- My Fellow Americans,
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- It is no longer an option that we, as
those who hold the ultimate responsibility for our elected officials, continue
to turn a blind eye to the serious events taking place both at home, and
especially abroad. I boast no political, nor financial ambition. I am merely
a hard-working family man who can no longer sit idly by and watch America
become the International travesty it has become without at least attempting
to define the problems as I see them.
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- The days of unbridled optimism and national
pride are gone forever. We have, as a nation, sufficient evidence and cause
to believe that we are no longer the masters of our own fate. We are continually
chastised for our apathy, both in community action and more noticably at
the election booths, where registration has reached an all-time low. I
respectfully submit that this is not due to a lack of interest or even
careful thought, but rather the inevitable response of a populace who has
slowly become convinced that regardless of any election outcome that Washington
will still continue unabated, completely oblivious and uncaring of the
needs/concerns of the many.
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- Almost daily we read instances of the
federal government and/or local law enforcement not overstepping their
bounds, but leaping over them with glad abandon! It would have been unthinkable
twenty years ago that an event like Ruby Ridge, or even worse Waco could
have occured. It was enough that law enforcement's role in our lives was
to protect and serve the public, not serve as revenue generating policy
shills that treat every citizen as suspicious or every situation as a potential
crime.
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- Last weekend, an article appeared in
the Grand Rapids Press concerning a group of young boys who, while fishing,
happened to find a box filled with cash. The article went on to state that
the boys tried unsuccessfully to flag down police TWICE to report their
find, finally managing to get the attention of a third officer, who promptly
notified Federal officers who, you guessed it, promptly confiscated the
moola. A local officer commented that the boys were 'much richer' for the
experience of turning in the money than they supposedly ever WOULD have
been had they kept it. Now I beg to differ, on several counts.
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- First, I find it unbelievable that a
group of boys would be COMPLETELY IGNORED by two officers in their time
of need! What if someone had fallen in the river, or was trapped or hurt?
Second, why is it that the police automatically assume that the cash must
be illegal somehow? At what point in this country did the use/possession
of cash, no matter WHAT the amount or denomination become a criminal offense?
Third, it is my understanding that when someone finds something of value
and choose to involve the police that common sense policy was, and should
be, that the police safe-keep the item(s) for a reasonable length of time
and if no one claims it, it reverts to the finder. I tend to think that
these boys would have been CONSIDERABLY richer had they KEPT the cash,
watched the headlines, and had no one reported a missing box of cash use
it for such things as oh, say COLLEGE?
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- The reason I addressed this issue is
to demonstrate the ultimate problem with law enforcement in this country.
The police no longer regard themselves as public servants, but see themselves
as public wardens, regarding every citizen with a suspicious eye toward
rooting out whatever criminal activity they are surely involved in and
sticking them to the wall over it. Why? Simple. Cash. Law's in this country
are shaped and modelled to give ever-broadening powers of search and confiscation
to the police who ultimately benefit from such theivery in very real materialistic
ways.
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- Anyone remember a few years back when
the police switched from the old, Dragnet style Caprice's to the newer,
bath tub looking models? Overnight every single police force from coast
to coast sported these expensive monstrosities. What, a Ford isn't good
enough for you? Now, the Police ride Jet Ski's and Cannondale Mountain
Bikes in the summer, and swish around on snow mobiles in the winter! What's
next, Tai Bo training for taking down perps? Where are the funds coming
from to pay for these trendy toys? I think you know the answer.
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- Worse still are the professional 'politicians'
and pac-fund fat cats pretensing to 'serve' the public in elected office.
Take Michigan Governor John Engler for example. Last year the gullible
citizens of Michigan once again re-elected this unabashed huckster to the
governership. We must have mighty short memories. I, for one, am STILL
incensed at the shell-game policy Engler pulled on us years ago at the
start of his term. Michigan still enjoyed an incredibly low 4% sales tax
when Engler got the brilliant idea that if we voted to allow a 2% increase
that that would allow the state to remove the burden of public schools
from the home owners and spread it more evenly around in the sales tax.
Of course today, property taxes are as high as they ever were, except now
we have to pay 2% more with every purchase. And STILL we are yearly assaulted
with cries for increased millage! Tell me, whatever happened to the State
Lottery? The only reason we allowed such a thing in the first place was
that the profits were supposed to go directly to schools! Anyone remember
that?
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- Sure they do. Just like they remember
how Ronald Reagan's administration sold arms to Iraq, conducted arms for
drugs deals across the globe, deals which Bildberger George Bush happily
proliferated. What ever happened to the checks and balances system in this
country? Simple, if you can't beat a path through them, do an end-run around
them! How is it that Americans are willing to stand around while American
servicemen are sent God knows where to do God knows what without even a
rudimentary pass through the House or Congress?
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- Clinton, and those before him have realised
some very important aspects of how the American Government works. First,
if you want to send American troops to kill people, you don't declare a
war. That's just plain stupid. Too many ways it can get sidetracked, not
to mention the psychological trauma involved with the very idea. Instead
of sending troops we now send 'peacekeepers'. Instead of a national mandate
we now make public threats of military intervention (ala George Bush in
Desert Storm) then FORCE Congress to support its Presidents policy for
fear of looking bad internationally! SUPPORT THE TROOPS they say, conjuring
up the national disgrace associated with Viet Nam Vets (God Bless You All!).
OF COURSE we support the TROOPS, that goes without saying! The true motivations
become lost in a sea of slogans, sentimentality and spin. When was the
last time you saw an actual unadulterated report from a major world hot
zone? We no longer get even a token attempt to report truth, but instead
are fed government propaganda as fact by news organisations who are owned
lock, stock and barrel by the people whose interests these wars protect!
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- Meanwhile, an admitted liar and very
probably out-and-out RAPIST has since brought the wrath of the entire world
down upon us because his solution to wanton killing is ...well..more killing.
And for what?!? So Bill won't be remembered for his 'foibles' but as what,
the new Thomas Jefferson? Let me tell you, Jefferson NEVER got in bed with
the Chinese and aided and abetted probably the worst breach of national
security in the history of this country for a little campaign cash! Jefferson
never falicitated the sale of tainted blood from Arkansas prisons to hospitals
in Canada as some have accused! And finally, Jefferson never would have
directed the US to bomb another nation in a pathetic attempt to draw attention
away from his rapidly-crumbling presidency!
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- We no longer enjoy the luxury of a clear
conscience in International matters, if we ever did. With Osama Bin Laden,
Clinton lit the fuse on the anti-American powder-keg worldwide. Our benevolent
Democratic credo has been ripped away to display a nation as petty, criminal
and self involved as any in earth's history! While we clench our teeth
and nurse our sick stomachs over what is occurring in this country, our
leaders are busy selling our technology, bartering our security, extorting
our future and making enemies that will take tens of years to placate,
if at all!And who will ultimately pay the price of these follies? You know
the answer to that too.
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- There was once a time when the American
flag was viewed with awe and respect. Despite revisionist history, brave
Americans have always answered the call to action when freedom and democracy
were threatened. Now, our flag is burned and soiled, covered with filth
and treated like a floormat, and THIS from people with government art grants!
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- I declare that enough is enough. Our
system is corrupt, our leaders money-grubbing, self-involved opportunists,
our own President a national/international DISGRACE, our 'sheeple' treated
like guinea pigs and cattle, our children betrayed by poison vaccinations
and bad hot dog meat, our security threatened on all sides by mismanagement,
intolerance and outright stupidity!
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- And not one voice being raised in the
street.
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- Matthew Ridgway
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- Commentary/Rebuttal
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- Mr. Ridgway,
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- I have read your "Open Letter"
and agree with you on many of your opinions, though there are a few points
that I would like to address.
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- Ruby Ridge was a regrettable fiasco,
and I am not too sure to this day of what to make of Waco, but as for law
enforcement overstepping their bounds I respectfully disagree. I think
that in this day and age, when a criminal has more rights than a victim,
treating everyone as suspicious is the only way an officer can survive.
You have to admit, the police don't shoot it out on a daily basis in the
streets of Chicago anymore. They are much more accountable for any fore
that they use, to the point that the guilty perps can beat a rap because
they had to be subdued while resisting arrest!
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- As for the confiscation of the cash found
by the "young boys" in Grand Rapids, if it was enough (as you
say) to have paid for their college degrees, it ought to have been confiscated!
A sum such as that is either already evidence in some case, or it sure
will be soon, it isn't a question of the finding of the money being a criminal
act. The boys suffered no charges, right? On top of that, confiscation
by the police and thievery by the police are two very different things.
It isn't like a high profile find such as this will end up in a policeman's
pocket.
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- As for the "bathtubs" that
the police drive now, they are still Caprices and LTDs as in the Dragnet
days. As time goes by model designs change, if you claim that the police
are driving different, more expensive models from other manufacturers,
I think you are highly misinformed. I haven't seen any black and white
Lincolns, Mercedes or BMWs. As for the "toys," I guess if you're
after waterborne perps a jet-ski floats better than a Ford LTD! I would
rather they buy a few jet-skis than a few dozen boats. I guess the bottom
line is that you can insult the police all you want, but I know what number
you will call tonight if you hear one of the real bad-guys breaking into
your home!
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- In the realm of politics, I can't disagree
with you on the corruption, but if you really think about it, nothing has
changed. From day one politicians have been crooked. Sure, each scandal
seems worse than the last, but they have all been philanderers from Thomas
Jefferson to JFK. And as for the elected official lining his own pockets--the
term "pork-barrel politics" has been around since the turn of
the century (if I'm not mistaken) and for no small reason. I know that
that doesn't make it okay, but it isn't some new plight. You say that
you clench your teeth and nurse your sick stomach over what is occurring
in this country. I think you should understand that our whole lifestyle
was based on opportunists, and how much can we really complain when we
put each and every elected official he is (and don't think that I like
them all either)?
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- At least you need not worry about people
of your personal background suffering genocide at the hands of a dictatorship
that you have had NO say in electing. You need not worry about your children
being born into an "untouchable" caste and having to clean human
waste from the gutters of the streets because they are not worthy to walk
beside what in reality are their equals. And most of all you need not
worry that secret government shock troops can break into your home in the
middle of the night to take you from your family for writing a letter of
this nature.
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- While I maintain that even now, Mr. Ridgway,
I agree with many of your opinions, if you really consider, maybe America
isn't in quite as bad a state is you first concluded.
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- Respectfully,
Donald T. McCoy Jr
dtm12771@aol.com
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