Police State Prelude - Protest or Get Used To It
That gun control does the opposite of what's intended - results in more crime - is a convincing argument that should be taken very seriously, especially in light of the sniper events, which have only resulted in the public being harassed, and evidently haven't had a significant impact on the perpetrator.
It's very discomforting hearing news reports of "lock downs" relative to, first schools, and with the most recent MD shooting, neighborhoods, with police going door to door asking for resident's "papers". And of course, we've all seen the road blocks with innocent citizens being jerked around, and held at gun point. All of this is infuriating.
The police must know they are not going to get anywhere with these tactics - they haven't worked, and they most likely will not work. So why are they doing it? Speculation, innuendo, is just that. The choir does not need convincing. But there can be no mistake as to the actual, observed police behavior. And there can be no mistake about its affect. The police are scaring/terrorzing the citizens while the sniper remains undeterred.
I suppose the implication is that we are willing, or that it is necessary to be harassed in trade for effectual police work. I submit that this premise is not acceptable regardless of whether it results in more effective police work - and, at any rate, there's certainly no evidence of these intrusive tactics' effectiveness. And Chief Moose tells citizens that the police can't ensure their safety, that they are on their own. So they're admitting it: citizens are getting maximum harassment, and no results, or protection. The sarcasm is gratuitous, because the facts speak for themselves.
The police must do their job, and they must do their job without undue harassment of innocent citizens. That's what they're paid for. Standing around on a corner with an assault rifle, car to car, and door to door citizen menacing is not police work. It wastes the money WE pay them, it won't solve this crime, and worse, it encourages a sense, and image of helplessness, and state subservience among citizens.
And I don't get the impression the police are conducting their business with an any at all too friendly, protect and serve attitude. I tell ya, you give some people a badge, and a uniform, and talk about Jekyll and Hyde!. But that's typical human behavior and that's why we have The Bill of Rights. The widely unknown fact is, when you're a suspect, the police can be very unfriendly. And these days, it's getting so we're all suspects. This we must resist, turn back.
We are seeing played out in this sniper situation, with the supporting equivocating backdrop of 9/11 terrorism, the Patriot Act, and homeland security, the critical elements of the age old battle of citizen, vs state rights. THIS IS IT! WAKE UP! Fox News is not going to role out a banner decrying what's really at stake here - at least not until it's too late, all over but the shouting.
Encapsulated, disguised in what we're seeing are the pivotal elements in issues of gun control, and more specifically, the right to bear arms as PROTECTION FROM the STATE; posse comitatus; free speech; habeas corpus; and others.
The state seeks to handcuff you and tell you it's for your protection. But I've seen no protection. The state, the police, need to get their priorities straight. I'm not their problem, and you are not their problem. Crime is their problem. And WE are NOT the criminals. And WE are not walk ons or extras in whatever they call this creepy little re-enactment of some nameless citizens'/human rights violations events, in some nameless society or other, now long forgotten, consumed in a kind of historical survival of the fittest, natural selection process wherein dysfunctional states, governments, citizenries, go the way of the dinasuar.
Which way are we going?
Bryan McGregor Hoover
bhoover@wecs.com
Sniper Update:
With a sniper suspect in custody, and no victims since, it's tempting to associate this apparent law enforcement success with the accompanying intrusive tactics. We are all too willing, for the sake of harmony I suppose, to minimize, with a forgive and forget, no harm, no foul attitude.
But make no mistake, if there is any lesson to be learned from these events, it's that police state tactics had nothing to do with arresting the current sniper suspect. It was traditional police work. It didn't require a single citizen being so much as inconvenienced by the police.
Other Police State Updates (most recent first)
1/7/03
When Police Harras Unsuspecting Inocent
And Your Little Dog Toto Too..
12/29/02
"Today the path of total dictatorship in the United States can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by the Congress, the President, or the people. Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government - a bureaucratic elite. -Senator William Jenner, 1954, referring to the Council on Foreign Relations Citing source data is the "scientific method,"
but does not seem to apply to "Conspiracy Theories." A thousand sources may be quoted, yet will not convince the "skeptics," the "realists." It seems to me the "symptoms of mental illness" are on their side, if they refuse to look at evidence ("There are none so blind as those who WILL not see"); or perhaps something more sinister is at work, such as a knowledge of the truth, that does not want YOU to know. To be paranoid means to believe in delusions of danger and persecution. If the danger is real, and the evidence credible, then it cannot be delusional. To ignore the evidence, and hope that it CANNOT be true, is more an evidence of mental illness. -- William Blase
No Where We Can Rest
...There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free--if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength but irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.
It is in vain, sir, to extentuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
Give me Liberty or Give me Death! -- Patrick Henry
12/26/02 - from letters to whatreallyhappened.com (12/25/02)
10/8/04 - I just wonder what the hell they're putting in the water over there in AZ:
Woman recounts officer killing of a friend