Corollaries

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

We've all heard this Acton quote by now.  How about these corollaries?

"Power tends to kill, and absolute power kills absolutely."

"Corruption tends to kill, and absolute corruption kills absolutely."

Acton's neat dictum seems to work just about any way you phrase it.  No doubt Acton would be pleased at this apparent infallibility...

How It Starts, and How it Becomes Too Much to Bear

Excerpt from an excellent article by Wm. Norman Grigg at Pro Libertate HERE, that explains why small infractions by government MUST be taken seriously before they metastasize into large infractions.  An important read, because right here in America it's a lot later than you think...

"When he was three years old, Mohammad Bouazizi's father died. As the oldest son of an indigent family living in Sidi Bouazid -- a town about 160 miles from the Tunisian capital, Tunis -- Mohammad was responsible to provide for his mother and two sisters. He earned a computer science degree, but found that it was of little use in Tunisia's deeply depressed economy.

For years, Bouazizi managed to eke out a living as an unlicensed street vendor, peddling fruits and vegetables from a pushcart. Like others who carried out commerce without official permission, Bouazizi endured harassment from shakedown artists employed by the State, who in the course of the typical visit would steal the equivalent of seven dollars as a "fine." 

As the song says, talk is cheap, but even nickels add up. Even a single nickel is sorely missed when it's extracted at gunpoint from someone barely managing to earn enough to survive. But the contemptuous, arrogant words emitted by the armed functionary to carries out that theft do damage as well. The cumulative effect of such indignities can be enough to drive a despairing man to do desperate things.

He was driven to fatal despair when a municipal police officer confiscated his merchandise. 

The matter could have been cleared up if the officer had accepted the seven-dollar fine for operating an unlicensed merchant stand. But the sadist insisted on berating Bouazizi, slapping him, spitting in his face, and insulting his dead father. Heartsick with inconsolable despair, the young man set himself on fire. Public outrage over this incident grew into a revolt that eventually unseated the U.S.-supported incumbent dictator.

"What happened to him?" The police "happened" to him.

Khaled Said was a 28-year-old businessman from Alexandria, Egypt. Last June, after Said posted a video he had captured of narcotics officers divvying up the proceeds of a drug bust, he was dragged out of an internet cafe, taken to a nearby police station, and beaten to death. A small bag of hashish of the sort used by police everywhere to plant evidence was stuffed down Said's throat.

News of this atrocity was quickly propagated throughout Egypt, engendering a protest movement that eventually grew into the rebellion at Tahrir Square and the still-unfinished effort to uproot Egypt's deeply entrenched, U.S.-subsidized police state.

In police states of the kind Washington has supported in Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere in the region, people have been willing to endure a great deal of abuse as long as there was some reasonable expectation that they would be able to feed themselves. It's not surprising to see that forbearance evaporate in the heat of the ongoing economic meltdown, which has left many people without the means to feed their families.  

The triggering incidents that set off revolutions in both Tunisia and Egypt were episodes of casual, arrogant abuse by police officers who considered themselves to be imperviously clothed in official privilege. Incidents of that kind are becoming more commonplace here in the putative Land of the Free, and the debt-prolonged illusion of prosperity that has long anesthetized public sensitivities is coming to an end.

Once again, it's not difficult to imagine a situation in which someone, somewhere is going to be pushed too far by an officious prig in a government-issued costume, an atrocity will result -- and then all hell will break loose. 

Given the perverse ingenuity police display in arranging opportunities to impart such abuse, this could happen nearly anywhere, at any time. Meanwhile, those of us who belong to the productive class should avail ourselves of every opportunity to share the following message with representatives of the State's coercive caste:

We don't need you.

We don't want you.

We don't respect you.

We won't tolerate you much longer."

Please click the link and read the rest.  Egypt's Mubarek was a CIA sock puppet from day one of his tyrannical reign.  Ditto for Tunisian thug Ben Ali.  The style of police state that Washington supports in these countries is the EXACT style of police state that's festering here, again supported by Washington and funded with your own money..

Think about this.  Please think.  Are these abuses, and the resulting despair, the product of a mentality that's materially different than the mentality of our own government?  I say they aren't.  In fact, if you're willing to follow the money, there's no denying that all these abuses, foreign and domestic, are US policy.  The one difference here at home is that we can still afford food.  For now.

The game isn't over yet.  It's still in your hands.  What kind of country will you leave to your children and Grandchildren?

Are Cops Constitutional?

As the quote says: "The past is another country.  They do things differently there."

I didn't start out thinking this way, but over the years I've become an ardent critic of American law enforcement. It is no longer debatable that our cops have too much power, and as Acton observed, such power corrupts. Over the years the ranks of all departments have swollen.  The tentacles of federal money are everywhere in local departments.  Even tiny rural departments have SWAT teams and snipers, making it undeniable that nearly every police force in the United States has become highly militarized.  The "Wars on..." (fill in the blank with the hysteria of the week - drugs, terror, guns, whatever...) have enabled a trampling of our rights that no sentient person could be comfortable with.

By numbers and disposition, the police now constitute a standing army.

I've no doubt the Founders would share both my alarm and my moral outrage at these developments. I've done what I can, largely with anecdotes, to wake people up. Now comes a fascinating and scholarly examination of law enforcement at the time of the Founding. Turns out that this was another thing the people did for themselves, thank you very much, and, as usual, they did it quite well. Much better, in fact, than it's done today, and with far more checks and balances.

The notion of government paid cops was quite simply unthinkable at the time, as it should be today.

Here's the abstract: "Police work is often lionized by jurists and scholars who claim to employ "textualist" and "originalist" methods of constitutional interpretation. Yet professional police were unknown to the United States in 1789, and first appeared in America almost a half-century after the Constitution's ratification. The Framers contemplated law enforcement as the duty of mostly private citizens, along with a few constables and sheriffs who could be called upon when necessary. This article marshals extensive historical and legal evidence to show that modern policing is in many ways inconsistent with the original intent of America's founding documents. The author argues that the growth of modern policing has substantially empowered the state in a way the Framers would regard as abhorrent to their foremost principles."

And an excerpt: "Law enforcement in the Founders' time was a duty of every citizen.32 Citizens were expected to be armed and equipped to chase suspects on foot, on horse, or with wagon whenever summoned. And when called upon to enforce the laws of the state, citizens were to respond "not faintly and with lagging steps, but honestly and bravely and with whatever implements and facilities [were] convenient and at hand."33 Any person could act in the capacity of a constable without being one,34 and when summoned by a law enforcement officer, a private person became a temporary member of the police department.35 The law also presumed that any person acting in his public capacity as an officer was rightfully appointed.36

Laws in virtually every state still require citizens to aid in capturing escaped prisoners, arresting criminal suspects, and executing legal process. The duty of citizens to enforce the law was and is a constitutional one. Many early state constitutions purported to bind citizens into a universal obligation to perform law enforcement functions, yet evinced no mention of any state power to carry out those same functions.37 But the law enforcement duties of the citizenry are now a long-forgotten remnant of the Framers' era. By the 1960s, only twelve percent of the public claimed to have ever personally acted to combat crime.38

The Founders could not have envisioned 'police' officers as we know them today. The term "police" had a slightly different meaning at the time of the Founding.39 It was generally used as a verb and meant to watch over or monitor the public health and safety.40 In Louisiana, "police juries" were local governing bodies similar to county boards in other states.41 Only in the mid-nineteenth century did the term 'police' begin to take on the persona of a uniformed state law enforcer.42 The term first crept into Supreme Court jurisprudence even later.43

Prior to the 1850s, rugged individualism and self-reliance were the touchstones of American law, culture, and industry. Although a puritan cultural and legal ethic pervaded their society, Americans had great toleration for victimless misconduct.44 Traffic disputes were resolved through personal negotiation and common law tort principles, rather than driver licenses and armed police patrol.45 Agents of the state did not exist for the protection of the individual citizen. The night watch of early American cities concerned itself primarily with the danger of fire, and watchmen were often afraid to enter some of the most notorious neighborhoods of cities like Boston.46

At the time of Tocqueville's observations (in the 1830s), "the means available to the authorities for the discovery of crimes and arrest of criminals [were] few,"47 yet Tocqueville doubted "whether in any other country crime so seldom escapes punishment."48 Citizens handled most crimes informally, forming committees to catch criminals and hand them over to the courts.49 Private mobs in early America dealt with larger threats to public safety and welfare, such as houses of ill fame.50 Nothing struck a European traveler in America, wrote Tocqueville, more than the absence of government in the streets"

(I debated editing out those annoying footnote numbers, but decided to leave them in to show how well the author documented this work.) This is the kind of scholarship we need if we hope to ever force cops back into a somewhat respectable place in society, if such is even possible at this late date. 

Here's the whole thing, well worth reading and passing around: Are Cops Constitutional?

Reprinted with Permission: Confederate Yankee Analysis

Starting with the post below, I have reprinted Mike McDaniel's expert analysis of the Erik Scott shooting, as originally posted at Confederate Yankee.  Every entry to date is posted in chronological order, starting with the first post last year and running through 19 posts to the present..

There is no better way to get up to speed on this case. Mike McDaniel is an English teacher, and his writing reflects that fact.  More significantly, he's an ex-cop of the conscientious and professional sort..  His integrity shows throughout his posts.  He was clearly the kind of cop any of us would have respected.  I'm particularly taken with Mike's knowledge of proper shooting doctrine.  Such ability is far less common than we might wish in police circles, and being qualified in an actual rather than a bureaucratic sense gives real weight to his writing.

Mike tells me he's quite relieved to be out of police work, and given the state of policing in America, I certainly understand.  (Policing's loss was teaching's gain!)  I thank him for the time and thought he's put into articles, and for his unhesitating, cheerful permission to reprint his work here.

Our National Anthem

Anyone who knows me understands that tangents are part of the package.  Earlier in life, I sang more than a little, and had two particularly gifted vocal music teachers along the way.  What I didn't learn there I picked up from a longtime girlfriend who sang professionally.  After Christina Aguilera's disastrous rendition of the National Anthem as the Super Bowl opener, I can't help myself:  There are some pieces of music that must be sung as written.  National Anthems are on this list.  The integrity of the music must be preserved (at which she failed conspicuously) and knowing the words is always a bonus.

It's undeniable that as time drags on ability has less and less to do with stardom, and when I can't avoid hearing one of these buffoons mangle an old standard I always think of dogs marking their territory.  This is just wrong.  What you write yourself is your territory, and you may mangle it as you wish.  When you're asked to perform your country's anthem before the world, you should attend to the honor humbly.  Genuine, technical singing skills are called for, and anyone in this current crop, who's making a fortune not actually singing, should pass on the opportunity.

Given the trend, I doubt all the ruckus will result in a better job of this at next year's game, but on the off chance that anyone's listening, herewith one example of how this can be done well, putting one's own mark on the music without bastardizing it.  Don't know if the Cuties are still performing, but given the venue, I think this would have been a smash hit.  I believe these girls ranged from about 8 to 13 years of age when this was recorded:

The Cactus Cuties Sing the National Anthem

Cop Watch

I have linked to several Cop Watch chapters across the land.  In light of the obvious facts that 1) nature abhors a vacuum, and that 2) Clark county really sucks, I was a little surprised to see that no chapter exists for Las Vegas.

This could be because no one has the 48 hours a day that would be required to keep track of all the misconduct, but the need cries out regardless.

Anyone?

Cop Who Shot Erik Scott Charged With Felony, Suspended Without Pay

24 year old treasure Thomas Rosco Mendiola, who shot Erik Scott in the back, has been charged with the felony crime of furnishing a firearm to a person he knew was a convicted felon.  Mendiola is presently suspended without pay.  As if this weren't startling enough, it turns out that Mendiola has something of a personal relationship with this felon.  The felon, one Robert Justice (!) has been to Mendiola's home and has worked on Mendiola's personal car on at least two separate occasions.  No honest cop (or or even a dishonest but prudent cop) would have an off duty personal relationship with a known felon, let alone hire him to work on personal property or furnish him a gun.  To my logical brain, this extraordinary lapse of judgment is only possible if Mendiola is both corrupt and supremely confident that he is above the law.

Like all pawns in the chess game of government oppression, Mendiola is actually expendable.  This fact must have dawned on Mendiola by now - a belated and no doubt surprising discovery for any smug thug in a department like Metro.  Were I Mendiola (and I thank God I'm not) I would be rather concerned right about now.  After all, with the failure of the coverup inquest to bring this shooting case to the expected and accustomed closure, he has become a real liability to the department. 

This felony case is the county's opportunity to throw Mendiola under a bus, and at first blush this looks to be exactly what's happening.  The outcome is rife with any number of potentially unpleasant results for the person of Thomas Rosco.  Failure to appear for trial, followed by bleached bones in the desert?  Prison, confined with hundreds of inmates that the cops have abused with impunity for decades?  Perhaps Mendiola should write down all the dirt he has on the entire chain of command, arrange to have everything released in the event of his disappearance or death, and let the relevant parties know of his precaution.

Information has also surfaced that Mendiola failed Las Vegas Metro's training program the first time around, and that he was given a second chance to complete the training in order to become a cop.  This is interesting on a number of levels, and the attorneys suing the officers and Clark County on behalf of the Scott family must be salivating.  From the standpoint of liability, it will be very fascinating to see why Mendiola failed training.

This just gets curiouser and curiouser.  I'm thinking the next step ought to be a civil RICO class action, if such a thing is possible..

A Question for Costco

As a longtime Costco Executive member myself, I was stunned to learn that Costco has a policy that members may not carry guns in the stores.  Stunned, because it's a secret policy.  With their membership warehouses concentrated in western states where millions of  Americans carry concealed weapons, Costco is obviously afraid of losing big money if this policy becomes common knowledge.  And they're right to worry.  They've lost me, and the thousands I spent annually, forever.  This chickenshit policy would have been plenty to cause me to leave, and their cowardice has sealed the deal for life
.
So I ask you, Costco Management and Stockholders:  If I, an intelligent, inquisitive and observant person and a passionate 2nd Amendment advocate, couldn't personally discover or hear through the grapevine about this secret policy after more than a decade of Costco membership, how in the hell could Eric and his girlfriend know about it when they had only become Costco members an hour before your clowns set his death in motion????

(As due diligence, before writing this post, I stopped by a Costco this morning and found that there is still no warning sign at the entrance.  This policy is not disclosed in the Executive Membership application, which I now have a fresh copy of...)

Why I'd Rather Deal With the Mafia

Not to minimize the problems anywhere else in America, but Clark County, Nevada law enforcement is a particularly interesting study.  Vegas only exists thanks to the Mob, irrigation and air conditioning, and I doubt the last two would have mattered one bit without the Mob!

Las Vegas METRO PD itself has a sordid history as mob enforcers, and signs of that culture permeate the department to this day.  I'm not up on who owns what out there these days, but I know that Clark County government still obsequiously asks "how high" anytime a casino owner says "jump"...

But, I don't think the Mob, to whatever extent they're still involved out there, is the problem.  The government is the problem, and, as is frequently true these days, the government is much worse to deal with than the Mob ever was.  It's my considered opinion that  both tourists and residents in Las Vegas be far happier and safer if the Mob was put completely in charge of Clark County.  Here are some reasons why:

1)  Whatever remains of the Mob in Vegas has evolved into a well-run business with conspicuous expertise in treating people well.  No form of government has ever achieved the same.

2) The Mob does no affirmative action hiring.

3)  After you pay them for protection, the Mob actually protects you.

4)  After you pay the Mob, they also have the good sense to leave to you alone.

5)  The Mob is unlikely kill you unless you actually deserve it.

6)  Italian cuisine!

Everyone is welcome to add to the list...

Why 11 Police Officers Were Shot in 24 Hours

WHY 11 POLICE OFFICERS WERE SHOT IN 24 HOURS

By Andrew C. Wallace
January 29, 2011
From NewsWithViews - Link HERE

This is an explanation of the shooting of Police Officers Tom Baitinger, and Jeffrey Yaslowitz and a U.S. Marshal in St. Petersburg, Florida, Officer Steven Dodds in Oregon, Officer David Moore in Indianapolis, two Officers wounded in Port Orchard, Washington, Two Sheriff’s Deputies wounded in Tacoma, Washington, and four Police Officers wounded in Detroit, Michigan. Eleven of these shootings took place in 24 hours as reported by Fox News 1-25-11.

To expect different outcomes from inner city Marxist Utopias is both moronic and impossible. Simple logic and history dictates that most people born into the world without being taught right from wrong, the Golden Rule, ethics, morals or guidance from a proper family, the teachings of Jesus Christ and real education, are doomed. These residents even elect and support those who deprive them of freedom and prosperity, who are just like those who sold their own people into slavery in the first place. 

Law abiding people living in the Marxist Utopias live in fear of the criminals produced therein and have a strong resentment of ill treatment by the establishment represented by the Police. Under existing circumstances, this deadly situation is highly resistant to change.

Police have never had the lead responsibility to protect the people. Our constitution gave that obligation to the people themselves along with the right to keep and bear arms as protection against criminals and a rogue government. It is impossible for police to protect the people without an armed citizenry supporting the police, but the Marxist Officials will not allow it because they rightly fear retribution from the people. Officials should fear arrest for their treason.

The people had my back when I was a police officer and I would never work under the present conditions where the police are perceived much like that of an occupying army. In many cases the people are protecting the criminals and hate the police.

The police have limited choices, none of them easy. They can arm and train the law abiding people while earning their trust. This would require that the police pay close attention to the prosecutors and judges to insure that people get equal justice and due process in a civil manner. Since many prosecutors and judges are corrupt, police will have to investigate and arrest some of them to establish creditability. Police will have targets on their backs until they are perceived as friends of the people. Don’t tell me that this is a pipe dream and will not work because I have experienced it. As a police officer, I have been offered housing at much reduced cost to get me to live in their area, the people wanted my services. Police in Marxist utopias can’t say the same thing as they are mostly hated.

We used to have a saying that “You could fight with every drunk, or not, your choice”. I have seen many current police officers on TV treat people in a disrespectful manner that did nothing to get rid of that target.

I was taught as a police officer “to either kill the people with kindness, or to kill them for proper cause”, and that we were not paid to subdue people with a club or with physical force because it was poor public relations, not required, and sooner or later we would lose with dire consequences. This policy was based upon experience and was very effective. We did not wear track shoes because common law allowed use of deadly force to stop felons. We could use positive road blocks so car chases did not last long. Everyone knew the rules of engagement so it worked quite well.

This problem was started by greedy politicians who instituted pure Marxism in the inner cities depriving people of equal opportunity and freedom by replacing it with equal poverty and slavery resulting in a brainwashed population with a large criminal underclass. One example of a major cause is the 20% high school graduation rate of Blacks in St. Petersburg, Florida, which is the worst example of low graduation rates in the United States.

If the police can’t change things by throwing some officials in jail and working with the people they should resign, and law abiding residents should move out. To my knowledge it is almost unheard of for Police to use their legitimate and superior power to clean out prosecutorial and judicial corruption. If the police don’t do it, who can?

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There is a high probability that our money and government benefits will become worthless. When this occurs, residents of the Marxist utopias, seeking food, will attack the government or the working people, in either case, it is not a time to live or work in the city.

My prayers go to the families of the brave officers who have died because of yet another failed experiment in Marxism by Traitors to our Constitution in the government, and most especially to the Marxist media who refused to tell people the truth.

© 2011 Andrew Wallace - All Rights Reserved

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Andrew C. Wallace is a former Kentucky State Trooper, Kentucky Native, Korean War Veteran, Commercial Pilot in Alaska, University of Kentucky Undergraduate in Business, Four years of Graduate School in Economics and Marketing at University of Kentucky and University of Iowa., Assistant Professor, Thirty years as Director of Marketing Firm developing and implementing national Marketing programs for manufacturers and now retired doing research and writing.