"George W. Bush's Thug Nation" Roberet Parry

[autorank]

George W. Bush's Thug Nation

By Robert Parry

September 21, 2007

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/092007.html

It’s said that over time Presidents – especially two-termers – imbue the nation with their personalities and priorities, for good or ill. If that’s true, it could help explain the small-minded mean-spiritedness that seems to be pervading the behavior of the United States these days, both at home and abroad.

On a global level, the world reads about trigger-happy Blackwater “security contractors” mowing down civilians in Baghdad, the U.S. military killing unarmed people under loose “rules of engagement” in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and the CIA “rendering” suspected Islamists to secret prisons or to third-country dungeons where torture is practiced.

Inside the United States, too, a police-state mentality is taking hold. After more than six years of having dissent against President George W. Bush equated with disloyalty, police from Capitol Hill to college campuses are treating vocal disagreement as grounds for violently “taking down” citizens, while bouncers at campaign rallies hustle away prospective hecklers and police preemptively detain protesters or stick them in faraway “free-speech zones.”

SNIP

Meyer then was accosted by several campus police officers who dragged him away and wrestled him to the ground. Despite pleading with police “don’t tase me, bro,” Meyer was “tasered” with powerful electric shocks as he screamed in pain.

SNIP

Back home, Americans who ask too many annoying questions or don’t demonstrate the right attitude toward government leaders can expect to encounter the hostility of an incipient police state, a thug nation that reflects the pugnacious arrogance and the contempt for dissent that is the stock and trade of the nation’s current two-term President.

[Benhurst]

1. Recommended #1

:kick:

[autorank]

3. The title speaksk 1000 words! n/t

:hi:

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Absolutely. We are a lesser nation and a lesser people than ...

when Bu**sh** took over the Oval Office.

[autorank]

4. He's the "Decliner"

You are so right. How could he do so much damage in 7 years. Answer: He had lots of help.

The citizens of this country, even those who voted for him or those who stayed away in general
disgust with non responsive politicians NEVER SIGNED ON FOR THIS.

This is the most massive undermining of national character by a very few in many decades.

It has to stop.

[Auntie Bush]

5. K & R from me too!

[kster]

6. Kick n Recommended

thanks for posting, this thread gives us another good reason to zero in on the ballots. :)

[gateley]

7. K&R nt

[Solly Mack]

8. K/R