The militarization of our police, making every cop into a "Rambo" and every citizen into "garbage" needing to be "taken out" if they dare to drag a cop away from his doughnut is a Really Big Problem in the United States today.
It is not just isolated to certain cities, states or activities, but is a problem everywhere in our nation.
The thinking that makes every person who interacts with the police a criminal who has no civil rights and further makes police brutality a practice that Mayors, Prosecutors, Police Chiefs and Police Officers consider legitimate and appropriate is one area where the Trickle Down theory applies absolutely.
This began well before Pres. G.W. Bush signed the so called Patriot Act and began Federally funding and encouraging the militarisation of our police, but the practice of considering every one as under suspicion of being a terrorist, or just a suspicious character, just because they have ventured out of their home, certainly escalated to insane proportions with his signing of this unconstituional and fascist legislation.
I can't help but think of Benjamin Franklin's warning, "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Worse even is the failure of Leaders and Legislators to understand that YOU CANNOT GIVE WHAT YOU HAVE NOT GOT. In this case of course the thing they all have not got is power and authority over and above that held by any individual citizen.
It is not a new concept that the powers of government derive directly from the powers of the governed. This is simple Constitutional history and easy to understand. I have posted before an excellent, short exposition of The Proper Role of Government (given in 1968) that I think everyone should read. (especially Mitt Romney, since it is from one of his Prophets, delivered in General Conference and hence manditorily The WORD OF GOD to him).
Most basic to the converstation, from that sermon by Ezra T. Benson.
"It is generally agreed that the most important single function of government is to secure the rights and freedoms of individual citizens.
But, what are those rights? And what is their source? Until these questions are answered there is little likelihood that we can correctly determine how government can best secure them.
Thomas Paine, back in the days of the American Revolution, explained that:
Rights are not gifts from one man to another, nor from one class of men to another...It is impossible to discover any origin of rights otherwise than in the origin of man; it consequently follows that rights appertain to man in right of his existence, and must therefore be equal to every man."
"If we accept the premise that human rights are granted by government, then we must be willing to accept the corollary that they can be denied by government. I, for one, shall never accept that premise.
As the French political economist, Frederick-Bastiat, phrased it so succinctly,
"Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws.
On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." (The Law, p. 6)"
I support the doctrine of separation of church and state as traditionally interpreted to prohibit the establishment of an official national religion.
But I am opposed to the doctrine of separation of church and state as currently interpreted to divorce government from any formal recognition of God.
The current trend strikes a potentially fatal blow at the concept of the divine origin or our rights, and unlocks the door for an easy entry of future tyranny.
If Americans should ever come to believe that their rights and freedoms are instituted among men by politicians and bureaucrats, then they will no longer carry the proud inheritance of their forefathers, but will grovel before their masters seeking favors and dispensations--a throwback to the Feudal System of the Dark Ages.
[Wow! Talk about a Prophet!]
We must ever keep in mind the inspired words of Thomas Jefferson, as found in the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
"Since God created man with certain unalienable rights, and man, in turn, created government to help secure and safeguard those rights, it follows that man is superior to the creature which he created.
Man is superior to government and should remain master over it, not the other way around.
Even the non-believer can appreciate the logic of this relationship.
The Source of Government Power Leaving aside, for a moment, the question of the divine origin of rights, it is obvious that a government is nothing more or less than a relatively small group of citizens who have been hired, in a sense, by the rest of us to perform certain functions and discharge certain responsibilities which have been authorized.
It stands to reason that the government itself has no innate power or privilege to do anything.
Its only source of authority and power is from the people who have created it.
This is made clear in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, which reads:
"WE THE PEOPLE...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
The important thing to keep in mind is that the people who have created their government can give to that government only such powers as they, themselves, have in the first place.
Obviously, they cannot give that which they do not possess.
So, the question boils down to this. What powers properly belong to each and every person in the absence of and prior to the establishment of any organized governmental form?
A hypothetical question? Yes, indeed!
But, it is a question which is vital to an understanding of the principles which underlie the proper function of government."
Well, that is the basic idea and the foundation of what I believe and practice about the nature and proper role of government, but you really should read the whole essay for yourself. The Proper Role of Government
I see no difference (beyond severity) in the recent murder of Trayvon Martin and the unmitigated and unwarrented brutality toward Occupy Protesters and laws which hold that any person deemed "suspicious" by a police officer or even by a civilian (as in Trayvon's murder) can simply be indefinitly detained or "taken out" at will, no questions asked.
Our government has a long history of immoral and illegal acts, but I feel these views and practices by our "Leaders" became widely known to the public with Pres. Richard Nixon and became enshrined as legitimate political licsense with his unpardonable pardon, followed of course by the well publicised, immoral and illegal acts of nearly every President since. (right up to today)
If President Reagan had not eliminated community mental health facilities, dumping hundreds of thousands of mentally ill people directly to the streets and creating the term "Homeless" (before that the only homeless were bums and hobos who were generally homeless by choice, not circumstance), I beleive Trayvon's killing would not have happened.
From police reports of the irrational, compulsive and obsessive behavior of Trayvon's killer, it is easy to conclude that this man had severe, anti-social, mental issues that would most likely have placed him in protective mental health care long before he could have killed anyone, and certainly would have deprived him from owning a gun.
So when Mr. Zimmerman is eventually tried, we should dig up Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Jeb Bush and others to stand trial along side him, as they certainly set him up to murder and set up Trayvon to be murdered due to their unconstitutional, Gestapo-like policies.
Today on a local (Michigan) program on our legislature, a proponant of even more liberal gun laws who thinks we need to be able to carry guns to church (and if we served the mentally ill, we should be able to - or maybe because we fail to service the mentally ill, we need to!)
Anyway, he made the remark that policemen must carry guns "to protect themselves"!
This could not be more wrong.
The police carry guns to protect citizens, not themselves.
With this kind of thinking it is no wonder that we have devolved into a POLICE STATE.
It simply is no longer safe for any ordinary citizent to be in the vicinity of a police officer.
And in Michigan of course, our Governor has decreed (and made law) that he has the power to eliminate self-rule, unseat local governments, un-charter cities, defund education, make and unmake laws at will - and this is not just a law waiting to be put into practice - it is in practice all over Michigan right now. (Michigan's Emergency Manager Law)
We can easily see that we as a people have indeed "followed our leaders" in being bigoted and paranoid to the degree that we would rather shoot people that are "different" and not be interested in whether they are an actual threat or not.
And nearly all people (worldwide) simply ARE NOT a threat, yet we treat each other as if we were.
Our police are so PETRIFIED of their jobs and convinced (and why not considering their ugly behavior) by their training that anyone not in their particular uniform is a terrorist practicing terrorism, that the very basic rights they are hired to protect are the ones they prosecute, each officer as sole judge, jury and executioner.
This is horrible and disgusting and a threat to TRUE Democracy. (as opposed to the Imperialism, Pillage and Tyrany that passes for Democracy today). Why do other nations distrust and despise us indeed!!!
I cannot beleive that police officers preparing to "ensure the safety of citizens" during, say - an Occupy protest are not prepped before they leave the station to see everyone, even reporters and local officals who happen to be in the vicinity as human garbage that they are there to take out.
I have for several years subscribed to Police Magazine and recently have shared many of their articles and videos here which graphically display this inverted police mentality (which they get from their leaders as it trickles down from the very top - Hi Pres. O.).
I do this because I think it's vital that we not fall for the promotional hype and recognise that if we are within grasp of "the government" we will be targeted, if only to be extorted. All our world has been turned into one giant "speed trap" it seems.
I hope that when you watch the videos and read the articles you continue down to read the comments section.
It is easy to identify which comments come from fellow police officers, who routinely congratulate each other on their brutality and disparage any non-cop who happens to fall into police clutches as just more human garbage that neither has nor deserves human rights or humane treatment.
They obviously see the public as their own personal enemies and not as their employers and objects of their finest efforts to serve and protect.
A policeman who is scared to death of everyone, and who has no respect for anyone (not wearing the uniform) is one who is going to bully and beat and even kill anyone in his space - because they percieve standing in the same space as them as a direct personal threat is not a benefit to anyone and is a direct threat to life and liberty.
This is wrong. It is wrong from it's foundation.
This is the reason we have become victims of the creature that is government - that we created.
We have made a monster and we need to tame it or chop off it's head.
From Greg Palast at http://www.gregpalast.com
Cops beat our cameraman ZD Roberts
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Our photographer ZD Roberts was beaten by New York City cops with nightsticks while covering Occupy Wall Street's attempt to re-take Zuccotti Park Saturday night.
Zach yelled several times, “I’m PRESS! PRESS!” yet was slammed on the head twice after he’d been thrown to the ground when the police shoved back the protesters. Zach, whose photos of Occupy Wall Street have been seen all over the world on the front page of The Guardian, showed his press badge, an act for which his hair was grabbed, head pulled back and slammed again with a club.
If you remember, Zach was arrested while covering the story three months ago. His trial is coming up (he refused to cop a plea).
We’ve covered the world … but who thought that the toughest combat assignment would be New York?
Here’s Zach story and comment in his own words and photos:
My head hurts. The NYPD did this to me.
3 months after my arrest during an Occupy Wall St. protest on #D17 and two days away from my meeting with the Assistant DA about said arrest - I got beaten by cops just outside of Zuccotti Park.
I wasn't the only one, and I have no doubt I won't be the last. The NYPD has complete authority in this town - I hate using the word police state, but when I saw a girl thrown from a bus, in handcuffs, having a seizure being tossed to the ground - I really am at a loss for any other words.
It took 15 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. I'm told 5 minutes is the usual response time in this part of town.
This is Commissioner Ray Kelly's city, we just live here.
There was no ambulance needed for me. I was lucky… or maybe just stupid.
After the second cleansing of Zuccotti Park, Saturday night, the police continued their pushback under the guise of 'safety concerns' - basically a standard operating procedure to keep protesters and journalists from being allowed to witness arrests and to disperse the crowd in different directions.
It works quite well, that is until it doesn't. The thing is, when you're pushing back with billy clubs and metal barricades, sometimes people can't move back quick enough. Or sometimes, people refuse to move from a public sidewalk. Well as a photographer, I get caught in the middle quite often - usually I'm deft enough to get out of the way - this time I wasn't.
I fell back, and while trying to get up - there was another push from the police - they saw me fall, mind you. Just didn't care.
Two or three people made it over me without falling as well, using me as their sidewalk (they didn't have any other choice) - but then came the rush - four or five people fell on top of me.
The police kept pushing. Then came the batons. I couldn't see if the people that were on top of me previously got hit at all but I certainly did, twice to the back and once on the head.
Checking my bag and camera for damage I moved outside of the crowd to compose myself before pushing back in.
Read the rest at SuicideGirlsblog.com later tomorrow and visit our facebook page for some exclusive photos from the raid.
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So, what do you think? Is this the United States that was established to ensure Life, Liberty and the Persuit of Happiness (originally it was supposed to say property) or has our nation been commandeered by Tyrants and Fascists?
Do you think they are going to give us back our Freedoms without a fight?
Do you think their bullying and murderous tactics are "too big to fail"?
Do you think the "right to bear arms" (2nd Amendment) is there more to protect us from our neighbors or more to protect us from our government?
As I under stood it, the second amendment was to protect us from our government.
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