Since the 70's, with the convergence of war damaged, err... I mean..., battle ready vets and a war at home against the radical left, Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams have become a fixture of nearly ever police force large enough to have more than two employees. SWAT teams are sold to the public as what is neccessary to keep them safe from todays sophisticated criminal gangs. In popular culture SWAT teams are the armored guys who clear the hotel just in the nick of time before the dusky badguy levels the place. In real life SWAT teams are much like rookie soldiers in a certain forgein occupation: they have no idea what's going on "He was believed to be armed and posed a threat to officers, although no weapon was immediately found, Briggs said."; they are focused on the safety of the team not the safety of the public "Motel guests were startled by the shooting."; they are not accountable to they people they are supposedly serving. If the man they shot can't be identified, and the woman they're holding can't be identified, how can anyone confirm they have the people they were looking for?
Another thrilling success at the intersection of profit and charity. Dead in the park at 62, let's see carry the one... he would have been 19 in 1964... at the risk of making too many assumptions: way to support the troops folks! Those bumper magnets really are getting all the hard work done.
This is what happens when you fuck with the cops in Cotati. Even if you are a respected local politico. If Kirchmann was drunk and abusive, isn't it 6 weeks enough time for charges to be filed? Kirchmann's charges of harrassment are 100% investigatable, but it seems the local paper doesn't do that.
Cops are weird people.
For everyone who hasn't looked hard at the Kennedy/Johnson years, or Carter, or Clinton here is your first lesson in the futility of the Democratic Party. All the US needs to do in Iraq is, to quote the house from Amityville, get out.
I'm sure all you all either run into or perpetuate the "best system" ever bullshit. Secret prisons, secret evidence, torture... yep, best ever... at fucking sucking ass. I realize that this story is about those Frenchified wimps up north, but that secret evidence, secret prisons and torture are only on the mind of most US citizens as tired plot motivators on 24 is a real problem.
And finally Walter Reed, these stories and the public reaction to them is the best illustration of what "support the troops" means, it's a jingoism for "shut up and die." New paint and sweeping up the mouse turds won't address the real problems raised in the original report, check this.
Funny how so many important stories get run on Saturday.
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Hey Ben,
Re: Walter Reed and "Support the Troops"
How much evidence is necessary before more people discern that the "support the troops" mantra is a purposeful deception? These young people are cannon fodder for corporate profits and geopolitical gain. They have been deceived into fighting a war and others have been deceived into thinking that leaders of the political right are actually sincere in their assertions about war and the troops. People who tout so-called Christian values while beating the drums of war either can't discern good from evil or are actively being deceptive.
War is evil, pure and simple. The only humane way to "support the troops" is by ending all wars and establishing true and just solutions to human needs.
Here is Wisdom !!
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