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Citigroup eyes options including merger
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc lost more than one-quarter of its market value on growing worries over whether it has enough capital to withstand billions of dollars of potential...
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Fed's Bullard: U.S. spending slump to sap 2009 growth
EVANSVILLE, Indiana (Reuters) - St Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Thursday that financial market turmoil has collapsed U.S. consumer confidence and this would weigh on growth well...
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Oil falls over $1 on demand worries
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil dropped more than $1 a barrel on Friday, falling for sixth straight sessions as more distress for the global economy threatened to eat further...
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NY City securities workforce down to Sept 2005 level
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City's securities companies shed 16,000 employees in October, measured on a year-over-year basis, pushing the total work force down to a level last seen...
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Democrats demand U.S. Big 3 offer survival plan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic congressional leaders, seeking to salvage a bailout of the Big Three automakers, demanded executives provide a business survival plan in exchange for their support of up...
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S&P dives to lowest level since 1997
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks plunged yet again on Thursday, as a frantic flight from risk prompted by investors' deepening economic fears drove the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index...
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Marsal to lead team of over 600 at Lehman
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bryan Marsal, currently chief restructuring officer of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc , will take over as chief executive of the bankrupt investment bank after the close...
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Paulson defends handling of U.S. financial crisis
SIMI VALLEY, California (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday defended his handling of the financial crisis but refused to say whether any further help will be offered to...
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Dell profit tops Street view, shares rise
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc, the world's No. 2 PC maker, posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as cost cuts offset lower revenue, sending its shares up about...
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Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac suspend some foreclosures
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest U.S. home loan finance companies, on Thursday said they would suspend foreclosures of occupied homes until early 2009,...
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Written by Jordan
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Friday, 15 August 2008 12:47 |
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The Real 'Two Americas'
John Edwards, the now-disgraced former candidate for president, frequently spoke of “Two Americas” in his campaign for the White House. The first America, he claimed, is a wealthy and prosperous place, populated by upper-class, white suburbanites who have access to healthcare and a good education. The second America contains the masses of poor, disenfranchised individuals who are getting a raw deal. The point, of course, was that John Edwards was a man of the people, and if elected, everyone would become a part of the prosperous America.
John Edwards was right. There really are two Americas. But the divide is not between rich and poor, red state and blue state, or black and white. The divide is between those who are above the law, and those who are trampled by that same law.
Perhaps the best way to highlight the differences between these two groups is with an example. On November 28, 2007, New Hampshire state trooper James Conrad, in a fit of hysterics, threatened to take a fellow trooper’s firearm and kill everyone in the room. Conrad, who was under investigation on a domestic complaint, paced back in forth in the police station and was eventually subdued by other police officers. Additionally, he had recently used a K9 unit to track down his estranged wife, to whom he had made criminal threats.
Mr. Conrad was found innocent today, August 15th, on all of the counts related to the incident at the office, because he was dealing with "extreme emotional distress."
Now look at the case of Anthony Jarvis, another New Hampshire resident. Mr. Jarvis’ son, Jesse Jarvis, was arrested on July 26, 2008, for a parole violation. With Jesse in custody, a SWAT team was sent to Anthony’s Charlestown home, despite not having a warrant for his arrest or a clear reason for being there at all. Although he was reportedly distressed about the arrest of his son, Jesse had already been taken into custody without interference from Anthony when police decided to surround his home and force a confrontation. When Anthony Jarvis refused to leave his home, police entered and a shootout ensued. Mr. Jarvis was killed in the fracas, while a state trooper was shot in the leg. The police are withholding the details, and it is not clear who shot the trooper, or if Mr. Jarvis was even armed, as police assumed.
Either way, Anthony Jarvis is dead for refusing to leave his own home, and for possibly possessing a firearm illegally. James Conrad, who had the ability and expressed the desire to go on a rampage, on the other hand, is free to walk the streets.
Here’s another example: The mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland had his house raided by a SWAT team when dealers mailed a package containing drugs to his home as part of a distribution scheme. The officers broke down his door, killed his dogs, and bound the mayor and his mother-in-law on the floor while they ransacked the house. The police, who didn’t have a no-knock warrant, have now conceded that the package was likely intended for someone else.
In contrast, look at any number of cases where an individual’s house was raided and pets killed because police thought they might have drugs, but the story never even made the news. How many of you have heard of Tarika Wilson? Wilson was a 26 year old black woman who was shot by SWAT officers in a drug raid of her Lima, Ohio home. The unarmed Tarika was killed, while her infant son—who she was holding at the time—was shot in the shoulder and hand. The officer who, according to prosecutors, recklessly fired into a bedroom where Tarika and her children were gathered, was acquitted to the applause of his fellow officers.
To his credit, the mayor of Berwyn Heights is talking about the discrepancy between the media coverage his situation was given compared to similar situations in which the victim does not hold a political office: "The reality is that this happens all the time in this country and disproportionably in Prince Georges county and most of the people to whom it happens don’t have the community support and the platform to speak out. So I appreciate you paying attention to our condition but I hope you’ll also give attention to those who may not have the same platform and voice that we have."
The mayor’s political position at least bought him some media attention, which is more than most victims of the police state receive. But it doesn’t change the vast difference between the standards to which officers of the government are held and those to which the rest of us are held. For example, while the cop who shot Tarika Wilson was acquitted for firing blindly into a room, Cory Maye did the same thing and has faced the death penalty.
The hypocrisy doesn’t merely include law enforcement, but government officials at all levels, as well as their allies in the private sector. Judges, Senators, National Security Advisers, and their corporate enablers break the very laws they create and enforce, while those who aren’t part of the government elite are thrown in prison or executed for the same offenses.
The divide in America is not between the rich and the poor, although the rich certainly have the ability to attain the political power necessary to join the power elite; the real divide is between those whose political position places them above the law and the rest of us.
One thing you and I can do to help change this sad state of affairs is to spread the word about the hypocrisy when it occurs. While high-profile cases make the news, many abuses do not.
When you find a case of hypocrisy or abuse, submit it to Freedom Revolution, write a letter to the editor of your local paper, e-mail it to your friends, and do everything you can to raise awareness. The incidents are frequent and egregious, and after reading case after case of abuse even the most ardent believer in the inerrancy of the state should begin to regard its practitioners with a healthy dose of skepticism and distrust. |
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