The Chris Moeller Archives

What's goin' on?

Things are sure changing in law enforcement. I got pulled over for speeding Sunday night in Fairfield, IA, returning home from the weekend Cards' games.
The Fairfield city officer approached the vehicle, and asked me if I knew why I was being pulled over. Speed, I guessed. I had my vehicle registration and insurance certificate ready to hand over with my license, and the officer looked at those items briefly, but he seemed more concerned with identification. He asked where we had been, and then quizzed me on the outcome of the day's ballgame. He asked each of my two passengers for their IDs and then took the three drivers licenses back to the squad car, handing back my registration and insurance card. This seemed very odd. I knew it meant that I would not be getting a ticket, but I was alarmed.

Why does the officer need to see the IDs of two men who weren't driving? Is he even allowed to do that? What sort of personal information does he have access to in his car? How do I find these answers?
It may have been a random check for illegal immigrants. We were a half hour's drive to Ottumwa, a city with a large Hispanic population working in the local meat-packing plant. I felt very violated. He was surely checking for any outstanding warrants (of which I have none.) But what if I had been the chapter president of an organization called "Iowans for Peace." I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that, under the Patriot Act, he could attain that sort of "shared" information from the FBI right there at the scene of the traffic stop. What recourse would I have if this officer just wanted to fuck with me?

This is what African-Americans are always talking about. You can be pulled over in violation of a law everyone is guilty of breaking. Enforcement of speeding is utterly capricious in this land, considering that a "speed maximum" posting is treated universally as a "speed minimum." And a police officer can make your life hell simply for sport on the basis of that initial charge. The whole episode made me very conscious of the potential for abuse in law enforcement. It reminded me that, as a citizenry, we should always keep that authoritarian power on a short leash.

---
Since September 11th, 2001, our federal government has frightened the American public into accepting draconian restrictions on their individual freedom, all to cover up our politicians' own failures on the job. Call me cynical, but hasn't it been firmly established that American intelligence already had enough authority to detect and stop the hijackers before the attacks on 9/11, even without a Patriot Act. The CIA report read "Osama bin Laden determined to attack," if I'm remembering correctly. Yet, somehow, these "blameless" politicians are still being permitted to deny our individual privacy, squash political dissent, and push radical immigration restrictions, even upon our long-time, peace-loving neighbors.

Yesterday, Iowa's radical right-wing Congressman Steve King proposed that a 10 foot high chain link fence topped with razor wire be built between the US and Mexico, stretching 2,000 miles and costing $680 million. King explained Monday that he had just returned from China. There, he had admired the Great Wall, but was not yet ready to propose a full-scale wall to separate the US and Mexico. I guess that should be of some comfort, since that wall worked out so well for the Chinese, keeping them isolated from the Western Enlightenment for centuries. But then, that prospect would probably appeal to a philistine and a war-monger like King.

I'm in a state of perpetual amazement that a group of people professing to be so patriotic could have so little confidence in democracy's elasticity and endurance. They're nothing but scared little children.
Cowards.

And cowards we don't need.

---

The "War on Terror" continues to be a boon for corporate America. The Metro Transportation Authority in New York City on Tuesday awarded a $212 million contract to defense contractor Lockheed Martin to beef up subway security with video cameras, motion sensors, and cellphone service. (A nationwide surveillance system should be just around the corner.)

Some of the more disgusting displays of corporate greed and exploitation came in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11th attacks. Lockheed was among a group of contractors that hovered over Washington and lobbied for major increases in defense spending, ultimately succeeding in pushing the military budget to half of the entire federal discretionary budget. The insurance industry pushed for caps on payments stemming from the tragedy. The airlines scored $5 billion in cash from Congress, and another $10 billion in loan guarantees to solidify the industry and improve security, even after their leaders had rejected citizen action safety proposals for years, including measures that would have bolstered cockpit doors and latches. The drug companies even stuck their noses into the trough, lobbying for patent extensions under the cover of preparing for anthrax and smallpox threats. (Source on this paragraph: Ralph Nader, "Crashing the Party.")
Our foreign and domestic policy continues to be funded by these companies' direct contributions under a system of legalized bribery.

"They [the corporations] are counting on your patriotism to distract you from their plunder," journalist Bill Moyers has written, "They're counting on you to stand at attention with your hand over your heart, pledging allegiance to the flag, while they pick your pocket."

posted by CM @ 9:36 PM