When law and order Conservative ideals runs smack against their Libertarian compatriot's, fire works and just general nastiness ensues.
Some folks seem to think it is just peachy keen that Civil liberties be suspended, by Secret Provincial legislation, in order to keep the peace and let the Popo do their job during the G8, G20 meetings last week. Anyone who got caught up in mêlée , were mistreated by our humble public servants had what was coming to them. After all what the heck was any one doing, working, living, in Toronto, the biggest city in Canada, during this special time? Who would be so dumb as to insist that they had a right to be anywhere, go anywhere, near downtown and complain about being beat, hassled, searched, detained?
The most curious was the assault I saw on Jesse Rosenfeld, a contributor to the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper. Jesse and I were both told by police on Saturday night to leave a downtown Toronto location, where a crowd of a few hundred mostly middle class people had the temerity to gather, then sit in the street and offer a simple message: that despite the gathering of the most important leaders in the world, citizens don't suddenly lose their right to free speech or freedom of assembly.They were after all trying to keep you and your little dog safe too, those nice sweet self sacrificing police officers, who put their little lives on the line for us daily, have such hard jobs. It's the sheep's job to make the herding easier, not question authority or insist on one's piddleing rights. Get with the program already....Egads.
One officer told me, leave now, or be arrested. I didn't see how I could do much reporting in a jail cell, so I was "escorted" away from the crowd by another officer.
Rosenfeld, however, firmly but unceasingly, requested the right to stay and continue to cover the story he was witnessing. As a result, two officers held him while a third punched him hard in the stomach. As Rosenfeld collapsed forward, that same third officer drove his elbow into Rosenfeld's back.
It seemed an unnecessary overreaction -- three officers to subdue an asthmatic journalist who looked all of 5'6" tall, maybe 145 pounds, and, I later learned, is missing one kidney.
Thank you Mark Steyn, the man with the sarcastic perfected prose. :
If you reflexively defend lazy and incompetent policing, you'll soon find yourself having to defend lazy, incompetent and murderous policing.
A big tado about nothing really, so much angst about the police actions and the whole point of the exercise has been missed by all.
Rights are not rights if the government can suspend them with a magic pen in secret. We got nothing, we were shown we got nothing and most still don't see it, we have what our betters suffer to bestow and it all can and will be taken away at a moments whim of our dear devoted servants.
Lesson learned? Nope....Folks are toooooo busy rooting for either the Christians or Lions... not even close to seeing Nero playing the Violin.
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