A Most Peculiar Man, Pt. II

  and I missed you since the place got wrecked
And I just don't care what happens next
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's closing time 
--Closing Time, Leonard Cohen
(lyrics, Jay/Feinstein) 

Solitude is the profoundest fact
of the human condition.
Man is the only being who knows he is alone 
--The Labyrinth of Solitude, Octavio Paz 

Rumor had it that he was homosexual;
in reality, in recent years, he was simply
a garden-variety alcoholic 
--The Elementary Particles, Michel Houellebecq
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Continuation of thoughts on the Kurt R. Myers shooting in upstate New York:

Once the shooting starts it is hard to control emotions -- police, included.

SWAT teams practice every day for such scenarios, kitted out in their black gunfighter rigs, often in public. They often appear in public wearing black T-shirts with images of cross-hairs trained on a person's head, or sporting cutesy captions like, "We still make house calls" under a depiction of a team busting down a door.  These men sit in local restaurants wearing such togs, weapons holstered in plain view.

We have seen these same images thousands of times during the past decade of the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©), sometimes over there, sometimes in t.v. or film, now, increasingly in our our towns. This implied terror now walks openly among us, and we assent to tolerate it, guessing that it is being shown for our own good.

However, the citizens of the United States are NOT the ENEMY, and police have no reason to bully us in this show of force.  They are public servants paid for by our tax dollars.  We do not get off by being the passive players in a BDSM fantasy perpetrated by overbearing brutes who are constructed an "us" versus "them" scenario.

Even in the case of shooter Myers, an adversarial relationship between perpetrator and police is not helpful. If we wish to understand the etiology of a spree shooting, the starting point should be the mindset of the shooter, not the type of weaponry chosen to implement his crime.

Why does a 64-year-old man go on a shooting spree? We do not have the answers, but we can observe that the reaction of our police protectors are often just as violent and pathological as that of the perpetrators they encounter, yet we take comfort in this "good violence". We claim to abhor violence unless it is under an official aegis.  We say we are liberal, democratic and humanistic, but we are all of us armed to the teeth, personally and governmentally.

There are times to employ violence correctly, but correct employment demands the ascent on the spectrum of possible responses; lethal force should not be the go-to response.  Rather, it becomes necessary after depleting non-lethal possible reactions.  However, it seems now -- after the inception of the discretionary Wars on Terror -- we have come to accept violence as an acceptable first reaction.

There is a sickness in our society that cannot be cured by palliative gun control legislation.

Samurai Police

Gotta find a friendly city
And that's the reason why,
I'm going to Kansas City
--Kansas City, Wilbert Harrison

Nobody naw give ya no Break,
Police naw give you no break,
Soldier naw give you no break
--Bad Boys, Bob Marley

This America;
at least it was 10 years ago
--t.v. show, House
__________________

This is for the Blakenator (a friend from friendly San Francisco.)

Blake, like Ranger, fears the trend toward the militarization of the police. Clearly, the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) has turned the military into an international police force, so it is little wonder that mobius strip has turned upon itself, and our police have become like the military.

Here is an article from the recent American COP magazine, Gearing Up for SWAT. Just read the lead-in: "Boston or Baghdad, Kansas City or Kandahar -- TOUGH TACTICAL GEAR GIVES WARRIORS THE WINNING EDGE" Isn't that a mouthful of wannabe bullshit? Don't you just look forward to the day you cannot discern Kansas City from Kandahar? And it is coming, America, don't you worry your little minds over it -- your police are gearing up for it.

When did COPS become tactical assets? In what universe? When did they become warriors? Just for grins, look at that POLICE i.d on the helmet of an otherwise combat-outfitted police officer. This photo indicates the murkiness that has become law enforcement in America. (For further reading see the works of Radley Balko, who has written extensively on No-Knock raids and other vice and civil liberties issues.)

When did police begin to view their reality as tough and tactical, and that they need a winning edge? What happened to "protect and serve"? When did cops start viewing themselves as winners?

If cops are the winners, then who are the losers?

Scotts Valley SWAT

Where wild flowers spring and the wee birdies sing
On the steep steep side of Ben Lomond
But the broken heart it kens nae second spring
Though resigned we may be while we're greetin
--Loch Lomand
________________

This photo fronted May's Scotts Valley Times. Swat Valley it ain't, but Scotts Valley may just be the newest municipality with its very own badass SWAT vehicle, er, "tank".

The SV Times services the lovely hamlets of Ben Lomand (pop.2,364), Boulder Creek (4,015), Felton (976) and the biggie, Scotts Valley itself (11,159), for a grand total of 18, 514 proud citizens off the slightly traveled Highway 9 in Northern California.

The SV nine-person SWAT team previously unceremoniously "rode to high-risk situations in a minivan and unmarked police cruisers." No more: "The . . . armored truck weighs more tha 24,000 lbs. (12 tons), is impervious to bullets, the doors can acts as shields when open and has gun ports on all sides." Not too shabby.

I wonder if the Afghan police in the Swat valley have their own SWAT Swat Team? That would be pretty cool. I can see a starring role for Denzel somewhere in the cast.

I also wonder -- with a population under 12,000, what is the worst that might befall this lovely valley, accessed only via a tortuous road through big redwoods? Perhaps a rogue Mexican leaf blower from outside Carmel (because Carmel is wise enough to have city noise ordinances which prohibit such abominations) comes into the Valley and drinks one too may Dos Eqquis at Alice's Restaurant, challenging some Harley Riders on perfectly polished bikes to a dust up?

Very unlikely some really bad Surenos would make the 1,000 mile trek for a gang bang in Ben Lomand.

Swat has a very nice community library with a computer and a $5 membership fee. Might the SWAT money not have been better spent making their library free, and adding a few computers to the bank?

Should Scotts Valley have the bad black SWAT vehicle? Wants vs. Needs. FAO Schwarz meets every wealthy child's most extravagant toy desires. Hammacher Schlemmer does the same for adults. Do you need a $15,000 Breitling when a $40 Timex will do the same job?

Thorstein Veblen's conspicuous consumption is alive and well, and for those who can afford to chose, every choice up or down makes a statement.

What does Scotts Valley's new armored SWAT vehicle say?

Illegal Friendly Combatants

Fascism is nothing but capitalist reaction.
--Leon Trotsky

Fascism is capitalism in decay
--V.I. Lenin
_________

The Border Patrol, a Federal Law enforcement agency, is adopting a military-type uniform for spurious reasons. It is yet another crawl toward the militarization of U.S. society and its law enforcement functions.

"The Border Patrol uniform is getting its first makeover since the 1950s to look more like military fatigues and less like a police officer's duty garb (New Border Patrol Garb Means Business)." The uniform is designed to be to be "more operational, more tactical," according to Assistant Border Patrol Chief Scott Garrett.

"Ramon Ramirez, an agent for 10 years, said the new garb looks more military, 'like you mean business'."

The problem with this is, the Border Patrol is not a military organization; not even paramilitary. The U.S. should not have any paramilitary organizations (other than the Boy Scouts.) So why are they adopting this posture?

There is a tactical requirement for the actual beating of the bush that is required of a field agent. While a rugged outdoor uniform is a requirement, surely our federal government could afford to provide an administrative as well as a tactical uniform. The military has several categories of uniforms, from formal to dress, office and combat wear. The border patrol should do the same.

L. Paul Bremer set the standard for glomming military garb into the nonmilitary as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority with those famed combat boots, presumably in case he had the need to hot tail it out of there. L.L. Bean-meets-Brooks Brothers chic. He needn't have worried; bringing crates of shrink wrapped $100 was a good insurance policy.

Dressing everybody up up like make-believe soldiers does not increase the effectiveness of the organization.

This Ranger has consistently opposed the militarization of civilian law enforcement. The Border Patrol adoption of military uniforms is setting a precedent that is unacceptable. What is next--FBI, ATF, State Troopers?

It is bad enough the SWAT teams of our local, state and federal police now dress like military assault team members. America is not a militarized society, although we are introducing the trappings of such through the back door. And in a seamless fusion of U.S. democracy and that which we are exporting to Iraq and Afghanistan, the two are beginning to look the same.

In the case of the Border Patrol, it is a law enforcement agency, and as such their mission is the preservation of life. Wearing a military uniform may lead them into the mindset of military belligerency and entitlement to first option of violence. The function of police is the preservation of life; unless, of course, like everything else, 9-11 has given them a license to kill in the name of the preservation of the homeland.

Having the National Guard military presence on the border enforcing civilian law was the first step in the militarization. Like most of the other unsavory actions we have witnessed these past five years, always a back door introduction, followed by the institutionalization of truncated freedoms.

The question is, since that they are wearing these new uniforms, can they now water-board illegal immigrants, once they are declared detainees, in the Rio Grande?