can be seen in this appalling display.

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Charles Krauthammer on Obama

Krauthammer is a psychiatrist

1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn’t show his emotions. It’s very hard to know what’s behind the mask. The taking down of the Clinton dynasty from a political neophyte was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.

2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he’s on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!

3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He cannot be straightforward on his ambitions as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers in our society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .

4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, & NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn’t care about the auto or financial services industries, but he got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to EVERYTHING and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada God forbid.

5. He’s surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can’t work in the long run. Obama’s not a socialist; rather he’s a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but is governing from the hard left. WATCH WHAT HE DOES, NOT WHAT HE SAYS.

6. Obama doesn’t really see himself as President of the United States , but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate &coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America , as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies.

7. He’s now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he’s reelected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Mr. Krauthammer believes he is a supreme narcissist.

8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. We’re pining for another Reagan but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has too much baggage.. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she’s to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and states rights.

9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We’re spending trillions that we don’t have. This could lead to hyperinflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The liberal media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn’t work, nor will the stimulus package. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama’s allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above..

10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in. We had an unpopular President and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The mantra of change caused people to act emotionally. ANY Democrat could have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.

11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it’s under 8%, Dems will continue to roll If it’s between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will all be about the economy. Hopefully this gets you really thinking about what’s happening in Washington and Congress. There’s a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer. He encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we’re on the right side of the issues and can reclaim our country, before it’s far too late.

SOURCE

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ELSEWHERE

There's a big roundup of healthcare news and views on my SOCIALIZED MEDICINE blog today.

Panel sees race bias in health care bill: "The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says some little-noticed provisions in the House health care bill are racially discriminatory, and it intends to ask President Obama and Congress to rewrite sections that factor in race when awarding billions in contracts, scholarships and grants. The commission also fears the programs, which are designed to improve health care in underserved areas, will not be effective. In a draft of a letter the commission approved Friday, the group raises constitutional questions about giving preferential treatment to minority students for scholarships, and about favoring medical schools and organizations that have a record of sending graduates to areas with inadequate health care services."

Donk Congressmen in hiding: "Stung by howling protesters and losing ground in the public relations battle over health care, members of Congress this summer are ditching traditional town-hall meetings and using less confrontational methods of meeting constituents as they try to persuade a wary public to back the Democrats' overhaul plans. For Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Colorado Democrat, that meant holding court outside the King Soopers grocery store here Saturday behind a 6-foot wall of bottled water, blocked from view of roughly 400 voters in a parking lot. "He's in there hiding," said John Frantum of Denver, who opposes the proposed expansion of government-provided health care. "He should have been out here with a bullhorn once he saw the writing on the wall."

Congress drops plan to spend $550 million on new jets: “U.S. House leaders have dropped plans to spend $550 million in the Air Force budget on passenger jets used by lawmakers and senior government officials, officials said on Monday. The House of Representatives reversed the move to upgrade the executive jet fleet after public criticism, opposition from other lawmakers and the Defense Department had said it did not need more planes that it had requested.”

Senate report: Obama regime’s strategy includes assassination list: “In a dramatic change of policy ordered by the Obama administration, the U.S. military has been given approval to ‘kill or capture’ 50 Taliban-connected drug lords whose names are on a classified ‘kill list’ being circulated to commanders, according to a report prepared for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and obtained by ABCNews.com. Military officials expressed anger today that the ‘classified program’ had been revealed in the Senate report.”

What goes around …: "It was a Democrat, Hilary Clinton in 2003, who said that Americans have the right to disagree and to debate with any administration. Now, it is another Democrat, Barack Obama who disagrees with that view. No one, it seems, has the right to disagree with him, which may well be why he told his supporters to ‘get in the faces’ of critics during his election campaign. Why is this happening? Why are some people supporting his anti-first amendment stance? Probably because many Democrats believed that they had overwhelming popular support for their agenda. As such, they were unprepared for organized opposition. They also quite probably did not believe that such opposition would materialize. They did not believe that people would organize themselves when provoked. Now, they are panicking and resorting to force, instead of accepting the fact that they don’t have a mandate. What goes around comes around.”

Temper, temper!: " US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showed a rare flash of public anger on a trip to Africa today as a student asked for her husband's views, putting him in his place by saying she is the United States' top diplomat. At an open forum with young people in Kinshasa, a university student took the microphone and asked about the involvement of China and the World Bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "What does Mr Clinton think about it?" he said to the befuddlement of the crowd. Ms Clinton replied in a forceful voice: "You want to know what my husband thinks?" "My husband is not the secretary of state, I am. You ask my opinion, I will tell you my opinion. I'm not going to channel my husband." Bill Clinton has mostly stayed out of the spotlight as his wife represents the United States overseas, although last week he travelled to North Korea to negotiate the release of two detained US journalists. Former president Clinton, who has actively promoted African development since leaving the White House, is not joining his wife for any part of her seven-nation tour of the continent."

Too much is never enough: “I was going to argue that California public employee unions are delusional — given that they keep demanding higher pay and pensions and other perquisites even as the state’s unemployment rate tops 11 percent, as average Californians struggle with fewer jobs, higher taxes and a particularly brutal recession, and as governments at all levels struggle with dramatic decreases in revenue. But these unions really aren’t crazy. In fact, they understand reality better than the rest of us, who still hold to the quaint belief that public employees serve us. The unions know the truth: that the public servants are now the public’s masters.”

What is this “free market” we keep hearing about?: “As President Obama and his pet Congress continue their crusade to expand the reach of government into our lives, ‘conventional wisdom’ continues to tell us that socialized medicine, rampant wealth redistribution, and government control over one industry after another is ‘necessary’ because of the supposed failure of the free market to adequately address the needs of society. The way the ‘free market’ is characterized by politicians and media pundits, it is not surprising that most Americans seem to regard it as some sort of special interest group (Mr. Undersecretary, the gentlemen from the free market are here to see you).”

Us versus them: “We are for freedom, they are for coercion. We are for personal choice when other lives aren’t at stake. They are for choice only when the choice involves other lives being snuffed out. We are for personal responsibility enforced by self-restraint and social norms. They are for responsibility imposed from without by government bureaucrats. We conservatives are for the ideals that make America America. They, the liberals, are for transforming America into an imagined utopia enforced by command and control, based on values alien to the great American tradition.”

The folly of workplace regulations: “In an effort to provide workers with a better environment, the government has instituted numerous workplace regulations, such as requiring ergonomically correct work stations with proper chairs and lighting, which businesses are forced to follow. Since these improvements cannot be made at little or no expense to the employer, they increase costs of production, and reduce the amount of labor that the employer can afford to hire. Such improvements have the same effect as a mandatory increase in wages: The employer has less money available to hire more workers. In fact, in certain marginal cases, he may be forced to lay off some of his workers, or even to go out of businesses if he cannot meet his expenses. This is especially true for small businesses just getting started. But it applies to larger businesses as well.”

Another U.S. airline nightmare: "Passengers have revealed their horror at being confined all night in a small, "smelly" plane in the US after a series of problems. The ExpressJet Airlines flight 2816 from Houston, US, to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-Saint Paul) on Friday, should have taken approximately three hours. Instead storms caused the flight’s diversion to Rochester, where the 47 passengers then spent around nine hours overnight trapped inside the small plane, with complaints of screaming babies and foul over-used toilets. Passenger Link Christin told the US's Star Tribune that he couldn’t believe the airline was unable to figure out an alternative besides keeping the passengers on the plane for such a long time. “It's not like you're on a (Boeing) 747 and you can walk around,'' Mr Christin said. “This was a sardine can… It was a nightmare.” ExpressJet spokesperson Kristy Nicholas said the flight suffered a series of problems. The crew reached their maximum work hours in the air, forcing another crew to be flown in. Adding to the troubles, passengers were not allowed into the airport as the security screeners had gone home [That was a lie]. Mr Christin said that the passengers received no food, except for an earlier bag of pretzels, and had to put up with a smelly toilet and babies. The passengers were sent back on the same plane, which had no functioning restroom by this time, and arrived in Twin Cities at 11am, roughly 11 hours late." [Let's hope the SoBs get prosecuted over it. In Europe they would be hit with stiff government penalties but Congress is too busy spending money to worry about such things]

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The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialist) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party" (In German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei)

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