Are They Cops or Military?

This was a timely article to me: Open thread for night owls: America's police are looking more and more like the military

I'm reading Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces by Radley Balko and this is definitely something that worries me. Even as a UMC White woman, I'm aware of just how wrong a police encounter can go and it's worse for minorities, especially African-American men and boys. So why are we OK with giving police even more power and arming them like soldiers? Are we really so afraid of terrorists and other boogeymen that we'll allow the police to arm themselves to the teeth? Balko makes a good point when he says allowing the police to arm themselves like soldiers just increased their "us versus them" mentality. As the saying goes, if all you have is a hammer then everything starts to look like a nail. I think there are good cops out there but they're immersed in a culture that expects, and finds, violence.

Anyone who's watched prime time  TV has seen countless arrests. Complete fiction! If arrested or even questioned, get a lawyer and don't say a thing until you have counsel.

Tha Australians Are Doing It Right!

So when the hell will the United States get it in gear and actually do something meaningful to address the issue of sexual assault in the military?

Sunday Bloody Sunday, Still Relevant Today

U2 performs special version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" with new verse - can you hear it? bit.ly/11bGYsi
— ONE (@ONECampaign) June 13, 2013

Listen closely, there's a new line added to this classic song. It doesn't matter if you're asking about the Troubles in Northern Ireland or violence in the Middle East, hunger and poverty in Africa or in the United States, hatred and injustice world-wide how long must this go on is a universal question.

Join Me For Today's Episode of "No Shit, Ya Think?"

Excuse me while I go bang my head on my desk.

Army chief of staff on sexual assault: 'Maybe we have a bigger problem than I imagined.' You think?

The light bulb dawns and a clue descends on the head of General Ray Odierno;

“The amount of reports that are now coming out—people willing to go public, which I think is a good thing—has brought this to a head for me,” he told reporters at Army’s sixth annual Sexual Harassment/Assault Prevention summit at Joint Base Andrews, Md. “Maybe we have a bigger problem than I imagined.*”

That only took 26,000 anonymous reports of sexual assaults to the U.S. Military in the last year. 

* Emphasis mine.

Just Breaks My Heart

There is no way you can read this and not want to weep for the parents.

After Newtown shooting, mourning parents enter into the lonely quiet.

How do you explain to parents and siblings and friends and teachers and neighbors what happened to these children? How can you read this and then turn around and talk about the "slippery slope" of gun control? I just don't understand. 

And Newtown isn't the worst, it's only the latest. As of today, there are 4,857* deaths by firearms in this country since Newtown. 96 children, including the 26 killed in Newtown. 256 teens killed since Newtown. 4,439 adults killed. This is stupid. This is immoral. And this is wrong. There is something wrong with a this country that we can stand by and look at the number of people dead from firearms and then say there's nothing that can be done.

* Numbers taken from Slate's Gun Death Tally

Reading List June 3, 2013

As two prominent GOP women fade, a question of how to woo female voters
I get a little sarcastic reading articles like this (nooo, really?!). I can't help but think this is another form of pink-washing (ie slap some pink paint on it can call it Made for Women). If they wanted to really woo female voters, how about addressing issues that women think are important? And while we're on that subject, women make up 50.8% of the United States population, at what point do things like healthcare and reproductive rights stop being Women's Issues and become Human Issues?

Where right meets left on freedom of the press.
YES! It is possible for the political left and right to agree.

House of Death
I lost my Aunt to cancer 14 years ago and I still remember the wonderful hospice nurses who took care of her - and us - at the end of her life. I would like to see hospice made available for more people and their families to use.

'Stand Your Ground' Laws To Be Scrutinized For Racial Bias By Civil Rights Commission
Good. Now can we do something about George Zimmerman's lawyers pissing in the jury pool?

Patrick Stewart Is My Hero

Violence against women is still a global crisis that effects us all (and for the record, I include transgender women) and there are days it doesn't seem like it will ever end. So when I saw the clip of Patrick Stewart's responding to a fan about domestic violence, it brought tears to my eyes. I was so incredibly moved.

Watch Patrick Stewart's Moving Response to a Fan About the Domestic Violence His Mother Endured, and Why He Works to Prevent It

There are several things I appreciate from Patrick Stewart's speech. I'm glad he acknowledges his father's PTSD resulting from his military service. PTSD is a very real thing and with modern warfare, something we will continue to see more and more. Closed head injuries are on the rise, which often result in emotional and behavioral changes. We need better methods of treatment in place to take care of our service-men and -women. That being the case, Stewart makes it extremely clear that violence is still never, ever the answer. It's just not. He said what cannot be said enough, there is nothing his mother did that made the abuse acceptable. The last thing, and something I'm only now starting to hear and I'm grateful for it, is the power to stop violence against women is not only in the hands of women. It's in the hands of the men who commit that act of violence and in the hands of men who can speak up, disavow acts of violence and change the culture. Women do not deserve violence at the hands of a partner or loved one. Men have the power to step up, come together and stop the cycle of violence. It's time to stop making violence against issue a Woman's Issue and make it a Human Issue.

Sir Patrick Stewart Calls On ‘One Million Men’ To End Violence Against Women