Unfolding Before Us is a Steady Descent Into a Garrison State. June 12, 2007

by Will

American Police Beat magazine recently examined the ominous trend toward militarization of law enforcement.

The publication observed that police agencies across the nation ?are buying armored vehicles and `mobile command centers' like there's no tomorrow. And while the vehicles certainly do make an impression on the cops and communities they serve, some criminal justice experts warn that their use in fighting everyday crime could no more harm than good.?

Critics point out that the deployment of armored vehicles in high-crime neighborhoods ?may only make a tense situation worse by making residents feel like they're under siege.?

Professor Peter Kraska of Eastern Kentucky University points to another inherent danger, noting that supplying police departments with combat-caliber hardware ?tap[s] into that subculture within policing that finds the whole military special-operations model culturally intoxicating.?

In our constitutional system, the military and police have entirely different roles and must be kept entirely separate. The alternative, which is unfolding before us, is a steady descent into a garrison state.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Criminal Means, Once Tolerated, are Soon Preferred. June 11, 2007

by Will

Writing about the French Revolution in 1790, British statesman Edmund Burke warned that criminal means, once tolerated, are soon preferred.

Burke's warning applies to the so-called war on drugs, which has been used to institutionalize corrupt and criminal practices by law enforcement, among them a variety of official theft called asset forfeiture.

Thanks to a June 8 decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, carjacking is now permitted by counter-narcotics agents. The case involved a December 2004 incident in which federal and local law enforcement staged a elaborate carjacking in order to conduct a warrantless search of a suspected drug trafficker's vehicle.

Narcotics were found in the car. But the search could have been conducted without police committing a crime.

In approving the police carjacking, Ninth Circuit Judge Raymond C. Fisher wrote: ?I do not ... mean to endorse this police action as a model for further creative seizures.? But that decision will inspire further outbursts of criminal creativity by those entrusted to enforce the law.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

The Unofficial Motto of the Homeland Security State: "Because We Want To" June 8, 2007

by Will

On March 10, Sergeant Mark England, a soldier scheduled for re-deployment to Iraq, was arrested at the Las Vegas airport during a return trip to his home in Orange County, California. Puzzled that he wasn't permitted to pass through a checkpoint with a soft drink purchased in the airport, England asked to speak to a security supervisor.

A police officer took England away from the checkpoint and eventually ordered him to turn around and be handcuffed.

?Sir, what have I done to deserve handcuffing?? England politely asked, in a conversation recorded by his cell phone. ?Because we want to,? replied the officer, who then used his police baton to attack the unresisting soldier. A second officer armed with a Taser scurried to the scene and hit England with three 50,000-volt charges. England was incarcerated overnight, but no charges were filed against him.

The phrase used by the police officer to justify England's arrest -- ?Because we want to? -- is the unofficial motto of the Homeland Security State.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Are Republican?s Content to settle on a Platform of Torture and Aggressive Nuclear Warfare? June 7, 2007

by Will

During the South Carolina Republican presidential debate, most of the ten aspiring nominees endorsed the use of torture against terrorist suspects. In the subsequent debate in New Hampshire, several of them spoke approvingly of the use of nuclear weapons against Iran.

Congressman Duncan Hunter explicitly stated that as president ?I would authorize the use of tactical nuclear weapons? in order to destroy Iran's nuclear program. Rudolph Giuliani, Jim Gilmore, and Mitt Romney all said that they would leave that option on the table. Following the debate, prospective candidate Fred Thompson eagerly joined the ?Nuke Iran? chorus as well.

Of the Republican presidential aspirants, only Congressman Ron Paul of Texas spoke in opposition to a pre-emptive nuclear strike. ?We have to come to our senses about this issue of war and preemption,? pleaded Representative Paul, pointing out that Iran, although governed by a hideous regime, has never attacked or threatened the United States.

Are Republicans content to settle for a platform built on torture and aggressive nuclear warfare?

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

The Jury Box Becomes an Increasingly Important Battlefield. June 6, 2007

by Will

For decades, John Tarkowski has been jousting with the Environmental Protection Agency. The 81-year-old resident of Wauconda Township in Illinois clings to the quaint notion that the Constitution protects his right to develop his property as he sees fit.

Decades ago he defeated an attempt by the federal EPA to seize his land. More recently he parried an effort by the Illinois EPA to send him to prison for the supposed offense of defying an order that closed off part of his property.

Last year, environmental regulators accused Tarkowski of operating an illegal dump and sealed off a part of his land. Tarkowski removed the seal and continued to use the property as he had before. Put on trial in late May, Tarkowski was quickly acquitted by a jury of his peers who didn't find the prosecution's witnesses ? a parade of aggrieved bureaucrats ? to be persuasive.

As our liberties fall prey to a corrupt and omnivorous government, the jury box becomes an increasingly important battlefield.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

?The whole aim of Practical Politics is to Keep the Populace Alarmed....? June 05, 2007

by Will

H.L. Mencken, one of America's greatest political pundits, observed that ?The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed....?

The much-publicized terrorist plot to blow up fuel storage tanks at JFK Airport illustrates Mencken's point perfectly.

Four Islamic radicals, led by a retired cargo worker, supposedly planned to ignite fuel storage tanks, causing a chain reaction that would destroy the airport and much of Queens, New York. However, technical experts and security analysts point out that even if the plot had succeeded, the damage would have been minimal. Jet fuel is difficult to ignite, and the fire would have been quickly contained.

The criminal complaint in this case makes it clear that the alleged terrorists were actually reluctant to kill masses of people, and didn't have necessary training or contacts. And in the middle of the mess, predictably, was a convicted criminal acting as a federal informant in exchange for leniency.

All of this appears to follow the formula Mencken described decades ago.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

This Year's Most Repulsive Public Utterance? June 4, 2007

by Will

It's only June, but we may have already witnessed this year's most repulsive public utterance.

In an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, that state's Republican Party Chairman, Dennis Milligan, suggested that the death of thousands of innocent Americans would be an appropriate price to pay in order to unite the country behind the president.

?At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [9-11], and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country.?

Running a very close second to Milligan is California Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who in an April 17 hearing said, referring to the president's critics: ?I hope it's your family members that die when terrorists strike.?

Such statements are specimens of leader-worship, not patriotism.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

An illustration of the patent phoniness of the so-called immigration debate. June 1, 2007

by Will

There are many sound reasons for opposing the so-called immigration reform bill working its way through Congress. The most important is this: The measure would require all employers to register with the federal government and to collect detailed financial information about their employees on behalf of the Feds.

As the Raleigh Chronicle reports:

?[T]he bill would fill in one of the last gaps in the government's tracking of wages, by making it a potential criminal or civil offense not to inform the government that a worker is receiving compensation of some sort....? This provision, continued the paper, ?will definitely benefit the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies....?

This provides yet another illustration of the patent phoniness of the so-called immigration debate. One side favors unlimited immigration of low-wage workers; the other side, which promoted the REAL ID act, wants to seal the border off entirely. But both sides favor police state measures that constrict what few liberties we still enjoy.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Putting the Terrorist Threat in Proper Perspective. May 31, 2007

by Will

Terrorism is an utterly demonic form of violence, but is not a significant danger to the American public.

A report issued on May 27 by the Transactional Records Action Clearinghouse (or TRAC) documented that of the more than 800,000 cases filed by the Department of Homeland Security, only 114 involved terrorism or other threats to national security. TRAC spokesman David Burnham says of the Homeland Security department, ?Either there's no terrorism, or they're just terrible at catching them.?

John Mueller, head of national security studies at Ohio State University, observes that ?the number of Americans killed by international terrorism since the late 1960s ... is about the same as the number of Americans killed over the same period by lightning, accident-causing deer or severe allergic reaction to peanuts.?

Between 1995 and 2005, more Americans were fatally shot by law enforcement officers than were killed by terrorism, including the attacks at Oklahoma City and on 9-11.

Though imperfect, these comparisons put the terrorist threat in proper perspective.

Let us stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

The year was 1937. The country was Germany. May 30, 2007

by Will

On orders from the country's chief executive, the national director of intelligence devised guidelines for ?enhanced interrogation? of terrorists and other particularly dangerous detainees.

This would include the use of stress positions, sleep deprivation, physical beatings, hypothermia, and simulated drowning.

The year was 1937. The country was Germany under the National Socialist regime. The interrogation guidelines were composed by Heinrich Mueller, chief of the Gestapo, who authorized the use of Verscharfte Vernehmung (ver-SCHARF-tuh VER-NHEY-mung), a German phrase that means, literally, ?enhanced interrogation? against those deemed enemies of the Nazi state.

The English version of that exact phrase is used by George W. Bush to describe the application of exactly the same torture methods by US officials who interrogate suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. During the recent Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, moderator Britt Hume of Fox News approvingly used that phrase as a euphemism for torture, as did candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

May God forgive our nation, and help us to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

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