Less Defense Spending = More COPS

On the wonderful site called Opinione, Il Principe talks about Military spending.

The power of the military industrial complex in America and its related cousin the national security state apparatus is lost on the American people. Why is that more Americans do not see the huge amount of expenditures going to the military while their standard of living and economic prosperity decline?

As The Grand Prince points out, it's not only the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that drain the public coffers; it's the maintenance of hundreds of military bases throughout the world. He's often written about how many there are here in Italy and how unnecessary they seem to be.

Il Principe spells it out for us:

According to the 2008 official Pentagon inventory of our military bases around the world, the military wing of the American Empire consists of 865 facilities with over 190,000 troops in 46 countries and territories. The cost to maintain these military outposts is estimated to cost over 102 billion dollars a year. Most of these troops and military installations are positioned to protect the sources and movement of oil.

One side-effect of this tremendous diversion of resources is that "police forces in America are under staffed leading to higher rates of fatal shootings by police officers."

The correlation is easy to make if you consider the tendency that some law enforcement officers have to shoot first and ask questions later due to the high rate of gun ownership and availability of firearms in America.

What do you think about that? Is that why cops shoot people? To me it makes perfect sense. Policemen, whose departments are understaffed, while trying to cope with an increasingly armed criminal element would tend to be a bit trigger happy.

A partial solution is coming in the form of a recent federal grant program known as COPS, short for Community Oriented Policing Services. This program is an attempt by the Obama administration and the Democratic leadership to direct more funds into local American communities. Part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocated $1 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) for the COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP). Approximately 5,500 additional sworn law enforcement officers will be added to agencies across the country through funding provided by this program.

The funding of more law enforcement officers with the COPS grant is a proactive approach to addressing the proliferate amount of illegal handguns on the streets of America, respecting the rights of legal gun owners, while also keeping the safety of police officers in mind.

What's your opinion? Do you agree that the understaffing of police departments in many places is part of the problem and that hiring additional cops will help? What about the bigger question of military spending and unnecessary military bases throughout the world? Is that something we need to change?

Please leave a comment.

Frank Schaeffer on Rachel Maddow

When you start comparing a democratically elected President who is not only our first Black President but a moderate progressive, to Adolph Hitler, you have arrived at a point where you are literally leaving a loaded gun on the table, saying the first person who wants to come along and use this, go ahead, be our guest.

I first saw this on the great site of True Blue Texan.


He touches very strongly on one of our favorite topics: shared responsibility. I'm almost willing to admit that Mr. Thompson cannot be held responsible for what his clients do with the guns he sells them. But, would you apply the same thinking to the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks and Bill O'Riellys of the world. Mr. Schaeffer was referring to the Adkisson case in which the killer actually stated that he was motivated by those guys.

What's your opinion?

Keep the Guns; Surrender the Freedoms

From the great YouTube channel of LiberalViewer.



What do you think? Is it a "false sense of security" that gun owners enjoy? Of lawyers, guns and money, which is the least necessary to protect our freedoms? Should the right to keep and bear arms really be considered an essential right for citizens of a free society?

Road Rage Dallas Style

The Dallas News reports on the latest shooting by a CCW holder.

Authorities arrested a 32-year-old man suspected of shooting two men after an early morning car accident today, police said.

Steven Griffin faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting of Zenas Hicks and a bystander outside a gas station in Old East Dallas, just south of Samuell Grand Park.

About 12:40 this morning, Griffin and Hicks were involved in a car accident in the 5700 block of East R.L. Thornton Freeway, police said. They both pulled into a gas station a couple of blocks away and began arguing.

Griffin returned to his vehicle, flashed a handgun and told Hicks that he had a license to carry the weapon. The argument escalated, and Griffin fired two rounds into the pavement and two at Hicks, who was shot in the legs.

In addition to the target of his aggression, Griffin also shot an innocent bystander who was pumping gas at the time. Fortunately both men were only wounded.

As our frequent commenter Bob S. pointed out the other day, there's little difference between the urban problems of northern cities and their southern counterparts.

The idea that the problems of the inner city in Chicago is any different than the problems of the inner city in Dallas, or New Orleans or any others state is absolute bunk!

I couldn't agree more, as far as the gun violence goes. And I thank Bob for putting the lie to the oft-repeated refrain of the pro-gun crowd that the problems in Chicago, for example, prove the local gun laws don't work. The implication is that only places like Chicago have these problems. But, as Bob pointed out, they exist also in the larger urban centers of the South where the gun laws are lax.

Here's the difference though. Crime guns recovered in the southern cities are procured locally. Crime guns recovered in the northern cities are trafficked in from the South.

What's your opinion? Isn't it time for federal regulations that will unify some of these varying State policies? Wouldn't that help? Doesn't the fact that crime guns in the northern cities have to be imported prove that their gun control laws work?

Please leave a comment.

Time Capsule - Breckenridge Colorado

The Summit Daily News reports on a 100-year time capsule which has been unearthed and is being prepared for re-burial.

Hundreds of spectators gathered Saturday morning at the cornerstone of Summit County Courthouse for a historic Masonic ceremony and presentation of a 100-year-old time capsule's contents.

The little copper box — which had been cracked open in advance — has preserved coins, samples of bonds, maps, a book of poems and copies of local newspapers from 1909 in mint condition.

Locals and visitors of all ages watched from the courthouse lawn as a series of bag-pipers and Masons adorned with jewels and white aprons walked up Lincoln Avenue to the courthouse cornerstone.

What is it with these Masons? Why are they always around the time capsules?

Charles Johnson, Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Colorado, led the same ceremony presented at the site in 1909 — as well as at cornerstone ceremonies for the Colorado State Capitol and the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

There it is. What I've suspected all along. The Masons have discovered the secret of immortality. The statement clearly says Charles Johnson was present at the 1909 ceremony, inference being that he personally will oversee the 2109 festivities as well.

Breckenridge Mayor John Warner spoke of the town in 2109, when the new time capsule will presumably be opened. “I think our forests are going to be beautiful in 100 years,” he said, alluding to the post-mountain pine-beetle generation of vegetation. He said he foresees a more “sustainable and diverse community” with more workforce housing and childcare. Transit will be further developed, and communities will be more “walkable.”

They're putting the usual items in the copper box, including several DVDs. It makes you think about the rate with which technology is improving. Is it really faster these days? In 1909, I suppose they had 78-RPM records made out of thick hard plastic. That was probably the state of the art audio technology for decades before it was replaced by a similar product. As it turns out, our cassette tapes or DVDs have had a similar longevity before being replaced by similar products. So maybe in 100 years, the future folks of Breckenridge Colorado will have to recruit the services of an antique dealer or an expert in audio and video equipment in order to view today's DVDs.

What do you think? Is the mayor of Breckenridge too optimistic? How do you see the America of 2109? Will cities like Breckenridge in the Rocky Mountains escape the unstoppable degradation of larger urban centers?

Please leave a comment.

Minnesota Atheists Visit the Creation Museum

On PZ Myers site there are several posts up about the fascinating field trip he organized. After viewing the dinosaur exhibit, in which each of the geological periods was assigned a recent date, he had this to say.

Even if you don't care about the geology, what about the history? All but 7 people are exterminated in 2348 BC, by their accounting, yet we know that in that century, we have the establishment of the Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia, the sixth dynasty in Egypt, the founding of major cities in the Indus valley and Korea…we have archaeological and historical records that show business as usual, with no one noting a massive annihilation of the human race.

The whole "museum" is like that — it's a succession of assertions that flout the evidence, but does so in a style that is simply parroted from legitimate museums. Substance is completely lacking.

For me, Prof. Myers and his atheist friends often seem to be too sarcastic and condescending. But, who can blame them in the face of something like this. Do people really take the literal interpretation of the Bible seriously? Sadly, I know the answer to that.

I'd be interested to know if our regular commenters who claim Biblical justification for carrying guns also go for this creationism business. It is a fascinating business.

Please leave a comment.

Family Squabbles on Long Island - 3 Dead 1 Wounded

Newsday.com reports on the Roslyn Heights murder suicide that took place Friday.

A man whose wife and daughter were moving away from the Roslyn Heights home where they had been living apart from him for the past year shot them and his mother-in-law Friday before turning the gun on himself, Nassau police said, in a bloodbath that rocked a quiet neighborhood.

The man's estranged wife was the sole survivor of the shotgun blasts that took her daughter and mother, then the man himself, police said.

The angry husband and father was named Mohamed Shojaeifard, 49 years old. He shot and killed his mother in-law, Batool Biraman, 66, his daughter, Mandana Shojaeifard, 17, and seriously wounded his estranged wife, Haleh Mohseni, 40, before turning the gun on himself.

For me the only thing worse than this is when the guy kills his wife and only wounds himself. That happens every once in a while. But, what you almost never hear is the wife and mother killing her entire family with a gun. I know Andrea Yates used another means, but even so, it's rather rare. Mr. Shojaeifard provides us with yet another illustration of my ever popular theory that guns are bad news for women.

What's your opinion? Does the fact that he used a shotgun mean there's nothing we could have done to prevent this? After all, shotguns are as American as apple pie; not even the most fanatical gun control proponent talks about banning them.

The assault-style shotgun used in the attack is marketed for self-defense. Nassau County does not require registration of such weapons. The gun found in Shojaeifard's car was a traditional shotgun with a stock.

Some of my critics might be surprised that I actually agree it's not just about the gun. More than the particular weapon used, I think it's the mindset which says if you've got a problem, blasting away with a gun is a viable option. We see it all the time with young people. Do you think the attitude of legitimate gun owners feeds into this in some way? Don't they have a similar attitude? If someone steps out of line too far, in the judgment of the gun owner, blasting away with a gun is a viable option.

The problem with that is, number one, many legitimate gun owners are not qualified to make such life and death judgments, and number two, the general attitude of fixing a sticky situation with bullets knows no boundaries; it permeates the world of legal gun owners as well as that of the criminals as well as that of the unbalanced like Shojaeifard.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.