End the War on Freedom

# Old Horseman - Police State in Progress: Less Lethal Weapons... - cops have taken a liking to the supposed non-lethal weapons, e.g. pepper spray and tasers. Problem is, they're not really non-lethal, only less-probably lethal than their pistols. And pepper spray in the eyes or a taser zap could reasonably be called torture. So why is it OK for cops to use them on people whose only "crime" is disobeying orders? It's not OK, of course. And we should remind the cops in question that they're engaging in torture and risking murder when they do it.

Police forces in America should be stripped of tasers, pepper spray, and other instruments of torture until they get it through their heads that you don't hurt people who are doing no harm. Citizens are not cattle to be prodded and punished because the guy behind the badge doesn't like their attitude or is such a chicken-shit coward that he can't stand eye to eye with a citizen and talk to him like a human being.

If cops keep acting like Nazis, treating the citizens like the Enemy, sooner or later, the citizens will respond in kind. I personally consider pepper spray and tasers to be lethal weapons, and would respond to anyone attacking me with them in exactly the same manner as I would if they were armed with a gun or knife. (Which is to say, with opposing lethal force.)

The husband of the old woman who was double-zapped was arrested for "interfering with an officer" when he confronted the jackboots over their attack on his wife. In all honesty, if he'd shot the cop through the head with a rifle from his window, he would never have been convicted with me on the jury.

# Wayne Madsen at Insider Magazine - Exposé: The "Christian" Mafia - long piece on how the nazis, disguised as Christians, took over the U.S. government. I didn't read the whole thing, but it looks interesting. Have your grain of salt ready. [liberty]

After several months of in-depth research and, at first, seemingly unrelated conversations with former high-level intelligence officials, lawyers, politicians, religious figures, other investigative journalists, and researchers, I can now report on a criminal conspiracy so vast and monstrous it defies imagination. Using "Christian" groups as tax-exempt and cleverly camouflaged covers, wealthy right-wing businessmen and "clergy" have now assumed firm control over the biggest prize of all -- the government of the United States of America. First, some housekeeping is in order. My use of the term "Christian" is merely to clearly identify the criminal conspirators who have chosen to misuse their self-avowed devotion to Jesus Christ to advance a very un-Christian agenda. The term "Christian Mafia" is what several Washington politicians have termed the major conspirators and it is not intended to debase Christians or infer that they are criminals . I will also use the term Nazi -- not for shock value -- but to properly tag the political affiliations of the early founders of the so-called "Christian" power cult called the Fellowship. The most important element of this story is that a destructive religious movement has now achieved almost total control over the machinery of government of the United States -- its executive, its legislature, several state governments, and soon, the federal judiciary, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

...

Bush had reason to be thankful to the Christian fundamentalists. They helped his son, George W. Bush, avoid a certain court martial and prison time. On or about April 18, 1972, the Houston Police arrested First Lieutenant George W. Bush of the Texas Air National Guard for possession of cocaine. Bush and a friend were booked into the Harris County jail. Bush's father, who was serving as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, hurriedly flew to Houston from New York and began to make the required phone calls to keep his son from receiving a court martial, dishonorable discharge, and a prison sentence. As one senior Bush business partner recalled, then-Ambassador Bush knew that junior was in "deep shit." Senior Bush arranged for his son to serve at a religious drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in San Diego between May and November 1972. Conservative San Diego was a major center for Fellowship activities.

The time Bush spent in religious rehab in San Diego represents part of the famous "gap" in Bush's National Guard service record. According to a fitness report on Bush issued by the White House in 2004, Bush was "Not rated for the period 1 May 72 through 30 Apr 73. Report for this period not available for administrative reasons." This represents the time Junior Bush was being shown the way from drugs to Jesus in San Diego and afterwards, his court-ordered community service penance in Houston. The senior Bush arranged to have the arrest record on Junior expunged and even his name removed from the police blotter. Later, a ruse that Junior Bush went to Alabama to work on the Republican Senate campaign of Winton Blount was concocted to throw off nosy opposition research investigators and journalists. The deception worked.