The Use of Tazer Guns by Police - New Political Ballgame
Current mood: shocked
Category: Blogging

The New Political Ballgame, Sept 18, 2007

It's One, Two, Three Tazer Strikes and You're Out at the New Ballgame!

This afternoon I read some of those "leftist" blogs that Austin's Alex Jones refers to, the ones about the University of Florida student who was silenced, arrested and tazered while John Kerry watched on without intervening. One was even called "From Left Field". And they did say exactly the kind of garbage that Alex Jones is charging them with saying. The sycophantic worms were more concerned with defending Kerry's acceptance of police brutality on his behalf and before his very eyes than in defending the Bill of Rights and exposing police brutality and political repression caught live on camera!

However, my reaction was quite different than Alex Jones' divisive spin, and it is exactly this kind of thing that makes me wary of Alex Jones. My reaction to the blog called "From Left Field" was that this was some Democratic Party hack doing damage control for Kerry and acting ever-fearful of not seeming repressive enough to avoid being labeled an extremist. I was thinking that they must have moved "left field" to "right center field" again like they did during the Vietnam War. The spectrum has become so far right in general since the 9/11 highjackings and anthrax attacks heralding in Bush and Cheney's declaration of a "war on terror" that it really is a whole new ball game.

If it was a baseball game, you'd not be allowed to hit a ball in what was formerly called "left or left-center field". That would be out of bounds these days! But it would not just be a foul. It would be an automatic out! Why this very day it was also in the news that the Democratic Party excluded Presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel from a major event in Iowa! If this was a baseball game, you'd have some Party idiot standing in right-center field claiming that he was defending the left field. Sorry! That impeachment ball is out of bounds! You'd have to say to yourself, "This is not the all-American game of baseball that I learned about when I grew up in this country! There's no way the best team can win in a rigged game!

Besides all of that, I agree with the notion that the left-right spectrum has become a poor handle for labeling current political realities in the Empire's new world order. Those labels are certainly no worthy substitute for the Truth. I consider whishy washy bloggers like the ones I read today to be liberals, not leftists, in precisely the way that folk singer Phil Ochs, (who described himself to me as a "democratic socialist") ridiculed the war accomodating Democratic Party hacks of his era with a certain song called Love Me, I'm A Liberal.

Another Phil Ochs song that fits today's events is the one that says, "Oh I am just a student, sir, and I only want to learn. But it's hard to read through the rising smoke from the books that you like to burn. But I'd like to make a promise, and I'd like to make a vow. When I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now!" I'm sure that a lot of people on the real left would agree with my take on Alex Jones and his willful misuse of terms. I do agree with his take on what went down as far as that student and the use of tazer guns goes. And I appreciate his brave and brazen stand for our Constitution.

We in Delaware had an even more brutal experience with the abusive use of the tazer gun. The Florida incident made me think of what happened in Delaware in the autumn of 2006 when the young Iraq Vet named Derek Hale of Virginia paid his unfortunate visit to our "fair state". He was sitting on a front porch in Wilmington on a sunny day with a woman and her children and with many witnesses around when a black van full of swat police came speeding wrong way down a street and jumped out and caught them all by surprise. Derek Hale, our war hero, was tazered. and when he could not possibly respond to their demands to stand and raise his hands due to his being incapacitated by thousands of volts of electricity in his body, they filled the young father, husband, marine, full of bullets til they were sure he was bloody well dead. They found no drugs or weapons on the unfortunate patriot. Now it looks like Beau Biden got assigned the dirty little job of whitewashing and disappearing that murderous matter away by getting himself elected Attorney General. I haven't heard much about it in the press lately, have you? So much for Justice in Delaware! Just eat your peanuts and crackerjacks cause we don't care if we ever come back…Sing along now, everyone! "So it's one, two, three tazer strikes and you're out at the new fascist ballgame!"

Brave Bikers Beware

Chorus:

Brave bikers beware, if you ride Delaware!

They fear "Easy Riders" and the spirit they share!

Some of you survived corporate wars "over there"…

To keep your "Bill of Rights" freedoms, you'd better beware!

   Beware!  Beware!  Beware!  Brave Bikers, Beware!

Derek Hale was a biker, his age twenty-five

He came back from Iraq with his limbs and alive

Through war and occupation, he was combat decorated…

Came back to Elaine; Married her and celebrated!

Young Derek was a loyal United States marine

But he didn't talk of what he'd done and had seen

His joys in Virginia were his home and family

And being "Born To Be Wild" with his "motor runnin'" free

(Chorus)

Brave Derek joined the Pagans to ride and feel free

As part of a bike club full of comradery

But they became targets of cops in the "First State"

With SWAT teams trained to use force, to fear, and to hate

There was safety in numbers when Pagans rode with the gang

But when isolated, that's when the traps sprang

And so it came passing in the fall of the year…

Two thousand and six…Tales of terror came near?

One of Derek's reunions called him to Delaware

To visit old buddies who were now living there

As he sat down on the front steps with the wife of a friend

Just talking with her and two of her children

A black SUV sped wrong way up the street

Six men dressed in black jumped out onto their feet

Surrounded young Derek with guns drawn and said

"Hands out of your pockets and over your head!"

(Chorus)

With witnesses watching in the afternoon light…

Before he could move, he was tazered on sight!

Not once, but 3 times! He was shocked through and through!

One witness yelled out… The cops threatened him too…

The citizen protested, shouting, "That's overkill!"

The cops said, "Shut up, or we'll show you overkill!"

Young Derek did nothing' but shake and vomit like hell…

Three bullets were fired to his chest, and he fell.

(Chorus)

Another troop near Newark didn't bother to knock…

They launched a grenade in to stun and to shock

They stormed in the house of Jim Jollie's good friend

He raised his hands high, but not enough to make it end…

A nightstick hit the back of that Viet Vet's head!

They kicked in his ribs as on the floor the man bled!

They confiscated his Harley, his colors, his truck…

But compared to young Derek, he did have better luck…

(Chorus)

They spat on Jim Jollie and they cursed in his face!

That this citizen's a veteran adds to the disgrace!

No charges were filed. So the cops let him go…

But they still held his property… So their power would show!

These raids made the paper, page one and page six

The hospital had one broken biker to fix

One widow had one veteran-husband-father to mourn

While the cops stayed anonymous in spite of outrage and scorn!

(Chorus)

Meanwhile in Virginia, cops sacked Derek's home!

His weeping wife and children stood outside alone…

Dead Derek's Pagan T-shirts and patches were taken

His wife and his children felt terrorized and forsaken

Well, welcome home, veterans, to the Empire's police state!

They lied about "Freedom", and we found out too late!

If you dare to be "Free" or to ride with the wind,

You better be rich and corporate, or you'll be disciplined.

(Chorus)

Copyright Nov 20, 2006 Victor Rene Sadot/BMI/Orbian Love Music

Vic Sadot's Crazy Planet Band at My Space:

Cheney's in the Bunker, The Ballad of William Rodriguez,

Mad Cowboy Disease, The Ballad of Pat Tillman.

http://www.myspace.com/vicsadotscrazyplanetband

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9/11 Truth Discussion at Phil Ochs Discussion Group

Today I responded to some questions about what really happened on 9/11/01 that were being discussed at No More Songs – A Phil Ochs Discussion Web Site – It's a good post for this blog. See the link below to jump into the discussion there.  Vic

Hey Phil Ochs fans!

Good to hear you discussing the questions of 9/11

in the "No More Songs" group!

We're all probably wondering what Phil would have said in public and written in song about this key event of our lifetimes, 9/11. We can probably only agree that he would have keenly investigated and would have shared his conclusions. I personally think that he would have written the kinds of songs that David Rovics (Reichstag Fire) and myself, (The Ballad of William Rodriguez, Cheney's in the Bunker) and many others are writing about 9/11. Unfortunately, Phil is no longer here for us to discuss such things with him. Having had political conversations with Phil Ochs, I feel certain that he would not accept the official story from Bush and Cheney. I think he would be part of the ever-growing global 9/11 Truth movement.

After reading the previous posts, I feel disappointed in the lack of questioning of the official story from a group of Ochs admirers. I'm sure that I can write something to get the adrenalin going that will hopefully open some minds to keep probing the subject for now. Although I must say that I did believe George Bush's speech the day after 9/11 about the 19 Arabs with box cutters overcoming the billion dollar US intelligence and military apparatus and it all being coordinated from a cave in Afghanistan by a man named bin Laden. So we must acknowledge from the start that it is not enough to dismiss questions with a shrug about them being a "conspiracy theory". Every theory, including the Bush-Cheney and the Commission story is a conspiracy theory that needs to be proven.

You may recall that Bush and Cheney did not want the event to be investigated. Outrageous! Why? The Challenger investigation started 6 days later. The JFK assassination caused there to be a Warren Commission to be set up within a week. It took a groundswell of public support behind the family victims of 9/11 led by a group of widows known as "The Jersey Girls" to get a commission started about 440 days after the event! Why? They just released a movie this year called 9/11 Press for Truth which tells their story and their continuing search for the truth. You can still watch it on-line!

Then the Bush Gang wanted to appoint Henry Kissinger in charge of it. A howl went up from many quarters around the world. A new deal was cut that put Kean and Hamilton in nominal charge, but named Phillip Zelikow, Condoleeza Rice's assistant for National Security as the Executive Director in charge of the day to day Commission operations and as actual author of the final report. Remember the phrase: "There's something's rotten in Denmark"? Timelines got arbitrarily changed and many testimonies were deliberately omitted, most notably those of Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta (gee! here it is!)  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUqbOgFiPDI&mode=related&search=

and WTC head janitor and rescue hero, William Rodriguez (his web site) 

http://911keymaster.com
 

  I started thinking that we needed some detectives like Columbo on the case to treat it like a crime instead of a propaganda event for war and repressive legislation. Let's all take it back to the basics of a crime investigation: Who benefits? Who had the means? Who had the motive? The opportunity to do something on this massive a scale? Who funded it? What are the facts that can be established? Whose stories suggest a cover-up? What evidence should be available and why is it not being made public, i.e., Pentagon surveillance photos, black boxes, airplane reconstruction, etc? Why was the official story one of complete incompetence with the result being that no one was fired, demoted, prosecuted, but rather praised, promoted, and even more lavishly funded and given even more powers. Why was the anthrax attack on leading democrats, Leahy and Daschle, dropped when it was determined to be from the US military Ames strain?

We have seen 9/11 used for draconian repressive laws that shatter the Bill of Rights while posing as "The Patriot Act". We've witnessed brutal resource wars that were apparently planned years before 9/11 by The Project for a New American Century.

   At the very least we should remain skeptical and demand an independent international investigation. We should keep investigating on our own.  I don't know about Loose Change being "debunked".  Anyway, I tend to go for a physics professor like Steven E. Jones for the science to explain why 3 buildings collapsing at free-fall gravity speed, one not hit by a plane, is without historic precedent and also inconsistent with the laws of physics unless demolitions are used to create the internal vacuums necessary for such recordable and reviewable data. I tend to turn to an established scholar like David Ray Griffin, who also admitted that he bought the official conspiracy theory at first until he began his own investigation. His books, The New Pearl Harbor and The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions & Distortions convince me that the official conspiracy story is rotten to the core! See Scholars for Truth to find out more:
www.st911.org

Other sources that I rely on to gather and process information about 9/11, war, propaganda, and repression are these:

http://911blogger.com has new posts every few minutes.

http://911truth.org is a more in-depth place for data and organizing

http://mujca.com is a site that attempts to unite Muslims, Jews, Christians, and all ethical humans to search for truth, justice, and peace.

   An American citizen named Naomi Wolf recently wrote an article that got published in the Guardian of the UK that puts the whole set of questions into an understandable, but very disturbing, context. It's called "Fascist America, in 10 easy steps". The essence is this: From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html 

   In conclusion: Remember the Bay of Tonkin fabricated attack lies used to promote the Vietnam War!  Remember how Hitler used the Reichstag fire to pass The Enabling Act to end German liberties and to silence or imprison his opposition!

Here is a land full of power and glory

Beauty that words cannot recall

Oh her power shall rest on the strength of her freedom

Her glory shall rest on us all…on us all…

PHIL OCHS

Respectfully submitted to No More Songs by Vic Sadot

This will be posted later today at Broadside Balladeer Blog:

http://blog.myspace.com/vicsadot

Broadside Balladeer: Song by Vic Sadot, Video by Dean Banks

A Tribute to Phil Ochs, the late-great anti-war topical singer of the Vietnam War era who wrote Changes, I Ain't Marching Anymore, When I'm Gone, Outside of Small Circle of Friends, White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land, I Declare the War is Over, I Declare  the War is Over, Pretty Smart on My Part, Cops of the World, etc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9bkyjTN0Lw

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The Ballad of Pat Tillman - A Song & A Video

The Ballad of Pat Tillman

As a singer-songwriter of topical songs, I have been posting the lyrics and comments to songs that are meant to give insight on, and promote discussion of, some important issues of our times. You will find that previous posts have given the lyrics and the links where you can hear the songs posted:
The Ballad of William Rodriguez - A 20 year employee of the World Trade Center as a janitor who became a Ground Zero rescue hero on 9/11/01. Rodriguez was GW Bush's guest of honor at the White House and testified to the 9/11 Commission that there were demolition explosions before any plane hit the towers. His testimony was excluded from the final report. He posted my song at his web site:
http://911keymaster.com 
Bourbon Street - at my CD Baby site with all 19 songs from Broadsides & Retrospectives:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/vicsadot2
Broadside Balladeer - my tribute to the late topical songwriter, Phil Ochs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9bkyjTN0Lw
Also a previous post of an article on his FBI File
The Kidnapping Coup - about the Bush administration overthrow of democracy in Haiti in 2004 at:
www.vivehaiti.com 
Mad Cowboy  Disease - my anti-war song about the Neo Con use of the image of "cowboys" to cover the bloody reality of their pre-911 planned resource wars:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pageartist.cfm?bandID=433822

Video by Dean Arthur Banks of this Tillman song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFB6r5SVpP4

Mary Tillman Wants Answers – MSNBC & ESPN Radio  7:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwaDny_7Ch4&mode=related&search=

His mother charges cover up aimed at public to sell the illegal war & she wants

Congressional hearings. She does not exclude that he may have been shot deliberately. "You have to remember that this was right after Abu Graib."

OLBERMANN: *A HERO'S DEATH* (PAT TILLMAN COVER-UP)  6:38

Interview with Veteran John Soltz of VoteVets.org "This administration has a systemic problem with honesty and integrity…They abused his death for political purposes."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbTOAtiqXLs&mode=related&search=

MSNBC on Tillman Death Cover-up   6:33

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHRsKH-vcwk&mode=related&search=

Titled "Pat Tillman", this video focuses on how Tillman was affected by 9/11 and the story told about it. His patriotism swelled with his anger about attacks said by Bush to be launched by Bin Laden from a cave in Afghanistan before any investigation happened. 5:27

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5qSrPkB7c&mode=related&search=

The Pat Tillman Story: A National Disgrace, Friend and Fellow Football Star with the Arizona Cardinals, Jake Plummer, Speaks Out 8:25

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_jkQji5720&mode=related&search=

James Fetzer served in the US Marines and later became a professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota. He is one of the founders of Scholars for Truth:
http://911scholars.org

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Mad Cowboy Disease explains Neo Con War Pathology

The demonstrations against the war in Iraq at it's 4th anniversary since March 2003 were inspiring if poorly covered by the corrupt and complicit corporate media. In April 2003 there was a demo in DC just after the so called "shock and awe" themed bombing of Bagdad by the Bush Gangsters. My brother and I went to that demo and we saw someone with a sign that said, "There is a cure for Mad Cowboy Disease". We turned to each other and said, "SONG !!!"  A song by that title was written in the following days and became the lead-off song on my latest CD called Broadsides & Retrospectives. That title came from looking back and looking forward and from the Broadside Balladeer song about Phil Ochs and his songs in Broadside, the National Topical Song Magazine. That's all covered in previous blogs if you should want to check the lyrics out, the article on Phil's FBI article, or a short story about meeting him. Meanwhile, I hope that you find this song both cartoon humorous and bloody serious! By the way European readers can buy the 19 song CD, Broadsides & Retrospectives, at Turbo Music becaise they have an arrangement with CD Baby:
Turbo Music in Europe Sells Vic Sadot CD's
US & Canada see CD Baby: http://cdbaby.com/cd/vicsadot2

You can listen to this song and the other 18 for free at both sites!

Without further adieu, here are the words to the song born out of the Bush-Cheney-Powell WMD lies that led to the war on Iraq. The chords remain the same throughout should you want to cover or play along with this song: 
Am C D F / Am C E E / Am C D F / Am C E E7

Mad Cowboy Disease
By Vic Sadot

Released on Crazy Planet Records on the

Broadsides & Retrospectives CD in 2005

You know it's kind o' Sci-Fi what's happening today…
A Zombie epidemic has hit the USA…
You get it through your TV…Listen well, I'll tell you how…
It attacks you in the brain like contaminated cow!

It's just like in the movie…"Night of the Living Dead"
One day when you wake up… you're cracked up in the head!!!
It happens when you fall asleep in front of your TV's…
And when you start believin' bull; You got… "Mad Cowboy Disease"!

Chorus:

Mad Cowboy Disease! …Mad Cowboy Disease!
You won't find them funny when they go on killin' sprees…
Mad Cowboy Disease! …Mad Cowboy Disease!
Please put 'em all in padded cells, and throw away the keys!

The symptoms of "Mad Cowboy" can lead to travesties…
Like lying just to justify… bombing who you please…
"MCD" can be fatal…it can make you paranoid…
It can make you maladjusted… a person to avoid!

You rave against the "terrorists"…then murder like they do…
You even claim the peace-niks are terrorizing you!
Your old friends and allies, you see as enemies…
It's mighty freakin' dangerous… "Mad Cowboy Disease"!

Chorus

We don't know how they caught it, but we have some theories…
On how they got infected with "Mad Cowboy Disease"…
It happened very early on… when they first occupied…
Positions in the government…and from the first they lied!

It must have been the dinner of… the Inaugeration Ball…
They must have had some "mad cow"… in the menu after all…
It might a' been the burgers… or the fine filet mignon!!!
But there ain't no doubt about it… you can see their minds are gone!

Come gather round, good people; we need to find the cure…
It's such a nasty problem; it's one we can't ignore…
The crew that runs the White House; They've got this dread disease!

You see it in the madness of their greedy policies!

"Mad Cowboy" is contagious, but there are immunities…
One of them's as simple as turning off TV's…
And talkin' with your neighbors…in your communities…
There's really only one cure for "Mad Cowboy Disease"!

Chorus

There are no easy answers…no simple remedies…
To something as deranging as "Mad Cowboy Disease"
You'll notice that they're vicious… outing names like rabid dogs!
Turnin' on their own when they speak truth to power hogs!

Mad Cowboys lust for violence…and killing like a fiend!
They're very "anti-social"…They should be quarantined!
But we should be "compassionate"… give them some place to go…
Perhaps a ranch in Texas if it's walled around, you know…

Chorus:

Mad Cowboy Disease! …Mad Cowboy Disease!
You won't find them funny when they go on killin' sprees…
Mad Cowboy Disease! …Mad Cowboy Disease!

Please put 'em all in padded cells, and throw away the keys!

And put "An End To Evil"… Mad Cowboy Disease!

© 2004 Victor René Sadot / BMI / Orbian Love Music
Written Jan 10, 2004

Released on Crazy Planet Records on the

Broadsides & Retrospectives CD:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/vicsadot2

Welcome to the Official Website of Vic Sadot's Music Projects

http://www.vicsadot.com

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Haitian History & The Kidnapping Coup song

The Kidnapping Coup - A Topical Song on the US Overthrow

of Democracy in Haiti by the Bush-Cheney Admisitration in 2004

Today I've selected to post the words to The Kidnapping Coup. I've just started these political song posts in recent days. This time I think I'll include the chords just in case anyone out there wants to cover it and spread the word. The chords are easy to strum and they remain in the same pattern for the entire song. You can also hear the song at www.vivehaiti.com It should come on automatically and if you scroll down the opening page, you can follow along with the lyrics posted there as well. I started learning to play basic chords on the guitar in the early 70's by playing songs of Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Joan Baez and other lesser known but fine songwriters who were published in the pages of Broadside, the National Topical Song Magazine. by Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen published the song magazine out of their apartment in New York City from 1962 to sometime in the 1980's I would guess.  They would usually have a news story from the New York Times or some other paper on the page next to the song being published. I'll just cite some internet sources below for those interested in doing more in-depth follow-up study.

I will post that below the song lyrics for those who wish to understand the more complicated context and significance of the event. The FRAPH death squads mentioned in the song were set up by the Haitian elite and the military to murder the leaders of the mass movement for democracy in Haiti. The army had been abolished by Aristide's government due to its history of killing and coups against the people elected governments of Haiti. Aristide is referred to in the last verse of the song by the affectionate term used by his followers in Haiti: "Titid".

The Kidnapping Coup

         A                                                  D                               A

Well, first came the troops that were trained in Santo Domingo

                   D                                                          A

They were US equipped and organized to overthrow

        D                                                                               A

The FRAPH death squads and the outlawed Haitian army

             E                                                  D              A

Were unleashed like mad dogs on the civil society

From the seas came marines of the ever-menacing Yankees

They took Port-au-Prince and they broke Haiti down to her knees

The "Frappers" went killing the Parti Lavalas and the unions

It was all done in secret with French and American guns

Chorus:

It was a kidnapping coup by those who murder and plunder

They hide behind lies and they terrorize everyone under

They silence with violence the voices of conscience and just views

And their kidnapping coup gets covered up in the corporate news

It was February 29 in the year of 2004

Like thieves in the night they broke through the President's door

Put their guns to the head of the elected President of Haiti

They kidnapped the man and they stole the democracy!

Blindfolded his wife and they pointed their guns at her too

"Jean-Bertrand, "they said, "sign this paper or we'll shoot both of you"

Like Mildred he thought of their kids and his country as well

He looked in the eyes of the Yankees turning Haiti into hell  (chorus)

Aristide would not sign… So the Yankees blindfolded him too

Put them both on the jet with the US red, white, and blue

Flew them all the way to an African puppet dictator

While the Haitian news rags denounced Aristide as a traitor

Some members of Congress (US), chartered a jet and they flew there

Demanded the puppet release the ones that they held there

The General was told to let them fly into exile

So they flew to Jamaica, and they rested there for a while  (chorus)

Then Condi and Colin made threats on sovereign Jamaica

So Titid and Mildred moved their exile to South Africa

They kidnapped the man… Made a coup on the great Haitian nation

If you won't be a puppet, they'll invade you and bring occupation

It was February 29 in the year of 2004

Like thieves in the night they broke through the President's door

Put their guns to the head of the elected President of Haiti

They kidnapped the man and they stole the democracy!  (chorus)

Copyright September 21, 2005 Vic Sadot BMI Orbian Love Music

www.vicsadot.com

Hear also Vive Haiti! by Vic Sadot, a song relesed on the 19 song CD titled Broadsides & Retrospectives, at CD Baby & iTunes:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/vicsadot2

A Brief Historical Background on Haiti:

A History of US Coups & Interventions

By Vic Sadot

The United States was shocked by the first successful slave rebellion in history because the US still profited immensely from its legalized slavery of human beings up until the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War on January 1, 1863. To have the first Black Republic in the world so nearby in 1804 was seen as a major threat by the US. According to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, it took the US 58 years to actually recognize the Republic of Haiti.

In 1915 the US invaded and eventually installed the Papa Doc Duvalier dictatorship, which set up a cheap labor system for multi-national corporations to exploit through a sweat shop industries. Unions were outlawed and a tiny light skinned Black minority of less than 1% became the fantastically wealthy ruling class. They basically were "compradors", selling their own population back into subsistence servitude and crushing all democracy advocates with secret death squads called the "TonTon Macoutes". Roughly translated it means "Uncle Machete", which derives from the practice of dragging someone out of their hut at night, cutting off the outspoken person's head, and leaving it in the open for all to see what could happen to them if they tried to speak for their rights.

In the 1980's the Liberation Theology movement was sweeping through Latin America and Haiti was part of that process whereby low ranking priests came into conflict with political and religious authorities by becoming advocates and organizers of the poor. In Haiti it was called the Tite Eglize (Little Church) movement, which would eventually grow into the Lavalas (Flood/Mass movement) Party. In the late 1980's the mass movement rose up in Haiti and Dictator Baby Doc Duvalier was taken to safety on a US jet to France where he continued to live in luxury on money secured from the national treasury. When elections were finally held in 1990, a priest named Father Aristide was elected President by a landslide that any US President would be jealous to have. The Pope forced him to quit the priesthood, which he did. After surviving 4 assassination attempts, Aristide was overthrown in 1991 by the Haitian military who plotted with President George Bush, Sr.'s administration and the Haitian elite. He actually went into exile in the US, but the US CIA tried to demonize him by putting out a "white paper" on his personality that said he'd been in a mental institiution in Canada at the very time when he was actually at a Catholic Church university in the Middle East. Meanwhile, some 4,000 Haitian democracy advocates were murdered by the military and it's new paramilitary terrorist organization called FRAPH, the Front for the Front for the Advancement and Progess of Haiti (in French frappe also means to hit)

By 1994 the Congressional Black Caucus had succeeded in

pressuring the Democratic Party administration of President Bill Clinton into invading and restoring President Aristide but with many strings attached in the deal. The US is for democracy if it is a puppet regime. There were demands for "structural adjustments" to privatize government programs that had been designed to uplift and employ the poor. Aristide did lead his government to abolish the Haitian military and numerous trials succeeded in putting some military and terrorists in prison.

The George Bush Junior administration shifted funds from assisting Haiti into subversion campaigns and into funding a military uprising that had secret training camps in the Dominican Republic. When they invaded in February 2004 they first attacked the prisons that held former army and FRAPH terrorists and armed them to join in the overthrow of democracy again.

The French were eager to make amends with the Bush-Cheney administration. after strained relations over French opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Although the French participated in the earlier invasion of Afghanistan as part of a retribution for the 9/11 attacks said to be directed by Bin Laden from a cave in that country, the French had their own reason to overthrow Aristide. He was calling for historical reparations from France for bleeding Haiti economically in the past as a slave colony. The people would likely have fought to defend Aristide and their elected government from the US orchestrated insurgency of their past Haitian oppressors. But the US moved quickly on the Presidential Palace to kidnap the President and his wife, blindfold them and take them out of the country on a US jet.

The pre-planned story was released to a parroting US media, and much like the story of 9/11, it was accepted without question or investigation. The US put a World Bank bureaucrat in as acting President of Haiti, and eventually got the UN to provide an occupation force and thereby to act in complicity with the overthrow of democracy. Many Haitians were arrested and imprisoned without charges for many months, such as folk singer Annette "So Anne" Auguste and Father Gerard Juste.