That’s the conclusion I arrived at after telling my entire story on my show this morning. This sad, pathetic man who hides behind his military badges and his “character” is afraid to talk directly with his constituents at events he has the audacity to call “Town Hall meetings”.
I attended because it was a town hall meeting, so I could ask my congressman a question. I live in the 22nd district. (Ironically, Congressman West does not.) The event was held at a mega-church, the Calvary Chapel, headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, also NOT in the district. “Pastor Bob” of the mega-church walked out on stage to thunderous applause from his minions in the audience. He then regaled us with his great support and whole-hearted endorsement of Congressman West. That alone should remove the Calvary “Church” from its tax-exempt status.
If you have any doubts about the misogynistic West or his understanding of how the debt/deficit, this clip (courtesy of Think Progress) should tell you all you need to know.
When I arrived, I was informed that all questions had to be written on cards, which would then be chosen and read aloud by West staffers. Constituents would not be able to speak directly with our congressman. Honestly, if they had advertised that it would be a lecture as opposed to a town hall meeting, I would have stayed home.
I spent the first 90 minutes of my show this morning telling my story is great detail. You can listen to the audio (at the top of this post), or watch the video (posted here, and archived on the video archive page). The most shocking thing I discovered today is how the arresting officer lied about why he arrested me. Here’s the arrest report. Notice how he said I pushed him? (Click on the image to enlarge) All you need do is watch this video of my arrest (skip the edited part from the “meeting” itself. I’ll give you the real video from that in a moment) to see that I never touched or “pushed” the officer, as he wrote on that report. Here’s my video of the question about the future of Medicare, and West’s non-answer that prompted me to ask a follow-up question (which, apparently, in West’s world is against the law!) Thanks to Gary Nelson at CBS4 in South Florida for covering the story with an open mind. Unlike the slanderous NBC affiliate, who filed this horrible piece of shit that they try to pass off as journalism. I’ll be on MSNBC tonight – perhaps their Miami affiliate could learn a thing or two about reporting from them – on Cenk Uyger’s show, and likely on The Last Word as well. I’ll be writing more about this, after discussing it all with my attorney. Thank you so much for all of your support. It means more to me than words can express…
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RE: “The event was held at a mega-church, the Calvary Chapel…’Pastor Bob’ of the mega-church walked out on stage to thunderous applause from his minions in the audience…” – Nicole Sandler
SEE “LOSING MY RELIGION”, by David Templeton, 04/02/98:
SOURCE – http://www.rickross.com/reference/calvary/calvary5.html
Nicole, thanks for sharing your experience. Rep West has ridden a fictional story of military heroism into power. I hope his next opponent will be able to tell the truth about this man, who is not a hero but a crude thug. I think your experience with the police is entirely ordinary and routine. In my handful of experiences with officers of the law, I have found that they routinely lie. It is part of their job to lie during investigations (in order to gain information) but they don’t seem to know when the lying should stop. It used to be that only minorities and the poor or criminals knew the real nature of the police–but now their culture of lies is known to anyone who has ever had any dealings with them, and that number is only growing.
Nicole, your description of your county jail experience was not unusual at all. I had the experience of bailing out a friend from Cook County, IL jail and being treated like a criminal, even though I wasn’t the one arrested. People posting bail are not allowed to bring anything into the lobby but ID and money, not lip balm, a book or a bottle of water. Then you wait for hours until they are ready to take your money. Then it takes 8 to 10 hours to ‘process’ the prisoner out. My friend was only minutes from a strip search when they finally let him go, for which he was very grateful. But his description (and others) of the jail experience was startling similar to yours, except he kept his mouth shut and played along. I do not think Broward County is alone in treating prisoners and their families like this. I think jails are used to dealing with powerless people.
Wow Nicole — beyond surreal.
I am so sorry that this happened to you … what a hostile, bewildering environment (this was a ‘chapel?!’) you put up with even before your arrest and detainment (wondering “until when?”) … the macing … the arresting officer lying on the report he filed …
Oh yes: the self-styled messianic, misogynistic Allen West: yes, once again, on the evening of April 27, 2011 he outed himself to be pure coward – a frightened little man.
All right. I just wanted to let you know that what you did (with the help of David – he played it cool & was so fantastic for you) just reinforces my belief that you are one of the few heroes we have speaking out & standing up for us (I’m envisioning an outraged, albeit smiling, Ray McGovern encouraged by your actions) … Thank you so much.
– jerry
(Thanks for embedding CBS4’s video above; Gary Nelson really put it into — and took — a much more proper, more reasonable (i.e., factual), perspective than what SharkTank & NBC affiliate did with their mash-up jobs.)
Nicole
The right echelon, I think, has decided to groom this guy to be some future card up there sleeve to ward off accusations of racism in their ranks. Thank Godess for people like you throwing your body before the machine to stop it long enough for people to get a look underneath the polish. I just hope people take the opportunity to take that look.
Liza
Allen West is a coward. Nicole Sandler is brave.
Perhaps he has been neutered.
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