"It's one ugly place". Greg Palast, Meyer and Alachua County
Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 09:50:40 AM PDT
I am reluctant to write this diary, as I am rather "thin-skinned" as they say, and the Kos community has shown in their diaries and comments that they overwhelmingly think Andrew Meyer and his questions for Mr. Kerry were completely out of line and that the police had no alternative than to tackle him, arrest him, and some even go as far to validate the tasering. I have made comments defending Mr. Meyer's rights to ask tough questions and have been derisively attacked. However, after reading a piece last night about an interview with Greg Palast, I must address the issue once again in that light. Follow me across the swamp.
There is no question that Mr. Meyer was rather dramatic and passionate when he was at the microphone questioning Mr. Kerry about what seems to be likely voter fraud committed in the 2004 presidential election. His question about the Skull and Bones society, of which Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry were members, was a tough one as well. A club which has only 800 living members and only admits 15 members every year under the most secretive of conditions oddly counts Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry as members. Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry were both asked by Tim Russert in the past about it, to which both jokingly dismissed the matter and replied that it was so secret that they couldn't talk about it.
What strikes me as odd as well, is that while most progressive blogs are filled with posts such as A Shocking Moment for Society: Tasering at University of Florida, written by Naomi Wolf, which is highly critical of the actions of the police department, this is contrary to what is expressed by most Kossacks. I thought this was a liberal blog?
I have made comments regarding the UPD (University Police Department) here, and for that matter the GPD (Gainesville Police Department). Corruption at GPD has long been known, and UPD with their minions holding associate degrees in Criminology clearly don't know how to deal with anything more "criminal" than writing a ticket for someone driving 25 mph through a 20 mph speed zone on campus.
No law enforcing organization is perfect obviously, but Gainesville is located in the heart of the Bible Belt country in the county of Alachua. As such, the Good Ole Boy network is firmly entrenched in this town. Winks and nods are the rule rather than the exception. Although there are individual exceptions, the UPD and the GPD will make the facts fit their perception. This is fairly common among other institutions in Gainesville as well.
Last night, I read an article on Raw Story in which the author of that Greg Palast, author of the tasered student's 'mystery yellow book' Armed Madhouse points to the irony involved in the incident.
In previous comments I tried to proffer that the context in which this incident occurred must be considered before jumping to conclusions about what might be the motives of Mr. Meyer other than wanting to question Mr. Kerry and the assault which subsequently occurred at the hands of campus police. Indeed interviews with his friends all support the conclusion that there was no planned publicity stunt. The girl in line to whom he gave his camera stated she had never met him, and that there was no urgency about the matter, simply that he would like to have a record of his questioning of Mr. Kerry.
Having said that, the report states:
Addressing Kerry before he was taken away by officers, Meyer cites reports, presumably from Palast's book, about disenfranchisement of voters in Florida and Ohio.
What Meyer was referring to, according to Palast, was a chapter in the book called "Kerry Won. Now Get Over It," in which he says millions of votes cast in the 2004 election were discarded, not counted or prevented from being cast in the first place--a fact the author says has special relevance to the locale of Meyer's arrest.
"There's an entire dimension here that's not being covered here," Palast said of the controversy. "The interesting thing to me as a journalist, is that the [Meyers incident] occurred in Alachua County, Florida, one of the worst places in the country for black voters."
Calling the area the "center of the attack on the black voter," Palast pointed to a 2001 article he wrote in The Nation which details what he says were efforts under Republican-led state government to purge voting rolls of felons who were convicted in other states--eligible voters under Florida law--almost half of which may be black, according to statistics in the piece.
"It's one ugly place," said Palast, who also added that the police's actions in the Meyer case pale in comparison to intimidation techniques used by authorities against minority voters during elections.
As I have tried to state in my comments so quickly to be derided, Gainesville and Alachua County, although boasting as being the home of the small bastion of academia known as the University of Florida, are not as tolerant of society's more marginal citizens as many would think and share many of the characteristics of the plethora of "red" counties that surround it and make up North Florida.
I am simply stating that this man had every right to ask these questions, one of which dealt with why there is a non-Democratic leader in the White House after losing a popular election in 2000. Many if not most think the actions of this student were "out of line". What about our administration? How many times can "executive privilege" and "state secrets" be shoved in our face before it has become the sad joke that it is. You know they will find some way to let Blackwater stay in the former country called Iraq that is powerless because of America's actions as their Empire's representatives must be protected and the loss of over 1,200,000 lives hasn't troubled them as of yet. Remember that this was a student. They tend to drink a lot, brag, and be generally be obnoxious at times. They are young and they are the filled with the notion that things can really change if they seize the moment and act on it. I have become more cynical about any drastic change, as the realities of Corporate "Democracy" settle in, but I do appreciate those that would still challenge authority and demand accountability for the current massive mess we're in.
Anyways thank you Greg Palast for speaking about the "ugly" truth of Gainesville and Alachua County, Florida.
PS. I have to pick up my cat from the vet today, so I'll be away for awhile from the computer. Also I've only once attempted to write a diary and remember I am thin-skinned. :) That being said, let the attacks begin!
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