In Soviet Russian, More Government Wants You, commrade!

Idiotic. More social programs do not equate to the militarizing of the police.

@Patrick: As one of the comments on the article points out: social programs have to be paid for with other people's money. Which is taken from them by the government. If they refuse to pay, they most certainly will see the iron fist of the government.

More social programs do not equate to the militarizing of the police. ~ Posted by: Patrick at November 24, 2014 7:44 AM

Not directly, but more government-run social programs do lead to a larger and, by default, more intrusive government. With more social programs and benefits comes more fraud. With more fraud comes more investigative and enforcement authority for the government (e.g., the Social Security Administration has armed fraud investigators).

When the money from fraud is high enough, the fraudsters organize. The organized fraudsters resort to whatever measures are necessary to maintain the cash flow. Crime and violence escalate. Police then respond to the increased crime and violence with their own measures.

Social entitlement programs stretch the budget. Where to get that money? Cut the military budget. As a result, you've got a downsizing military that needs to divest itself of a large cache of military-grade equipment. From there, it's a short step to militarizing the police.

http://news.yahoo.com/as-wars-wind-down--small-town-cops-inherit-armored-vehicles-233505138.html

In his book, Radley Balko blames the War on Drugs and 9/11 for the increased militarization of the police, but expansion of the government enforcement authority, in any capacity, is the culprit.

Dear Patrick,
see this list of Federal Law Enforcement groups... almost EVERY branch has an Office of Inspector General, and they have Law Enforcement duties... Even the Dept. of Education, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Police.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_law_enforcement_in_the_United_States#Overview

Essentially the executive branch EXECUTE LAW and boy howdy, that means they all have police forces. To make it more fun and efficient. [NOT]

And note that the health and Human Services OIG, has special agents that: "Office of Investigations (OI) - Armament and Tactics
HHS-OIG agents qualify with, and field the Glock 23 and Glock 27 pistols as well as the LWRC M6 rifle on a quarterly basis. Agents conduct regular refresher training in law enforcement defensive and arrest tactics."

we got your social programs right here, pal, with a glock.

Ultimately, these offices are variable sized, and have certain value... they are usually to combat fraud and criminality, but don't kid yourself that they aren't the Federal Police.

They may even have that fun ability to take everything you have under civil forfeiture, for chewing gum while walking or summat.

Here's another fun tweet from after the announcement.

Here's a sample of Dorner's "warnings:

Jennifer Beals, Serena Williams, Grae Drake, Lisa Nicole-Carson, Diana Taurasi, N’bushe Wright, Brenda Villa, Kate Winslet, Ashley Graham, Erika Christensen, Gabrielle Union, Isabella Soprano, Zain Verjee, Tamron Hall, Gina Carano, America Ferrara, Giana Michaels, Nene, Natalie Portman, Queen Latifah, Michelle Rodriguez, Anjelah Johnson, Kelly Clarkson, Nora Jones, Laura Prepon, Margaret Cho, and Rutina Wesley, you are THE MOST beautiful women on this planet, period. Never settle, professionally or personally.

Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” is the greatest piece of music ever, period. Hanz Zimmer, William Bell, Eric Clapton, BB King, Bob Marley, Sam Cooke, Metallica, Rob Zombie, Nora Jones, Marvin Gaye, Jay-Z, and the King (Louis Armstrong) are musical prodigies.

So, like, it's all the same thing.

Whoops! I should have said "truths," not warnings.

My bad.

I'll agree with him on "Take Five."

If not the greatest piece of music ever, it is at the very least the musical embodiment of "cool."

You're welcome to think so. But don't go on a Dornanian cop- and cop's-daughter-killing rampage and then hide out in the mountains as an expression of your "truth," okay?

T5 was too ubiquitous in my childhood to be admired. The chorus is too desperate a grab for prettiness to seem "cool." And that listless, unending, attention-deficit rhythmic passage was a warning to all the nascent rock-and-rollers, then sucking their thumbs in footsie PJ's: Most every drum solo you ever hear is going to suck garden hose.

Most. Not all.

You're welcome to think so. But don't go on a Dornanian cop- and cop's-daughter-killing rampage and then hide out in the mountains as an expression of your "truth," okay?

Well, alright, but that leaves my afternoon wide open.

You're welcome to think so. ... T5 was too ubiquitous in my childhood to be admired.

I should have qualified that a bit. If I were going to pick the greatest song ever, it wouldn't be anything written in this or the last century. Too new to be truly great.

However, I still like Take 5. Perhaps one reason is that it wasn't ubiquitous in my childhood, so I didn't get a chance to tire of it. And I limit my listening today.

Anything you listen to (or watch) repeatedly begins to fall off its pedestal.

I used to consider the chase sequence from Bullitt one of the best chases in movie history. Then I began analyzing it (along with a new-found knowledge of San Francisco's streets acquired from living in the Bay Area) and discovered its many flaws. Now, it seems hackneyed.

> Anything you listen to (or watch)
> repeatedly begins to fall off its
> pedestal.

Exactly. I never cared for Ella Fitzgerald, because why bother? She was everywhere, like grass on a lawn. It wasn't until last December that I finally figured out exactly how beautiful her talent was.

(I'm still waiting for that moment with Sinatra.)

I can't believe it... That clip cut off the climax.

There oughta be a law.

(Kidding! Let's not bother congress with this, 'K?)

(I'm still waiting for that moment with Sinatra.) ~ Posted by: Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at November 25, 2014 12:33 PM

My dad was a big fan of Sinatra. As a result, in my rebellious youth, I always saw him as an icon of an older generation with little relevance to my own.

Lately, I've come to appreciate him, but I doubt I'll ever see him as more than a semi-talented pop singer and niche actor.

Ella, on the other hand....

Exactly. Exactly. Sinatra as a celebrity expression of American character in a special century has explanatory power.

But none of his recordings have told me anything about how the United States miracle happened, musically or otherwise.

Sincereballs: It would be great to hear one that did.

Crid, I was reading the other day about the history of Reprise Records. Although the label had great sales numbers from its outset, it got into financial trouble very quickly because Sinatra quite frankly didn't know what the hell he was doing, and he wouldn't hire anyone who understood the business side because he was paranoid about accountants. Warner Brothers was able to buy the label from him for next to nothing, and he lost most of the money he had earned up to that point.

…And they used the label to introduce a quaint jazz trio called the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

I imagine Francis listening to the backwards solo on that fancypants stereo his homosexual home decorator had made him buy, and deciding on the spot to stop worrying about his hairpieces so much.