How Can We Trust A President Who....

[OnyxCougar]

How can any of us trust a President who's afraid to meet with the American people... the people that he asked us to trust with serving?

How can any of us trust a President whose paranoia leads him to lash out at even an imagined nemesis?

How can any of us trust a President who considers himself a "great Christian leader" but wouldn't even pass the test for local church leadership that scriptures demand (see 1 Timothy 3:8-13 and Titus 2:6-8).

How can any of us trust a President who has dissidents – whether real or imagined – corralled up like livestock away from his sight, or even arrested and imprisoned?

How can any of us trust a President who has no qualms with sending others to die and yet is terrified to face death himself?

How can any of us trust a President who is supposed to be the Christian who loves his enemies... but instead sics Karl Rove's dirty tricks onto them?

How can any of us trust a President who doesn't care about destroying the United States Constitution?

How can any of us trust a President who doesn't care that he and his government trample on the rights of the people they are supposed to be serving?

How can any of us trust a President who doesn't keep his word (like on campaign finance reform – he said he wouldn't sign it but he did it anyway) and then expects us to believe that he will if given another term? Why should we trust him when he promises that there won't be a draft during his second term?

How can any of us trust a President who admits that he doesn't care how his actions are going to affects other people because someday "we'll all be dead"?

How can we trust a President who wants every American to be screened for government-defined mental illnesses? And does he get to be screened also?

How can we trust a President who actively works to instill fear, not hope, into the hearts of the American people?

How can we trust a President who once branded the buttocks of underclassmen while in college with a red-hot wire coat-hanger?

How can we trust a President who outwardly espouses that God is speaking "through" him, as if that makes him saintly or anointed.

That’s not a man to be trusted. That's a man to be treated for being delusional.

source

[Troubleshooter]

I don't trust any modern politician to be able to set aside their ideology or their political objectives to do the job they are elected to do.

To pull from another post I made, politicians are nothing more than venal, amoral popularity whores.

[mrnoodle]

By the time I got to the point of his story (the boy do like the sound of his own voice), I already didn't care what happened to him. He's one of those guys that, when pulled over by the cops, tells them "I have a right to see the radar detector" and "Why aren't you out there fighting real crimes?" By his own admission, he had mouthed off to the cops twice (and I'm sure he's giving us a pretty slanted version of events). If he had been at a Dem rally, he would've gotten the same treatment. There are too many security concerns at events like that for the law to have to argue the finer points of when to "contact an individual regarding ____ incident". If a cop asks for your ID, just give it to the nice lady/man.


All that being said, you can trust this president as far as you could trust any of the previous ones -- TS has a point. although the degree of amorality, we might disagree on.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

I already didn't care what happened to him.
...
If a cop asks for your ID, just give it to the nice lady/man.

What a mindset...

[jaguar]

If a cop asks for your ID, just give it to the nice lady/man.

People like you will be the downfall of society.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

If he had been at a Dem rally, he would've gotten the same treatment.

I guess that, since it hasn't happened at a Democratic rally, we can always say that there are subtle differences between the way he acted and the way the people acted at the Democratic rallys, so it's hard to falsify that statement...

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by jaguar

People like you will be the downfall of society.

Check out this web site...

http://www.flexyourrights.org/

"Mission Statement
The Flex Your Rights Foundation is a public education group teaching people to understand, appreciate, and assert their constitutional rights during police encounters.

Why We Do What We Do
The need for people to understand, appreciate, and assert their constitutional rights has grown more urgent as these very rights have been eroded.

Over recent decades, police agencies have adopted increasingly invasive and controversial police tactics, which turn innocent citizens into suspects. Concurrently, the Supreme Court has usually ruled in favor of expanding the scope of police power -- especially for the purpose of fighting illegal drugs.

One of the most disturbing consequences of this apparent "drug exception to the Constitution" has been the use of racial profiling to determine which drivers will be stopped for minor traffic offenses in order to be searched for contraband.

In 2001, Congress's hasty passage of the USA Patriot Act further eroded constitutional protections of the people's privacy and liberty.

Sustaining the erosion of traditional constitutional rights is a complicit citizenry, which has become dangerously permissive of everyday abuses of police power. For example, most people during the course of a traffic stop are likely to waive their rights without even knowing it.

Fortunately, these trends are neither inevitable nor irreversible.

Just as regular physical exercise strengthens muscles atrophied from underuse, innocent citizens must "flex" their constitutional rights in order to keep them strong and secure. Moreover, the simple and knowledgeable assertion of these rights is a citizen's first and best protection from the indignity and inconvenience of improper police searches and arrests."

[mrnoodle]

downfall of society. pfft.

you're asking police to protect us, yet want to hamstring them from doing so. Do you actually think that the rank-and-file police officer has any interest whatsoever in undermining the rights of law-abiding citizens? Obviously you do. Try an alternative explanation:

The cop was approached by a city employee who said that someone was refusing to move their car from a private lot. Upon investigation, he found a person with a hostile attitude pulling out the same old chestnuts about "police states" and nazis. After talking to the jackass for awhile and getting reamed out for doing his job, he let him go, but not before radioing to his colleagues that there was a jackass afoot, and to make sure he wasn't actually aggro.

Jackass made it to the venue and encountered another cop, who recognized his description. She went to check his credentials and was immediately greeted with a volley of bullshit attitude and general unfriendliness. She, too, woke up that morning with no other goal than to make sure nobody got hurt on her watch.

We don't pay these people enough.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

you're asking police to protect us, yet want to hamstring them from doing so.

A civilization in which the police have an easy job is either heaven or hell. I think their job ought to be very difficult, and yes, they should therefore be paid much more.

A cop should have a reason, and be willing to give it, whenever they give an order to a civilian in a non-emergency situation. In an emergency situation, they should be willing and able to justify all actions taken, once the emergency is over. They should apply the law equally to assholes and saints. These are fundamental requirements in a free society, and are only pipe dreams if you let them be.

[jaguar]

No I think police should work strictly within their powers and any attempt by them to overstep those boundries should be stamped on, hard. I think a fair few rank and file cops are good, decent people, I also there there are plenty of wannabe hitlers and general assholes, as with any large enough group of people, we invest considerable powers in police, if we wanted to give them more powers, we would, we haven't so they certainly shouldn't be trying to grab them. They have a mandate to enforce the law, nothing more, nothing less. As soon as that is forgotten the problems start.

[mrnoodle]

I completely agree. But where did the police officers in this story step outside the bounds of the law? They're not PREVENTED from asking someone for ID. They might not legally be able to force the issue, but they can ask. IIRC, they can force the issue in some instances, for example, a DUI checkpoint. I'd like to see you guys try some of your lines in one of those :hafucking

[Happy Monkey]

"Sir, I am ordering you to surrender your driver’s license," she told me. I asked her what was the alternative?

"You can spend the night in our jail,"

Then she asked for my Social Security number.

"You can't ask for that," I informed her. She insisted that she could, and gave me the usual threats.

"No, you can't. It's against the Privacy Act of 1974 for a person's Social Security number to be demanded as a form of identification." And indeed, it is illegal for someone to order you to give them your Social Security information. It may not be all that well-known or respected, but it's still on the books.

another Forsyth County deputy sheriff approached: he told Matt and I that we could either spend the night in jail or leave now or go to "the protest area". I had no idea whatsoever what a "protest area" was, but thought that maybe it was a place that we could lodge a protest.

They forced the issue.

[staceyv]

ummmm, I DON'T trust him!

[richlevy]

Understand that this was in a venue where the secret service was present and where a number of individuals were already caged. There is now a zone for a mile or so around the President where Amendments I, II, and IV cease to exist.

Personally, I think if it's a choice between restricting free speech, assembly, freedom from unreasonable search, etc, for thousands of citizens or confining one man to the White House, I'd go for the latter.

I'm especially annoyed when all of this happens during political events as opposed to events based on the actual job.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

I completely agree. But where did the police officers in this story step outside the bounds of the law? They're not PREVENTED from asking someone for ID. They might not legally be able to force the issue, but they can ask. IIRC, they can force the issue in some instances, for example, a DUI checkpoint. I'd like to see you guys try some of your lines in one of those :hafucking

When she asked for his SS number.