Americans are shooting Americans again

I would be remiss if I didn’t write about Scott Olsen.

I’m cognizant of the fact that readers get tired of repetition and I’ve written about the Occupy Wall Street movement already, but I can’t claim that “What’s the Diehl?” addresses current events and not express my outrage at the upsetting, shameful, sickening, unconstitutional assault that took place at the hands of “law enforcement” in Oakland, California, last Tuesday night.

Olsen, a 24-year-old, two-time Iraq war veteran, was hospitalized in serious condition with a skull fracture after being hit above his right eye by a tear gas or smoke canister fired by police at a non-threatening, non-violent, scattered crowd that was exercising its right to peaceably assemble guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

Adding insult to serious injury, the police then intentionally lobbed a flash grenade into the crowd of people rushing to Olsen’s aid.

Olsen’s been upgraded from critical to fair condition and is being kept in a medically-induced coma at Oakland’s Highland Hospital.

People are accusing police of using bean bag rounds – a controversial projectile that looks like a small bean bag but is filled with lead – as well as rubber bullets and concussion grenades on the protesters. The “unfortunate incident” – as the corporate media insists on referring to the assault – has angered people around the world and spurred calls for independent investigations and the removal of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan.

Olsen isn’t an unemployed, hackey sack-playing hippie who’s trying to get the government to buy him a college education. The Wisconsin native – a Marine who fought al-Qaida in Haditha and at the Iraq/Syria border – has a good job as a network engineer and a nice apartment overlooking San Francisco Bay. This activist with Veterans for Peace just felt so strongly about his beliefs that he decided to camp out with other protesters after work.

It’s safe to assume he didn’t anticipate getting his skill fractured by Oakland Police.

There’s a photo circulating in Facebook of an injured, bloody Olsen being carried away by his fellow protesters with the caption, “Do you want to live in an America where THIS is the price for speaking your mind?”

My answer, and surely Scott Olsen’s, is a resounding “Hell, no!”

Visit the Daily Mail for photos and more information.


Sources: Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News, UK Daily Mail.