Guilty Until Proven Innocent--Our Police State

Innocent until proven guilty is the way the system was set up. It was a direct reaction against the British who assumed the colonials were all guilty of something; sedition, treason, bad judgement in being a colonial, bad taste, not being of the upper class. So we created a judicial system that was designed to protect the citizen against an unfair ruling power that could just clap people in jail with the assumption of guilt. The courts know this very well, the problem in this country is someone forgot to tell the police.

So now we have Professor Gates. I couldn't even imagine what being black is like in this country, but it is no surprise the cop arrested him with the suspicion he was up to no good. He was investigating a breaking and entering and knocked on the Professors door and demanded to see identification. "Why, because I'm a black man," Gates responded. Now I can tell you now he was doomed. He had talked back to the almighty police. Once you do that you are done. We have all been there. They will find something to pin on you.

The cop arrested Gates for disorderly conduct and now the Cambridge Police Department and the Mayor are running for cover. But not the cop. No. He was right. He's sure. The ridiculous amount of power police wield when making something like a routine traffic stop is absurd. I can only imagine what African Americans go through when they are pulled over. The assumption of guilt is implicit.

Gates was dead on when he said the cop was asking him for identification because he was black. That's what pissed the cop off and that's what ultimately got Gates arrested. He had dared to voice the truth about the cop's assumption of guilty until proven innocent. The officer has said he will not apologize. Surprise surprise. One thing about cops is they always assume they are right and the perpetrator is wrong. Even if they are innocent. It is a standard response.

Now if Gates had flipped out his identification and said yes sir and no sir and yes I live here sir then he would not have been arrested. Uncle Tomming is a safe bet. We all know this when the flashing red lights come on. RESPECT. You better gush with respect or that ticket will be a certainty. And that respect is nothing more than fear. Fear that regardless of weather you are right or wrong, the cop will nail you if you do not show the proper amount of groveling and be contrite and beg for forgiveness.

So Gates has a right to be mad as hell. We all do really. Next time you get pulled over for doing nothing, ask yourself if we live in a democracy or a police state? Then try being honest with the cop and tell him you really don't' believe he should have pulled you over. Then get out your wallet and get ready, because you will pay.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

Our Police State

If you have ever been pulled over by the police at night then you know that sickening feeling of dread and guilt if not outright fear. Yet, most of us, have done nothing wrong, but it is the lights swirling behind, the spot in the mirror, the police approaching from both sides on an angle in case you have a gun, that unnerves if not outright frightens us into a state of sweaty palms and a pounding heart. The modern police want this response--they want you to be robbed of your sense of personal safety and they want submission. The police state is all about fear.

We have protections, but out on the side of the road your rights can vanish in a second. It is really just you and the police and how you act depends on weather or not you get a ticket or take a ride in handcuffs to the police station. If you are subservient and polite then there is a fair chance you might get away with a warning. But if the police have determined you are not being respectful or if they have a preconceived notion of your guilt--then you are entering the hell of the iron boot that is the police state. African Americans and other minorities know this all too well.

I was pulled over the other night for having a headlight out. I told the officer I had tried to replace it before and it kept going out. He asked where I had come from. He asked what I did for a living. Suddenly, I was trying to explain, trying to justify my life to this man in a uniform. Why? Because we were at a crossroads. If he sniffed something then we were going to go into a bad place. If I answered the questions correctly then I could be on my way.

He asked if I had been drinking and I told him I had a beer a couple hours before. He then asked me to get out of the car. Intimidation is a dead end street. The best way to intimidate someone is to give them two options that lead to the same place. This officer said he didn't like people who lied to him. If I was lying then we were going to take a trip down to the station. If I told him the truth then I could avoid being arrested. So...how many beers did I really drink? I told him again that I only had only one. He shook his head. "That is not the answer I am looking for."

I stared at him and suddenly, I realized I would have to lie about how much I was drinking. Not lying to tell him I didn't drink much, but lying to tell him I drank enough to satisfy his suspicions. He said if I had to take the road side sobriety test and didn't pass then it was a DUI and handcuffs. I knew then there was no way I would pass the subjective test of different exercises. Not because I wasn't sober, but because he had determined that I should not pass.

So I lied and told him I had two beers. He asked if I smoked anything or did I take any drugs. No. Come on he said. I told you I don't want you to lie to me. I told him the beers were large Weiss beers. This seemed to satisfy him. He asked if I could call someone to give me a ride home. I called my wife and then he became very friendly and gave me a ticket for seventy five dollars for my headlight. I left my car on the side of the road.

The point here is this: it did not matter what I said. The cop had become judge, jury, and executioner in that moment and it was up to him what my fate would be. I had to lie to not be arrested. Sure I could have gotten a lawyer and paid thousands of dollars to prove I didn't drink more than one beer, but I would be the one out the money and time. A DUI can cost up to ten grand and even then your license can be suspended. So really, it came down to his decision over my fate. I found myself in the ludicrous position of having to lie that I drank more than I really did to satisfy his ego that he was right and I was wrong.

So when you get pulled over next time be ready. Because you are really on trial right there and you better have the right answers. Even if you have to lie.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/

Three in the Grave-The Right To Bear Arms

The Second Amendment. The right to bear arms. Ok. I get it. The British, roving bears, dinner, your neighbor who lost his mind from the mind numbing isolation of seventeenth century America. The Indians. Cant' forget them. Anybody who even thinks of coming on our farm, our land, in our door. DO NOT TREAD ON ME OR I WILL BLOW YOU AWAY. Ain't no sheriff. Ain't no police. Just us in this vast Louisiana Purchase and I think I will go further west to where the Pacific rims the shore and you better believe I need guns and lots of them. The Spanish. Texans. Mexicans. You name it they were there and nobody was very friendly. Then a funny thing happened, in the year of our Lord 1900, they declared the frontier closed.

We had just about exterminated the Indians. Shot most of the bears. Banished the Mexicans, the British, the Spaniards. We gave Texas to the Texacans. Now there are cops. Sheriffs. GMEN. Towns and roads and rules and regulations and highways and planes and trucks and automobiles. Not only is the frontier closed but it is jammed with people now. Three hundred and fifty million by the last count. America has filled up.

Year of our Lord 2009. We consistently mow each other down. We do it with assault weapons, handguns, machine guns, pistols, Winchesters, glocks, AK47s and an occasional grenade launcher. I've shot just about every weapon under the son. Magnums really kick but you can't hit anything. The Colt 45 is a really cool pistol but again it is very hard to hit the target. The Winchester, very cool rifle. Accurate and short and very Wild West. AK47 is amazing the way it can puncture a 55 gallon drum. Shotguns are a blast to knock the limbs of trees off. Thirty eights and twenty twos. So to all of you NRA devotees I am not someone who doesn't know his way around guns. I go shooting with retired Chicago cops in the Boundary Waters and these guys are not just playing around. I use guns that have three in the grave, four in the grave, five in the grave. For all you Rambo wantabes that is real people gunned down by cops in Chicago. They killed lots of bad guys with these weapons. And they always say with some reverence, "be careful, I got three in the grave with that one"

But here's the thing. They need their guns. Again, I get it. They are cops. But as far as I know after that, we are out of enemies--except for each other. The Founding Fathers passed the second amendment because WE NEEDED IT. We did not want the British to come back and try and colonize us again. And it worked! But here's the deal, those days are OVER. Oh I need my gun to protect me against the government. Please. Your gun will do nothing if it comes to that. They will simply zap you with a drone in your fortified suburban home. You will never know what vaporized you as you sit clutching your assault weapon.

The fact is it's over. We live in the twenty first century and the only thing the second amendment is doing is allowing every psycho and his mother to mow down the last guy who cut him off in the parking lot. Or the guys who have watched way too much American television and figure it is better to go out in a hail of bodies then the ignominious death of obscurity. That's it. Hey, to you ranchers out in the hinterlands, I understand. But that is what...one percent of the population. It is no longer about gun control, it is about doing what is good for the majority. You really don't want your neighbor who's not a cop, saying, " hey Bill, be careful with that one, I got three in the grave."

http://www.billhazelgrove.com