Comments (7)

• tehdude

  All they gotta do is start a large offensive against the drug dealers in the area, then they will have the crime ready for the shiny gear.

  Published: May 30, 2009 6:44 PM

• BioTube

  There are three possible ways to interpret this: the first is usual bureaucratic waste, the second is that somebody's preparing for the revolution and the third is . The problem is telling which is reality.

  Published: May 30, 2009 7:35 PM

• kmeisthax

  Well what do you expect? Small town cops have massive power complexes.

  Published: May 30, 2009 8:25 PM

• Magnus

  The whole time I was growing up, I never saw a cop carrying anything other than a standard sidearm.

  These days, I see groups of stormtroopers just about everywhere. They're in full body armor, bilateral thigh-strap holsters, the works. At the bank. At Chick-Fil-A. At the grocery store. All black-clad, usually.

  These militaristic people tend to spend their time looking for a reason to exist. After the War to Prevent Southern Independence, rather than disband, Lincoln's Grand Army of the Republic was "repurposed" to exterminate the Native Americans.

  Even if the proliferation of military hardware to local peace officers isn't part of some nefarious plot, just having that sort of gear and funding around increases the likelihood of martial law, or some other wide-spread campaign to further violate our rights.

  Published: May 31, 2009 8:50 AM

• Joe B

  Job Readiness Programs are beginning to pop up nationwide in one form or another. In Georgia Job Ready Certificates are being pushed by the governor and offered by technical schools with booster-sheet newspapers providing free advertising. Presumably, employers should desire employees with satisfactory documents. Assemble the Job Ready components being test "marketed" in other states, and a new, improved employment "industry" will be born.
  Anyone remember C.E.T.A.?

  Published: May 31, 2009 9:37 AM

• Dan Fallon

  The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act of 1973.

  I cheated:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Employment_and_Training_Act

  Apparently, CETA was aimed at carrying on the Depression era Works Progress Administration. CETA was followed by the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982, which was then replaced by the Work Investment Act of 1998. This Clinton era creature subsequently had two modifications, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Amendments of 1998 and the Higher Education Amendments of 1998.

  This devil, indeed, goes by many names.
  

  Published: May 31, 2009 11:06 AM

• Bruce Koerber

  Apolitical Political Commentary!
  Sunday, May 31, 2009

  Is The United States Like A Third World Country?
  
  Just like all the third world countries that are on the path towards totalitarianism, they are the primary customers for the weapons produced by the military industrial complex. Only this time the table is turned.

  The United States is about to lose its worldwide monetary hegemony (the dollar is going to collapse soon) and almost instantly it will become like a third world country - unable to produce what the people need because of the flight of capital and because of the barbaric central planning by the political class.

  The unConstitutional coup needs to sell its weapons that are produced by its miilitary industrial complex and it needs to funnel its counterfeit money back into the military industrial complex. It also needs to militarize itself to try to prevent its overthrow by the masses who are the victims of its economic terrorism. All of these reasons contribute to the massive distribution of sophisticated weaponry to its minions.
  

  Published: May 31, 2009 5:42 PM