Terrorism and chemical attacks in Jacksonville, Ore.

The biggest news story to hit the wires since 9/11 has been sadly overlooked by the major media corporations of this country. It took place at a small gathering in a small town. The story did appear in the Medford news and was also reported by local stations.

Jacksonville, Ore. is located near the town of Medford. The President had just finished speaking at an event in Medford, where three Medford school teachers, all of whom had tickets for the event, were thrown out and threatened with arrest for wearing t-shirts that simply said, "Protect our civil liberties".

Jacksonville was to be a stop-over for President Bush where he planned to have dinner and spend the night at a local inn. Jacksonville is a historic mining town that's located in an area that's about as apple-pie as you can get in the 21st Century. It's estimated that about 500 people, both Bush and Kerry supporters had shown up to see the presidential motorcade pass through town.

They had lined up on both sides of the street, with Bush supporters on one side chanting, "Four more years." and Kerry supporters on the other side of the street chanting, "Three more weeks." It was when the President's motorcade drew close and was within ear-shot of the crowd that terrorism came down full force on the people gathered, at least the ones on the side of the street that had criticized Bush.

According to eyewitness accounts, about 50 police officers in full riot gear moved in fast in an attempt to sweep and clear the sidewalk of Kerry supporters. They quickly forced the crowd back causing a crush. People had no where to go, some were falling down and being trampled by others as police forced the crowd away from the President until they could no longer be heard by him. In addition to these strong arm tactics, which were employed with great success by Hitler's "Gestapo" (Secret State Police), the riot police opened fire with pepper balls. These are small round projectiles similar to paintballs, only filled with oleoresin capsicum (made from cayenne pepper, it is classified as a chemical weapon, and as such banned for use in war--but not in domestic police work).

Many of the "demonstrators" were hit or effected by these pepperballs, including small children who were gathered with their parents. Some eyewitnesses even stated that police used clubs while forcing the people off the sidewalk. Although the Police claim that they acted only when some violent protesters had started to push some police officers, there have been no witnesses to support that claim. On the contrary, witnesses say that everything had been peaceful until the police came in.

The pro-Bush people were not bothered by police. They did stand watch over them but made no effort to hinder them in any way or to move them to another location.

I can now see why people once questioned how so many people in Germany supported Hitler. But that question only remains valid if you believe that the majority did support him. The realty is that those who did not support him were forced to be silent. Through fear of being physically attacked. Through fear of being hauled off to jail or arrested. Through fear that they would be taken in for questioning, never to be heard from again. The majority did not support Hitler but were instead silenced by a minority through the use of fear and violent force.

One day people of the world will look back and wonder how so many could have supported a man like Bush. It is only because the voice of opposition was silenced that they can even ask such a question.