Just talked to a good friend who has NO PROBLEM with being invaded

[babylonsister]

by the government. Her claim was if you're not saying anything wrong, what's the problem?
I'm very bummed that she doesn't realize how bad this is and why. And we've been buddies for many years.

She's about 70 years old, but still...:(

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. Wait til the government looks her over ---

they will find something wrong...if they so choose. Does she understand this?

[EFerrari]

2. If it's no problem, why are innocent people freed from death row?

Even Reagan said "Trust but verify".

[Bobbieo]

5. I'm 84 years old and am scared shitless as to what our gov't

is now capable of doing to everyday citizens.

[EFerrari]

6. I know. I worry about my kids and younger kin.

[babylonsister]

7. I think she doesn't know about 'innocent' people. This was

her immediate night time reaction, but it blew my eyes open.

[niceypoo]

3. She would love North Korea then...

Her logic works there too. The people who backed Hitler in Germany used the same justification when the SS brought home their next door neighbors ashes after dragging them away for questioning. I have had a republican tell me that only criminals need rights. Some people are hopeless.

[babylonsister]

8. No. Her husband did about 5 tours in VN. I don't discount her

patriotism, just her reasoning.

[Mz Pip]

4. Who decides

what's being said is wrong? That's part of the problem. Will there be a list of approved topics to talk about?

I really don't get that "If you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about" argument.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Lucinda]

9. I think some people have a hard time believing that our government

could be capable of acting against it's citizens in such a blatant way. Some may be naive and other may just be too decent to see the posibilities of deception in people they believe they should/can trust.

I see it in younger people too...so, I think it might be a personality thing rather than just an age/experience mindset...

[babylonsister]

10. I have a problem with anyone thinking it's 'okay' for the gov't to do

this against us. Younger people might not know what they might be losing, but to hear an older person say they don't care blew my mind.

[Lucinda]

11. Yep. It would have shocked me too. I'm still surprised at how

ambivalent people are about a lot of things that seem like critical issues to me. I should be used to it though, I'm a Californian transplanted into "Rublicanworld" here in Eastern TN. But I still get surprised.

[Swamp Rat]

12. She needs a major reality check.

Read her a few stories:

Hearing Impaired Man Tased by Police
Wichita, KS

Donnell Williams had just gotten out of the bath tub, wearing only a towel around his waist, when he turned the corner to see guns pointing right at him.

"I ain't never been so scared," says Williams.

Police forced entry into Williams home while responding to a shooting, but it turned out to be a false call. They had no idea at the time the call wasn't real and that Williams is hearing impaired. Without his hearing aid he is basically deaf.

(snip)

http://www.kwch.com/global/story.asp?s=7446220
___________________________________________________

Fatal mistake

In a outrageous example of police incompetence, cops burst into the wrong home during a drug raid and kill an elderly African-American man.

(snip)

With his retirement savings, he and his 61-year-old wife, Loraine, had just fulfilled a lifelong dream of buying a new Cadillac and a double-wide trailer. That night, with his cane leaning against the side of his tan recliner, Adams was content to just flip through the channels and maybe fall asleep.

(snip)

According to Lebanon police chief Bill Weeks, officers started yelling, "Cops, police, open up!" all at once. Loraine Adams heard the commotion first, but didn't understand what was happening. She and her husband refused to open the door. The cops burst through the door. Loraine says that officers manhandled her, pushing her against a wall and handcuffing her.

Seconds later, cops rounded a corner and found Adams, whom they claim fired at them with a sawed-off shotgun. Officers say they returned fire, and shot him several times.

(snip)

http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2000/10/19/shooting/index.html
___________________________________________________


Police shoot, kill 92-year-old woman

ATLANTA (AP) — A police official said narcotics officers were justified in returning fire on a 92-year-old woman they shot to death after she shot them as they tried to serve a warrant at her house. Neighbors and relatives said it was a case of mistaken identity. But police said the woman, identified as Kathryn Johnston, was the only resident in the house at the time and had lived there for about 17 years.

(snip)

Assistant Chief Alan Dreher said the officers had a legal warrant and "knocked and announced" before they forced open the door. He said they were justified in shooting once they were fired upon. As the plainclothes Atlanta police officers approached the house about 7 p.m., a woman inside started shooting, striking each of them, said Officer Joe Cobb, a police spokesman.

(snip)

Sarah Dozier, identified as a niece of the woman, told WAGA-TV that there were never any drugs at the house. "My aunt was in good health. I'm sure she panicked when they kicked that door down," Dozier said. "There was no reason they had to go in there and shoot her down like a dog."

(snip)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-22-elderly-shootout_x.htm
___________________________________________________

SWAT team’s mistake leads to terror in a hail of gunfire for Minneapolis family

MINNEAPOLIS - With her six kids and husband tucked into bed, Yee Moua was watching TV in her living room just after midnight when she heard voices — faint at first, then louder. Then came the sound of a window shattering.

Moua bolted upstairs, where her husband, Vang Khang, grabbed his shotgun from a closet, knelt and fired a warning shot through his doorway as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He let loose with two more blasts. Twenty-two bullets were fired back at him, by the family’s count.

(snip)

Khang, a Hmong immigrant with shaky command of English, set down his gun, raised his hands and was soon on the ground, an officer’s boot on his neck.

The gunmen, it turned out, were members of a police SWAT team that had raided the wrong address because of bad information from an informant — a mistake that some critics say happens all too frequently around the country and gets innocent people killed.

(snip)

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/midwest/view.bg?articleid=1052546
___________________________________________________

[benEzra]

13. If you have nothing to hide, what's the problem with being waterboarded?

No permanent harm...if it saves one life, it's worth it, right?

:sarcasm:

[shifting_sands]

14. Government total control

Does your friend realize that she won't be the one who decides if she's done or said something wrong or offended the government or just mistaken identity. She will not decide that.

[LynnTheDem]

15. So why did we bother killing Saddam Hussein?

As long as Iraqis weren't doing anything wrong...

The German people thought the same way in the 1930s; if they weren't doing anything wrong, what's the problem?

I hope America never finds out the real answer to that.

[LibDemAlways]

16. Has she gone through airport "security" lately? One

public bra feel up for no good reason by a TSA goon and she'd be singing a different tune.

What she doesn't understand is that you don't have to have done anything wrong or said anything wrong in order for the government to infringe on your right to privacy. She apparently doesn't care as long as it's not blatently happening to her.