Yet another FRIGHTENING scene from Ashcroft's vision for America

[CaptainMidnight]

Gang,

Story below about police bursting into a local high school, guns drawn, children handcuffed, forced to lie on the floor with guns LEVELLED AT THEIR HEADS!



"Drug Raid At S.C. High School
GOOSE CREEK, S.C., Nov. 7, 2003
(CBS) Gun-toting police burst into a South Carolina high school, ordering students to lie down in hall ways as they searched for drugs. The commando-style raid has parents questioning the wisdom of police tactics."

BUT check out the original and very frightening video of this at CBS's website:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/07/national/main582492.shtml

Sure enough, drugs in schools are bad. But the police tactics here are evermore the tactics being advocated by John Ashcroft's Justice Department and The Patriot Act. Let us be clear, this incident isn't some anomalous action of an overzealous small town local police force, but rather a textbook example of what Ashcroft is advocating, what he and Bush are trying to do to gradually turn America in a police state.

I kid you not. They are doing this. Ashcroft recently went around the country on a "publicity tour" for The Patriot Act and the "Victory" Act. It was a sham. He did NOT meet with ordinary Americans, he didn't have "town hall-style meetings," he didn't take ANY questions from citizens concerned with their rights being stripped away. He met privately, in closed conferences, with police forces, local law enforcement, and review the new laws where your local police forces must now act WITH THE US MILITARY in adopting a more militaristic crackdown on American citizens.

In the Goose Greek raid, the cops found NOTHING, no drugs, no weapons, no arrests, after being told that drug dealing in the school had gotten out of hand. Even so, what was reported to the police was NOT cocaine, heroin, crack, meth, or even ecstacy. But rather, some kids were dealing in marijuana and prescription pills. Prescription pills. A coupla prescription pills being dealt in a high school will get the a platoon of gun-toting policeman bursting into your school, ordering everyone onto to the floor, and a gun pointed at your kid's head. I repeat, in the surprise raid and search of over 100 kids, their lockers, their backpacks, the cops found NOTHING.

Rush Limbaugh was caught with thousands upon thousands of prescription pills, and did you see police storming the walls of his 25 million dollar compound? He wasn't even served with a search warrant. He is sure to escape any kind of punishment. Meanwhile, Tommy Chong is in prison for selling a BONG on the internet, while Osama runs free, Saddam is at large, the Anthrax Killer remains (intentionally) unidentified. Our freedoms have been stripped away, the Bill of Rights trashed, the Constitution flushed down the toilet. Has this crackdown MADE US MORE SECURE AND MORE FREE? And supposedly Osama attacked us cuz he HATES OUR FREEDOMS?

Have you guys figured it out yet? That this deliberate militarizing and policing of our society had NOTHING to do with PROTECTING us, but rather with CONTROLLING US.

GANG: I'm not exaggerating this. This is being done RIGHT NOW. This is George Bush's, Ashcrofts, the neo-conservatives', and increasingly the Republicans' vision for the future of America. It's all part of Bush's Hitlerian ideal of a totalitarian government, the deliberate trashing of the economy, the looting of our Treasury by them and their corporate cronies, the frightening of our citizens, and future phony staged "terror attacks" on American citizens to be falsely blamed on Al Qaeda. They are doing this gradually, so you don't notice it as much.

These goons in office are the idealogical heirs of Hitler, Goebbels, Goerring, Himmler and their brownshirts...

Captain Mike

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. That is why we must all stick together

to defeat Bush. I don't care who is nominated, we MUST defeat Bush. If we don't, our country is doomed!

[proud patriot]

2. I doubt this story is going away

it will not drop . STOP IT HERE , NOW ..

If these parents don't stand up together
against this , it will happen again .

[Cat Atomic]

3. Invade the place, rought it up, find NOTHING.

Sounds familiar.

[BloodyWilliam]

4. Two years out of high school...

And already they're hellholes I don't recognize. I thought school was bad in my day (that was 2000, mind you), but now they're terrifying labor camps for minors.

This scares me. And it makes me sick.

If I was in school at that time, I know I'd either have gotten shot or arrested. Those weren't cops, they were gestapo and this was a police action.

A suburban South Carolina school. Would this ever happen in a city school, where such problems are far worse? I doubt it.

Fear is the problem. In cities, in places where people recgonize these problem and are used to the unfortunate reality of theme, there is tolerance. Caution, but not fear. In sheltered suburban communities, the slightest departure from the norm creates a dangerous, violent fear.

[homelandpunk]

5. Oh man, I was trying to avoid any images of this

cause I REALLY did not want to feel what I knew I would feel...so I have been trying to avoid seeing the images...and now you post that picture. OK I'm thru the roof. Everything is so wrong. Are we in fascism free-fall? They'll blame the principal, cause he called for it. But principals have asked for this kind of thing before, and socity knew it was over the line, so it wa not followed thruough. Now, people in power, who have shit for brains cause they are fucking traumatized by constant fear from their "leaders", sign off on this wack fascism and think it is wonderful and helpful.
I hope this is used against the idiocy, but my hunch is, there will be more of the same. The Patriot Act is a call for "defensive" internal terrorism. Those responsible for it should be hung. ALL of them.

[drfemoe]

6. If this is NOT

a freaking ILLEGAL SEARCH -- with NO seizures BTW .. WTF IS? Gawd I hope there are 2700 lawsuits ...

from the article:
"The paper quoted Lt. Dave Aarons of the Goose Creek Police Department as saying that the suspected drug dealers appeared to be knowledgeable about where the school surveillance cameras were. He said he watched school surveillance tapes from four days that showed students congregating under cameras, periodically walking into a bathroom with different students and coming out moments later.

"They know where the cameras are. If they stand directly under them, the camera's don't look directly down,'' Aarons told the paper. "

So it's against the law to go to the bathroom .. or move out of view of surveillance cameras or 'knowing' where they are???

I'm glad this happened. People need to WAKE UP. Maybe those 5400 or so parents will vote democratic for a change.

sheesh this is so frustrating .. How about a police raid on the WH to find the missing documents on the Plame CIA affair, the energy 'commission', the 9/11 papers, the Lynch rescue, etc ... eh? No, handcuffing and terrorizing high school students is EVER so much more important to national security.

:nuke: I AM FUMING .. and I wish to god I was a constitutional lawyer ..

[in_cog_ni_to]

7. CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT!!!

EVERY parent from that school MUST sue for this. It has to stopped.

[The Raven]

8. This makes me sick...

what kind of message was the police force trying to show the children? That they all are bad and need to be handcuffed and thrown on the floor with guns at their heads???? I remember seeing something like that. Anyone remember Hitler and the concentration camps? They did the same damn thing.

I agree, we all have to fight and get rid of Bush....he is not helping the country, he is hurting it. We need to regain our rights, our freedoms, and our safety. If we don't, this image will soon enough be a reality to us all.

We need to stop this regime. I don't care who gets the democratic nomination, whether it's dean, clark, or kucinich, we need to get rid of Bush.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi The Raven!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[The Raven]

20. hey newyawker

I'm glad to be here.

[utahdem]

9. Wake up people!

Fascism in America is a reality. It's here, it's ugly and it's going to get much worse unless the people do something about it. The only reason this episode is so highly publicised is because it was video taped. These kinds of things are going on every day in America but no one cares because it isn't recorded. There is very little video evidence of police misconduct.

Last evening a suicidal young man brandishing a gun was shot and killed by police in Salt Lake City. I "heard" eye witness accounts of anywhere from eight to twenty shots being fired. I'm absolutely sure that the officers involved will be returned to duty and the shooting will be classified as justifiable. Why am I so sure? Because I don't ever recall a local, fatal, police involved shooting being judged otherwise!

[newyawker99]

15. Hi utahdem!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[drfemoe]

10. Possible actions

Please go to the yahoo story and vote this a 5 ..
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031108/ap_on_re_us/school_drug_raid_2

.. also go to http://news.google.com and search news for "goose creek drug raid" .. that will move the story up in ranking so it will appear on the front page of google news ..

[CivilRightsNow]

11. It happened before, the cycle is the same.

The Frogman Case
Source:
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/cia_drug_connection_under_reagan.htm

"In 1998 the CIA finally admitted to its involvement in drug trafficking in the United States after years of federal investigation by the Kerry Congressional Committee. What the CIA admitted to was allowing cocaine trafficking to take place by Contras who were being supported by the CIA, using facilities and resources supplied by the US government, and preventing investigation into these activities by other agencies. This was done because funds for the support of militant groups in South America had been withdrawn by Congress so the CIA allowed the Contras to engage in the drug trade in the United States in order to make money to fund their military operations.

These are hard facts. The CIA was forced to publish the information by the Congressional Committee when they were found of wrongdoing. You can find the official CIA version of the story here:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/cocaine/overview/index.html
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/cocaine/report/index.html
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/cocaine/index.html

-------end quote


I like how those links are just subtly different and it's all the same topic. They like to hide information on the web, or so it seems. It just seems that now, our government doesnt know who the terrorists are and who the citizens should be.

DARE and McGruff spewed propaganda when I was too young to even be thinking about doing drugs. But hey, the right and the left could both get behind it.. drugs were bad, educate them early.

Win win.

"In 1983, a program called Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) was initiated in schools all over the United States. Propaganda alleging untrue and unproven health effects was fed to schoolchildren, and students were encouraged to become police informants, passing information to the authorities about their friends' and families' drug habits. At the same time, the Reagan/Bush Administration quietly instructed American universities to destroy all research work into cannabis, undertaken between 1966 and 1976."
...
"Under Reagan, the federal prison population doubled. Young offenders and non-violent drug users were sent to "Special Alternative Incarceration" boot camps, where they were brainwashed with yet more anti-drug propaganda, to undermine their subversive attitudes. The President declared the War on Drugs to be one of the major achievements of his administration, while the international narcotics trade thrived and cannabis prices sky-rocketed."

Link: http://www.ephidrina.org/cannabis/drugswar.html

I wonder if these kids are going to be sent into the war machines, and this is how they will start doing it.

[Must_B_Free]

12. Hehe

you tinfoil hat people always think the sky is falling.
:tinfoilhat:
Nobody got hurt so what's the big deal?

As long as you're not hiding anything, you have nothing to worry about.

</sarcasm>

[lostnfound]

13. Video not working -- all I get to see is the Walmart ad :-<

If it were working, I know some right-wingers I'd like to send this to.

[bluestateguy]

16. Well

Perhaps next time the parents of these south carolinians will think twice about electing a crusading drug warrior to the presidency. South Carolina Democrats should demand all candidates speak out against this injustice.

[RainDog]

17. No Child Left Behind, Bush?

Please, please, please, God, let the ACLU, the libertarians, and every American who truly loves the founding principles of this country stop this regime NOW.

Please, all who read this thread, contact CBS news about this atrocity. Give them a reason to keep the story alive.

[The Raven]

21. I wrote CBS

and told them how I felt. Told them they lost this viewer and I told them that I am going to tell my family and friends to never watch CBS. Maybe they'll get the picture.

[drfemoe]

24. huh???

why did they lose you as a viewer?

[aeon flux]

18. Holy sh*t

This sh*t cannot be legal or consitutional.
I believe its called illegal search & seizure.

I am shocked beyond words.

[JanMichael]

19. Unf*ckin'believable! This is a seriously BAD development.

What really pisses me off is the jarhead mother fuckers pointing those guns at those kids in that way.

Two hand grip, arms extended, ready to kill.

[aeon flux]

22. You would think those kids had just murdered someone

The way those guns and attack dogs are trained on them.
But most are innocent and the only motive is marijuana?

God damn trigger-happy Nazis!

[latebloomer]

23. Anyone know

what the ethnic combination at this high school is?

I can't tell from the pics.

[Eric J in MN]

25. students interviewed on MSNBC were African American

students interviewed on MSNBC were African American

[JanMichael]

27. I couldn't tell either. But the photo looks like white crew-cut cops and..

...a mixed ethnic student population.

Mostly Black.

Bad scene, period.

It doesn't shock me that most of the students interviewed are Black/Hispanic.

[Oilwellian]

30. What's so unusual....

this school is 80% white and rates in the top 20% in scores across the nation. How did they wind up taking a hall that was a majority of black students? Something here really stinks. Particularly after the cop said he studied videos for 4 days. If the cop knew which students were behaving suspiciously, why weren't they dealt with separately? And did you take a look at the principal? He looks like he speaks in tongues and handles snakes on the weekend. <shutter>

[JanMichael]

31. OK, that's just f'ed up.

It's a mostly White school...

It reminds of my friend who taught in a NC middle school for one year before he quit. It was at least 70% white and actually there was little racial tension. The problem was that almost ALL of those students were foulmouthed, drug using/wanting, over sexed and violence prone, children. Sometimes it isn't Race that matters, it's Class. It probably doesn't matter to those cops, all of those kids are potential perps.

This is a mill town too, near Charlotte.

[0007]

26. Ashcroft will hire more dicks for those crazed young dopers.

No job is too small for Ashcroft.

[AmandaRuth]

28. i feel sick

I have had this post open and up through the making of and eating dinner and even dishes because I was just so outraged and shocked. I do not have the equipment or skills to do this, but someone should get more photos and do up a nice summary or even just use Ct Mikes and chain email this around. This, my friends is the patriot act and a fascists act on our kids, it may as well of been my daughter in there. If the (F)creeps can't see the evil in this, they deserve what they get. So would they have shot one of the kids if they moved, or got up and left? Just what type of movement or action from OUR kids would have warranted a use of weapon?. They all have guns I am sick.

[catzies]

29. This link to an LNB thread has DUer Corgigal as a local mom

Said her child was slated to attend that school next year and she's talking to parents of kids who were there.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=206227

[Military Brat]

32. How about a raid where the Tequila Twins go to school?

There's more dope and other drugs in college than high school. How would bush like his kids forced to lie on the floor, at gunpoint?

I am totally, absolutely appalled by this.

Here's the email address for George McCrackin (can you believe that name?), the principal at the school: [e-mail]

I already wrote him yesterday and gave him my opinion, but I hadn't seen the photo yet. If I had, my language would have been much angrier.

And, yes, CBS plays the commercial for Wal-Fart but doesn't play the video. Cowardly Broadcasting Service.

[CaptainMidnight]

33. WATCH THE VIDEO

At the CBS website in the provided link in the original post.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/07/national/main582492.shtml

It intially plays a stupid commercial, then feeds into the segment.

What's really scary is that you see this one jarhead-crewcut cop dragging this black kid down onto the floor and shoving his gun on him. Then you see what looks to be the SAME COP commenting on the raid, and defending his actions.

LOOK AT HIS BODY LANGUAGE. Something's up with this guy. Lying. Uncomfortable with what he did. Is reciting a statement from the watch commander from memory. I dont' know. But much like how you can tell A LOT about Bush and his methods of lying by his body language and his demeanor, this cop gives away something.

He's blinking very rapidly, and he's swaying back and forth as he's speaking. It's only like a five or so second clip within the video, but it's very telling. I'm an actor. I pick up on this stuff. Usually, onstage, when an actor is wandering, or shifting his weight alot, it means he's uncomfortable with what he's doing, what he's supposed to be communicating. It's a sign that he doesn't believe what he's saying. He doesn't quite have his lines down. He hasn't picked on "objective" to play. I see alot of this in early rehearsals for plays. I find myself doing it.

Perhaps I've overexplained this. LOOK at the video. Watch the cop's statement, and tell me what YOU GUYS THINK?

Captain Mike

[AmandaRuth]

34. i cant get the clip to load

so a kick for someone else. Go get em Captain

[opihimoimoi]

35. Fire the Principle and the Police Chief.

They are over the top

[CaptainMidnight]

38. wish I could help

Go to the link. Then you have to click on a lower right part of the webpage for that particular clip. A pop up window should load, playing it in a realplayer enabled page.

some folks said it wasn't loading last night. I tried it 6am PST here in LA, and it loaded.

Try again?

Maybe someone like WONK will be able to capture the video somehow and host a Quicktime...

Captain Mike

[Nikia]

36. That's horrible

Teenagers who have done nothing wrong shouldn't have to go through that experience. Several of them will probably develop mood and anxiety disorders from that traumatic experience. I am glad that I'm not in school anymore.
I thought that the drug searches at my school were bad enough. The police didn't aim guns at anyone but we were locked in class while the drug dog searched the halls, lockers, and parking lots. Suspected students were called out of class. I remember one honors student being led away in cuffs for having a small amount of pot in his car. His grades nose dived after that incident and he had a bad attitude about authority and the system.
This whole situation is just scary.

[nostamj]

37. i showed this thread to my sister

who was visiting me in NYC this weekend.

she's a smart and successful woman. and a single mom with a son in 7th grade.

her jaw dropped.

i told her that THIS was the result of Bush policy.

she's not particularly political. and she's so busy (spends TOO much time on the job) that I know she doesn't see much news--let alone has the time to seek out the unfiltered stuff.

so, when she visits, she gets a *bit* of an education.

sent her home with a copy of Franken....