O'Brien's prideThe problem as I see it is that when a term is used to much in today's society it not only loses meaning, it can sometimes hide the fact that it is truthful. A good example is the term "police state". A phrase that is thrown around so much by the left, and libertarians that in many peoples mind it is put in a column of words we filter out. This column is filled with words such as "moonbat", "wing nut", "military industrial complex", and my favorite term. "Jack booted thug".
Words like these are normally filtered and ignored by most people in society, and end up labeling you as simply "the fringe". The edge of lunacy that occupies all political talk and thought.
So today I find myself pulling out one of those pre-filtered phrases because I simply cannot find a better word to use. The fact that it may hurt the message I want to give you bothers me, but I have to try.
The first
article I came across that bothered me was a New York state article about getting illegal guns off the streets. A standard government reaction to crime and as always it is bound to fail. The problem for me was not the article. It was laughable. The problem was the picture that was included with it.

Officer Greg Carnes, center, secures the area in front of a store on North Goodman Street after police stopped a group for loitering earlier this month. They arrested one man wanted on a warrant.
A well composed photo. The photographer even included in the shot the image of the 'No loitering" sign next to the arch-criminal's head.
Now for me being the gun nut I immediately looked at his rifle. A nice short barreled carbine likely in 5.56 caliber. That seems a bit overkill for loitering in my opinion. Why the camouflage? What is "secured" by him standing 10 feet from the guy and looking at him. He's not securing dick. He's standing there to kill the guy if he moves wrong.
There is just so much wrong with this photo.
Then it hit me. The police, through the officer, are delivering a message. "We, the police and the state, control the streets and because of that we control you". That's what I read into this picture.
All in all I was not that surprised by the story. I did not even post on it because the state have been delivering that message every day in so many ways.
Then I read the
Miami article.
(((overcoming desire to cuss loudly)))The Miami police have decided to take the war on terror to the people.
Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant.
Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats.
Surround building and checking ID's.
(((grumble)))I would like to be sarcastic now and say something like this "Now what does that remind me of?". But I will attempt to not do it and just include this small section of an
article.
In those days in Russia your 'billet' or 'papers' were essentially an internal passport which would be registered and stamped whenever you travelled from one region to another, and sometimes at checkpoints in strategic areas and even at certain types of stores when buying certain products. You could be stopped by any police officer for an ID check and have your identity number noted
Damn. Will I have to go back into my bog archive and respell all "America"'s as "AmeriKa"?
The article delves more into the lunacy that our government has become with lines like these.
"People are definitely going to notice it," Fernandez said. "We want that shock. We want that awe. But at the same time, we don't want people to feel their rights are being threatened. We need them to be our eyes and ears."
Translated this says "We plan on scaring and intimidating the hell out of people, but will do it with a smile over the sights on the rifle/handgun. Scare the prole's so much they become our snitches in fear of becoming the target".
Now the ACLU, an organization that is on my good list and shit list at the same time, has come out as supporting the idea.
Howard Simon, executive director of ACLU of Florida, said the Miami initiative appears aimed at ensuring that people's rights are not violated.
"What we're dealing with is officers on street patrol, which is more effective and more consistent with the Constitution," Simon said. "We'll have to see how it is implemented."
I have never seen normal street patrols just surround building and do mass ID check for no obvious reason. Well the ACLU just got moved back to the shit list again.
Finally this is said. What is sad is the spokesman seems to believe it
"We want people to feel they can go about their normal course of business, but we want them to be aware."
In my entire normal course of life I have never been surrounded and ID checked once. Never. I have never seen a building surrounded. There aint nothing normal in the course you are setting for us.
To say the article has upset me would be an understatement. I find that I can use the term "police state" and not feel the guilt of using a filtered word in normal conversation.
Two articles and I feel pushed over the edge.
I feel sad for the Cubans who left their homeland for freedom and ended up surrounded and checked...just like their old home.
Do we live in a police state? Most would say no. I would agree with you for the most part. I do believe that right now we are living in a
Niemöller period of history. You better figure out real fast people how many lines down the tale you want to go before you act, or are acted on.
Now I want to take a moment and ask you if you know why I labeled this post O'Brien"s pride. 10 points on the final exam if you can figure it out.
UPDATE:A Washington
post article on the subject using much of the same material seems to show a different side of the police effort against Miami's terrorist problems. The whole "surrounding buildings" part is missing and the random ID checks have been withdrawn.
As an example, uniformed and plainclothes officers might surround a bank building unannounced, contact the manager about ways to be vigilant against terrorists and hand out leaflets in three languages to customers and people passing by, said police spokesman Angel Calzadilla. He said there would be no random checks of identification.
I simply do not see how the press could create a line "surround buildings" out of thin air. So I plan on trying to get a copy of the police press conference and see what was really said.