Re: OT: reaction to Iraqi elections

From: John Larkin (jjSNIPlarkin_at_highTHISlandPLEASEtechnology.XXX)
Date: 02/15/05 

Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 19:34:34 -0800

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 02:03:42 GMT, richard mullens
<mullensdeletethis@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>John Larkin wrote:
>> On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 01:41:29 GMT, richard mullens
>> <mullensdeletethis@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>John Larkin wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Mon, 14 Feb 2005 23:42:38 GMT, richard mullens
>>>><mullensdeletethis@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>Yes, but dissent anywhere can cause you to come to grief at the hands of the authorities,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Not in the US, unless you are violent or don't pay your taxes.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>John
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rector
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>USA People's park
>>>>
>>>>"Protesters threw rocks and bottles."
>>>>
>>>>If I was a cop with 6000 brats marching on me throwing rocks and
>>>>bottles, I might back off a bit on my idea of civil liberties.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Maybe, but I'm just illustrating that when the people come up against the state, the people get shot.
>>>
>>
>>
>> If you define "come up against the state" as threatening a cop with
>> serious bodily harm, you might well expect to be shot. Seems fair to
>> me.
>>
>
>You're entitled to believe that in a dispute over land, the state is entitled to shoot people.
>I guess that those who ordered the tanks into Tiannamen square also felt that what they were doing was fair.
>
>

Given party "A", armed and peaceful, and party "B", attacking
aforementioned party "A" with rocks and bottles, I consider it
perfectly reasonable that "A" defends himself, with said weapon,
whether "A" is a big healthy cop or a granny in a wheelchair. If I
were "A", I'd for sure aim for the torso to maximize available
stopping power.

I don't remember any civilians in Tiannamen Square flinging rocks or
bottles or attacking anybody.

>The events are obviously not equivalent, but there is a parallel I feel. I don't believe that it was America's finest hour.

Right, those Berkeley bums and punks were and are still disgusting.

John