Martial law a 'courtesy'

There has been much debate since 9/11 over the use of military troops to act as police, patrolling on American soil. From the brutality of the undeclared martial law in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, to sobriety checkpoints on public highways manned by U.S. Marines.

Now in Columbus, Georgia, military personnel will begin a part-time garrison of public streets wearing armbands that read "Courtesy Patrol." This comes in the wake of a fight where five soldiers beat up an ex-soldier, and in another incident a man shot up a restaurant, killing a person. The latter incident appears to have no connection to the military though. So what are these patrolling troops really there for?

On the one hand, it might be a good idea to have a military officer on hand to order unruly drunk soldiers back to base. As the Mayor of Columbus states in the video below, you can't just arrest someone for being drunk. Well yes, as a matter of fact you can if they are publicly intoxicated for one thing. For another, if their intoxication is creating any sort of disturbance, the police can also slap on a disorderly conduct charge.

But let's just say for the sake of argument, and to cut through a lot of red tape, it does not sound entirely unreasonable that a few Army officers might be on hand to send some drunken unruly soldiers back to base before things get out of hand, and in order to avoid all sorts of sticky legal matters and petty arrests of soldiers. Seems to me that in an Army town, they would already have something like this in place, with a liaison officer between the local PD and the MP's.

So why a uniformed patrol then by military troops on public streets? Over a single bar brawl? As I already pointed out, the other shooting incident didn't even have anything to do with the military, so why are they even bringing it up in this video?

The other unsettling part of the video is where they parade out that scared little pea-brained woman saying it's not enough, that they are going to have to increase security. That she is afraid to walk alone. Boy, talk about some propaganda, softening up the people to make them more malleable to the idea of even more military patrols.

And that is what these things are always about. The slippery slope. Moving along the goalposts, inch by inch, ever closer to an outright totalitarian fascist police state. And of course, the best way to do that is by selling fear. If the people are afraid, they will continue to demand more patrols, more invasions of privacy, more shredding of the remnants of our Constitution and everyth8ing it ever menat to be an American in the first place.

One, wakka, two, wakka, three, wakka, what are wee fighting for? Don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop Afghanistan. And it's five six seven open up the Pearly Gates. Ain't no time to wonder why, whoopeee! we're all gonna die!