RTFA: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic…

Black students at the local high school sat under a tree that everyone knew was a place where white students usually congregated. White students reacted by hanging three nooses in the tree. Racial tensions escalated from there, including fights in which both black and white students got roughed up, but no one was seriously injured. Local officials, who are white, handled the white offenders with a “boys will be boys” attitude — a few brief school suspensions, basically. Black offenders were expelled from school, arrested and charged as adults with felony offenses, including attempted murder.

Wild stuff. Also, why does the Washington Post make it so hard to excerpt from their site?

RTFA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPX935sKrvw

Howdy there. I was just reflecting on the homeland, and what it means to be American. Americans have a tradition of speaking their minds. Why, it’s part of what makes this country so great, and I reckon it’s part of why the rest of the world hates us.

RTFA: http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/09/19/367…

I truly find it difficult to have any sort of compassion for this young man.  The footage we have seen is very straight forward.  This person crossed a line in public behavior that brought on consequences, and he was apparently very willing to escalate things to ever greater levels.

These are some of the most disturbing comments I have ever read. If these comments are real, then the townsfolk are literally crying out for an authoritarian overlord at every public assembly.

Is this really what Americans believe?

“I support the police 100%. I do believe that if they had used the oppropriate level of force and restrained this guy and escorted him out effectivly from the begining things would not have escalated to to the point that they did. He should not have been able to struggle free flalling his arms about, ect. He got taserd because he refused to comply to the police. We have given police this kind of authority for a reason. When things go wrong and someone is able to hurt others we complain that the police didn’[t use enough force. Let them do their job, let this be a message that we should learn to respect the police and and understand that they will do what they have been trained to do to keep us all safe.

Asshole: we explicitly did NOT grant the police the authority to swarm us while we questioned our representatives.

The only sure thing that can be said from watching this video is that Meyer had the power to stop the confrontation by complying with the Officer’s lawful order. I believe the Officers involved showed great restraint in the incident. The descion to use multiple Officers and the Taser demonstrated to me the Officers not wanting to cause bodily harm to Meyer.

What!?!? It’s NOT lawful to attack someone like that, especially since Kerry agreed to hear the question! Lawful order?!?! You’re a crackhead!

I felt all along that the student was at fault. Then I heard that he is known for video-taping his “pranks” for which he is well-known on campus. This was purely a bid to get attention, and he certainly has done that. Stop reporting it and he’ll go away.

At fault!?! He was talking, and then the police were shoving him away from the microphone. Kerry said he would answer the question. What, exactly, is he at fault for?

I believe that this student was being unruly. It shows him cursing while questioning Kerry. As soon as the guards were trying to usher him out, he should have complied. Instead he fought while pushing and pulling to get away from the guards. This student was at fault!

Hold on a second – he was at fault for being unruly? He was cursing? IT WAS A FUCKING POLITICAL FORUM. He pointed out that Clinton was impeached for getting a blowjob, and that W should be impeached before he starts a war with Iran. That’s over the line?

These comments are so far out as to be completely unbelievable. They’re not real people – paid shills from France or something. That’s not how rugged, gun-toting, freedom-loving Americans roll. It’s not how Americans talk. It’s simply the wimpiest, most pathetically cowardly way to react to an obvious abuse of authority. The kid was NOT testing the limits of free speech, but the cops were testing the limits of reasonable force… and the heartland of America decides that sort of violence is good for this country?

Naughty! He said blowjob. My virgin ears. TAKE HIM DOWN. TASE HIM AGAIN. KILL KILL KILL.

RTFA: http://www.stopthespying.org/

The president is unconstitutionally wiretapping the telephone and Internet communications of millions of ordinary Americans.
Companies like AT&T want immunity for their illegal collaboration with the President’s program.

And Congress might let them get away with it.

Stop the Spying Now!

This one is pretty basic. Your conversations have been recorded. Yes – that’s what this fuss is about. You thought you had a constitution to protect you, but now you feel like an idiot.

RTFA: http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2007/09/10/ed-rosentha…

You know, I wasn’t allowed to present these facts in either case. And the jurors were misled, because a half-truth isn’t a truth. A half-truth is a lie. The jury was told that I had distributed this material, but they didn’t hear that I had been told that I was free from prosecution.

That’s an estoppel issue. Let me explain that. Let’s say there’s a red light, but a cop waves you through. Another cop, on the other side, can’t give you a ticket for crossing the red light because you have been told that what you’re doing was legal, right? You’re following the cop’s orders.

So I was told by the city attorney’s office that what I was doing was legal and I was free from prosecution. So even if she was wrong, I should’ve been able to say to a jury, “Hey, look. I was led to believe that what I was doing was legal by an official.” But the judge said, “No. Even though this person is a government official, she can’t testify for you.”

RU: The jury from the first trial was outraged after your conviction when they found out what was actually going on. That was very unusual. Describe what happened with the jury after the trial.

No comment.