1930's Italy? How about Germany?

If you need any more evidence that our country, Florida in particular (go figure) has become a fascist state, just watch this video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sE76LQwT6qA

The kid getting tasered here was arrested for "inciting a riot."

Hmm.

Well, that's not what it looked like to me. It looked like he was a perhaps overly exuberant guy who wanted to tell John Kerry that Kerry really won the 2004 election and to ask him about impeaching Bush (which should happen, as far as I'm concerned).

What you don't see in the video (and there are others on youtube) is anything that looks anything like a riot or the makings of it. The venue isn't even full, and most of the people look pretty lackadaisical, even when the kid is getting taken down. What you don't see are people (including the guy arrested) who are threatening anyone at all--cops, Kerry, other spectators. The spectators look like they're half asleep.

When I was in college, William Rehnquist came to speak. He was shouted down by dozens of protesters and cut his speech short. That crowd was WAY more boisterous and aggressive than this kid was. People were removed, but no one was hurt.

The U of Florida kid was subdued, on the ground, cuffed, before the cops tasered him. In fact, he was begging not to be tasered. Then they did it anyway.

Here's what the conspiracy theorist in me has to say:

A kid got up to ask questions of a national political figure. (Political speech gets the most First Amendment protection, too. Read the U.S. Supreme Court case called Posadas, for more on this.) He was obviously anti-Bush. Florida is the place where election irregularities brought Bush to power. Florida is run by Bush's brother. The police are an instrumentality of the government run by Bush's brother. They didn't like what the kid had to say and brought him down hard because of what he was saying. That's where we are. That's how far we've come in eight years.

This is an outrage. Everyone who's ever had even a thought that went against the majority should be scared shitless. I know I am.

No one ever thinks Nazi Germany could happen again. Bullshit. You're watching it happen every day.