The Drug War in Action

[CSpec]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbwSwvUaRqc&feature=player_embedded

Does this make any sense to any of you? I'll quote the blog I got it from:

"This is the blunt-end result of all the war imagery and militaristic rhetoric politicians have been spewing for the last 30 years—cops dressed like soldiers, barreling through the front door middle of the night, slaughtering the family pets, filling the house with bullets in the presence of children, then having the audacity to charge the parents with endangering their own kid. There are 100-150 of these raids every day in America, the vast, vast majority like this one, to serve a warrant for a consensual crime. But they did prevent Jonathan Whitworth from smoking the pot they found in his possession. So I guess this mission was a success."

[SAmadei]

This just makes me ill. I don't smoke it or advocate it, but I don't care if he had 30 tons of weed in the house, this is simple abuse of power.

Wheres the ASPCA? We just routinely shoot dogs on warrant servings now? Oh, yeah, most of the ASPCA functions seem to be privatized now, to people who want to take your pet and put them down for money.

[Drew Dowdell]

I saw this earlier today and I'm appalled by it. The officers who did this should be removed from the force, all charges dropped, and reparations made to the family.

I think weed (and a few other drugs) should be decriminalized.

[CSpec]

I don't blame the officers; I'm sure they trained and ordered to act exactly like they did. It's the result of the progressively more oppressive and futile effort by our politicians to appear tough on crime and destroy civil liberties.

[loki]

I don't blame the officers; I'm sure they trained and ordered to act exactly like they did. It's the result of the progressively more oppressive and futile effort by our politicians to appear tough on crime and destroy civil liberties.

not blaming the officers.... they acted. sadly liek the soldiers in "collateral murder" it's the lawmakers fault for pushing them into those situations, but it's still the officers' duty to follow through or reject the assignment.

the law is supposed to protect people and their property, this is the opposite of that.

[Intrepidation]

That's despicable, opening fire and killing pets in front of a child. The man who was arrested obviously wasn't a terrorist or serial killer, that overly excessive. Being in possession of drugs is one thing, and he certainly should have been arrested for it, but not like that.

So we can waste resources on a man who isn't packing heat and killing pets, but can't send more than one officer out to patrol high drug trafficking areas where they SHOOT at the officers and helicopters.

[CSpec]

I'll quote one of my favorite bloggers:

"This is our nation's drug enforcement in a nutshell. We started out by banning the things. And people kept taking them. So we made the punishments more draconian. But people kept selling them. So we pushed the markets deep into black market territory, and got the predictable violence . . . and then we upped our game, turning drug squads into quasi-paramilitary raiders. Somewhere along the way, we got so focused on enforcing the law that we lost sight of the purpose of the law, which is to make life in America better."

[CSpec]

[Drew Dowdell]

Please keep the politics and political name calling out of this or else the whole thread gets moved or closed

[Sixty8panther]

Agreed.... it's 2010, let's get real & stop the "war on drugs" bull-crap rhetoric.

This IS appalling, there are WAY bigger fish to fry!

[Drew Dowdell]

McArdle fumes:

This is our nation's drug enforcement in a nutshell. We started out by banning the things. And people kept taking them. So we made the punishments more draconian. But people kept selling them. So we pushed the markets deep into black market territory, and got the predictable violence . . . and then we upped our game, turning drug squads into quasi-paramilitary raiders. Somewhere along the way, we got so focused on enforcing the law that we lost sight of the purpose of the law, which is to make life in America

better

.

I don't know how anyone can watch that video, and think to themselves, "Yes, this is definitely worth it to rid the world of the scourge of excess pizza consumption and dopey, giggly conversations about cartoons." Short of multiple homicide, I'm having trouble coming up with

anything

that justifies that kind of police action. And you know, I doubt the police could either. But they weren't busy trying to figure out if they were maximizing the welfare of their larger society. They were, in that most terrifying of phrases, just doing their jobs.

And in the end, that is our shame, not theirs.

[daves87rs]

Still just sucks....

[Camino LS6]

SWAT is nothing but the American Gestapo, an awful reaction to an even more awful set of policies out of step with reality.

I agree with all above who are shocked and disgusted by this travesty.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Too bad the dog didn't get to rip some of their faces off before it was shot.

And yes, I AM blaming the cops. It's bull$h! to go into a residence wearing enough armor to stop a bullet and shoot a dog that isn't even barking at you. What happened was some testosterone fueled jack off was "ready for war" and shot the damn dog because he knew it was excusable and because it was an easy target. 'Cause we all know that 'nothin's cooler than action in the field'

I'd be LIVID if they shot my dog, and I'd be even more livid if they shot it in front of a child. Hell, I'd probably be so livid that they'd have to shoot me when I found out that they shot my dog. Dogs are the most loyal souls in this realm, and you don't attack my pack without shedding some blood in return.