Reservations about...

[Griff]

Reservations about gun-grabbers, no property rights, and state power.

The villagers are demanding free elections following yet another government land grab. They say armed thugs sent by their own village chief attacked the community to pave the way for a new factory on their farmland.


"When they got out of their cars, they used hoes to attack us," said Li, 60, who is nursing a broken knee from a brick he says a thug threw at him. "We acted in self-defense and threw rocks at them. Afterward, villagers came out and rang gongs to alert people."

A cellphone video shows the villagers fighting back with bamboo poles from a construction site. A thug, whom villagers identified as a plainclothes police officer, fired warning shots.

But the villagers easily outnumbered the thugs, chased them into a field, and then destroyed more than two dozen of their vehicles.

[IamSam]

Another problem is rural lawlessness and the tight relationship between business and government. For instance, the man who wants to build the factory is also a local Communist Party chief.

This part really hits home for me. Collusion between big business and government seems to be a universal problem – no matter what political system a country may have in place. In the US we have the Supreme Court’s disastrous ruling in the infamous case of Citizens United vs the Federal Election Commission, where the justices allowed elections to continue to be bought by the biggest check writers.

Put Citizens United together with the Patriot Act along with a few drones flying overhead looking to kill citizens at the whim of the government, and we’re screwed. Plus all this uproar over gun control is really a moot point, since under said Patriot Act, Homeland Security can declare an emergency because of the sudden threat of “domestic terrorism” (whether real or manufactured) and presto! “Your guns, please,” and that’s that.

"If you publish this in America, will it tarnish the Communist Party's image?" he asks.

That was pretty funny. Don’t worry Mr. Li, the far right will continue to call Progressives communists, no matter what the news may say.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by IamSam

Plus all this uproar over gun control is really a moot point, since under said Patriot Act, Homeland Security can declare an emergency because of the sudden threat of “domestic terrorism” (whether real or manufactured) and presto! “Your guns, please,” and that’s that.

That doesn't sound like a reason to support gun control.

[IamSam]

Originally Posted by Griff

That doesn't sound like a reason to support gun control.

I'm not advocating gun control at all. I do think semi-automatics should be banned, but we have the right to own shotguns and rifles and the like.

What I meant is that the argument over gun control has become a moot point since the Patriot Act was passed. It gives the gov't the right to take our guns under certain conditions. Anyone who thinks the gov't couldn't come up with some manufactured reason to seize everyone's guns using the Patriot Act as an excuse, has been living on Mars for the past 20 years or more.

[BigV]

Very well put, IamSam.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Griff

Reservations about gun-grabbers, no property rights, and state power.

I sent that link to Billy, who's in Germany now.
His response, "It may be true. We don't have right to do it in law."