I agree with you, Mark. America is going down the crapper! I live in the USA, and I’m thoroughly disgusted with the way things are being handled around here, especially in regards to the government.

Now, in the USA, they believe in the separation of church and state. If that’s so…then why are half of the politicians in my own state New Jersey, having spots in the local government, and then taking bribes and extorting citizens and businesses for money?

This country disgusts me. You can hate on me if you want, but when I finally get rich from the internet marketing thing, expect me and my family to pack up and leave the damn country.

The saddest part of this incident is the lack of action and/or concern taken by the speaker to defuse the situation. Certainly did not project the image of a man of action ?

We get what we vote for. Don’t blame the country!!
In Illinois we have corrupt aldermen,governors and politicians. We vote the same party in time after time,and we have the highest taxes,richest politicians. We are due for another sales tax increase to new heights. (11%). Too many citizens want and want and want. And they get. except the working stiff, he gets the bill
I love term limits.

Yes Mark I saw this earlier in the week, and was most upset. I have been in the US many times, and had countless discussions with Americans who believe the are in the land of the free. Freedom of speech means having to listen to stuff that you strongly disagree with, but respecting the individuals right to have that point of view. Just look at the racist way US commentators comedians etc treat the French, just because they had their own opinion on a situation. I agree with Steve C about the lack of intervention on the speaker, or fellow students part. Try that here in Scotland.

Hey Dan,

Yes, I agree that Andrew staged it. However, in my opinion, the situation is just another example of Americans being shut up. In the context of what is happening now in America, Andrew’s story is nothing. However,when put with other things that are happening, a picture forms.
Nothing anti-Bush allowed.Even those wearing protest t-shirts are not allowed. Anti-War Protesters fined $30,000 because of PASTE?? Amnesty again being voted on TODAY when Americans went CRAZY trying to stop it this summer. Americans only getting half of any story on the so-called “news”. Almost EVERY Presidential Candidate voting to give our Social Security to ILLEGAL Immigrants when it doesn’t even cover AMERICANS! Cities in our Country violating Federal Law with NO consequences.(refuge cities) Politician after Politician being found out for crimes, ethical violations, bribery, etc. Frankly, the list goes on and on and on. It is a terrible thing, but Canada is starting to look good to me…and not because I don’t love my Country.It’s just that..it isn’t my Country anymore. I don’t hardly recognize this Government as our leaders..as they aren’t listening to the American Citizens anyway. I am ashamed of this Government that terrorizes its own citizens so that they can line their pockets. Or for Power. I am tired of being sheep for the Government, aren’t you?

I agree with you Mark America has lost almost all of it’s freedoms. I have often thought of relocating to another country as I can see communism is on the rise. We can’t seem to make any decisions of our own. I now it seems we have also lost our freedom of speech.

I think the John Kerry, The school and the police should all be punished for their parts in this. The police for their brutal attack on this boy and the others for not standing up and helping him in his time of need. I hope he sues the pants off all of them and wins big!

There may not be room to say what I want to say, but, here goes. I am a very senior person, a Conservative, and a firm believer of a person being totally responsible for every-thing he/she says, thinks and does.

Like the person who is going to make his fortune here, hates America, and going to move out as soon as gets rich. I have a couple of suggestions for that person, but I’ll just say ” why not get out now and make your fortune in the place you will go to”.

Yes, America is heading down hill. In my opinion, it started back with Franklin D. Roosevelt who put Social Security into play. Supposedly as a way to supplement incomes for the aged upon retirement. Good thought it would seem, but that was the first step to entitlements and the beginning of people gradually losing that independent feeling of being fully responsible for self, and more and more looking for the government for a hand out.

Then you have a political party that lives on promising to give the people more and more for doing less and less. How to do that, more taxes. Make more promises and stay in office where all the power over people is. As the man said, When the government tells the people, instead of people telling the government, you have troubles and loss of freedom, and eventually economic and personal disasters. After that the picture gets very scary for us who remember and know what it’s like to love America, and will defend it, and take responsibility for it.

As for taser, and those who say brutality, there is certain decorum for public meetings, called respect. The man was deliberately trying to disrupt the meeting, did, and wouldn’t stop. I do not care for Kerry, but he has a right to the freedoms too. What happened is also part of what is wrong in America. And it is going to get even worse. Beware the power of the Universal Law of Cause and Effect. It works all the time and forever. CJ

Mark,

You seem to be a student of American history and I would have to agree with you that we (I use that term, because it is up to the citizens of any country to make the difference) have let the politicians become the rulers.

We need to get back to the Constitution and get rid of most of the ‘leaders’ and replace them with those that will support the Constitution (like Ron Paul).

As far as Mr. Harris, go where ever you want, you are part of what is wrong with the USA. Americans will fight for what is right, others run. It is time for another ‘American Revolution’ - not with guns, but with votes.

Sorry for the rambling.

Ed

Until the sheep start to think for themselves, the sheep dogs are going to continue to herd them where ever they want to and sheer them when ever they feel like it.

PS..sorry for the typos,
still trying to spell properly on a laptop keyboard
butn i think the gist is there!

I have known for yrs that we are in trouble and its not poor little george’s fault, it all started yrs ago with the shooting of JFK when he didnt listen to the people who really run our so-called free country. He didnt supply the air cover he said he would for the Bay of Pigs invasion, then he was going to go on TV on Thanksgiving day and tell the nation the boys were coming home from Viet Nam well as we all know he didnt make it. We had 2500 boys there, by Christmas Day we had 53,000 boys there does that should tell ya they Scared the Hell out of Lyndon Johnson, and now we see the same starting all again, its time to standup and say enough is enough. Our young people better start standing up for our God givin rights of Liberty and Freedom before their gone, Larry

Kudos to CJ Brehme and LuAnn Beckman for having the most objective comments about this event. Sometimes things are not what they first appear after closer investigation. This guy, it has been pointed out, is known for this kind of tactic to get attention. His screaming and crying out seem to have been more of an act than true pain. I agree that this country is in serious peril of losing it’s civil liberties, but the reasons for it go much, much deeper than some idiot college “kid” craving for attention not being allowed to make a big splash at some political event. He should have held his own event where he was the keynote speaker if he wanted so much to be heard. As was pointed out, there is an expected order to such an event and intentional disruption almost always leads to a police escort away from the scene no matter what the political views of each side involved.

Mark,

As you were commenting on the US, I came across this article and found this information interesting, so I thought I’d pass it along. This could save someone’s life….

REMEMBER ASPARTAME IS A CHEMICAL!!!!!!

SWEET POISON … A MUST READ

In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick. She had stomach spasms and she was having a hard time getting around. Walking was a major chore. It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain.

By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies and was on 24 various prescription medications. The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her. She was in so much pain, and so sick.she just knew she was dying. She put her house, bank accounts, lifeinsurance, etc., in her oldest daughter’s name, and made sure that her younger children were to be taken care of. She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to Florida (basically in a wheelchair) for March 22nd.

On March 19 I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and she said they didn’t find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS. I recalled an article a friend of mine e-mailed to me and I asked my sister if she drank diet soda? She told me that she did. As a matter of fact, she was getting ready to crack one open that moment.

I told her not to open it, and to stop drinking the diet soda! I e-mailed her the article my friend, a lawyer, had sent. My sister called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and told me she had stopped drinking the diet soda AND she could walk! The muscle spasms went away. She said she didn’t feel 100% but she sure felt a lot better. She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would call me when she got home.

Well, she called me, and said her doctor was amazed! He is going to call all of his MS patients to find out if they consumed artificial sweeteners of any kind. In a nutshell, she was being poisoned by the Aspartame in the diet soda…and literally dying a slow and miserable death.

When she got to Florida March 22, all she had to take was one pill, and that was a pill for the Aspartame poisoning! She is well on her way to a complete recovery. And she is walking! No wheelchair! This article saved her life.

To read more of this article go to:
http://work-at-home-op.blogspot.com/

Sadly, no one stays with the story to get all of the facts. The “student” in question, set this up intentionally. He waited until the Q & A was finished before he got up to ask his question. He then refused to yield the floor. He continued his rant until security cam to remove him. Then he resisted his removal. Outside of the hall, he continued to resist, and was warned several times that his resistance would cause him to get tased. So what do we have here: An obnoxious kid intentionally disrupts a Q & A with John Kerry, depriving everyone else of their right to assemble in an orderly manner, he then gets tased for resistiung arrest, not for asking a question, and finally, we learn that he is a well know “practical joker,” who provided two video cameras to two other people in advance, so that he could get his antic on tape.

No sympathy here

“Mark, the only people to be held responsible for the liberties and freedoms being systematically taken from the people are the people themselves.”

Ilias Glenis - Director
http://www.MyMonkBuddy.com

Mark,
I often find myself being quite impressed with the observations and comments of people who actually take the time to respond to forums or magazines etc. Most of your respondents have pretty good arguments. I’ll add one that has bothered me for a while….
This incident with Mr. Kerry’s speech reflects the downward spiral of acceptable behavior our society has continued to allow amongst ‘law enforcement’ officials. I would invite anyone to pick up your local paper and see how easy it is to find examples of police brutality or at least impropriety. Sure they can hide behind the protection of legalese phrases like “I feared for my safety” or “I had formed a reasonable suspicion of a threat..” and so on. These manipulations of language are the professional handiwork of lawyers and legislators. They are used as smoke screens to cast validity upon acts mostly motivated by ego and testosterone. Does anyone else wonder like I do just how far removed most cops are from the very criminal elements they’re supposed to be protecting us from? Cops today do not inspire the feelings of safety they once did. The law-abiding amongst us have as much to fear from their unbridled machismo and aggression as the common thug who doesn’t care about laws or civilized behavior. Thank goodness for the media, who exist as watchdog elements on these dark aspects of daily life. Sure television and movies and even the news have their own inherent problems of sensationalism and excess…they are enterprises of human beings and we are far from perfect. But were it not for the media….or just someone with a camera…how many of these abusive police acts would be swept under the carpet by the good ol’ boys club mentality of fellow cops and lawyers? And lost in all the detritus of excessive force and harassment is the fact that real criminals get pathetically lenient reprimands and revisit the streets to terrorize the rest of us again and again. Why? Well, the lawyers can answer to that. And cops are likely to take the path of least resistence, harrowing normal people for miniscule transgressions to satisfy their bullying instincts instead of taking on the real dangers of society. Now, part of the blame lies with our lawmakers, who are so concerned with the civil rights of criminals they forget about the civil protections the rest of us should have a right to enjoy. Lawyers of course are happy to hang their shingles on a practice based upon double-talk and deception to strike a chord with the disenfranchised and make a name for themselves as championing the cause of the ‘wrongly accused’. So, we need not worry about our lack of free speech as much as we need to worry about the people making our laws, and especially about the people enforcing them. We need a judicial system with the gonads to really punish in accordance with the degree of the offense, and we need law enforcement to take more pride in exisiting as a protective agency and not just a legitimized occupation that serves as a repository of grossly over-aggressive individuals who need an outlet for their hostility. Many, not all of course….but many police officers shouldn’t even be allowed to HAVE tasers in the first place; let alone firearms. Remember, our freedom of speech only matters if we can speak without fear of reprisal. When we permit law enforcement to start judging whether our speech or our behavior is ‘threatening’, then we better make DAMN sure those law enforcement officials have good judgement themselves. We are not as far away from a ‘police state’ as we may believe. Only constant exposure of events like Mr. Kerry’s speech will keep us aware enough to know that some of the biggest threats to our individual freedoms lie within our own system itself.

To all those Americans that would leave the USA if Hillary were elected president …. where would you go?

Have you spent any time in the “shitholes” to our South. Have you ever asked yourselves why so many people are coming to the USA, legally or illegally.

We are the best thing there is in the whole world … Hillary or no Hillary.

I would not vote for her. But, what can she do to really make things worse for you here, than some other politician can do to you anywhere else in the world?

I know people who are planning to retire to northern Thialand because the government and the police are sympathetic to US military personnel. What happens when that government changes?

Ours may change or evolve but it won’t happen drastically or violently. No one here has the guts or the power to do away with our Constitution or desolve the governemnt like Putin recently did in Russia.

When did we, as individuals, stop fighting for what we believe in? If you don’t want Hillary ( a leftist ) or Romney ( a conservative ) in power for the next four years, go out an work to get your candidate elected. Don’t just sit there and then complain when your candidate loses … DO SOMETHING.

And, think about what you do. Don’t just buy the party line as I see in so many comments above.

Research and study.

If you hear one point of view, find out what the other side is saying. Don’t buy a bag of “crap” because it agrees with some warped idealogy you developed along the way.

Politicians will “lie” or tell you what you want to hear, as long as you accept that from them.

Don’t think like a Democrat or a Republican

Think for yourself.

Think like an AMERICAN.

In some ways I agree with most of the others, but that a show off should be repeatedly tased by our wonderful police, just because they can makes me sick. I have bee watching the country I love go to hell for many years, and would join any group to rebel against the way our government leaders are, about all public officials, our police and how they feel free to do whatever they feel to people. I am getting up there for that 61 but the biggest problem is my health, it goes down worse daily. Talk about aspartame, you better start researching every thing you buy in the supermarket, fast food places and etc. Our government responsible for this part of our health are allowing the big manufacturers to do whatever they want, putting pesticides on our food, feeding annimals hormones, and anibiotics and God knows whatelse even if it is the cause of many diseases, all that matters is the money they exchange, the same with our Pharmaceutical giants, they are allowed to list as food manufacturers what they choose but are always allowed to add several things I have read 7 that does’nt have to be listed. I have begun studying the organic foods road and the vitamins and nutrients that are so talked down. I began some vitamins herbs for my arthritis and felt much less pain in 3 days, I am now on 19 perscriptions that I feel are literally killing me and I will get off them and improve my own health, doctors are’nt about to it all comes down to the money if we aren’t sick how can doctors, pharmaceutical giants, food giants and on and on get there money. To bad if we are disabled or dead for it. The one person that stated no one is allowed to tell his wife what natural would cure her, take her to a holistic center and they will give you the names of doctors, or to a good health food store for information on the doctors they know of. Study books from the library, you don’t need anyone to tell you really you can find it all in the library. No one yet, though they do try can disallow us the right to read and research till we find a cure or a doctor who practices natural medicine. There really are more than you may think. I refuse to let the ???? say what I can and can’t take it is my body and I will take whatever I damn well please if I can find out about it and where it is sold. Right here on this internet is one of the best places to begin your research and save yourself. As for this country, I do love America but I detest all politicians as they are all for one to old to be making up the rules for everyone else, ya know some must be in the upper 80’s or more. They all lie of there intentions, and for some reason we have no say I know of about who runs. The ones that can get enough money and are wanted by the parties they run for. Why can’t we just be one people. Me I am not a Republican or a Democrat barf to both. But I am a person who trusts nothing that comes out of the mouths of these wonderful people. I don’t know how to change it or if thats possible. I would have voted for Russ Paroe (mispelled I know but I can’t remember his name for sure) but I do remember how he was treated by the other great parties and they were so affraid of him he was threatened and I do believe that out of even running just as any other non party person is. Oh well I talked enough but I could go on for days probabaly about how I feel about this government, the war, our military dieing and for what really. That one causes me arguments even at home, but I see no reason we have to take care of every other nation or country, they don’t even want us there and as for ben who pulled off the 9/11 event you never hear about him being hunted and that was why I thought we went there now look how many more of our young have died for I am not sure what to make our Pres look good, he is nothing but bs to me and thats a very light description. I have to shut up but Thanks Mark this is the first time I have ever done this guess I can only get worse on this subject though.

Mark,

The USA is not perfect. Our leaders in all branches of government at all levels have lots of “warts”. But, the fact that people from every corner of the world will do anything to come here is a strong testament to the proposition that our country is a wonderful place to live. In my 75+ years, I have seen much change take place . . . some good, some bad. The technilogical advancements that we have experienced, including the space industry (which I was very privileged to be a part of), transportation, medicine, electronics, and many more, have been absolutely amazing and beneficial to mankind. However, in other areas we have started down a very slippery slope. Instead of statesmen, we have (to a very great extent) only politicians who put political party above country. Instead of promoting morals, we champion and cheer immorality. Instead of being responsible, we blame everyone else for all of our problems. We should keep in mind that freedom and personal responsibility come as a package. We do not get one without the other.

In our democracy, we live under a system of laws, regulations, and rules which adhere (supposedly) to the constitution. In past years, almost all citizens willingly respected and adhered to those laws, regulations, and rules. Those who did not were punished to the appropriate degree. That is simply the way any organized, free society must operate. Otherwise, there is anarchy, and anarchy leads quickly to chaos. If the police who subdued the obnoxious student did not follow correct and documented procedure, they should be appropriately delt with under the law. However, the entire country should not be blamed for their actions any more than we should be blamed for the student’s stupidity. In other words, again, those envolved are responsible for their own actions, and should be judged accordingly.

I totally agree with the above statements by C. J. Brehme, LuAnn Beckman, Jeff Chaffin, and Gray Dog. Also, I applaud Mack’s statement. Good for you, Mack. They all sound like they have been around long enough to experience some fiery trials that produced some wisdom.

Thanks, Mark, for the forum.

Not only the boy who was tasered how about the boys who were imprisoned for fighting in LA. It’s a dirty down right shame the way some authorities abuse the law.

Hello, Well I can see what’s happening here. The World is a one big instant outlet. No more Security. No more the Good ole USA. WE live in a global society now, and our culture is reflecting that. First out with the moral, then the standards. Like this new Hate Speech Law that Kennedy wants past. He wants equal protection for all Americans? Our Constitution already provides this. But if He gets his law pass, then preaching parts of the Bible ( mainly against homosexuality) will get you thrown in prison with
felonies on your record and huge fines. Don’t think it can happen? It is already a law in Canada and other parts of the world. In the End Times they will call good, evil and evil good. Bryan