BEYOND COMMON SENSE

When the power seekers get control they do things that are "beyond common sense" to keep their ability to run your life fresh. This newsletter is designed to keep you aware of their senseless actions

Issue Number 4

"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another, nor ask another to live for mine." -John Galt's pledge from Ayn Rand's masterwork, "Atlas Shrugged," slightly edited to apply to both sexes.
Publisher/Editor: Ray Thomas, P. O. Box 16247, Denver, CO 80216-0247 Phone: 720-351-3674

CONTENTS

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The direction in which our country is going frightens me, as I'm sure it does many others who are paying attention. Some try to put their heads in the sand and ignore it, hoping it will go away. The common statement that identifies these people is: "I don't pay attention to politics," or something to that effect. Others not only pay attention, they "go off the deep end" with ideas of a single, massive conspiracy that envelopes all the things that happen, run by the Illuminati, or the Bilderbergers, or the Council on Foreign Relations, and especially by the foreign bankers. They lump all of them together and claim they're all working together. It isn't true, and it just appears that way because they all subscribe to the same philosophy, collectivism.

Conspiracies to overthrow or take over governments are as old as government itself. This very country was born out of one. But such a massive conspiracy as those people envision would be impossible on its face because of the very size and complexity of it. In reality, it is many conspiracies that look like a single one for the reasons mentioned above. But whether it is one single, massive conspiracy or many conspiracies, all working toward similar goals, doesn't matter. The answer is the same: investigation and exposure. Their plans can't stand the "light of day" and, like cockroaches, they scurry into hiding when exposed to it.

Others recognize that there is something wrong. That someone is working very hard to take away all our freedoms and make us into "slaves of the state" as the citizens were (and are) under Communism. (Communism in Russia collapsed in name only. The same people are in charge. They just claim not to be communists any more.) But one of the first things any would-be despot must establish is an unfettered police state. Police organizations that can do what they want to the citizens without fear of reprisals. They don't have that yet, but they are moving quickly in that direction as events at Waco, Ruby Ridge, and now Seattle show.

I have no brief with the World Trade Organization. Many think it has more international power to overrule our laws than the "wishy-washy" United Nations. I don't know (yet). In addition, I don't agree with the aims and desires of many of those organizations that participated in the Seattle demonstrations. What I do know is that the largest number of demonstrators were peaceful and their demonstration was subverted by the actions of a small number who take any opportunity to do violence, damage and looting. Who love any breakdown in law and order and, in many cases, create it.

But whatever the cause, the actions of the police in Seattle were reprehensible. They showed a certain lack of respect for human rights and an attitude that whatever they did was right because they did it. The picture of a policeman kicking a man in the crotch and shooting him point-blank with a rubber bullet will forever be a symbol of this "police riot." Yes, "police riot." Because without the provocation of the police, there probably would not have been a riot. Read the "eyewitness accounts" by a local doctor and by a local resident who lived in the middle of things to see what actually happened and their opinion of the events. -Ray Thomas, Publisher/Editor

A simple argument against "forced altruism":
Is it OK to steal from one person and give the stolen property to another person without the approval of the owner, just because of a real or imagined "need?" (Ray Thomas)

FEATURE ARTICLE:POLICE STATE?

By Richard DeAndrea, M. D.

Interview with Seattle MD: "This is the beginning of a police state"

My name is Richard DeAndrea. I'm a medical doctor. What I saw up here was martial law. This turned into a police state. Everything you have seen on television regarding local news broadcasts including national public radio was a blackout. The police were using concussion grenades. They were shooting tear gas canisters directly at protesters' faces. They were using so-called rubber bullets. These are actually hard plastic. Some of the damage I saw: these plastic bullets took off part of one person's jaw, smashed teeth in other people's mouths. I saw the police arrest people who had their hands up in the air screaming we are peacefully protesting. The amount of looting that took place was so minimal I don't even know where they got the footage from. I am saying this beyond a shadow of a doubt. This is a definite sign that America is heading towards a police state unless people start standing up for their rights as individuals. I am actually shocked and ashamed. I am ashamed of the police force, I am ashamed of the mayor I am ashamed of Bill Clinton. I am ashamed of the whole thing.

What are "rubber bullets?"

They are made of polyester type material. They are like a hard plastic toy. The idea is to hit your body, do damage, not actually penetrate. But I did see penetration wounds, I did see people bleeding. I did see teeth loss, I did see broken bones. There were children present, there were families present. They were firing upon families, mothers, grandmothers,. They were just firing at them. They came out in full police force. They brought out swat teams, they had the national guard up here, there was CIA surrounding the delegates' buildings. It was very obvious that there was an institutional control that had no regard of human rights whatever.

In addition we have video footage of protesters being taken away as well as human rights being violated. Prisoners were taken and they were tortured. There is a case, I believe his name is Holm, Keith Holm. He was tortured because he would not give his name. They handcuffed, laid him on the floor, they smashed his face against the concrete, they grabbed his hair, they ripped out a lock of hair. Then they placed pencils between his fingers and pressed on them until he would give his name. He refused. They were also banging his head against metal objects. He was actually the first protester released because the Internal Affairs came in to do an investigation and they wanted him gone because he would be able to give testimony.

We're treating people in a studio loft downtown. I just treated an ear wound. People have been treated for concussion injuries. There have been people who have been treated for plastic bullet wounds. Lots of tear gas injuries, lots of damage to cornea, lots of damage to the eyes and skins. They were using a pepper spray, a tear gas and they were also using some sort of nerve gas. We had reports of many demonstrators winding up with seizures the next day. It causes muscles to clamp up, muscle contraction, seizures.

They have done several illegal things regarding these people in jail. They have been telling them that they would not be let out, not have their bail set if they didn't give their names. It's their legal right not to give their name. They don't have to speak at all. Attorneys came up and said we are representing these people. The police called the attorneys liars. At this point they have still refused to let any of them see their clients. There are close to 600 people who were arrested and they have been holding them for two days on charges that are mostly misdemeanors, such as refusal to disperse. A lot of people in there have not gotten medical attention either. I have gotten calls from young ladies in there who have had all sorts of emotional problems as well as physical problems. They have called me for medical attention from inside the jail. There are people still sitting in there who have not even been processed. [This was originally written during the riot. -RT]

Today there were fewer attacks by police, but they did arrest more people. And there was no violence today by the marchers and all through the day yesterday it was the same. What you are seeing on television about looting and anarchistic protesters -- there's a straight-out blackout and they are basically pushing that [line]. There is not much damage to property here. There are not many windows that have been damaged or stores that have been looted. Those are extremely rare cases.

I used to believe newspapers were telling the truth. But now I am no longer behind that. This is the beginning of a police state. You can quote me on that.

More pictures of the carnage below. See link to Kaos Radio after the next article.

SECOND FEATURE: WITNESS AT SEATTLE

The following article that appeared in a recent issue of "The Objectivist Daily" and is reposted by permission. It will show you the result of the "criticism" of Seattle cops by the feds. This writer was not involved. He had no "bone to pick" ...until now. He LIVES in the area of the "war zone" CREATED by the police, with his family.

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UNLEASHING THE DOGS OF WAR: Day Two: The Police Indiscriminately Clamp Down

©1999 by J. Gregory Wharton (First published on The Daily Objectivist December 2, 1999)
http://dailyobjectivist.com/Extras/Protests2/protests2.html

(Seattle, WA. Dec 2.) I had a rough night yesterday. Last night, police in Seattle turned my neighborhood, Capitol Hill -- and my own block -- into a war zone. It all began with a small protest march by local residents in downtown Seattle, near 3rd Avenue and Pike Street. For those who haven't been following the extraordinary events here, that location is just outside the 24-hour no-travel/no-protest zone which Mayor Paul Schell has imposed for several blocks around the Convention Center following the riots of November 30th.

This latest protest began as an expression of frustration over both the no-protest zone and its dubious legality (the ACLU is already filing a class-action suit against the city on First Amendment grounds) and police behavior in pursuing demonstrators into a densely populated residential neighborhood. The march proceeded peacefully up Pike Street, straight through the no-protest zone and past the Convention Center. Marchers walked with their hands in the air, singing. The police followed closely, but did not intervene -- not right away.

The march continued all the way up Pike Street onto Capitol Hill, where it reached the intersection of Pike and Broadway, the major commercial corridor along the top of Capitol Hill. This intersection is only four blocks from my house. As the marchers began to turn north onto Broadway, there seemed to be a direct provocation by police: a state patrol car sped directly into the path of the marchers and stopped, lights flashing. The crowd of protesters flowed peacefully around the car, some of them slapping their hands on the hood as they passed.

Behind the crowd, hundreds of riot police suddenly rushed forward, firing flash-bang grenades, CS military tear gas, rubber bullets and wooden riot slugs into the mass of people. The crowd started moving north more rapidly-directly toward me and my family. The noise of the crowd shouting and the grenades going off carried over the park with a bone-chilling clarity. We could hear them coming right at us. I hurried my wife and children upstairs, turning out all the lights-just as we had done the night before.

A crowd of angry people rushed past my house, pursued by police cars. Up on Broadway, just two blocks away, the noise of grenades and armored vehicles had become deafening. A cloud of CS gas floated down from the intersection of Denny and Broadway to engulf my house and neighborhood. A helicopter circled overhead, intermittently shining its spotlight through my windows. The beam cut a swath through the tear gas, revealing the chaos outside in sharp relief.

My mother --who lives seven blocks north of me -- called to find out what all the booming and flashing was about. I sat on the floor at the windowsill, peeking around the jamb and telling her that big trouble was headed in her direction. The police were driving the crowd north along Broadway. I told her "keep your head down and take care," and hung up.

Then, almost suddenly, the whole thing seemed to pass. Total calm. Eye of the hurricane.

But there were booms further north. The riot control authorities seemed to be shelling the entire neighborhood of Capitol Hill north of our location. The television showed that the police had barricaded the intersection of Olive and Broadway. On the screen, the marquee of my local video store was visible through the haze. To see such a prosaic detail of my everyday life on TV as part of war scene was almost too much for me to handle.

The camera zeroed in on a person crossing the street, someone trying to get home from work or something, hands in air, eager to demonstrate his harmlessness. A riot control officer marched up on him and started pushing him aggressively. The man wheeled around, off balance, trying to right himself. The officer leveled his riot gun and fired a wooden slug into the man's leg. Point blank. The camera shifted away, past the storefront of my local drug store. More tear gas canisters went off.

An armored car rolled by. The riot police drove the protesters as far north as Broadway and Roy (where my parents live). Something of a pitched battle ensued, acquaintances on the scene later told me. Then, the crowd dispersed, flowing back around police on side streets. Moving quickly, they headed back south -- toward me. The crowd had swelled in size as it regrouped right outside my doorstep. These weren't the bedraggled environmental activists, Oregonian anarchists, and other assorted wacko WTO protesters who had created all the crisis the previous day. This mob consisted mostly of local residents -- up in arms about the police invasion of their homes. We no longer faced an out-of-control protest. This was a genuine civil uprising.

The helicopters circled directly overhead. A thick cloud of CS gas settled over our house and the nearby park, wisps of it seeping through cracks in my ancient window frames. The grenade flashes became so frequent they lent a stroboscopic effect to the scene. The noise was unbearably loud. Crowds rushed along the sidewalk in front of my house. Several police cars and an armored personnel carrier rolled by. The shouting from the crowd rose in pitch. My wife and I huddled at the window, struggling to see without being seen -- to be visible in this melee was to be a target. Cars careened at breakneck pace through the clogged, narrow streets, disgorging passengers into the mob whenever they stopped. The riot moved back down Broadway and across the park to Seattle Central Community College. There, the battle raged on until 2:00 a.m. this morning.

When all of this began, I felt that the Seattle Police were showing admirable discipline and restraint in the face of surly mob. When the police pushed the protesters up on to Capitol Hill that first night, I did think it showed remarkably bad judgment. But I sympathized with the strain the police must have been facing. I'm not so understanding anymore. The Seattle Police Department, Washington National Guard, Mayor Paul Schell and Chief Norm Stamper declared war on my neighborhood last night. With paramilitary, police-state tactics, they turned my peaceful, freedom-loving community into a battleground. They gassed a City Council member. They arrested a television news reporter -- even after she had properly identified herself. They deliberately attacked peaceful demonstrators. They have violated the right to peaceful assembly. This cannot stand.

J. Gregory Wharton is an architect living in Seattle, Washington.

Copyright © 1999, The Daily Objectivist. Web Master - Chris Johnson

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[The police have become soldiers, and it seems that they take every opportunity to "practice their craft" these days. They didn't need to "charge" these people from both ends with tear gas and flash/bang grenades to "drive them" anywhere. One can only ask what their motivation was except to create a riot to show the international "dignitaries" they're "dealing with" the protesters. And, of course, Clinton refused to come to town until these non-violent (until the cops made them run) people were "taken care of." This from a man who doesn't hesitate to send young boys overseas to be killed to cover up his crimes. -RT]

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More photos of the carnage in Seattle from Kaos Radio. http://www.olywa.net/angels/120299.html It takes a while to load with so many pictures, so be patient. It's worth it. -RT

Department: Words Mean Things

Definitions: When reading a newsletter such as "Beyond Common Sense" it is important that you understand the exact meaning of words as we use them, not as the liberals do. They routinely distort the meaning of words to confuse you. We use words as they were meant to be used and the exact meaning of many words might surprise you.

Department: Ayn Rand's Message

Ayn Rand's Message: This section will be dedicated to highlighting sections of her works and philosophy so that those who know nothing about it can learn. In this issue we reproduce an article that substitutes Bill Gates for Ken Danagger in a well-known scene from "Atlas Shrugged" where Dagny waits outside the office while John Galt convinces him to "retire" after the looters demanded too much of him. Dagny's part is taken by one of Gates' lawyers. I think you'll find it instructive.

"In Britain we are like Gulliver being tied down by a million silken threads, enfeebled and destroyed -- even if you can not cure your ills, perhaps by reaching out a hand and cutting some of the silken threads that hold us down we can work our way loose to free the world from this evil hegemony rolling inexorably towards One Word Governance/Dominance. (Greg Lance-Watkins)

RANDOM SHOTS

Random Shots: This section contains a number of short items that aren't enough for a complete article, yet are important. Some are funny, some are tragic. All will make you think.

"It is an absolute that if you produce more than you consume in your lifetime, you're a producer. If you consume more than you produce, you're a moocher or a looter." (Ray Thomas)

Archives:
All previous issues are archived here and are available by a single click of the mouse. All contain important articles and information and it would pay you to read them.

Information Sources:
Here we bring you links to other sources of truthful information. Information you can't find in the mainstream media as a rule, because they "hue the liberal line."

Other Articles of Interest:
This feature will not appear in every issue. When we find one or more articles of special interest, they will be placed here for your information.

This newsletter is FREE. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the "Alert List" that notifies you when a new issue is available go to: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/beyondcommonsense and follow the directions. Published and Copyright © 1999 by Ray Thomas, P. O. Box 16247, Denver, CO 80216-0247. Phone: 720-351-3674.

Email: raythomas101@hotmail.com

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