Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:48:53 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/ Weird Harold's Aardvark en-us http://weird-harolds.com/images/logo.gif http://weird-harolds.com/ webmaster@weird-harolds.com http://weird-harolds.com/Article1683.html If I try to use the language spoken two thousand years ago and translated several times, I would say those possessed by demons have a spiritual malady in today's language. Today we describe the demons as pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. Characters defects only God can remove. One passage from many years ago: Mark Ch. 9 17. And one of the multitude answered and said , Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; 18. And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth , and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away : and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out ; and they could not. 19. He answereth him, and saith , O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. 20. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming . 21. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said , Of a child. 22. And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us. From my experience I would say the father is describing some form of spiritual malady in today terms leads to alcoholism/drug addiction. I have heard the stories of mothers, fathers, grandparents, spouses and other loving relatives describe in today's terms the same details as above. This is the reply: 23. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe , all things are possible to him that believeth . 24. And straightway the father of the child cried out , and said with tears, Lord, I believe ; help thou mine unbelief. Note how the question of faith was directed. Not at the person with the visual demons, but to the father who was concerned about his son. The reply of the father is so true of the faith that he had been taught. (remember the faith of Abraham as he was willing to sacrifice his son as a matter of his faith in God). This man was willing to put his Faith above all. Now the not so visible demons in the father were put aside, the very visible demons in the son could be addressed. 25. When Jesus saw that the people came running together , he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him. 26. And the spirit cried , and rent him sore, and came out of him : and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said , He is dead . 27. But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up ; and he arose This appears to be an instant process, but we know all spiritual matters are a constant struggle. Now comes the big wonder of it all. Jesus' followers had made an effort to bring forth these demons from this lad to no avail and here is the punch line of this story. 28. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately , Why could not we cast him out ? 29. And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting. How often do we try to destroy the demons in our children without looking at our own. The demons can only be brought forth but by nothing but prayer and fasting. I am saying today's language Love and restraint. Oh, how little we see today as we look outside to solve the problem in our children we believe are caused by a substance and we are willing to give up our own God given powers to remove our own demons. Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:48:53 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1682.html BERWYN HEIGHTS, Maryland: Mayor Cheye Calvo update 8/10/08 From The Text: BERWYN HEIGHTS, Maryland: Mayor Cheye Calvo arrived home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch, took it inside and put it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package.In it were 14.5kg of marijuana. But the drugs evidently did not belong to the couple. Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients. The two men under arrest include a FedEx deliveryman. Investigators said he would drop off a package outside a home and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up. Now federal authorities say they are looking into how local law enforcement handled the July 29 raid. FBI agent Rich Wolf said yesterday the bureau had opened a civil rights investigation into the case. A furious Mr Calvo said he and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, had asked the Government to investigate. "Trinity was an innocent victim and random victim," Mr Calvo said outside his two-storey, red-brick house in this middle-class Washington suburb of about 3000 people. "We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us." Mr Calvo, 37, insisted the couple's two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police killed them "for sport", gunning down one of them as it was running away. All done in an effort to stop the cultivation, transporting, distribution of marijuana. A substance that has been around for 10,000 years where there is no proof of its danger. It is the laws, stupid, not the drugs causing a violent society. Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:05:39 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1681.html Police Raid Berwyn Heights Mayor's Home, Kill His 2 Dogs From the text: Spokesmen for the Sheriff's Office and Prince George's police expressed regret yesterday that the mayor's dogs were killed. But they defended the way the raid was carried out, saying it was proper for a case involving such a large amount of drugs. Sgt. Mario Ellis, a Sheriff's Office spokesman, said the deputies who entered Calvo's home "apparently felt threatened" by the dogs. I say many feel threatened by swat teams. Does the Sheriff really believe these acts,"Ensure domestic tranquility" as our constitution states is his job. Whom are we afraid? Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:13:10 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1680.html I hear many things around the fellowship I have not experienced, nor would I have wished it had. I remember my parents and later my wife controlled me with the checkbook. This I deeply resented. When my wife handed me the checkbook and told me to take of myself and continued by saying she and our son would take of themselves, a fear came to being I had never felt before. In nature it was, how was I going to care for myself? I knew I could not continue drinking and care for my financial needs. I called an alcohol/drug counselor within one hour, as my wife had suggested. This call started me on a program within the fellowship that I continue today. The issue of trying to control others continued until my work life ended in 1993 when the disability determination board said I was no longer able to work in a completive work environment. This attempts to control continued within my family and the fellowship. This character defect has often alienated family and fellowship members. Seeking a Higher Power for spiritual self sufficiency gave me the self sufficiency in needed for living. Sharing my experience, strength, and hope with others suffering alcoholics has been my methodology for living without using alcohol for many years years. My relationship with a Higher Power is unique as my fingerprints and assume other alcoholics are also. The principle in our fellowship we can choose our own Higher Power and we put all our principles above personalities give me the strength to understand I must surrender my will to give up the bottle and take on my own responsibilities to live a of service. Any time I insist on controlling others or someone take my responsibilities I am have not asked my Higher Power to relieve me of that human bondage of self and I am still dependent upon other to relieve my alcoholism. Any time I hear someone giving another instructions or someone asking for specific instructions I suggest the following reading: (a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives. (b) That probably no human power could relieve our alcoholism (c) That God could and would if he were sought. Tell me what you did, not what to do. I hope that my character flaws are such that I can do the same. Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:48:25 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1678.html Page 76 12 X 12 book Seventh Step The chief activator of our characters defects has been self centered fear- primarily fear that we would lose something we already possessed or we would fail to get something we demanded. Living upon the basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore no peace could be be had unless we could find a way to reduce these demands. The difference between a demand and a simple request is plain to anyone. The above mentioned spiritual thought is far reaching. When taken in its entirety, it includes all facets of our life. The fear created by the demands can create resentments, our number one offender to a better spiritual life It can come into play when we are thinking we are doing good. Sometimes we make demands when we should make requests, and other times when we make requests it is none of our business at all. Thus relationships are harmed or very hard to reestablish. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:20:01 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1677.html A casual visual assessment of Portland OR, I have determined there are no unemployed tattoo artist here. I could be wrong. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:32:44 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1676.html A few years ago my youngest son made the statement, "Dad comes home with his thoughts all tangled up sometimes". Well the past few days this is happening to me again. The pdoc says it is depression and suggested an anti-depressant . My wife says we are just tired from our eleven day trip. I think I am just getting old. The most likely situation is all three of us are correct. I fear the depression the most. I prefer not to take the anti-depressants. They have some many side effects. Also they take so long to take affect. Of course, being exhausted is a factor and it to will take a short time to correct. The pdoc and I discussed the factor of not getting old that has never been a solution for my manic depressive disorder (except once). The part of my depression the most scary is the part my young son diagnosed at a very early age. This limits my activities. The three symptoms of my illness at present are: scattered thoughts, chronic fatigue, and worthlessness. I will set set forth a plan to deal with each. Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:38:36 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1675.html Everybody Loses The Hospice house loses support The investigators lost their job The AG lost political support. Dr. White lost his senses The families of the deceased have lost contact with the grief process, leaving nothing but pain and anguish. A law regulating drugs that have a potential for abuse has gain support. A law that should not exist. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 12:17:35 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1674.html Hospice House case in period of 'limbo' As a former resident of Tupelo, I sit here 2400 miles away with my perfect lens watching a very sad situation. First I see an institution having a high moral motive of aiding the pain of the dying and giving support to their loved ones as the time of being passes to a time of nonbeing. Apparently a war of politics was brewing somewhere in the higher levels of government and this institution became a target. Eleven families were found that had received service from the center for comforting the dying. These families suffer from a very common spiritual malady. They do not grieve in a way where good memories of their loved one replace the pain of the loss. They are not at fault. The Hospice House was developed to help, but these eleven families show you cannot help everybody. The charges against these individuals come from the drug prohibition laws. These laws date back to the early 20th century. It is a failed public policy that gets worse. It is the dream of every politician and prosecutor to receive public approval. I detest these laws because they show an ignorance of addiction. They are based on the "potential for abuse" The onset of these laws gave the medical professional their pen and pad. However the causes of addiction are obscure to all, even the medical professional. The cluelessness of pharmacology as it relates to addiction has all (including doctors) in a state of discomfort because of the 100 year war on drugs. To me the answer lies: The two accused should demand their Vl Amendment Rights of a speedy and public trial. Bring forth all their accusers, the experts, the doctors, the lawyers, the politicians. Prove to a jury of the accused' peers two things: One, how do you addict someone that has been determined to die within the next six months? Two, the addiction, proven in the first case, will be worse than the dying' pain. As I began, this is sad. We have a policy scattered over 100 years which intended to keep drugs with the so called "potential for abuse" in the hands of professionals, under legal restrictions, for medical use, but out of the hands of the public. These individuals were indicted via a conglomeration of these laws, created to continue a popular flawed policy. However these individuals must be defended from the creation of these laws: "potential for abuse" which does not exist. This is like indicting a 25 year old man for statuary rape for having sex with a willing 25 years old woman. The crime did not happen no matter what daddy said. Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:23:06 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1673.html New Criminal Record: 7.2 Million Nation's Justice System Strains to Keep Pace With Convictions From WoPo Tim Lynch, director of the criminal justice project for the libertarian Cato Institute, called the numbers "scandalous" and said states have resorted to "tinkering" to solve prison overcrowding. "I think these numbers demonstrate that we've lost our way," Lynch said. "We've lost our way when our laws require such a massive scale of incarceration." Lynch and others said the drug war is destroying American inner cities almost as much as the drug trade. "When you lock up a bank robber, a child molester or a mugger, you're removing a career offender from the street. "When you lock up a drug dealer, he is immediately replaced," Lynch said. "We tried this with alcohol during Prohibition and it didn't work. We're not reaching the same conclusion with the drug war. It's slowly sinking in, but it will take politicians some time to turn this around." Amen Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:17:52 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1672.html Short Story I seriously doubt that you can find a person that has personally had more conversations with different alcoholics/drug addicts about the subject of addiction than Weirdharold. This does not make me an expert or do I have any more knowledge of this subject than anyone else. However it does give me a different perspective on what might aid the suffering, simply put, allowing the person to use the substance, but holding him accountable for disturbing the peace of others. This methodology gives honest relationships between the addict and the public. It focuses on disruptive behavior, not on the substance the addict finds misdirected relief. Of the thousands of alcoholics that I have discussed our malady, none believed they could stop drinking without some form of spiritual aid. Many , many of these the people have gone back to drinking because the can rationalize (or convince themselves) a drink will be okay. This thought continues until the alcoholic develops honest relationships with others. However Nancy Reagan says,”Just say no”, then convinces our legislators to spend 100s of billion of dollars to stop drugs from being sold, and to education people how not to be alcoholics and drug addicts. I bet if we really try we can teach people how not to be diabetic, or not to suffer from ALS, Alzheimer, and bipolar. I bet it will work just like the Drug War and just say no, such a sweet saying. It is almost as nice as saying do not go near the restroom when you have the green apple quick step. Mon, 9 Jun 2008 14:02:22 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1671.html This is not the way to sell drugs Weirdharold’s Method for Selling Drugs A taxpaying company would submit to the Federal Drug Administration information on a product that would be classed as one of the following three: 1. Central Nervous System Depressant 2 . Stimulant 3. Hallucinogens The producers would provide information to the FDA as to the effects on an adult male & female. This information would include shot term effects on the physic, the progressive use, and the long term effect on brain and body. The FDA would ascertain the information and permit or reject the sale of the product. The FDA roll is only to ascertain the truthfulness for the producer not to insure safety of the product. The capitalist economy will determine what is sold. After the product is approved for sale then the Treasury Department will handle the tax and labeling issues as it does alcohol and tobacco. At the the point of sale to the consumer, the sale person would give the costumer would be informed of the findings of the effect of the product and he would sign document saying same. The costumer signs & swears to the following: 1. Will not resale 2. Will not allow to fall into hand of anyone 21 years 3. Will not operate machinery while using products We now have a product our government guarantees that a producer is selling a product that is what they say it is, only to adults. Sun, 8 Jun 2008 15:15:17 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1670.html The more spiritual we are the easier it is to admit our powerlessness and the more powerless we become the easier it is to broaden our spiritual life. Sun, 1 Jun 2008 16:04:35 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1669.html Methodology For Treating Alcoholics 1. Avoid scorn and ridicule. 2. Respect the fact that alcoholism is a physical, mental, and spiritual disease with many complexities. 3. Never allow yourself to be ashamed of the alcoholic’s behavior. 4 Never assume the alcoholic’s responsibilities. 5. Never cover up the alcoholic’s misbehavior. 6. Love one another. If this fails double up on #6. Fri, 23 May 2008 12:48:13 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1668.html An alcoholic is a person who has a distorted perspective of the value alcohol has for him/her. This distortion is caused by some unknown disorder. This disorder may have existed before the onset of alcohol use. Thu, 22 May 2008 12:54:53 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1667.html I believe that every door in the USA should be knocked down to determine just how much drugs we have on our persons. Since we live in such a free society and we can go to Iraq and set them free too.(sic) The court ruled 9-0 that if police had waited any longer than 20 seconds, a drug suspect could be flushing evidence down the toilet. I fault not the nine honorable men & women that made this decision. They had no other choice. The fault is with the politicians in the legislature that make these laws and create the judiciary to enforce these flawed laws Wed, 21 May 2008 13:01:17 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1666.html In 1964, some months before the elections, incumbent leaders asked the military to stage an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, then asked Congress to give the military war time power "to prevent future aggression." The incumbents feared that the opposition party would tag them as "soft on communism." 58,000 young Americans proved with their lives that we are not soft on communism. In 1953, my father (a graduate of the third grade and a tobacco farmer) stated he wished they would stop worrying about those Russians. He thought their economic system would destroy their agriculture incentives. They could not feed an army to cross Honey Run Creek (a stream running through our farm about 6' wide). He was not asked for his opinion when we started a troop buildup in southeast Asia to stop communism. Thirty-seven years later, I was astonished by my father's thoughts when the Soviet Empire's economy collapsed. Tue, 20 May 2008 13:27:32 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1665.html The government has inserted itself into the roll as praent. We are trying to make the parent insignificant. One another subject on this forum I posted a cartoon by Signe Wilkinson the link I thought gave a pretty good picture of what is going on with government and parenting. This forum is about drugs, not parenting, so I will stick to that subject, drug laws as it relates to parenting. Most parents are duped into thinking the drug laws protect their children from the perceived evils of drugs when nothing could be nothing further from the truth. It is just more expense and easier for the child to obtain. (No ID requested). If the parents have succeeded in keeping the child from drug until he goes to college, some children start experimenting there and learn how they have been lied to, then they are off to the races. When the law enforcement intervenes, then parental pride comes to the home front. Here is where the laws do a great damage. Some parents think the laws are full of sh*t and and give their children drugs. Here we get a great disrespect for all laws. More damage the drugs laws create. Now we get to the parent of the addict. It does not matter if the parent or child come from Yale or Harvard or a tobacco farm in KY, as I. The most likely path followed is this, addict in and out of jails, treatment centers, and continual binges, while the parents pay fines, lawyers, treatments centers fees. There may be siblings and they become angry at the addict and parent both causing hatred in the family. The saddest of all is the 70 year old mother tending to a 50 year old as if he were 12 years old. Some call this "enabling". I think it is very complicated relationships and we never will find an answer in the research labs and for sure not on the law books. Remember we have 500,000 in prison, who knows under house arrest, and/or on bail. Often the addict marries, has children and the child becomes the parent. Mon, 19 May 2008 19:12:06 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1664.html 5/21/1990 Much is being said about efforts to educated our youth on the perils of drug use. My heart goes out to those trying to carry this message. All to often, we attempt to present a certain thought about these highly emotional issues and we find our message was received completely devoid of what we are trying to say. A perfect example of this is a story I was told in school down in central Kentucky. It seems that a young lad had put some of his father's moonshine in a small bottle, hid it in his trousers, and went off to school. As his history class was making an in-depth analysis of the 18th amendment, he was sipping on his father's shine. Midway through the class the very astute teacher caught the lad nipping, took the bottle, ascertained its contents and changed her lesson plan. She sent the fastest boy in the class to get 2 fishing worms while she brought out 2 pint Mason jars. She filled one jar with water, the other with the shine. Then, she placed one worm in the water jar, the other worm in the shine. A short time later the worm in the shine had died, while the one in the water looked as if it was taking a sun bath. The teacher said, "Now do you know what will happen to you if you drink this stuff?" The young lad replied swiftly, "If I drink Pa's shine I won't get worms." Afterthought: In the early 60s a hospital was built in Lexington, KY. They took in indigent clients. 50% were treated for worms. Mon, 19 May 2008 10:46:22 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1663.html The following snippet is the method for getting a good start on a, “Drug War” The Bureau of National Affairs will celebrate its new publication, “Drug Free Workplace”, by serving champagne and high tea at a book signing party............. As reported by: Wall Street Journal - January 26, 1988 Sun, 18 May 2008 19:04:57 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1662.html From the Text He said they routinely took shortcuts around the law to get warrants in order to make arrest quotas. Defense lawyer William McKenney argued that the real culprits were Tesler's more experienced partners, Junnier and Smith, who had faced murder charges and have pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. "This is a tragedy, that is certain," McKenney said. "One tragedy happened by mistake.... Don't ruin this officer, don't ruin his family. "I think what we have to consider is what this unit was all about before Arthur Tesler got there." McKenney reminded jurors of testimony that described rampant lying for warrants in the narcotics unit, where drugs were planted in residences when raids didn't turn up any and on suspects to extort information. He noted that the entire culture of the police department encouraged the lying by setting near impossible quotas that officers had to meet for drugs or search warrants. Is anybody paying attention, This is happening more places than Fulton County Georgia WHY THE QUOTAS Somebody please explain Fri, 16 May 2008 14:19:49 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1661.html Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake" Nancy Reagan said, “Just say no” Weirdharold says: My personal opinion is that these statements show depraved indifference of suffering people. I was not around when the French Queen made her statement, but I was when the president’s wife came on stage with hers. To state,”Just say no drugs”, to an alcoholic/drug addict is like saying to the homeless, "Just buy a house". Oh, I know you are saying she may have prevented some youngster from dipping into a life of mood altering drugs. Education or role models did not do much for me, and I think it was applied in the the most loving caring manner that any parent could. Jesus Christ said, "This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." Now, believe Nancy Reagan if you must, but remember whose teachings you are choosing to ignore. Thu, 15 May 2008 14:26:46 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1660.html Today we hear much about war, Afghanistan and Iraq. The politicians talk about winning and losing. To me winning a war is imposing our will upon others. Any win will only be an appearance our political representatives tell us. I would like to talk about another war. The war on drugs is fact it is a war on our sickest, individuals in this nation. All we are doing is imposing our will upon these people. When they do not respond we punish them more and more. The politicians and media do not separate criminal behavior from behavior of the ill. They focus their attention upon on the unscrupulous entrepreneurs providing the substances to wants of the suffering. We often missed the intended message such as Genesis 9, 20-29. The directive here is abuse of alcohol/drug will destroy family relationships even within a clan of faithful. Then we can go to the other extreme where politicians play upon our fears and prejudices both religious and secular. Here is one of the best I have found: “There are 100,000 marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.” – Harry Anslinger, 1937 I say, "Yes, shop lifting is criminal activity whether the individual steals diapers or drugs." Shoplifting must be addressed. Also I say, "There is no domestic tranquility in allowing unscrupulous entrepreneurs to manufacture meth in the back woods of Lee County for the purpose to sell to anyone that has the money to purchase, including our youth. However I do not have any trouble letting Merck Drugs manufacture the same under the supervision of the FDA and allowing to be sold to adults after qualified medical persons have informed them of the dangers. This would definitely result in less loss of live than Vioxx. I am well aware that a very small minority agrees with me. If only we could agree we cannot save individuals form addiction, no more than we can save many from Alzheimers. Our lives would become so much simpler. The enforcement of non-crimes would decrease, as would the need for prisons. The need for mandatory sentences would end. Building more prisons to address crimes is like building more graveyards to address a fatal disease. The drugs user would have to accept the responsibility for his actions, not his addiction. We put addict in prison for non-violent crimes that confuses the addict and keeps him from the real attention he needs to address his sickness. Thu, 15 May 2008 13:54:58 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1658.html The one area where our society is so misdirected about psychoactive drug control is the vast unknown. The thought, if the law enforcement can keep drugs away from our populace there will be no addicts or we will reduce the number of addicts. There is evidence this not true. Another untruth preached is; if the addict does not use psychoactive drugs he is a state of remission or cured. The effect of psychoactive drugs upon the brain is not fully know and the addict must find some solution to change his life in a manner the psychoactive drugs are not thought to be an extinguisher for a brain on fire. We might point the addict in some direction to change his life. We should punish his misbehavior. We should never take away his extinguisher nor his methodology for change. So goes a misdirected "Drug War" via Drug Prohibition. Tue, 13 May 2008 13:26:21 -0400 http://weird-harolds.com/Article1657.html The media has the Drug Prohibition Laws and the treatment of addiction so so wrong. I was watching Law & Order:SVU and one of the stars said, "Love will not cure an alcoholic". That is the only thing that can bring peace to the affected and afflicted. This insults me There is a trial going on in Fulton County, GA where the Narc Cops killed a 92 year old lady. Google and see if you can find, very very little, sad. Then go here and see if this makes any sense More of the same “When you're sending SWAT teams in after low-level drug users, you're creating violence,” he said. “You're creating a confrontation where there wasn't one before.”   More from the text Balko said that the rise of the SWAT team has largely been in response to the fear that inner city drug dealers and other criminals have amassed hordes of automatic weaponry to use on police (by contrast, he said, the National Institute of Justice has found that the overwhelming majority of gun crimes were committed using small-caliber, easily concealed handguns). Originally conceived in huge, high-crime cities like Los Angeles, tactical teams have since spread to almost every police department that can afford one, and have often been accompanied by a corresponding militarized mentality — one that can trickle down even to the rank-and-file officers on the street. It's easy to see why. Highly trained and armed to the teeth, often given the most dangerous assignments, being a SWAT officer is about as close to being Batman as most cops are ever going to get: decked out in ninja black, identities hidden from evildoers, with a utility belt full of the latest tactical gadgets. Even so, Balko said, many older police officers he knows are suspicious of the new breed of gung-ho cops who gravitate toward SWAT — and the us-versus-them mentality an overly militarized police force can create. “We're giving these cops military equipment,” Balko said. “We're giving them military training in military tactics, and then we send them out and tell them they're fighting a war on drugs. It shouldn't surprise us at all when they start to treat public streets like a battlefield and private citizens like enemy combatants.” You know we could do away with the SWAT teams and the dogs we would be a little less violent. The Brown Shirts are out in force and nobody is watching. Next time you hear the words, Dangerous Drugs," apply your own experience not the media or the law enforcement. See if we can do without another jail in Lee County Mon, 12 May 2008 15:39:57 -0400