Police as Thugs

The most recent graduation class of the Idaho Police Officers Standards and Training class had as their graduation motto "Don't suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it". Not only is this disrespectful of all the service people who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder but is a symptom of an even bigger problem for society. The police are more and more acting as if they are a large very organized street gang. They are becoming thugs.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is caused by seeing or being a victim of violence or some other atrocity. The members of this class don't want to see themselves as victims of stress but the inflicter of the pain or stress. I can think of no more terrifying police officer to meet in any situation than one of these thugs. This mind set shows a total lack of self control or respect for the very ideals and laws that all police officers are sworn to uphold.
The people of the United States have given up many rights to be protected by law and the police as the sworn upholders of those laws. We have every right to expect firm but respectful enforcement of those laws. Encounters with the police are rarely because something positive has happening in your life. While the officers have very little control of the circumstances of the reason for the contact they do have control over the outcome. If the officer is going into the contact with the mind set of being an inflicter of PTSD we know that the contact will be less than respectful or helpful for the citizen.
What surprises me the most is that these officers were allowed to graduate and that the POST Administration seemed to know nothing about this motto that was printed in the program for the graduating class. These officers need to go back into training and learn that they are the upholders of the law. They are not the LAW. They need to be re-screened to see if they are mentally fit to be officers. They need to spend time at the VA working with and talking to victims of PTSD. We need to ask some very tough questions of our police chiefs and elected sheriffs to make sure that this is not the mind set of their departments. We need to demand that our city and county officials are setting standards that preclude that people like these are ever hired and are identified in present employees and steps taken to correct their attitudes about law enforcement and their role in it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I know that this is a little late but better late than never. I had to work Christmas Eve but I had Christmas day off. I will have to work both New Years Eve and New Years Day. New Years Eve will be very busy. Lots of drinking and fights. I'm sure that there will be several overdose/suicide attempts too. The worst are the auto accidents and if the weather is bad well it will be a very busy night.
There was one funny incident on Christmas Eve. There was a fire at one of the Boise City Fire Stations. It seems that they were cooking tater tots and went on a call and the oven didn't turn off. When they returned to the station there was smoke all through the kitchen and some of the cabinets were on fire. Not a lot of real damage but lots of embarrassed faces.
So I hope that everybody has a nice and safe New Years and may 2008 be better than 2007.

Why all this Worry about Experience

All the talk about experience in the presidential run has me wondering just what they mean. None of the candidates have been president so as I see it none of them has experience. When a job description in the newspaper asks that the applicant have experience they don't mean being married to someone that has done the job. I also don't think that means having a job that is really important but not quite the same thing. Lets face it the only people who have experience are the present and former presidents.
Instead of all the talk about experience I'd rather hear talk about vision, specific plans for IRS reform, saving Social Security and health care. How do they plan to wind down Iraq and rebuild America's standing in the world. What are their thoughts on the re-emergence if the Russian Bear. How are we going to deal with North Korea. What about the environment, global warming and Kyoto. How do they plan to help get like minded individuals elected into the Senate and House of Representatives because lets face it the 51% Senate and almost equally slim majority in the House just don't work. As long as a veto is sustainable or a filibuster unstoppable being president really is not that important.
For the last several presidents the margins in the Congress have meant that even though you are in the majority if you don't have the votes to stop a filibuster or over ride a veto. So the candidates for both sides need to be able to get Senators and Representatives voted in that are of their party and of the same mind set as the presidential candidate. The presidency really is just a bully pulpit that needs 60% majorities to get any of the bully ideas made into law. So lets hear less about experience and more about ideas and plans for the future.

American Service Men and Women aren't Gladiators

The Grayson County Kentucky News-Gazette reported that on a recent campaign swing Senator Mitch McConnell [Republican of Kentucky] while speaking about Iraq and the losses that have occurred there said, "Nobody is happy about losing lives, but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers". I can think of no more disrespectful comment about our brave fighting men and women that has been uttered by anyone on either side of the isle about Iraq and the war on terror. To somehow make out that the deaths of these men and women are not as tragic or needless just because they weren't drafted is the most callous statement made by any Republican including the President. Believe me the deaths of the " All Volunteer Army" in Iraq and Afghanistan are felt just as much by the families as those of the drafted Army in Vietnam, Korea and World War 2.
Senator McConnell, the senate minority leader and mouth organ of the President, shows that the Republican Party just doesn't get it. If this is compassionate conservatism then count me out. If this is family values as practiced by the Republicans then again count me out. If this is how Evangelical Christians view those people who defend their freedoms then count me gladly as an agnostic. Now I know that if given the chance there are any number of Democrats that are willing to make an equally repugnant comment but it is the Republicans that are decrying anyone who speaks out or suggests a different course. So where are the cries for Senator McConnell to step aside. Why isn't Senator McConnell being striped of his leadership roles . Why isn't Senator McConnell being labeled as anti American and called a supporter of terrorism.
What Senator McConnell and all the Republicans and Democrats have overlooked is that as the political leaders in the Congress it is their job to plan and use our military, whether it is a draftee military or volunteer military, in a manner that makes sure they are not wasted needlessly by a Commander-in-Chief in ill planned and thought out schemes and adventures. Please Senator McConnell get down on your knees and apologize to all those families that have ever lost a family member in the military in war. Rediscover your task as a counter to these schemes and adventures of the Administration and use the military as means to further the defense of the United States and not as a way for the President to play at being a World Leader. We do have a professional military but that does not mean that they are mercenaries or gladiators to be thrown away needlessly.

Ringtones and Phones

I was out having breakfast this morning and while waiting for my food I heard a snippet of a Country/Western song. It was loud and it was obnoxious and it was followed by, "I don't recognize that number. I wonder who it is. Hello..Oh hi..." In fact the restaurant was a loud mixture of Rap songs, Classical Overtures and ringing bells. I don't really mind people expressing their individuality but do they have to be so loud about it.
It wasn't all that long ago that if you saw someone seemingly talking to themselves you thought, or your mother told you to, stay away because that person is crazy. Now they are most likely talking on a Bluetooth Blackberry Razor whatever. We all complain about all the demands on our time and that we never have anytime for ourselves. Well, turn off your cell phone, leave the pager at home and put the Blackberry in your briefcase and leave it there. Isn't it interesting that only a few years ago movie theaters asked you take crying children out of the theater now they ask you to turn off your iPod, cell phone and pager. Do we really need to be that accessible all the time.
I don't want to sound like some old curmudgeon but my 5 year old grandson has a Motorola Razor phone with a 2 mega pixel camera. His mother gave it to him so he could call just in case. So now a 9 am on Saturday the phone rings and this little voice says "grandma can we talk. I just had a scary dream". Cute, I know, but just what are we setting our kids up for in the future. We already have the highest heart attack risks, cancer risks, diabetes risks and mental health issues of any of the industrialized nations. Are we doing our kids any favors by getting them plugged in so early in life.

First Thoughts

I have never done anything like this before and am not sure just what to expect. If you are looking for profound thoughts this is not the place for you. My ramblings are more of a puddle of consciousness thing. My world view is shaped by the life I have lead. I'm 55 the father of 2 grown sons and the the grandfather of three girls and one boy. I have been a fireman, a warehouse worker in the electronics industry, I have worked in construction and have been a pastry chef/baker in restaurants and hotels. I have been a 911 dispatcher for the last 24 years dispatching Fire and EMS. All this has shaped my view of the world and while I may sound like a liberal on occasion I have always thought I was a conservative. Well, at least until the Bush's came along with compassionate conservatism now I'm not so sure I want to be a conservative anymore.
I have always been a news junkie and have loved to follow politics. Over the years though things have changed and politics has become more polarized and the total adherance to the party line has sucked much of my enjoyment out of the process. It has not helped that the last two presidents are such polarizing personalities either. I was looking forward to this election cycle but as of now it doesn't look as if we the people are going to get any better choices than we have in the past.
My oldest son is in the Idaho Air National Guard and has been deployed to the Middle East twice since September 11 2001. He is going again in January 2008, so I have a selfish reason to see the war and tensions in the Middle East resolved. I'm not sure what the answers are but I don't see our presence there as being all that helpful in easing the tensions. I do believe that there needs to be a more political answer rather than a military only solution.