Alternate title: “Mea Culpa”

I’ve hesitated in posting this; not because of any fear of un-named consequences, but because it is easy to push the panic button and there are enough panic-inclined people on the internet as it is.

By now most of you have heard about Andrew Meyer being tasered at the University of Florida at a question and answer session with Senator John Kerry. If you haven’t heard about this then you can click the link, and you should search around the net for a while to sample the opinions. Also, you should climb out from under your rock more. Go ahead, we’ll wait.

Done?

Well, some of the first postings from those involved in this incident are coming in and they are the police reports. Strangely enough, the police report doesn’t seem to follow what was seen on the video. One does wonder why, with an incident this well reported and well observed, a police officer would submit an obviously false report. As the link points out, this also makes one question the veracity of most police reports after seeing this.

My point is not to defend Mr. Meyer, who was acting like a jackass. My point is the same one I see many making: did this warrant the use of a Taser? While he was lying down? Why did they grab him after John Kerry said he would answer the question? And, more importantly, has anyone noticed that the Taser – which was to be used in a situation where the only other choice was lethal force – is now being used more and more as a quick, easy, convenient method to shut up and immobilize the chosen recipient of 100,000 volts? Was the only other choice here lethal force?

And do you think this result in anything more than a few days of paid “leave” (i.e., vacation) for the police involved?

And we’re not even getting into the subject of botched, SWAT-style raids and seizure of property that had nothing to do with crimes – I’ll leave it to you to look these things up yourself.

But, before I go on, let’s add a few more data points:

It’s pretty clear that wiretapping has been going on in the telcos by the NSA, and it is equally clear that this violated the FISA statutes as they were when this occurred. But that’s ok, as the Bush administration is pushing for retroactive immunity for the telcos. Again, my point: The law was clearly broken – do you expect anyone to actually answer for it?

Next point: Apparently, as I had suspected, the airports in the US are no longer “The place you have to go to get on an airplane” – now they are full-fledged police dragnets. This Wired story mentions how U.S. Airport Screeners are watching what you read. Not only that, but apparently they are being used in another way:

The government stores the PNRs for years and typically includes destinations, phone and e-mail contact information, meal requests, special health requests, payment information and frequent-flier numbers.

This specifically mentions flights coming into and going out of the US - this is, obviously, the pervue of the federal government. However, given the information on the telco wiretaps earlier, do you really believe they are only keeping this information for international flights? As the entire point of airline security is to keep the passengers safe and prevent airliner hijacking, how does turning the airports into a dragnet attain that end? Are you ok with the fact that, in fact if not in word, every time you fly somewhere you are getting the same treatment that you would get if you were pulled over by a police officer (possibly searched, background checks, searches for outstanding warrants), even though you have done nothing wrong?

Next point: The US economy is in deep trouble. The crux of this chart is as follows: The US dollar and the Canadian dollar are now at parity – $1 US = $1 Canadian. Not terribly long ago $1 US was nearly $2 Canadian. Are the Canadians suddenly rich? No, but you are about 50% poorer. The value of your money has halved. So, anything we buy overseas will now double in price. Think sometime about how much we import as a country, including oil. This also means that credit – internationally – is much more expensive. Our national debt will soon be well over $9 trillion dollars, and growing by over $1.4 billion per day. Think of the interest alone on that amount of money, and how much that takes out of the federal budget.

But that’s ok! Congress is ready to raise the debt ceiling – the USA is spending money like a college kid with his first credit card.

By now you’re asking “is there a point to this rambling”? Yes! I’m sure that a thinking, rational person can see the convergence of a possible recession (or runaway inflation), a casual attitude about the police being a lot more violent with the citizenry and the general shrug of the shoulders we see with regard to anyone actually answering for what they do… and be concerned. Worried. Perhaps a little nervous. As one person put it in a forum I was reading:

Dissolution of ‘Rule of Law’ is a process that the US is undergoing, from the top on down, across the board. If you’re comfortable, it’s just because you’ve not had any dealings with them yet. I have, and I would never visit the US again.

When my vehicle broke down in Death Valley earlier this year, the cops came and offered to ‘help’. Before they would ‘help’, they demanded I submit to a body search. When I tried to decline this ‘assistance’, they wanted to know what I was trying to hide, and insisted I submit. They threw me in the back of their wagon while they ran my ID. And all I’d done was have my vehicle breakdown.

Later, when I complained about the search, they insisted that the search was reasonable, because they’d found a knife on me during the search. (I was backwoods camping).

I asked the locals about this, and they all said yeah, if you get stopped, they’ll run your ID and do a body search.

I see a convergence of a more authoritarian government, greatly expanded government powers, a much more timid (or unconcerned) populace and a coming economic storm being very dangerous. It’s not that I fear the Bush administration “turning into Nazis”. What I fear is the next administration, or the one after that.

But, for now, we seem fine. I can complain about this here and not worry, and no one has come to generally disarm the populace. I just wish I could shake this feeling that the future isn’t nearly as sunny and optimistic as I viewed it only 7 years ago. What’s worse… I voted for the people responsible a lot of it. So, it turns out my brother was right… but not for the reasons we disagreed about during the elections. My prediction? Half of the Republican base will stay away in droves in the next election. I’ll check with Tim to see if he agrees and get back to you…

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The author, Andrew Templin, is normally a lot more cheery than this. Please feel free to cheer him up by posting bad puns, jokes and/or sending him money.