Not too long ago, I made a comment here about an affliction that affects both our law enforcement and our military: a race to the bottom in recruiting standards and operational practices. Nowadays, it's easier than ever to get into the military (felons with priors for violence aren't even barred).
You see this form of societal decay expose itself all the time. Wikileaks is getting a lot of attention, but not enough, in showing how cowardly our troops can be in war (it also teaches us about the evils of war, period).
In our own North American War, subsidiary of DRUG WAR INC, we see cops get away with murder as well.
UPDATE: there's a troll getting taken care of in comments below.
Every week we see another report of ignorant police brutality in the drug war. Certain cases, like that of Rachel Hoffman, forever changed the way I regard cops- and that was even befor I did a prison term for marijuana.
I'm sure a few of you here remember the case in Atlanta, GA where the cops burst into a grandmother's home on fictitious intel, shot her dead in cold blood, then COVERED IT UP. I'm happy to report that all guilty parties involved met justice, because even cops are not above the....
Wait, nevermind. Back to reality: law enforcement in this country might as well be Blackwater, Inc. According to this dead-tree newspaper print of LA TIMES in my hand, two of the officers involved in MURDER and the COVERUP OF MURDER have been...wait for it.... released from their employment. Now move along..nothing to see here.
LA Times won't print the cops' names. How cowardly. Three of the other officers involved in this murder were already sentenced, but only for charges like perjury or lesser charges of manslaughter.
from wiki:
The officers, dressed in plainclothes, approached the house at about seven in the evening.[9] Officers Gary Smith, Gregg Junnier, and Arthur Tesler; who were wearing bulletproof vests and carrying riot shields when they entered the home,[10] announced themselves after opening the door but before entering the house, according to police.[11] Johnston fired a gun after police forced open the door.[9] It was later determined that Johnston fired one shot from an old pistol, and none of the officers were hit by that bullet.[12] The police officers fired a total of 39 shots, five or six of which hit Johnston.[13][14][15] Police injuries sustained in the raid were due to friendly fire and were not from Johnston's gun. The officers were hit in the arm, thigh, and shoulder respectively; they were treated at the hospital.[9]
Prosecutors later said that Smith handcuffed Johnston as she was dying.[16]
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On February 7, 2007, it was announced that Georgia's district attorney would seek felony murder and burglary indictments against the three agents involved.[23] The Rev. Markel Hutchins, acting as spokesman for Johnston's family, said her family members were "stunned and disappointed" by the announcement of the indictments because they believe it will disrupt a larger federal investigation of civil rights violations by the Atlanta Police Department.[24]
The federal probe into the police department revealed that Atlanta police routinely lied to obtain search warrants, including often falsifying affidavits.[25] The police sergeant in charge of the narcotics unit also pleaded guilty to charges surrounding the shooting, and another officer admitted to extortion.[3][6] Tesler's attorney, William McKenney, said that planting drugs and lying to obtain search warrants is routine in the police department.[26]
After THREE YEARS OF INTERNAL INVESTIGATION, the Atlanta PD fired those two officers.
Kathryn Johnston was murdered in cold blood, marijuana was planted in her home after she died, and a couple folks lost their jobs as a result, a couple of short prison terms were handed out and a couple cops were released from employment. Meanwhile, millions of prisoners do federal or state or county time for possessing or growing cannabis, on your taxpayer dime.
If you are really bored, you can watch Eric Holder do some drug war mastubation with the DEA on tv, bragging about how their 'OPERATION DELIVERANCE" took criminals and drugs off the street. I hope rival cartels aren't watching the news though, because they just got handed new markets/higher street prices ,thanks to DEA reducing the supply while Americans ramp up the demand. It's Economics 101 for anyone that made it past the 8th grade.
www.drcnet.org (best on the web)
On a more positive note, the issue keeps gaining momentum. Nate Silver did a post on re-legalization of cannabis, and it turned out to be his second-most popular post ever. Given that marijuana prohibition is an expensive and ignorant campaign by our govt to convince us that 2+2=7, I would expect as a matter of course for this issue to pick up steam.