Police killings

Our country,the USA, is in decline.Most of us see that.Nowhere is it more apparent than in our police departments.We used to pride ourselves on fairness and sympathy and justice for all;it's our pledge.But our police departments don't practice in accordance with that pledge.At least I don't see it.I don't think that we would have the prevalence of police attacks,shootings,killings if it were so.

Yes,there is more news coverage,more publicity,but,I think,deservedly so.In the good old days,police didn't kill;they just didn't.If there wasn't readily demonstrable self defense,there was no shooting.I can see that that had to change some;change is inevitable.But it didn't have to be all change for the bad.The police are more vulnerable now,primarily because of our obsession with guns(another example of decline),and it seems that they have become less sensitive because of that;who knows?All that I know is that there has been an increase in questionable and unjustifiable killings.It seems that some police look for a reason to use force,to shoot.It seems that some just want to shoot.There are just too many killings where it doesn't appear that self defense is apparent,where fear of life was an issue

But you wouldn't know it by reading a police report...or by convictions of police involved.A killing is almost always because of life endangerment and justifiable.That is probably the biggest problem-accountability;no one accountable;no one responsible;in other words:cover-up.There is rarely a conviction or even a charge or indictment;even when guilt is almost obvious.It's not right and one of the reasons that I label the police as a symptom of our decline.

This brings me to the recently well publicized police killings:Garner and Brown.The Garner case was video-taped,so you wouldn't think that it would be hard to assess.It isn't,if done without an agenda,but it seems that when publicity is involved,everyone has an agenda.Suddenly, things change.Terms are redefined.Everything seems to be distorted.What seemed simple became complicated.What struck me most,was the police defenders.They denied what was happening as it was happening.Mild resistance and confusion became resisting arrest and resisting arrest resulted in self defense.I couldn't believe it.I tried to imagine a description without a video after listening to the distortions with a video and I realized that I couldn't.It would bear no resemblance.The Brown case had no video;therefore, couldn't be assessed with any accuracy.

I watched and listened to the Brown case right from the beginning and I must say that the grand jury account isn't anything close to what my memory and observation projected.Early accounts of what happened were also nothing like the grand jury transcript account.I watched many media accounts and analyses day to day and from many different sources.I think that I have a pretty good idea of what happened in general and a better than fair idea of particulars.My ideas are far removed from police accounts.I can see how that can be after observing the way that the Garner case was distorted.

Early witnesses and early police accounts didn't differ greatly,but by the time that the grand jury convened,things had evidently changed drastically.Accounts changed so that the incident wasn't even recognizable.Early reports all had Brown with his hands up.There was no mention of charging the officer.There was no report of an in-car confrontation.The officer reputedly tried to grab Brown when he interfered with Wilson opening his car door.The shooting took place as Brown was retreating.There was no evidence of life endangerment.There was no disagreement until the grand jury release of the police account.Witnesses  suddenly appeared that had Brown charging the officer.Wilson's account which didn't evolve until much after the incident differed 180 degrees from early accounts.I followed the case and it wasn't the case that I followed.It appears to me that a defense case was fabricated and evidence and witnesses  created to fit that case.There was no video,unfortunately.If there had been ,I'm pretty certain that different results would have been revealed,Actually,after the Garner case I'm sure of that.

Campaign Reform-again

The number one political issue should be campaign finance reform.In order to save our democracy,we must limit campaign spending and the financing must be made public.There can be no monetary advantage for any candidate.No one should be deterred from running for public office because of lack of campaign funds.Not one minute of an elected officials time should be spent on raising campaign funds.We need campaign reform now.