Our Broken Police Forces

Mark Noonan15 Comments

Over at Huffington Post, Radley Balko covers a disturbing story:

Jose Guerena, a 26-year-old Marine and Iraq war veteran, was killed May 5 when a SWAT team broke into his home a little after 9:30 a.m. According to Guerena’s wife, Vanessa (who was home at he time, along with their 4-year-old son), Guerena thought the police were home invaders. He ushered his family into a closet, then grabbed a rifle. When the police battered down the door, they saw Guerena and his rifle, and opened fire. The SWAT team released 70 rounds. Guerena didn’t fire a shot; the safety of his rifle was still on.

Last week, Arizona attorney Chris Scileppi filed notice of a $20 million lawsuit against Pima County, Ariz., on behalf of Guerena’s family. The lawsuit provides a good opportunity to look back at what has happened since since the morning of May 5…

Do read the whole thing – because it does bring to my mind, at least, a question about the utility of “special forces” units in our local police forces.  Indeed, it brings up along with it a question about what the police are for, and how civilian control is to be effected.

This story is extra meaningful to me because we here in Las Vegas also had a case of police officers wantonly gunning down a military veteran of excellent character…and then we watched as the police slandered the dead man, and then used a rigged investigation system to ensure that no officer was called to account for his errors.  If even our military veterans aren’t safe from out of control police actions, whom among us is?  When will the heavy club of law enforcement fall upon us?  Whom among us has the resources to fend it off?

Keep in mind that I am pro-police.  As I stated in my linked article, the police do a job I am not good enough to do.  Those people who are dedicated police officers are better men and women than I could ever hope to be.  But a baleful spirit of careerism, bureaucratic infighting and union corruption has taken over all too many of our local police forces.  The good cops are powerless against these forces…the bad cops get to rule the roost because they have gained control of the levers of power.  And, so, when a SWAT team goes on a stupid raid which results in an innocent death, no one is called to account.  Time and time again we have all seen this.

To me, the reason we have things like SWAT but don’t have a cop on the beat is because of the bad influences which have taken over the police.  Rather than have armored, heavily armed combat forces which can come crashing through my door at 2 am, I’d rather have a patrolman walking my neighborhood at night.  The patrolman will ensure that no one is breaking in to my home, that the teenagers are off the streets at a reasonable hour and that there is thus no need for anyone out there to think that my door should be battered down.  Corrupt and bureaucratic police forces like flashy things like SWAT teams; they make it seem like the cops are doing something good, when all they are donig is wasting time and resources which should be spent on crime prevention.  Police forces made up of people dedicated to law enforcement and keeping the peace have cops on the beat, who know their neighborhoods…who is supposed to be there and when.  It isn’t as sexy as SWAT, but it gets the job done.

My view is that what is most needed is a re-assertion of civil control over the police as this will ensure that the police get back to business.  That is, get back to seeing their primary task as peace keeping…preventing crime, rather than investigating crimes after they have happened.  Making certain the crack house never gets started, rather than raiding a house with machine guns at the ready, even if they’ve got the wrong house.  To that end, in my linked article I suggested the Civil Review Board – a means whereby average citizens can submit complaints about the police without the police being able to stop  or control an investigation.  That, in and of itself, would go a long way towards fixing the police…the next step would be to find political leaders who would be willing to take on the police unions (who really drive the corruption) and force the law enforcement agencies to do what the people need, not what corrupt unions bosses want.

Among the many callings a person can have, being a police officer is one of the most honorable.  Done properly, it is the height of service – the definite willingness to show the greatest love of all: that of being ready to lay down one’s life for another.  The police should never lack for support – monetary and moral.  They do one of the dirtiest jobs in the world and all of us should be wary of second-guessing a police officer in the performance of his duty.  But the police must be what we need them to be – guardians of the peace in our communities, not armed forces using razzle-dazzle, super-cop nonsense to cover up incompetence.

The Necessity of Pushing Egypt Back in the Sinai

Mark Noonan24 Comments

The attack in to Israel which came by way of Gaza terrorists infiltrating from the Sinai indicates the true state of affairs in Egypt – a significant part of Egyptian authority is willing to aid terrorist attacks against Israel.  This new fact by itself nullifies the Israel-Egypt peace treaty – we’re essentially back to 1967.

The proper response by the Israelis would be to push the Egyptians back from the Gaza and Israeli borders – at least 25 miles so as to put southern Israel out of easy rocket/terrorist range.  This would also allow a complete sealing off of Gaza and that would eventually result in the terrorists in Gaza running out of ammunition.

Remember, the Israelis gave up the Sinai in order to have peace with Egypt – unless the southern border of Israel is 100% secure against attack, there is no reason for Israel to stay out of the Sinai.  And it is better to act now than wait for the Egyptian government to move major military forces in to the area.

Poll: 28% Conservative, 12% Liberal

Mark Noonan35 Comments

From Rasmussen:

…The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 28% of Likely Voters say they are both fiscal and social conservatives.  Just 12% say they are liberal in both areas, while 60% are some other combination…

That is about right – and it is why I hold the United States to be a center/right nation.  We can do ok with a center/left President like Clinton, but we can’t at all tolerate someone who is completely leftist, like Obama.  The mistake Obama and his Democrats  made in 2009 was to presume that America have shifted left when what really happened was just a rejection of a particular political party let by a particular President.  A rejection of Bush and the 2008 GOP by no means signaled a shift to the left in America.

But Obama and Co ran with it – and so we got disastrous policies and now an increasingly angered electorate which seems to be building itself up towards a gigantic rejection of all things liberal in 2012.

The really amazing thing is that Obama could have got 80% of what he wanted – and, perhaps, have shifted America a little further to the left than it had ever been before.  All he had to do was call in to his councils people like McCain and Snowe and he would have gotten a lot of things to please his base while also offering some things to his opposition.  But his attitude was “I won, so screw you” to the GOP and conservatism.

Ok, if that’s the way you want it…

Europe Goes in to Financial Crisis

Mark Noonan9 Comments

Not a good sign – from the AP:

European bank stocks tanked Thursday as fears mounted about their exposure to the region’s debt crisis and weakening economy.

The stock prices of Britain’s Barclays and France’s Societe Generale led the way down, falling 11.5 percent and 12 percent, respectively. Germany’s Commerzbank fell 10 percent.

Analysts said the plunge was partly a reaction to evidence that European banks are being forced to pay more for the short-term loans they need to finance day-to-day operations…

That means that credit is freezing up – no one wants to loan money because no one knows what comes next and better hold on to what you’ve got.  But, meanwhile, without easy access to short term loans, the financial system goes in to acute crisis.  And this financial crisis is starting to spread to US banks.  As Mish puts it:

The global financial system is bankrupt. There is no way loans that have been made can be paid back. That statement applies to the Eurozone, the US, the UK, China, Australia, Canada, and for that matter nearly everywhere one looks.

Perhaps something will be done to loosen things up – some more money printing by the European Central Bank, or the Federal Reserve, or maybe China will dip in to its foreign reserves and bail out the European banks.  But even if they nip it here, it just delays the inevitable.  Mish is right – the global financial system is bankrupt.  Fundamentally, a crash is the only way out – it will kill of that which must economically die and let us know which banks, if any, are solvent.  Once that is done, we can start to rebuild knowing where we stand.

His Majesty, Barry I, Proclaims Amnesty

Mark Noonan11 Comments

From the New York Times:

The Homeland Security Department said Thursday it will halt deportation proceedings on a case-by-case basis against illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria such as attending school, having family in the military or are primarily responsible for other family members’ care.

The move, announced in letters to Congress, won immediate praise from Hispanic activists and Democrats who had chided President Obama for months for the pace of deportations and had argued he had authority to exempt broad swaths of illegal immigrants from deportation…

Much easier than mucking about with all that tedious law, Constitution and Congress stuff…can’t get amnesty legally?  Then just say it is so…presto, there it is.

It doesn’t matter if someone has a job or is going to school – if they are here illegally, then deportation is the only way to go unless there is a clearly enacted law which says otherwise.  As long-time readers know, I am in favor of comprehensive immigration reform which would include an amnesty provision…but that is not what our laws provide for right now, so the only thing our chief law enforcement officer can do is deport.

But that doesn’t lock down a certain segment of the latino population for 2012.  And what is more important – enforcing the law, or getting re-elected?  I tell you, there was no chance Obama would do otherwise…because like all liberals, he hasn’t the foggiest notion of what law is, nor what constitutes tyranny.

2012 can’t get here fast enough…

Out: BusHitler – In: PerryNazi

Mark Noonan39 Comments

This didn’t take very long – from Hot Air:

…That link went to this piece by Texas liberal James “Bush’s Brain” Moore, who’s suddenly the hottest ticket in cable news for his willingness to tell panicky leftists that Perry will succeed in bringing about the wingnut apocalypse that Bush only dared dream of.  Why is utterly predictable hackery running in a slot that’s normally reserved for hard news? You already know why.

“When Bush came to Austin, he held private meetings with each of the 181 state senators and representatives from both parties. He asked them what their legislative agenda included, shared what was on his radar and discussed how they might work together. An astonishing notion, cooperation, but in politics common sense often passes for genius.

Perry, though, was having none of that stinking compromise and kumbaya business. A coalition of hard-right conservatives had taken control of the Legislature, and they weren’t interested in a governor who cut deals. But they didn’t have to push Perry to the right-hand edge of their flat earth; he bravely led them…”

It was predicted when Perry announced on Saturday that the MSM/DNC would start generating stories about how nice and reasonable President Bush was…nothing like this insane, bitter-clinger Rick Perry.  Only took four days for the prediction to come true.  You just watch – even on little, old Blogs for Victory I bet our parrot-like liberals will start saying that they respected Bush, ’cause he wasn’t a complete fruitcake like Perry and the rest we’ve got in 2012.  All that Chimpy McSmirk BusHitler from 2001-09 is down the Memory Hole.

It is a bit of a twist – usually, liberals only like dead conservatives.  After Goldwater died, they suddenly loved him.  After Reagan died, they suddenly loved him.  I wasn’t figuring on seeing the “gee, Bush was a wise and reasonable conservative” for at least 30 or 40 years. Time compresses…we’re living very fast.  By the time Bachmann is sworn in, I expect liberal puff pieces telling us how they wished we knuckle-dragging Bible-thumpers had elected someone reasonable, like Sarah Palin…

Bachmann Promises $2 a Gallon Gas

Mark Noonan57 Comments

Putting herself in stark contrast to Obama’s “prices will necessarily skyrocket” proposal – from The Hill:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) vowed Tuesday that, in her presidency, gasoline prices would fall back to less than $2 per gallon.

Bachmann, speaking to a town-hall meeting in South Carolina, said she would pursue energy policies that send pump prices down to levels not seen since early 2009, at the thick of the U.S. recession.

“Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 per gallon again,” she said in Greenville. “That will happen.”…

The thing is, the trick can be done – and done rather easily.  All it takes is “drill, baby, drill” and a bit of extra effort in building refineries.  Just the announcement that we were abandoning Obama’s “permatorium” on offshore drilling would probably drop a barrel of oil by 10 or 20%.  Add to that the knowledge that the EPA would not try to regulate out of existence such promising new technology as “fracking”, and we could see a barrel of oil going for half or less what it is today by the end of a Bachmann first term…and that would go a long way towards lowing the price of gasoline to the $2 a gallon range.

The United States cannot become oil-independent.  We just use too much of it – but given what we know is there and with the existing and developing technology we have, we can certainly reduce our demand for foreign oil by quite a lot.  My guess is by about half (so we’d be importing about a third of our oil needs).  That kind of a slackening of demand on the global market will, in turn, drop oil prices everywhere.  It works out, in the end, to a gigantic tax cut on wealth creation…not only in the direct savings on energy costs, but on the follow-on effects of people having more money to spend on things besides energy.

If we couple such a flat-out development of our oil resources with further development of “clean coal”, nuclear and other alternative energy sources, we can get past the “oil chasm” in our economic history…reaching for a time when our overall demand for oil starts to drop year by year as new energy supplies come on line.  The additional benefit – and it is massive – is that the fewer dollars we’re sending overseas for oil means less wealth for our enemies to use against us.

This is a gigantic and easily understood advantage for the United States and whole world.  Naturally, Obama and his liberals are opposed to it – perversely, because they feel the United States needs to be punished for being so wealthy, powerful and free.  Carrying such a positive, American message is just what we need to do in 2012…as Obama keeps talking about wind and solar, we’ll be talking about what people know, and what can work today.  The rest of the GOP field can do no better than to follow Bachmann’s lead…and if it irks them to have to do so, then the suggestion is to come up with something equally bold to restore American prosperity and greatness.

 

President Obama: Insensitive Man

Mark Noonan30 Comments

Not satisfied with how going to Martha’s Vineyard will look to average Americans struggling to make ends meet, the President went for broke and also got himself a couple of massively expensive campaign buses…made in Canada!

I know, I know – it probably was the Secret Service which insisted upon a particular type of bus, and it may well be that the Canadian company is best to make them.  But a little bit of thought needs to go on here…while Americans are having trouble finding work, it just isn’t sensible for an America President to buy foreign goods.  Period.  End of story.  No, you don’t get to say “but” and come up with an explanation.  It doesn’t matter.  It simply should not have been done.  Either buy an American bus, or don’t buy one at all.

This is a stupid, self-inflicted wound.  And it doesn’t stand alone – the President’s frequent golf dates and the First Lady’s massively lavish vacations have fed in to this “let ’em eat cake” perception.  Over the past three years it has grown upon the American mind that the President doesn’t know and doesn’t care how average Americans live…this trip to the refuge of the super-rich after a short ride around “fly-over America” in a Canadian bus has set the perception in stone:  the President is callously insensitive.

Lots of things can happen between now and the election next year…but it is quite possible that even now the people have just tuned him out.  He was a mistake, not to be repeated.  And the sooner we’re rid of him, the better.

Poll: 26% Approve of Obama on Economy

Mark Noonan37 Comments

From Gallup:

A new low of 26% of Americans approve of President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy, down 11 percentage points since Gallup last measured it in mid-May and well below his previous low of 35% in November 2010.

Fully 71% disapprove.  And I would really like to meet someone who approves of Obama’s economic policies.  I guess that number is proof that some people will never shift away once they decide to back a man.

Just wait until unemployment starts to tick upwards and economic activity goes completely flat, or even negative.