HAS THIS COUNTRY GONE COMPLETELY INSANE?

July 2, 2006

Has This Country Gone

Completely Insane?

Mike Ferner

7-1-6

This afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse

Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans

Administration cop walked up to me and said, " OK, you've had your 15

minutes, it's time to go. "

" Huh? " , I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking

about.

" You can't be in here protesting, " officer Adkins said, pointing to

my Veterans For Peace shirt.

" Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee, " I returned,

thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier

duties of guarding against serious terrorists.

Flipping his badge open, he said, " No, not with that shirt. You're

protesting and you have to go. "

Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, " Not before I finish my

coffee. "

He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I

tried one more approach to reason. " Hey, listen. I'm a veteran. This

is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here not talking to anybody, having a

cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and you can't kick me out. "

" You'll either go or we'll arrest you, " Adkins threatened.

" Well, you'll just have to arrest me, " I said, wondering what strange

land I was now living in.

You know the rest. Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security

office past people with surprised looks on their faces, read my

rights, searched, and written up.

The officer who did the formalities, Eric Ousley, was professional in

his duties. When I asked him if he was a vet, it turned out he had

been a hospital corpsman in the Navy. We exchanged a couple sea

stories. He uncuffed me early. And he allowed as to how he would only

charge me with disorderly conduct, letting me go on charges of

criminal trespass and weapons possession -- a pocket knife -- which

he said would have to be destroyed (something I rather doubt since it

was a nifty Swiss Army knife with not only a bottle opener, but a

tweezers AND a toothpick).

After informing me I could either pay the $275 fine on the citation

or appear in court, Ousley escorted me off the premises, warning me

if I returned with " that shirt " on, I'd be arrested and booked into

jail.

I'm sure I could go back to officers Adkins' and Ousleys' fiefdom

with a shirt that said, " Nuke all the hajis, " or " Show us your tits, "

or any number of truly obscene things and no one would care. Just so

it's not " that shirt " again.

And just for the record? I'm not paying the fine. I'll see Adkins and

Ousley and Dubya's Director of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, if he

wants to show up, in United States District Court on the appointed

date. And if there's a Chicago area attorney who'd like to take the

case, I'd really like to sue them -- from Dubya on down. I have to

believe that this whole country has not yet gone insane, just the

government. This kind of behavior can't be tolerated. It must be

challenged.

-------

Mike Ferner served as a Navy corpsman during Vietnam and is obviously

a member of Veterans For Peace. He was at the Jesse Brown V.A.

Medical Center because he is participating in the Voices for Creative

Nonviolence's 30-day, 320-mile " Walk for Justice, " from Springfield

to North Chicago, Illinois, to reclaim funding for the common good

and away from war.

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=26726 & mode=nested & order=0

July 2, 2006

.. for a serious laugh

Politics

This about sums it up!!!

A little boy goes to his dad and asks, " What are Politics? "

Dad says, " Well son, let me try to explain it this way:

#1. I'm the head of the family, so call me The President.

#2. Your mother is the administrator of the money, so we call her

the

Government.

#3. We're here to take care of your needs, so we'll call you the

People.

#4. The nanny, well we'll consider her the Working Class.

#5. And your baby brother, we'll call him the Future. Okay.?

" Now, go on and think about that and see if it makes sense. "

So, the little boy goes off to bed thinking about what Dad has said.

Later that night, he hears his baby brother crying, so he gets

up to

check on him. He finds that the baby has severely soiled his diaper.

So,

the little boy goes to his parent's room and finds his mother sound

asleep. Not wanting to wake her, he goes to the nanny's room.

Finding

the door locked, he looks in the peephole and finds his father in

bed, naked,

with the Nanny. So, he gives up and goes back to bed.

The next morning, the little boy says to his father, " Dad, I

think I

understand the concept of politics now. "

The father says, " Good, son, tell me in your own words what you

think

politics is all about. "

The little boy replies: " Well, the President is screwing the

Working Class

while the Government is sound asleep, and the People are being

ignored while

the Future is in deep shit. "

July 3, 2006

Absolutely astonishing!