Thursday, December 15, 2005

Be Very Afraid?

Interesting letter to editor of the Ukiah Daily Journal that was forwarded to me this morning. The writer recounts his experience of a raid of his property by the Drug Enforcement Agency. While the writer correctly attributes the increasing danger we face to the War on Terror, I'd beg to differ a little. The attacks on our liberties and the increasingly aggressive actions of law enforcement are nothing new. They've been going on for quite some time under presidents and congresscritters from all sides of the aisle. They certainly may have seemed to increase their tempo under the Bush Administration but they've been building up momentum for much longer than that.

That more and more average folks are becoming aware of the danger is a good thing. Whether they've become aware too late is another question altogether.
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Kind of along that same line, James Wilson, of the Independent Country blog, had a piece published on lewrockwell.com this morning. He writes of why, as a libertarian, he considers himself as being both on the left and right. While I might want to quibble about what he describes as liberal and conservative values, that would be an exercise in futility as that argument might never end. Suffice it to say he makes a good point and describes pretty much how I feel, although I'd prefer to describe myself as being neither to the left or right.

6 Comments:

At 11:39 AM, Blogger ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ said...

Yes. Be very afraid. The Leonidas who happens to be not only law abiding but a retired law officer has seen this coming for a long time. One factor that is often overlooked in these horror stories is the effect of the so called civil rights, affirmative action and political correctness movements. The standards of recruitment, discipline and training in law enforcement have steadily degenerated over the years. Agencies must recruit and retain many personnel who could/would be fired when prior standards obtained. This is especially true when members of protected/favored groups are involved.

This, on top of the insane "war on drugs" with its concomitant militarization of law enforcement is cause for grave concern.

 
At 10:27 PM, Blogger the PLAZOID said...

Randy Mendosa (Arcata police chief) said at a meeting of the city council concerning "plaza issues" that it is no secret that Arcata is seen as a stepping stone to state police jobs. He added that arcata just compete with the salaries offered for state cop jobs.

Why is it neccessary to bring in people from outside of the community to "police" our community, then move on to "police" somebody else somewhere else?


By the way, fred, theplazoid.blogspot.com is NOT shutting down - how rude of you to suggest that it should!

Just wondering, Leonidas, why you no-longer are a law and order officer?

 
At 5:53 AM, Blogger ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ said...

Plazoid,
Two reasons: 1. Leonidas was injured on the job during a sting operation in 1978 and opted to retire and sail away rather than fly a desk at the L.A. County Hall of "justice" 2. Leonidas is now too old.

 
At 6:53 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

It's not rude of me, Plazoid. If someone isn't going use their blog, they should shut it down. You haven't posted anything in over a month so I suggested taking it down if you're not going to post. I do that to everyone.

Like that guy that started Eyes On Arcata. He hasn't posted in over two months. He made like two posts and quit. Why clutter up cyberspace with a dead blog? Now that's rude!

 
At 3:22 PM, Blogger the PLAZOID said...

the "Eyes on Arcata" blog had no substance what so ever, just one "post." The plazoid blogspot is one of the few, possibly only, news-sources to cover and document the events going on here in Arcata. These stories and the links are preserved for archival reasons and more posts are on the way.

 
At 9:38 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Yep, and I suggested Eyes On Arcata shut his blog down but he apparently doesn't even read comments people make to his blog.

Good job finally making another post, albeit a small one, on your blog.

 

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