Submit to My Authoritah - Or Else...

First, the obligatory disclaimers:

Yes, I know that like all other jobs, there are both good cops and bad cops.

Yes, I know that the good peace officers probably still outnumber, at least on a nationwide basis, the bad thugs with power issues garbed in government raiment.

Yes, I know policing can be a hard and dangerous job.

I know all of that. As cliched as it sounds, some of my best friends are or were cops.

But - stories like this one about the "dogslayer" in Idaho, or the Taser-freak in Utah just frost me. Make sure you watch the video of the Utah incident.

And before anyone starts claiming that these incidents are due to just a miniscule number of "rogue" officers, go and spend a few minutes reading David Codrea's The Only Ones files.

Then spend some time reading Radley Balko's collection of articles on police militarization and its consequences.

Still want to claim that there's no big problem?

I'll let Mr Grigg have the last words:

As someone clad in a State-issued costume, given a gun and a Taser and expansive discretion in using those implements of violence, Gardner clearly behaves he doesn't have to play any “games” with those who aren't part of his tribe.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" exclaimed Massey as Gardner, his face contorted with primal rage, threatened him with a Taser.

That's a useful question. A better one is this:

What the hell is wrong with the rest of us that we are willing to live under a system of the sort that rules us?