Suppression of 1st Amendment Rights to Speech and Assembly, Oppression of Lawfull Dissenters

Local news recently carried a story about the post-winter resumption of the Occupy movement.

I expect that over the hiatus it will have grown, not subsided.

In California the oppression of lawful dissent by the Occupy Movement has begun.  As the Arab Spring resumes their protests and their renewal of government by and for and of the people, we do so here in this country as well, taking back power to the people where it rightly belongs, away from corporations and special interest greed.

Pepper spraying unarmed people for simply gathering and objecting, including women and children, is not how we think of ourselves in this country.  Apparently there is a disconnect between our image and our reality; that disconnect needs to be resolved.  The reality needs to improve for dissenters, and those in authority need to make changes for the better to prevent these incidents from happening again.

From MSNBC

30 people pepper-sprayed at Santa Monica College course fees protest

Michael Yanow / Getty Images

Two women treat a child suffering from the effect of pepper spray outside the SMC Board of Trustees meeting on April 3, 2012 in Santa Monica, California.

By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

Up to 30 people were pepper-sprayed by police after students tried to storm a Santa Monica College trustee board meeting in protest over proposed higher course fees.
A handful of protesters suffered minor injuries as campus police tried to prevent dozens of students chanting, "Let us in, let us in" and "No cuts, no fees, education should be free," from disrupting the meeting during a public comment period, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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Capt. Judah Mitchell of the Santa Monica Fire Department told NBC News that up to 30 people had been sprayed, five of whom sought treatment for the effects of the spray and were transported to nearby hospitals.

Priscillia Omon, 21, claimed a police officer fired the spray into the mouths and eyes of people standing arm's length away, NBC Los Angeles reported. She said a family, including a 4 year old, were in the crowd when the officer used the pepper spray.
PhotoBlog: Cops pepper-spray 30 as Santa Monica students protest fees
"They were trying to silence our voices by not allowing students access to this supposedly open forum," Omon told the station.
However, Mitchell said a mother and young child were not among those treated for the effects of pepper spray.
'Students care about their education'
The meeting was slated to discuss a controversial tiered payment program, which has drawn the ire of students and professors claiming that the plan would make in-demand summer classes -- such as English, math, history and biology -- more expensive.
NBC Los Angeles said some courses would rise from $46 per unit to $180 during the summer session, meaning a high-demand 3-unit course would cost about $540.
"The students wanted to be heard and we wanted to be in the room where we could fairly discuss this topic, and be seen by them," said Aura Chavez, 18, who was standing in the back of the crowd when the pepper spray incident happened. "We wanted to let them see how many students care about their education."
Bruce Smith, spokesman for Santa Monica College, said it had set up an "overflow room" with an audio visual feed so students could take part in the meeting, but "a fairly large group of students ... quite vociferous about the position showed up in the corridor and ... demanded to go into meeting room."
He added that the college and Santa Monica College Police Department will be investigating the incident.
Samantha Tata and Robert Kovacik of NBC Los Angeles and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Update on the California Oikos Shooting

The booking photo for Oakland school massacre suspect One L. Goh. (Alameda County Sheriff)

It has been reported that the shooter, was formerly from Virginia, including during the period of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.  It was reported through a variety of media sources this evening that the shooter - the 'alleged' shooter who has confessed, and who has been identified by victims and by-standers, had legally purchased the gun used as much as six weeks before the mass shooting. 
He is reported to have been expelled, and to have been angry that he was teased for his poor language skills.  He also appears to be angry that he was attending school with younger people than himself.  He asserted - it is reported that he was 'gunning' for a female administrator, and instead shot a female receptionist, which suggests to me that he may have had a problem with women in some kind of official or authority positions.
He was reported to have had anger issues.

“It’s very, very sad,” police Chief Howard Jordan said.  “We have seven people who didn’t deserve to die and three others wounded because someone who couldn’t deal with the pressures of life.”

Police have released little background information about Goh, other than to say he had become a U.S. citizen.

A nursing professor who taught him said Goh would often tell a story about beating someone up who tried to mug him in San Francisco.

Romie John Delariman said Goh would say that he picked fights at a park when he was bored.

“Sometimes he would brag that he was capable of hurting people,” Delariman told The Associated Press.

“He said he was too old to go school with all the young people, and he said all his classmates were mean to him.”

Jordan said officials kicked Goh out for unspecified behavioral problems and that he had “anger management” issues.

This appears to have been planned.  while there has been nothing reported - so far - that suggests this alleged / confessed shooter has the kind of disabling mental illness associated with people like Jared Loughner from the shooting of Gabby Giffords and other innocent strangers in Arizona a little over a year ago, or like that of the demented gun obsessed Anders Breivik in Norway from last year's Norway shooting.  This appears to be a case only of a person who was maladjusted and unhappy, angry, not suffering from psychotic delusions beyond his control.
It is deeply disturbing to me that this man with his anger issues and his predilection for violence - at least for claims of violence - could so easily get his hands on a legally purchased firearm without challenge or difficulty.
And perhaps the most disturbing,

"Police said Goh has cooperated with officers—though he would not reveal where he left the semi-automatic pistol used in the shooting—and is being held without bail on suspicion of seven counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder and other charges."

Oh, goody; no one except the gunman (alleged / confessed) knows where the gun is or if anyone else has it.

April has such a tragic, evil history of mass shootings....... and we still fail to keep guns out of the hands of the crazy and dangerous

Why do so many of these mass shootings - like Columbine, like Virginia Tech - occur in the month of April?  And why do we still make it too damned easy for crazy and dangerous people, and criminals, to buy unlimited guns, enormous firepower, from private sellers without a background check, and from gun shows under the gun show loophole?

Why? 

Why don't we learn from our mistakes regarding guns and the people who abuse them?
From MSNBC.com

Gunman kills 7 at small Calif. university

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

By msnbc.com staff and news services Updated at 5:45 p.m. ET: A gunman opened fire Monday morning at a small Christian university in Oakland, Calif., killing seven people and wounding three, according to the City of Oakland. Earlier reports said five had been killed. "10 people were injured during this morning's shooting, 7 of which are fatalities," Cynthia Perkins, a public safety official, said in a statement. The Oakland Police Department said a possible suspect was in custody. "No imminent public safety threat appears to exist in immediate area," the department said on its twitter account.
Some of the wounded at Oikos University were taken away by ambulance, while others were cared for outside the building, the Oakland Tribune reported.
The school's director said the suspect had previously been a nursing student at Oikos but was no longer enrolled, the Tribune reported. He was unsure if the man had been expelled or dropped out.
Police had been looking for a gunman described as a Korean man in his 40s who allegedly carried out the attack on Oikos University, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The man had a heavy build and was wearing khaki clothing, police said.

KNTV

A victim in the shootings at Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., is taken to an ambulance.

Angie Johnson told the San Francisco Chronicle that she saw a young woman leave the building with blood coming from her arm and crying: "I've been shot. I've been shot."
The injured woman said the shooter was a man in her nursing class who got up and shot one person at point-blank range in the chest before spraying the room with bullets, Johnson said.
"She said he looked crazy all the time," she said the victim told her, "but they never knew how far he would go."
Oikos says it aims to educate “emerging Christian leaders” and offers courses in theology, music, Asian medicine and nursing.