The Sherriff ain't Andy and you aren't Otis and this sure as shit ain't Mayberry.

What the fuck happened to America?

The militarization of the police, the punitive attitude of so many and the no tolerance of crime has turned our Mayberry into Stalinist Russia.

On today's DU front page is a video of a woman being essentially raped on camera for no good reason at all by police/jailers for a non crime.

I was once placed in custody because my parents were worried that I was suicidal. The police burst into my home, handcuffed me and drug me from my home by my handcuffed hands (behind my back) damaging my rotators and threw me into a cell with no clothes, no water, and no human interaction for twelve hours.

I have been in therapy for the 14 months since this happened. I was not suicidal, I was just depressed and venting.

I'm sorry, but when I get the funds and tie up a few loose ends, I'm getting the fuck out of here. This country sucks.

Edited to ad the link to the video. Watch and weep: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x89734

Not that what happened to her isn't outrageous enough. She could be any one of us, and, if we ignore that fact, we do so at our own peril.

I guess they were having more fun the old fashioned way.

I understand how a thread (rant) like this is hard to respond to but I had to get it out after watching that video.

to their ability to prevent crime. So, that kind of overreaction is common. They simply bring down overwhelming force unnecessarily every time because the force is there & otherwise unutilized.

without touching them in any way. Now they rely on nightsticks, tasers, and worse.

Nixon started the militarization of local police departments in order to get around Posse Comitatus because he thought a bunch of hamfisted, scruffy college kids were going to start a revolution (ha!). The flood of money from forefeiture laws has allowed those departments to buy all the toys they need to oppress the population.

They will do it, too. It's a lot more fun to tase somebody who's screaming and out of control than it is to talk to them calmly and defuse the situation, although it's a lot less of a challenge.

I don't know what it will take to reverse this. It will certainly take a revolution. Whether or not that revolution can be peaceful is the question.

And the only thing that can protect us is a powerful law enforcement agency and a killer "defense" industry!

:sarcasm:

addresses everything with force, instead of diplomacy.

I would guess that they thought you would be taken to the local state institute for a 3 day evaluation at worst. I so wish I could say, "unbelievable" but anymore it seems the standard fair. I too am inches away from leaving this country. It has become a shameful place to call "home".

remember with fondness now. That America is dead now.

Reason #101,467

K & R

I suggest Columbia or Haiti for starters.
That may affect this opinion.."And we wonder why we're the most violent society on earth?"
Our country certainly isn't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than many many other places.
Much much safer, too.
That may be why people come HERE looking for asylum, not the other way around.

many places are not industrialized. No one is lining up boats to flee Miami for hati or cuba...

Yes, Haiti is not industrialized.

Is this one of those "love it or leave it" things?

I didn't take the job, my wife objected.
This was about 4 years ago.

What point are you trying to make here?

That people are killed in other countries for reasons that you would find incomprehensible and horrifying.
Your wailing about "how bad America is" is incredibly inexperienced.
Go live someplace where they TRULY do not value human life, and if you live to tell about it, I'll be happy to hear your comparison to the US then.

for a business executive, and I read enough to know that there are plenty of places in the world like Darfur, etc.

However, I have also read enough to know that the state of America is headed to hell in a handcart.

If and when I become an ex-pat I will most likely go to Canada, Australia or maybe London. Check the stats on Murders per capita in these places compared to our warm and cuddly nation that you want to envision.

but it is nowhere NEAR "the most violent society on earth".
There are SERIOUS issues that need to be dealt with.

For the record: this isn't the first (or second) time our country has gone so far astray.
We made it then, and we'll make it now.
I have faith there WILL be a correction.

But I am (at the moment) at the point of saying "stick a fork in it, we're done."

With the power this country has that is so easily wielded by corporatists,0 be it Dole or Exxon, we have become a world class bully to not only the rest of the world but our own citizenry as well.


Hmmmm... Amsterdam? I hear they have great coffee shops. :)

nobody gets hurt! :eyes: