Every Parent MUST See This Image

[nostamj]

Every Parent, Grandparent, Adult Sibling, Aunt/Uncle or Teacher MUST See This Image

on edit: this is Goose Creek HS in South Carolina. This is a police raid caught on video of officers holding students under drawn guns in the hallway. It was a 'drug raid'. No drugs were found. Sorry. I thought most DUers would have heard about the story already.

When I wonder how we can win over Bush supporters, how we can make them stop and consider the policies of a Bush Administration–rather than our revulsion over Bush the man–I come back to the children.

I would like to believe that parents care about their children’s future.
I would like to believe that most parents would be horrified if their children were treated like terrorists in their schools.

Those who already oppose the Bush Administration need little convincing to see that tactics like this will only increase if they remain unchallenged by ALL Americans.

This image should chill anyone with knowledge of Nazi Germany.
This is am image of stormtroopers terrorizing innocents students.

These are not anti-Bush protestors (even infants) being pepper-sprayed in Seattle.
These are not ‘enemy combatants’ being held in Guantanamo Bay.
This is not an al Qaeda cell in the caves of Afghanistan.

These are your children in their school with weapons drawn against them.

We must put this image out and ask: If you support Bush, do you support this?

If parents, even those who still support Bush, support tactics like this, then all is indeed lost.

This image lays bare the future of America under the policies of Bush. To bring new members to the ‘choir’ we do not have to convince them to hate Bush.

We can convince them to hate the policies and grim vision for this country championed by Bush.

Every Parent, Grandparent, Adult Sibling, Aunt/Uncle or Teacher MUST See This Image

And let the dialog be about policy, not personality.

===========
on edit #2: I showed this image to my smart but not very political sister last night. she was horrified. she has a son in middle school. she didn't need to have an opinion about Bush to be frightened that this could be happening.

it should, it MUST resonate beyond DU outrage.

[Maple]

1. Explanation?

Where? What is this?

[SahaleArm]

5. SC High School

Attempted drug bust; nothing was found.

[nostamj]

10. sorry

I added an explanation of the photo in the original post.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. A friend of mine is a teacher and I showed her this photo...

She said it made her ill, as it did me...

[jeter]

3. Isn't this a dupe?

I saw this image before. In a thread called "John Ashcroft's America" or something like that.

I'm too lazy to go look for it though.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. Yep, it's a dupe, but...

it can't be talked about enough...

[nostamj]

9. yes, the image has been around

hopefully my thread is different in that I propose using the photo as a means to reach bush supports who may not realize how dangerous bush POLICY is to THEIR CHILDREN.

it is a shocking image and should shock any parent.

other threads have discussed this photo in terms of Ashcroft and the PATRIOT ACT.

[liberalhistorian]

39. You're absolutely correct that this would be

a perfect anti-Bush campaign, showing the picture then asking "if you support Bush, do you support this?" I really hope someone higher up than most of us are will do just that. Or maybe we can get our own campaign on that going, or get Moveon.Org interested? It's been a few days now, and I STILL just cannot believe this happened.

If this were my son's school, heads would roll all the way down the hallway, out the door, and down the driveway, from the principal to the administrators who approved it to the idiot police chief who went along with it.

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. Let me tell you something.

If THAT ever happens to my son there will be HELL to pay! I certainly hope the parents of that school file a class action law suit! :mad:

[xxqqqzme]

8. they won't - this is

in the heart of rethuglican South Carolina!

I showed this picture to my daughter, a teacher. She was shocked and speechless.

[nostamj]

12. who is SHE going to show it to ???

i don't believe that most 'rethuglicans' will find this acceptable for THEIR children.

[snoochie]

6. I agree. n/t

[Betty]

11. No Drugs were found

just like no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. but since our moron in chief has already set the bar so low for probable cause, I am sure we can expect many more "pre-emptive" incidents like this in the future. Except they will probably bring stuff along to plant in case they don't find anything.
Incredible that the US is becoming more and more a police state every day... and still almost half of the people in this country think eveyrthing's going swimmingly.

[leanings]

13. This is, of course, a disgusting scene.

And our failure as a nation to do anything about the increasing aggressiveness and militarization of our law enforcement is really dangerous.

But what does this have to do with Bush in particular? Is someone under the impression that this incident wouldn't have occurred during Clinton's time? This wasn't even a federal sting, local all the way. Even if we do manage to get rid of Bush next year this kind of stuff isn't going to stop. The problem is systemic, and it's been rooted and growing for 30 years now.

[nostamj]

15. WRONG!

this happened because of Ashcroft meeting with local police forces in support of the 'patriot' act.

the local forces were EMPOWERED by BUSH policy. how can you imagine that such an outrage would occur under Clinton?

sheesh.

[leanings]

19. This was a local principle

who asked the local police to get involved. This had absolutely nothing to do with the DOJ or the Patriot Act or anything else. And you honestly don't think that abuses of police power like this didn't happen during the 1990's? Everyone who's been in politics in the last 30 years is dirty with this problem.

[Cheswick2.0]

21. yes a local principal and local police who would have been breaking

the law until the law changed under bush and asscrack

[nostamj]

22. thanks cheswick

i was trying to respond to this when my PC lost the mouse AND the keyboard. took two reboots.... (is that you John???)

if this has been happening for 30 years.... i'd like to see some evidence.

i don't believe it. i do believe that BushCo/AssCrack have enabled this kind of outrage.

[spanone]

25. The problem is the message Ashcroft sends. These are terrifically

paranoid people. This principle was a scary guy and he had this cop with some kind of skinhead hairdo standing there at attention. This is creepy shit.

[Malva Zebrina]

28. the point is

that there is empowerment under Bush. If the president is selling pre-emptive attacks on relatively defenseless countries, then those who are right winged idiologues, or even Christian believers in some sort of authoritarian postion such as a police chief, they will be empowered. Bush needs not, Ashcroft needs not ever go near the place--they are empowered by the war, the bullying, the stomping down of women's rights, and they will become draconian barbarians like their president--he thinks it is OK and so do they.

[nostamj]

30. exactly Marianne!

BushCo has set a TONE, at home and around the world.

they have empowered by example.

[in_cog_ni_to]

29. This had absolutely nothing to do with the DOJ or the Patriot Act or

anything else. Riiiiiight! And were given the blessing to do this THANKS TO THE ENACTMENT OF THE PATRIOT ACT! If that vile document didn't exist, this would never have happened. Asscroft and this administration are to blame.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

34. In every organization I've ever been associated with

the people in power at the top have set the tone.

It's the same with countries. This nation got noticeably meaner and dumber after a couple of years of Reagan, and the downward trend has acclerated under Bushboy and Friends.

[nostamj]

35. see #28 and 30

this is SO about setting the TONE.

pssssssssssssst........... (((fascist)))

[madddog]

42. DING DING DING

Show him what he's won, Johnny!!

You've hit the nail on the head...it's got NOTHING to do with Bush.
This is exactly what you say...local law enforcement has become a force unto itself, with every podunk town having a SWAT team, with 10 very heavily armed 20 somethings who think they're rambo.

Every day, you can read about no knock search warrants being served...they come in, stomp your cat, shoot your dog, hold you and your family at gunpoint for 20 minutes...and then...SORRY, wrong address...we'll just be going now.

You want to stop stuff like this, it starts in your town, with your local PD...who must be made aware that heavy handed crap like this just won't float.

And believe me, Republicans have as much disdain for this kind of LEO behaviour as you do.

[Rex]

14. Welcome to the future

nt

[nostamj]

16. "the future" ???

welcome to last week.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

17. no one realized it had gone this far

this fast huh? I sure didn't.

[Rex]

18. Yeah, I watched the video on TV

when did they install security cameras in public schools?

[Bollinger]

20. This makes Waco look like a marshmallow roast!

BUSH MUST BE STOPPED!

[nostamj]

23. uh, waco was a BIT worse.

DEAD children and all (NOT that I'm assigning blame to the feds!)

but BUSH must be stopped all the same

[madddog]

43. Don't Forget Ruby Ridge

hate to bring up a sore subject, but that was an abomination. Randy Weaver was acquited of all charges other than the failure to appear, and they sent him the wrong date on the original letter. Special Rules of Engagement that weren't communicated properly up the chain of command. 4 FBI agents suspended/censured, Weaver won 100K and each of his daughters $1 Million in out of court settlements. Hardly the price of his wife and son.


And, you really SHOULD assign some of the blame to the FEDS on Waco. Not all of it, but there was plenty there to be shared.

And let's not forget that great picture of Elian Gonzalez with an MP5 to his head.

This is a trend that started WAY before Shrub made his way to 1600 Penn. Ave.

[spanone]

24. This is TRUE. I saw it on CNN yesterday.

Cops looking for drugs. 6:30 AM. The cops looked like a bunch of thug skinheads. No one arrested. Not a drill. Welcome to Ashcroft World.

[economic justice]

26. I agree, but

This was ridiculous. But this was hardly Bush or Ashcroft at work. This is small town police work. They think they can do damn near anything they want. This kind of thing happens now, it happened under Clinton and will continue to happen until we have local administers of justice prosecuting heavy handed jackboot tactics by cop shops.

[nostamj]

27. you need to research what Ashcroft is telling local

police departments, etc.

read the FRIGHTENING thread for context of this event:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=676463&mesg_id=676463

small town police forces and emboldened and empowered by policies coming out of BushCo post-9/11. Ashcroft toured the country, not to meet with the people, but to tell the ENFORCEMENT people that they had free reign to notch things up a fascist step or four if it helps in the war against terror.

however brutal and stupid local cops might HAVE been, this is unprecedented and, likely, will be repeated.

[Mika]

31. Funny how we never see a raid like that at Enron, etc, HQ's

Or other boardrooms where real crimes are being committed?

Real 'funny'.

[havocmom]

32. Good idea to give this story legs and draw attention to Ashcroft teaching

local law enforcment to use the Patriot Act as a tool to waltz on citiznes' rights.

a :kick: for your good idea, nostamj

[nostamj]

33. well, a 'mom' would get it....

that's no surprise!

;-)

[Kamika]

36. Republicans like this

Nothing like this will win a republican over

[nostamj]

38. a gun on their kid's head ???

in brooklyn they'd be pretty pissed. :shrug:

[Kamika]

40. No they love it

They seriously dont think this will happen in their highschool and even if it did they orgasm from stuff like this.. they are prime time fascists.. their motto is

"If you didnt do anythin wrong you dont have anythin to worry about"

[populistmom]

37. Freeper parent mentality

There's a strong element amongst right ringer fundie parents that take the whole "spare the rod" stuff of the Old Testament (which the rod was actually used to 'guide' the sheep, but I digress) literally. They not only wouldn't object, but they would think the kids must have done something to deserve it.
There's actually been a whole movement in certain fundie churches called "Growing Kids God's Way" by a man named Ezzo (author of the Babywise books) which amongst other things, avocates hitting of infants as discipline for such "bad" behavior as touching their food in their highchairs.
Although this type of thing is abhorant to most decent, thoughtful parents, a certain Christian right element would have no problem with it at all. That's the unfortunate reality of these types.

[Zorra]

41. During the last weekend of October, the Wash. State Patrol

stopped 329 vehicles in a sparsely populated county in north-central Washington State. This was done under the guise of "drug enforcement", but was really a blatant attempt at antagonizing people in order to discourage them from freely assembling.

The Washington State Patrol stopped 329 vehicles destined for the Okanogan County Family Faire near Tonasket, WA, during the last weekend of October. 67 arrests for misdemeanor drug infractions (marijuana) resulted from these stops. (click on 1st page to see story)

http://www.smalltownpapers.com/OVG.htm

[nostamj]

44. let's give this a monday kick

maybe sunday night wasn't the best time...

[rumguy]

45. I haven't heard much about this

outside of DU...but I haven't been watching the news much lately. Has anyone seen any major coverage of this embarrasement? This should be a big deal, especially in S.C. The principal and the police officers in charge of this raid should be fired immediately.