Cops: America’s Baddest Street Gang?

Warning sign for police brutality. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This video below is infuriating.  It’s a collection of video-shorts on police violence.

But, these video-shorts have been “cherry-picked” to support the contention that the America’s police have become increasingly prone to committing violence against innocent Americans.  And there seems to be no doubt that the cops are dangerous to the people.  But how dangerous?  Is the growing volume of video evidence of police abuse simply the unfortunate result of a plethora of video cameras on the streets that record and post only the very rare instances of police abuse, or are the “pigs” really running wild?

•  Most Americans believe it’s tough being a cop.  Cops are portrayed as working in a dangerous world where they might be shot and killed at any moment by “bad guys”.   And they’re all heroes, of course.  So we need to give ‘em a little latitude whenever they go off the rails. After all, the stress of their highly dangerous profession could drive any of us off the edge from time to time, right?

 

Not Taking Any Chances

Marines march at President Obama’s inauguration.  As Marines go, some of these guys are sloppy.

More importantly, the bolts have been removed from all their rifles rendering them inoperable.  Apparently, el Presidente is so paranoid that he won’t even trust the American military to come within firing range.

Makes me wince.     video  00:02:00

 

The Pigs are out of their Effing Minds

Riot part 2 (Photo credit: interrobang)

Last week, on one of my radio shows, I commented on summertime riots being as American as baseball, apple pie and motherhood–and wondered why we hadn’t seen any riots yet his summer.  The weather’s hot, tempers are short, and lots of people are unemployed.  Circumstances seemed conducive to rioting.  And yet, I couldn’t see or “feel” any predisposition in the society to have a riot.  Despite the nation’s economic stress, everyone seems to be staying pretty cool.

Of course, I was expecting blacks or Hispanics to riot.  I hadn’t even imagined that some members of another another minority–the police–might riot.  Silly me.

 

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Image via Wikipedia

Earlier this year, a virtually unknown Tunisian was so frustrated with his life of poverty and government tyranny, that he doused himself with gasoline, set fire to himself and died as an act of protest against the Tunisian government.  That suicide triggered the “Arab Spring,” a jump in the price of crude oil and and the fall of several Arab governments.

Mohammed Bouazizi’s suicidal protest should scare the hell out of politicians around the world.  His death illustrates how a single, seemingly insignificant event can trigger consequences that can’t possibly be anticipated or prevented.  We live in an age where people are under so much stress–where there is so much anger, fear and frustration is bottled up–that a society or entire region of the world that appears “orderly” can suddenly explode into confrontations and revolution.

The fundamental cause for this global instability, fear, frustration and anger might be described as the “love of money”.  Our world is not merely run by, it is largely owned by, a handful of super-rich psychopaths and legal fictions whose only love is for money.  Each of these crazy multi-billionaire individuals and corporations have more money than they could ever need and yet appear to be driven to the point of madness by the fact that they don’t personally hold all of the money.  If you really love money, it’s not enough to have some of it–you’ve ultimately got to have it all.

 

Are You People Completely Crazy?

Image via Wikipedia

An average man makes a lot of sense with observations and questions directed to government.

We’re mad as Hell . . . and we’re not gonna take it anymore!

video

00:05:38

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SGyVNippvA&feature=player_embedded