Thursday, October 04, 2007

The Only Terrorist You Will Ever Encounter

On Tuesday night’s edition of PsiOp Radio, SMiles Lewis and I discussed police brutality at great length (go to PsiOpRadio.com to download show). Week by week, day by day, reports of unjustified handcuffings, beatings, Taserings, and killings at the hands of police proliferate. It is a pandemic that has spread across the country. As Paul Craig Roberts, in his article “America’s Police Brutality Pandemic,” writes, “The only terrorist most Americans will ever encounter is a policeman with a badge, nightstick, mace and Taser.”

Clearly, we are in far greater danger from our own police than we will ever be from some mad dirty bomber or shoe bomber or toothpaste bomber. At best, these dangers are exaggerated; at worst, they have been fabricated. Either way, they are being used by the government to justify more police state laws, which among other things places more and more life-or-death power in the hands of the bullies with badges who patrol our streets.

Yes, there are good cops, and to those cops we say, “Do your job. Protect and serve. Serve us by protecting us from the bullies in your midst. Banish them from your ranks before one of them manhandles, and possibly murders, your daughter.”

And we can do something about police brutality—we, as in "We the People." We can speak out against the erosion of our freedoms and the brutality of our government both here and abroad.

A few weeks ago, we saw video of a college student Tasered for asking questions at a speech by Sen. John Kerry. The lesson from that video might be that we should be afraid to ask questions or speak out. But that would be the wrong lesson.

Here in Austin, over the past week, we have seen video of a man who was stopped by a cop for going five miles over the speed limit, then Tasered 45 seconds after obeying an order to get out of the car. Tasered for obeying an order.

That is how it is here in Police State America. You can be Tasered for obeying an order. Why, you can even be arrested for reading the Constitution. You don't have to break a law, or do anything at all, to be brutalized and placed under arrest by some swine in uniform. Therefore, you might as well speak out. You have got nothing to lose.

And it may be your only hope. For, if we are silent, we have no chance of defeating this menace. On the other hand, if we speak out, and do so loudly, and in larger numbers, we just might win this war against the only terrorist most of us will ever encounter, the bully with a badge.

Oh, and here's something else you can do: Carry a video camera everywhere you go ...