September 19, 2007

Whew, Monday's blog took a lot out of me, I needed to take yesterday off from blogging! It seems many of you have discovered that the Blackwater website is back online. I guess they had to take it down for a day to make sure that nothing was presented that could incriminate the company in anyway. How many of you looked at employment opportunities or training? I know I did! Think, to carry high-tech weaponry and be above the law, who wouldn't?! Allow me to attempt to connect some dots here. In this blog on August 12, 2007, it was reported that weapons were finding their way into Iraq through "shady" channels that were discovered by Italian anti-mafia agency. I wouldn't be surprised if the source of these weapons were the private security companies in Iraq in the employ of the United States.

Ah, the mind of a teenager. It never fails. Today, second period teachers were asked distribute a survey to their classes for yearbook. These surveys are used by yearbook when they want to find students to interview for small inserts on the pages throughout the book. Amazingly, the students were more focused today while filling out the survey than on our review of the structure of the Constitution. I guess if I were a teenager I would be more interested in getting multiple pictures in the yearbook than something I could find in the textbook.

Today's Headlines:

Volunteers to Help Philadelphia Police Keep Peace (NPR.org)
Philadelphia Police Commissioner, Sylvester Johnson is responding to requests from residents of the city to take back the streets. Many citizens are asking to volunteer to take to the streets in large groups to act as a deterrent to the violence that plagues their hometown. Johnson is asking for some 10,000 volunteers to gain training in non-violent patrolling. The groups are to be strictly peaceful, and not vigilante groups. Weapons will not be part of this program. I, for one, am skeptical. These are angry citizens who are seeing their families be destroyed by criminal violence and drug abuse/addiction. Who could blame them for wanting revenge on the groups or people responsible for their troubles? Such an organization could easily devolve into vigilantism. Although the groups are not to be trained in weapons or issued weapons, how will the city account for those citizens who already own their own weapons and will want to carry them for protection on the night streets? Or, how will the city protect against the groups being infiltrated by the gang organizations that the City Watch is attempting to thwart? Although this is a valiant effort, it seems too difficult to safely manage.

Philly Seeks 10,000 Men to Guard Streets (Philly.com)