On Police Brutality

More and more lately, the subject of police brutality and killings is becoming something the bought and paid for media cannot ignore.  Millions of people around the country are constantly marching in protest over the almost constant din of what are often out and out murder cases in which police are almost universally absolved of criminal liability.

Mostly against blacks, but let's be clear - there are others being killed who are not black as well.

It would also be good to note that the issue of police brutality isn't just about killings, although those are the most egregious.  Remember the lady in California whose beating by a CHP officer went viral?  There are whole websites devoted to documenting these incidents.

And that isn't the most alarming thing about this whole thing.

What is the most alarming is the strengthening of the "thin blue line".  The police have tended, even in the past to have this "us vs. them" kind of attitude, that exists to protect each other from what they consider unfair punishment.

To an extent, that is understandable.  They exist in an ordered and very structured environment.  They are trained in discipline, the better for their bosses to control them.  After all, they are, each and every one, out in the community for eight or more hours a day, exposed to the possibility of having to confront the very worst elements of society.  People who are often armed and prepared to use those weapons at any time they feel threatened.

And police officers around the country die every year because of that exposure.  Such an environment tends to bond people together.  I understand that.

But in recent years, there is a sickness that has invaded that environment.

Militarization.  Arming and training our police with the arms and the attitudes of soldiers.

There is a meme that is making the rounds occasionally on Facebook.  It says, basically, that a country's military exists to defend it from enemies of the State.  And when the police and the military begin to blend together, the people tend to start looking like enemies of the State.

That sounds kinda familiar.

We need to remind ourselves, and our police, of the ways in which our government was designed and empowered by the Constitution to provide (as the constitution says) for the General Welfare.

First, the military is an arm of the Federal government, and is authorized by the Constitution under the authority of the President.  It is for the protection of the country from enemies of the State, generally protection from invasion.

Our police departments, of whatever level, are authorized under both the General Welfare clause for the Federal government and the "reserved powers' clause for the States.

Separately, all levels of the government are authorized a judiciary.  It is considered a separate branch of government at the Federal level.  Most States are generally designed the same way, so that judges and courts are their own authority and not under the executive power of the President or a Governor.

This is important, because the Constitution makes it fairly clear (and subsequent SCOTUS rulings further clarify this) that the Court system is supposed to be a defender and a protectorate of the people.

Police are, too, since their authority is generally under the authority of the General Welfare clause.

And when the police act against their authority and hurt members of the public, the courts are supposed to protect us, not side with the police.

Our Constitution is a document that sets forth the powers of the Federal government and allows for those powers not explicitly given to the Federal level to be reserved for the States or "the people".  This pretty clearly shows that the powers so delineated are delegated directly from the people.

WE, the people of this country, delegate those powers for OUR benefit.  Those powers are not there for the benefit of the officials so empowered.  They are there to provide for US.  For the general welfare - for everybody.

In spite of the original version having clauses respecting slavery, none of those clauses noted color of skin nor ethnicity as a condition of that status, and most certainly did not separate "the people" into differing classes based on ethnicity, skin color, sex, sexual orientation, social classes, or economic status.  It merely uses the term "We, the people".

In short, if a person works for a government entity at any level from city to State to Federal, they work for US.  They have their jobs for the purpose of providing for the General Welfare of the people of these United States.  Their jobs are there for OUR benefit, not theirs.

The police are not there to protect the government.  They are there to protect us from threats to society.  They are not there to force us into submission, they are there to protect us.

Not to shoot us, nor beat us nor subjugate us.  Their paychecks come from the taxes we pay.  WE are their bosses, ultimately.  All of us, regardless of economic status, color of our skin or ethnicity.

They should not be thinking of "us vs. them".  They should be thinking about policing their own, about getting rid of officers who make them look bad, who are not worthy of wearing the uniform.

Their "us" should include "we" the people.

Unlike in many totalitarian countries, our police do not live in guarded compounds.  They live among us, they ARE us, they are part of "the people".  They live next door to us, they marry our daughters and our sons, they eat at our backyard barbecues.  They shop at the same stores we do, they vote in the same elections we do.

It is time they rejoined us.  It is time they stop thinking of us as the problem, and realize that it is their attitude that is the problem.

They work for us, and it is time they started acting, again, like they do.

They should be our defenders, not our oppressors.

Republicans vs. Vets. and 21st Century Politics

The last week has not been a good one for the Republican Party and their relationship with Vets.

Starting with the Republican refusal to either extend or fund further veteran's benefits (including the refusal to fund 27 more medical facilities), continuing with their open spat with that idiot Congresscritter the other day, and now, ending with Republicans' open vehemence towards the Administration finalizing an agreement with the Taliban to bring home the last POW from Afghanistan, That Grand Old Party is fast moving in the direction of becoming the Grand Old EX-Party as they continue to shoot themselves in the foot, the knee, the nether regions and now straight into their empty, echoing braincase.

How is it that the party whose very self-identification has always been with the military (who they insist can do no wrong) now has put itself into the position of throwing that very military (and Vets) under the bus as they continue their five year long hissy fit over the election of Barrack Hussein Obama?

Have they no shame?  No values?  No morals?

Obviously not, save the one, overriding value of racial hatred towards blacks.  You know, the value they SAY they don't have, but honor exclusively to the exclusion of all others, including patriotism, humanity and common sense.  The one that has turned them into the Party of NO, refusing to give President Obama even the semblance of victory in the most minor of issues, even issues they have no philosophical problems with.

As has been noted before, their brains have apparently been put on hold for the duration of the current Administration's tenure, which is obvious, considering that their actions have alienated the young, the middle aged, every minority group you could imagine,  half of the electorate in the persons of the ladies of our proud nation, public employees of every stripe, including cops, including...

Oh, hell, just say it, everybody in this country who isn't an old, white, Anglo-Saxen, Protestant male.

Trust me, at some point, they'll even manage to piss them off soon, they've already managed to anger the members of that class who are classified as seniors.

No wonder they want to restrict voting!  If they manage to allow anybody in this country who isn't an old, white, Anglo-Saxen, Protestant male Republican to vote, they'll lose.

Frankly, I am seriously beginning to doubt the sanity of the leaders of the Tea Party Movement.  How can they seriously believe that this kind of public tantrum about something they've honored in the past isn't going to alienate even members of their base?  Vets have been a strong contingent of the GOP for decades, and Republicans have had the country fooled into thinking Liberals hated vets for almost as long as I can remember.

But not any more.  They've managed to eviscerate that image in just a few short weeks.

What else can they stand on?   Unless they wake up and begin actually suggesting actual plans and laws to solve this country's problems, there isn't anything.

Once upon a time, politics in this country revolved around two parties debating policy and laws, vying for the citizens' attention and agreement by the manner of that debate.  Yes, it got rancorous, even nasty at times, but you always had two sides to choose from.  (Sometimes three!)

Now, you've got Democrats with real, honest to goodness plans, laws and policies meant to solve America's problems on one side, and on the other side, you've got "We hate that Nigger!"

(Sorry for the trigger word, but it is literally the ONLY one which applies)

The modern Republican Party is the 21st century equivalent of the KKK and its lynching parties, determined to see that the black guy in the White House is never seen as a successful President.

Their voices get more and more shrill as President Obama's last term gets shorter and shorter.  I am NOT going to ask if it can get any worse.

It can.

Memorial Day rant

It was originally my intent to talk briefly about Memorial Day and remembering the people who have died in defense of our liberty.

But I have been increasingly discouraged by the increasingly evident lack of true caring on the part of our government and those who run it for maintaining that liberty and I really don't have the stomach right now for fighting that fight.

What happened?

Seven people died in California this week, victims of our patriarchal society and its misogynistic imbedded hostilities towards women.  There may not seem to be much of a connection, but look at it this way.

Our militaristic, macho-manly oriented society demands that the highest calling a man can aspire to is to be a warrior.  Doesn't matter if you are 4'10 and 110 lbs dripping wet.  Being a warrior is the highest possible calling you can have.

Of course, along with that is the "benefit" that women "love" a man in uniform!  The picture is clear, she'll tear your clothes off, IF those clothes are a uniform.  Because you deserve it!  You are macho, manly and risking your life!

Enter the Men's Rights Advocates.  The guys who maintain that men deserve it all.  Nothing should be denied them, especially love, sex and automatic adoration of the fairer sex.

Our society, from the basic separation of the genders by role and custom, demands certain actions, responses and roles of each sex, and woe be unto the individual who crosses the line.  These basic rules are pressed into the minds of our children from early childhood.  We dress them, give them toys and expect them to stick to the assigned roles, depending on the particular plumbing with which they may be equipped.

The thought that any child may not be hardwired to comply with those arbitrary roles doesn't enter into it.  You will get pounded into the hole you should fit in regardless of your shape.

The perpetrator of the massacre in California IS ultimately responsible for his actions, don't get me wrong.  It is still illegal to kill people for displeasing you, no matter how justified your chosen moral code may slant the facts.  But, it should be illegal for people to be enticed into a cult of moral certitude which denigrates and virtually enslaves half of the population to the point where a member of that cult feels entitled to kill people he imagines have insulted and rejected him in a manner which violates the tenets of the cult's imagined rights and benefits.

Society is as guilty here as he is.  This does not reduce his guilt.  It does not reduce the responsibility he has for his actions.  It spreads that responsibility to others, like a plague which infects any who support and encourage such insanity.

Which, if the truth be known, is all of us who fail to make our displeasure and repugnance known to those who try to perpetuate this attitude.  It is time for us all to drive this ugly patriarchal penchant from out of our society.   Educate your daughters to refuse to knuckle under, and educate your SONS so that they are also outraged by misogyny and hatred towards women.

It is fine and admirable to "fight for women's rights".  To fight for women's rights to health care and reproductive freedom.  To fight for equal pay for equal work.

But it is better and more effective to fight AGAINST patriarchy.  To fight those who hate women and perpetuate the culture of misogyny and rape, subjugation and control.

The other stuff will come automatically if we can defeat the misogynists at the core of the problem.

We need to stop treating the symptoms and start working on the real disease - patriarchy and misogyny.

When we do that, we will end the wars and the need for spending more money on defense than the next ten lower spending countries combined, and the need to add more dead vets to the list of those to remember and memorialize.

I can think of no better way to honor those who have fought for our freedom than by doing OUR part in fighting for that freedom and liberty, right here at home.  For all of us.

Change of plans! (No curses today!)

I was planning on running a piece on curses - how American culture uses curse words to support misogyny and rape culture - but I changed my mind.

Today is Veteran's Day.  The day we supposedly set aside to tell Vets that we are appreciative of their service to the country.

I remember the Vietnam War.  I entered the Army at the end of that war, and never had a chance to serve in a combat theater.  Too late for Vietnam and too early for the Gulf Wars.  So, as you read this post, remember that even though I AM a Veteran, I am not a COMBAT Vet.  Never fired a shot in anger nor had one fired at me.

It is gratifying to see so many normal folks now doing the "thanks, vets" thing, and the Vietnam vets finally getting the recognition they deserve.  You know, the ones who were really there and really got shot at, compared to the guys like me that sat around the barracks in places like Europe and watched some of our fellow "soldiers" getting high and doing drugs.

I get thanked occasionally, when someone discovers I am a vet, and I really don't want to throw cold water on their parade by telling them I don't deserve it, because I don't want to discourage them from saying it to the guys that really do deserve that thanks.  But, really, I don't.

I know.  Some folks would say that military service is inherently dangerous, because of the equipment we use, some of which is frankly, not safe to operate.  While I was in Germany, an M113 armored personnel carrier like I drove was involved in an accident.  The driver was going too fast, and untrained as he apparently was, pulled the left track brake too hard at too high a speed.  His intention was to make a sharp left turn by halting the left track, so the vehicle would spin around on its left side center of gravity.

But when we were trained at Fort Knox (Those of us with the actual specialty for driving those vehicles and were trained to do it), they taught us that to use that brake (instead of the normal steering brake), you had to be going UNDER 15 miles per hour, if I remember correctly.  I think this guy was going around thirty or so, so he flipped the vehicle onto its top.

They scraped the track commander (who sits with his top half out of the center hatch) off the tarmac with a spatula.  That vehicle weighs 11 tons.

So, yes, I am aware of the dangers of serving and using military equipment.  That doesn't, in my mind, put me in the same class with guys who were getting shot at.  So, it makes me nervous to have someone thank me as if I did.

Another reason I am not happy about the "Thanks Vets!" thing is that as far as the government is concerned, it is not sincere.

I mean, come on, Congress just allowed an automatic cut of $5 billion to the SNAP program (depended on by many vets) to occur, without lifting a finger to do anything about it!  (When I say "Congress" here, read that as "Republicans in the House")  Now we hear they are talking about an effort to cut more!

There is a laundry list of bills "Congress" has failed to pass that would have made life so much better for vets.  A long one.

So, until this country gets off its ass and votes these ungrateful bastards assholes out of office, please don't tell me thanks for serving - your thanks should come in the form of a vote to correct the terrible way we treat our vets.

Every vet should be guaranteed a job when discharged.  Job training should be available if he/she needs it.  Those wounded should be guaranteed medical care for life.  Those maimed should not only get free medical care for life, but should be allowed to get that medical care at the best civilian facilities available - at government expense - for life.

We asked them to serve, and they volunteered.  We should treat them like we truly appreciate it.

THAT is better than a thousand years worth of Veteran's Days.

Further Thoughts on Religion in the Military

I wanted to let the links to Mikey's post at the Huffington Post's site get a little bit of a head start before getting this one out there.  I do have more thoughts as to why we should be alarmed about the things he warns us about.

It goes almost without saying that allowing the military command structure to force religious observances on their troops is unconstitutional.  That is the very poster child for a First Amendment violation!  But there are other reasons too.

There is the fact that we have people in the US military from all of the major religions, and a lot of the minor ones, too.  Obviously, these practices violate their rights to practice their religions as they please wherever the forced ceremonies differ from their own.  I won't even bother to mention what that does to those like me who aren't religious at all!  (like hell I won't...)

All of this is plenty of reason to get serious and force our civilian government to clean this mess up.  It is way past time for that.

But think about something else for a moment.  Mikey touches on it when he mentions the failure of the West Point's Combating Terrorism Center to deal with this issue, but this bears some further examination.

Roll this around in your head for a minute.  Just where have we been deploying troops for the past twelve years?  I've got a clue for you, it ain't Kansas, Toto!  In fact, the people we've been fighting, just in case you've missed the memo, are not christian, but belong to one of the more intolerant forms of the abrahamic religions.  Islam, while it's got its own peaceful and tolerant groups, certainly boasts more of the intolerant and dare I say, militant groups than our own, and these are the folks we've been sending our guys and gals over to exchange fire with.

And yet, over and over, our military has been allowing the command structure - in a theater of war - to do such stupid things as contract for gunsights engraved with bible references!  Allowed them to bring civilians into Afghanistan who are nothing more than christian groups intent on proselytizing the heathen muslims!  Then, of course, risking the lives of CIA operatives in rescuing those idiots when they get kidnapped by outraged Islamic militants!

At first, in my innocence, I believed that the lack of sensitivity training given to US troops going into Afghanistan was just an oversight.  Perhaps a lack of enough informed instructors to go around.  Then this same scenario has played out in Iraq and even further in Afghanistan after Iraq was over, and it looks more and more like a deliberate policy and not oversight.

Yes, they've said that such training has been provided finally, but the above occurrences coming from the command structure make it seem as though perhaps the wrong people attended those training sessions!

The more and more word gets out to our opponents in the muslim world that the US military is being schooled in fundamentalist christian thought and training, the more recruits they will find willing to fight us.  The more they will be able to - with truth - claim that we are waging a religious war against them!

President Barack Obama may stand up in public and claim that we are not at war with Islam, but as long as we continue to allow the US Military Command to infiltrate christian extremists into the entire command stream from top to bottom, his words will ring hollow to all who care to see the truth.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that our opponents in islamic militant groups have their heads in the sand.

Windmill Tilting - or is this more dangerous than any windmill?

There are times I feel like Don Quixote, sitting here, tilting at windmills, howling at the wilderness, hoping somewhere, someone will hear the warnings and take heed.

Then I look at my daily numbers for this blog, while still minuscule compared with the big guys, which have been climbing steadily in recent weeks, and thank you, my dear cyber-readers, for being so loyal, coming back for more.  I hope you occasionally pass on a link or two to friends and neighbors when you think I've written something they might like.

Don't forget my Facebook page, either, also entitled The Cybernetic Atheist!  I post links there to these pages, and sometimes share things I get from other pages I subscribe to there.

Thanks!  I appreciate it!

The reference to Don Quixote is even more apt as I refer you, once again, to the words of Mikey Weinstein, a man with a mission and a website for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and certainly with more influence than I, who also must feel like that famous windmill tilter himself some days.  Today, he has written more words, and sounds a clarion call to the continuing danger of the Dominionist movement within the US Military in a brand new Op-Ed piece in the Huffington Post!

His words clearly show how ingrained this movement is within the ranks of the very organizations supposedly sworn to protect and defend the Constitution, even as they conspire to overturn it.  This poison runs as high as the very highest ranks and runs through the command structure so insidiously, it would cripple this country's protective shield were they ever truly removed.

I ask you, humbly, to read his words, and pass these links on to others.  The very best protection we have to these insidious dangers is the light of publicity.  The website God's Own Party calls this the Kryptonite of the dominionist Movements - publicity!

So, please, spread the Kryptonite!  The US Military is full of dedicated soldiers, sworn to uphold the Constitution which guides this country, and many of them have sacrificed time, family and even their bodies in that service - it's beyond time for us to return the favor and help to remove this danger from their midst!

While they protect us, let's protect them!

More Madness in the Military! (Using your tax money, natch!)

Remember the other day when I posted that quote of Mikey Weinstein's post about the crazy, nutcake comic books being distributed by members of the US Military command structure - as well as military chaplains?

Well, it seems that this has been going on for a while.  I am posting a copy of an email sent to Mikey from a military spouse about an incident that occurred last April at an Easter Egg Roll on an unnaned military base.  All identifying information has been expunged to protect the identity of the reporting individual.

From: U.S. Military Spouse's E-Mail Address Withheld
Subject: Easter Egg Roll
Date: January 8, 2013 9:33:03 AM MST
To: Information Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org> 

My name is (name withheld). I am the spouse of (name, rank and U.S. military branch withheld) and we are stationed at (military installation withheld). My spouse is a (military specialty withheld) who has been deployed in combat many times. We are Methodists. On Easter Sunday 8 April 2012 my children and I attended a Easter Egg Roll on base. Sponsored by as far as I could tell my spouses commander and his staff. They were all there and very much participated. I remember that it was allowed for only children age 12 and under. We have (# of children withheld) kids under 12 so we all went. There were well over a hundred children there. Maybe two hundred? Not sure but alot. The kids were all given plastic gift bags. My youngest kept dropping hers so I held on to it for her. I don't recall what all was inside but I do remember some things. Bubble gum a plastic glasses, nose and mustache toy some pencils and erasers and a plastic magnifying glass. There was also 2 booklets. One on the meaning of Easter and the other was that manga messiah comic book. I will never forget that shock. I read that comic book right there and was disgusted. I threw it right away into the nearest trash can. I took the others in my other kids gift bags out. I threw them away too. I do admit that I was worrid that I might be seen throwing them away. I did not complain to anyone. I am not proud that I didn't but I seen what happens to those who do. When it comes to this Christian stuff in the U. S. (military branch withheld) you better be on the right side. Please do not give my name to anyone. I don't want any more trouble. But if this helps I am happy. 

(U.S. military spouse's name and all other identifiers withheld)

Now, isn't that comforting?  Even at a children oriented event, they feel perfectly justified in giving these kids (all under 12) stuff like this:

Now, I don't know about you, but even after being raised in the great State of Texas, I wouldn't give any of my kids under 12 comics like that.  Even if I believed it!

And this is being distributed to military members worldwide, with your tax money!  Now, doesn't that make you smile?