It takes a lot of courage to put a uniform on and go out into a public who doesn’t appreciate what you do. Drugs were found by the way….just so that gets cleared up. I do believe that these police should show up to the board meeting to represent these two men who were shot. I would not want my child to go to a school were the principal protects the actions of a man like Foster. This man shot through a closed door….what if it had been a child on the other side? Would we be so quick to blame the cops then? If I were a police officer I would be extremely upset that the values my school was teaching my children, that it is ok to shoot cops as long as they dont die. Then I am sure it will come out that he was only arrested because of the color of his skin. Police spend everyday of their lives making it a better place for us to live and yet you spit on them every chance you get. I am proud that they are stading up for their fellow officers and I hope Principal Reeves loses his job over this, this was totally unproffesional and completely inappropiate. One more thing everybody keeps vouching for Fosters character…based on the man he was 20 years ago, are still the same person you were 20 years ago?

you know: the ones where they decriminalized drugs; lowered taxes; reduced the power and scope of the federal government; dismantled the surveillance and tracking powers of the almighty state and ordered that it stop considering american citizens as the enemy; conducted the abolition of the IRS….

what? what’s that you say? “none of that happened but it’s still all that bastard nixon’s fault”? “and reagan too!”??

your masters – either the all-powerful godlike figure known as “teacher” back in school or the MSM – have really got you dancing to their tune, don’t they, little puppet. bonehead.

crazy crazy days

It was an entertaining little graphic novel back in the 80′s. If you ever wonder at the Bush Administration’s tactics you only need to go back to the Nixon administration. Many of the them, (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc) cut their teeth during those heady days. They learned their lessons well from Nixon’s fall, and if you pay close attention to their bios you’ll notice a lot of the worst ones (in the current crop) all should have “former Nixon staffer” (or mentored by former Nixon staffers) in their history.

A lot of the same players (in various different capacities) show up in Iran-Contra, and it played out much better for them that time. Go read Cheney’s Minority report on Iran contra. Addington shows up there. The ideas aren’t new. The execution was just better this time. They’ve been telegraphing their playbook for years, but people like to lie to themselves and pretend Cheney et. al weren’t saying exactly what they were saying.

Based on available information, it doesn’t look like Foster is a criminal.

Well, increasingly our legal system is becoming unjust itself and we’re all becomeing criminals. You’re probably breaking laws right now you’re unaware of. As Ayn Rand said:

There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

I agree that Foster seems like a good man, but being good and causing no unjustified harm doesn’t mean much anymore as he’s not one of the ‘more-equal’ classes of people. If he were a more-equal person, like a cop, he could cause great harm and still be innocent.

What would these officers do if someone came crashing through their door without warning?

They would kill whomever came through if they could, and be hailed heroes. They should of course, as American citizens. They just shouldn’t be more equal than the rest of us.

crazy crazy days

My wife knew nothing about this case at all, and I got nowhere with the discussion. She is a “liberal” but buys the state line, I guess. I just asked if she was familiar with any of these people, specifically the principal. I carefully explained the story. She knows I am a “libertarian” but really doesn’t know my interest in The Drug War, SWAT tactics. I told the story without giving my outraged opinion. Her only response was ” Oh, what was he doing in a place with people who were ready to draw guns..blah blah blah.”

Oh well.

FWIW, I don’t have much economic power, and I have a reason to fear police intimidation. The police were recently in my house and I had to deal with them for a situation where WE ( my family) were the victims. Of course, though we did nothing wrong the police and social services may have “reasons” to “followup” in intrusive ways.

In other words, there isn’t much I can do ( I guess the next time I rent a car I could see that guy at Budget instead of Enterprise) in my situation, but I sure would like to.

Or are these actions, such as the emailing and ‘visitations’ occurring during normal duty hours, using resources (fuel, vehicles, computers, etc.) provided through taxpayer-supplied funds, in order to accomplish this?

If the latter, it would be interesting to know how many man-hours (presumably spent while in uniform) their efforts at intimidation are costing the taxpayers. I’m sure the local citizens would very much like to know…

The Police – The State’s Enforcers

Is this really an different than a member of the Mafia or gangbangers approaching witnesses and “advising” them of what’s in the best interest for their well-being?

Of course, police unions generally want to straddle the line between negotiating with the department, and being the department.

They don’t want to be the department, just run it to their benefit. It’s not an exclusively American problem, either: the Toronto Police Service has an aggressive union which pretty much figures that officers should get medals and money and promotions and endless praise, no matter what the heck they do wrong.

It’s not clear that the alternative is any better, though. Canada’s vaunted RCMP is going through a nightmare period now, in part because it doesn’t have an effective union. An incompetent, perhaps corrupt and certainly stupid, sneering frat-boy-like, dinosaurish and vicious bully management culture has taken hold over the senior command levels and come close to ruining what was once one of the best police forces in the world. A union would have done sterling service fighting and publicizing the considerable damage being done to the field officers and the work of the force in general.
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070426_092208_9056&source=srch
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20071114_10512_10512

The police union is part of the problem. They’re job, just like any union, is to keep people on the job regardless of if they’re qualified or capable.

That’s but I wonder what their angle is here. Taking measures to ensure the punishment of a “criminal” seem outside of the normal purview of a union. Of course, police unions generally want to straddle the line between negotiating with the department, and being the department.

Same goes for prosecutors and judges. Instead of doing the right thing they all too often close ranks, obfuscate and fall back on blanket immunity and then go along their merry way while lives are left in shambles. It sickens me.

In fact, I would like to know the list and contact info for all the businesses that wrote letters of support. I would like to show them my support.

Good luck Greg, I hope you can do some good there. I’d join ya’, but living in California my support wouldn’t mean much.