It was the people of the USA who destroyed the American way of life replacing the native peoples with a planter-society led by a succession of planter-presidents extending to the present day and all built on the land and bones of the true Americans.

Let’s see. Warrantless wiretapping, arbitrary no-fly lists, routine “no knock” local militarized police raids on private residences, routine surveillance of international phone calls, confiscation of laptops and papers at borders without any probable cause or reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing… but why worry about such things, right? Oh, and citizens better hope that they are never branded “enemy combatants” and subjected to kangaroo courts and evidence obtained by torture.

But I promise, if history teaches anything it is this: I’m sure we can trust our government not to abuse its new-found powers. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

“Earnan: “West Belfast sounds like a real sh*thole”

No, you should see some parts of Chicago.”

I work a few blocks from the White House, which means I only work a few miles from parts of DC that have worse murder rates than any part of Chicago. The only time I have been through there is driving my grandpa to the Veterans Hospital

So, NCM, how many civil rights did the average American lose under King George II?

Non citizen, enemy combatants dont count

Do you play for a polo team, William?

http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/4518008/

Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash

For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.

The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.

In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.

“I’ve never encountered, and I don’t think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids’ lives were just tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money,” said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.

This seems like an intractable problem, given the reluctance of the official police force to care about nationalist areas and the reluctance of nationalist areas to view the police force as legitimate and provide information about criminals to them. SF doubtlessly sees the threat to their power and will do whatever it takes, I predict, to quash the growth of any rival claimants to power, and who knows — this whole thing might come to a head at some point.

But seriously, though, on a personal level, best of luck and I’m glad to hear that these tactics, which I believe are dangerous and counter to the way things are supposed to work in a civilized society, have at least brought a bit of piece of mind.

Yes its about civil liberties but were are mine and my neighbors when we see these thugs get a free hand, when we see first hand the complete apathy of the police…

In these areas the thugs are well known and maybe its because of their status as police informers that a blind eye is turned…

I don`t support dissent republicans but when these thugs are made to pay the price of their terror, then I won`t apologize for saying well done, an attitude which is gathering place in Nationalist areas…

Now its easy for those with no experience of crime, no knowledge of parts of West Belfast to sit in their comfy house well clear of the trouble and moralize…

Victims don`t have the time to moralize..

C

But aren’t dissident Republican groups playing right into this dynamic, knowing exactly that Adams will turn on them to maintain the status quo? When that happens, where will the popular support be?

your psychic powers are fading fast, I’m not a republican – never have been, and probably never will be – so you can leave that line of attack to the one side.

I’m not relying on the word of Adams, or anyone else, but my own friends and family and contacts in west Belfast – so you take that and eat it.

This criminalisation through friendly media outlets and side of mouth smears by unnamed “senior republican” sources (thats you too grassy noel) is as heinous as it is obvious in its intentions.

Funny, but I’d say the criminalisation of these peope comes not from others’ words, but by their own deed and they stand condemned by them.

Your attempt at obfuscation on this issue is understandable given that – like many adherents to an ideology that loses its way – you seek somewhere for your ideas and sense of betrayal to find solace.

That you’ve attempted here – in a rather disngenuous way – to absolve or offer a defence for violent criminals the type of which have such consideration for peoople in nationalist areas that they were prepared to abandon pipe bombs in a built-up area while chidren went to school – shows what a long way down that path can take you, and how far from your stated aim.

But maybe it is only those who only you deem as ‘republican’ are those worthy of care or belief, or are worth listening to.

One thing is apt: your PR skills for said rump are about right, and to that they are entitled.

I just wish they’d go away – and so does everyone else.

The placarding of anti social elements is a side issue here. The major issue is that Adams is briefing journalists that all these groupings are criminal conspiracies to pave the way for Hugh Orde and his special branch to carry out more police attacks, and Terry McCafferty type arrests against Republicans form outside of the GFA fold.

This criminalisation through friendly media outlets and side of mouth smears by unnamed “senior republican” sources (thats you too grassy noel) is as heinous as it is obvious in its intentions.

The real threat to PSF is not from these small groups of republicans but rather the unravelling of their logic, strategy and control of traditional republican areas.

If dissident Republicans enforcing order through the gun on the streets of West Belfast is fine by you, what exactly is wrong with anything the US has done in the past 8 years? Gitmo, Iraq, the Bush administration assault on basic civil liberties… who cares, since we’ve kept ourselves safe from Islamic terrorists, right? If these dissident Republican groups take power, they might want to change the murals along the Falls Road complaining of US or Israeli imperialism to murals praising the US for its efficient way of dealing with its enemies.

*********

Earnan: “West Belfast sounds like a real sh*thole”

No, you should see some parts of Chicago.

You make your point well, when I was very young I was taught to never trust people who are over keen to punish others, whether they be individuals, organizations, the state or the police, as they often do so to cover up their own shortcomings.

If such brutality worked we might have to look at it, but it does not, young kids have had their knees shot away and worse, yet still anti social behavior plagues some areas.

The real problem here is the failure of the politicians, if SF had confronted those who support selective education head on, instead of trying to reach a compromise with people who had no intention of compromising. We might at least have begun to see the end of the sink schools that turn out some working class youngster barely literate.

Instead both SF and the ONH have looked for scapegoats, the former to report them to the police and the latter to terrorize them. Neither will solve this problem in the long run, those who claim it will are being dishonest.

But I think that the majority of people from the west understand that approving of these kind of things happening to some kid, is only a stones throw away from these things happening to your kid. And we all know there are certain people around who have used their power and influence to grind down ordinary decent hard working law abiding people, we all have a chuck living on the street that we don’t want to fall out with.

I always find myself thinking that really with some younger people the fault lies almost exclusively with the parents. It’s not a pleasant thought for me to imagine a misguided 17 year old, terrified with a placard round his neck, taking baying abuse from passers by, when that child has been barely looked after by his own parents, who in my opinion deserve the punishment more.

The more criminals and £10 thugs who have to face the wrath of the community the better…

This is what the community in West Belfast is calling for as the failing and ineptitude of both SF and the PSNI are there for all to see..

All Thugs must face justice…and since the police don`t want to do it, is there any surprise ordinary decent hard working law abiding people have had enough…

Posted by Grassy Noel on Feb 11, 2009 @ 11:02 AM

Grasy Noel,
Surly you mean the Peoples Front of Judea [general command] as it is well known the PFJ are the running dogs of the Roman Empire.

the whole thing has a People’s Front of Judea ring to it!

you’re right about the smuggling but i was not talking about smuggling. a smuggler brings, for instance, petrol across the border having bought it wholesale . he avoids all taxes and sells it on in the 6 cos. he makes big profit, the retailer makes good profit and in border areas the customer gets a couple of pence off per litre. washed diesel is another job altogether where the consumer is not told what he or she is getting and can destroy their engine in the process,these gangsters even dilute good petrol to increase their profits. same with bad drink as opposed to smuggled normal drink, and spurious cigarettes compared to ‘normal’ cigarettes. this is gangsterism pure and simple and it is organised and controlled mainly by well known ‘republicans’ who are friends of our friend, that paragon of virtue who never was in the ira,beardy gerry.
along with everything else the bad drink being peddled by these heroes has a lot to answer for in terms of fights and general anti social behaviour. if it was ‘dissidents’ or ordinary criminals who were involved we would hear a lot more from our m.p (murphy) about it.

I also liked that bit “The Republican Forum for Unity is an open Forum and on-going invitations to participate and contribute in any matters relevant to Republicanism in the 21st Century have been extended to the SDLP, éirígí and both provisional and republican Sinn Fein. To date none have seen fit to attend and give us their analysis and/or insight. This splendid isolationism is fully a matter for themselves.” Priceless!!!! So basically – nobody is talking to us even though they’re talking to each other but they are the isolationists! Pompous AND delusional!