Meaning What You Say

When we talk about reading education in this country, there is a great emphasis on understanding the meaning of what is being read. Readers need to trust the veracity of material they're presented and part of that trust is faith that the virtue of the deeds match the expectations expressed by the words.

In McCain's acceptance speech for the Republican nomination to run for the office of President he says,

If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you're disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. Enlist in our armed forces. Become a teacher. Enter the ministry. Run for public office. Feed a hungry child. Teach an illiterate adult to read. Comfort the afflicted. Defend the rights of the oppressed. Our country will be the better, and you will be the happier. Because nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself.

I'm going to fight for my cause every day as your president. I'm going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank him: that I'm an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on Earth, and with hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me.

Fight for what's right for our country.

Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children's future.

Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.

Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

The sad truth of the matter is that outside the convention, everyday citizens of this country already attempted to comfort the afflicted and defend the rights of the oppressed and more.

But these citizens were not treated like heroes and they weren't treated like Constitutionally protected Americans. Here is a description of the street scene from a Minnesota college student,

I am just one person, my story will not fully depict the absolute circus this convention has turned my state into. what brought me to St Paul today, a city that is normally extremely quiet and without event, was the Take Back Labor Day festival. I went to the city to see friends and hear music and stand up as a supporter for real worker's rights and further, most importantly, the freedom of our Republic.

What i saw was extreme...


There is no doubt in mind, from the limited exposure I did get of the whole RNC scene, that we are in fact under Martial Law. There is no walking through downtown St Paul without coming to the absolute realization that we are not safe and most certainly not free.


From Harriet Island, where the above-described music and awareness event was taking place, dozens of us saw, with our own civilian eyes, the true arsenal the federally-sponsored RNC had in store for us. "The department, awarded a $50,000,000 security grant from the federal government, will have at its disposal $330,000 in helmets, $1,000,000 in chemical masks and $1,900,000 in chemical irritants, according to plans approved by the [Saint Paul] City Council this month."

First hand, I saw at least 4 snipers on top of downtown buildings surrounding the RNC ground zero at any given time. In the river just ahead of our festival, there were coast guard boats with massive machine guns loaded and ready to fire, two per boat. Many boats patrolled the waters of the mighty [city-polluted] Mississippi throughout the day. Later on, about 10 boats were seen at once, all surrounding a non-violent sit-in on the banks of the Mississippi, along with various officials inland, their squad lights ablaze.

The very citizens McCain instructs to act like citizens became little more than tactical dummies to be roughed up, herded, goaded, intimidated, gassed, and profiled as targets for extermination in the event a signal is given.

You see, his words are lies. Big lies. He and everyone in the convention knew what was going on. Why not trump Obama's Denver spectacle by leaving the convention hall and embracing the marchers as just the people he was talking about and talking to?

Had McCain had the guts to do that he would have witnessed a scene out of mad max. Police and paramilitary armed to the teeth covered in more protective gear than the troops in Baghdad wear. One has to wonder to what end? Was the government expecting WW III?, an invasion of body snatchers from another dimension?, an alien invasion?, what??? What could justify the armaments in a sleepy American metropolis in the middle of nowhere?

Apparently moms and pops urging peace or food for pantries or waving an unauthorized sign is red alert these days.

Red and belligerent. The storm-troopers targeted media. Media with big security badges identifying themselves as observers of the events and not objects of them. The storm-troopers targeted watchdog groups first. The people who keep the government accountable.

True patriots would be proud of these reporters and lawyers whose dwellings were targeted for break-in by authorities armed to kill.

The rule of Constitutional American law was nowhere to be found in Minnesota last week in the flood of platitudes and self-serving sanctity. It was no accident. McCain's idea of reform and change includes more of this Orwellian stuff or he would have insisted on stopping it the minute Amy Goodman's story became the headline.

Teaching kids to look for meaning in speech is one lesson. The other is teaching them the difference between, words, intent, and moral culpability for words.

We need to be careful in encouraging children to question. Watch Amy Goodman ask a question here: