Officer Commendation

I am critical of abuses of power and often those abuses are perpetrated by law enforcement officials.  I write today to compliment a police officer from Albany, Oregon: Officer Jim Estes, a gentleman who represents law enforcement well. His actions and attitude speak to his training and his composure in today's environment of presumed guilt and aggressive interactions.  It also speaks to who he is as a man.

My desire is that all officers interact with the public with as much respect for the individual and the constitution as officer Estes, whether or not they are carrying guns or cameras.  

There is the fact he was being filmed and that he was approaching someone with an AR-15...maybe his composure was in response to both occurring simultaneously as he recognized their activism and that he would be tested and/or made an example of.   I like to think that he is just an intelligent, ethical officer with a protect and serve mindset and intent.  No matter what the situation was, he passed with flying colors and should be commended.

He did his job by verifying that the young men were adhering to state laws regarding chambering and clips while respecting the 1st, 2nd and 4th amendment rights of the individuals he was questioning. 

I think it's important to point out that he also respected them as people as he spoke to them, not just adhering to the letter of the Constitution.  He didn't overreact or get defensive.  He made multiple requests for information, but at no time intimated that they were obligated to comply.

Thank you for fulfilling your role as an honorable, knowledgeable and respectful public servant.

What Task Seems Impossible to You?

Witness Isao Machii, a Japanese Katana Kenjutsu master, as he slices a piece off a pellet that is fired at him while his sword is still sheathed.

Does that task seem more possible now?

Between Need to Know, Kinda Funny and Downright Sad

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than one-third of all weapons the United States has procured for Afghanistan's government are missing, according to a government report released Thursday.

The U.S. military failed to "maintain complete inventory records for an estimated 87,000 weapons -- or about 36 percent -- of the 242,000 weapons that the United States procured and shipped to Afghanistan from December 2004 through June 2008," a U.S. Government Accountability Office report states.

Read entire article here.

Knife Target

I painted up a new knife-throwing target this weekend.

Have you ever noticed how small a 2x6 is?

Christmas Shopping or Stockpiling Weapons?

It was a scene I could only compare to shopping malls at Christmas time in the 1980s.  We drove up North Lamar into a traffic jam. We had to go see what all of the commotion was about.

 There were Sheriffs directing traffic, cars parked up and down both sides of the streets including most of the surrounding lots near the Crocket Center were full and the Center Parking lot was obviously at capacity.

It wasn't black Friday and it certainly isn't the 1980s. 

 

It was a gun show in Central Texas just after the election.

This photo does not begin to demonstrate how packed it was there.

The War Prayer

Mark Twain has always been a favorite of mine and today I was reading the C&L blog and found this wonderful drawn animation of his work, "The War Prayer". It addresses the wonders of jingoism and the prayers of God's people. (NOT FOR CHILDREN!)



If you would like to read the full text of "The War Prayer", click here.

amerikanischen Arbeiterjugend?

Does this bother anyone else?

Wilmington, Delaware is going to be home to The Academy for Public Safety and Security (APSS), which plans to open its doors by 2010. It will be dedicated to preparing (primarily inner-city) young men and women for front line careers in Homeland Security. Isn't that nice? Equal opportunity for the female youth to serve "The Homeland".

"... we decided to start a new school culture from scratch, one built on the premise that many children would rather be part of the solution than the problem of violence. And, given an education to prepare them academically, socially and vocationally, they will become the best-of-the-best first responders in the homeland security job sector, rather than succumb to apathy or crime."

"The tone of the first responder high school will be that of a military or police academy, complete with uniforms and daily physical training during and after school."

"Student cadets will study careers in SWAT, prison guarding, water rescue, paramedics, firefighting, professional demolition careers, in addition to the usual school subjects. They will learn Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish — any language of use in homeland security."

Read more about it in the Newcastle Community News or the Delaware Business Ledger. Students will be called cadets, wear uniforms, and will follow courses of study in special weapons and tactics, prison guarding, professional demolition and other skills needed in an authoritarian police state. Will future generations read about the Liga der amerikanischen Arbeiterjugend (APSS) Cadets like we read about the Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend today?



Another meaningless coincidence: The first national HJ rally was held in 1928 with 600 boys present. The new school expects to take as many as 600 students. Coincidence or not, it still gives me the shivers.

Am I making too much of all of this?

Confused Police Kill Crime Film Actors

Some days it's just not safe to be an artist.

(Picture: from the U.K. Metro)

"Radical Ribeiro, of the Banda Mulundi production company, insists he had permission to film at the location, a gritty suburb of Luanda."

He said: "We saw the police pick-up speeding towards us. It looked empty but then suddenly it stopped and people appeared on the back.

"Without asking any questions, they started shooting at everybody at close range."

Read the rest of the story here. I was relieved to hear it wasn't officers in East Austin this time.

Missile System From Russia to Iran

Someone please send me some really cool local art I can post or something that will bring a smile to people's faces.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Russia has agreed to sell an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Iran. You can read the article for yourself here.

(picture courtesy of Reuters)

"S-300 missiles are longer-ranging than the TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles which Russia, in a deal criticized by the West, earlier this year said it had delivered to the Islamic Republic under a $1 billion contract."