Angry New Yorker

Monday, April 06, 2009
 
Danger, Will Robinson!! [h/t David Freddoso in NRO's Corner]

Behold the death of the American experiment. For if this idiot's thinking because further pervasive, as it appears to be, there is no end but disaster, disunity and division. As Freddoso, notes "Cook County Board President Todd Stroger recently explained cigarette tax increases in an unexpectedly candid radio interview.

Host John Williams asked: Isn't it unfair to keep targeting smokers with tax increases?

"That is the American way," Stroger replied. "And the way that it's generally done is, you find some group that's small enough where they can't beat you up, and you tax them and you tell everybody else, 'See? We didn't tax you.' "

And it's our experience that the local and state level are following suit. Of course, this is President Obama's bedrock philosophy too in his "share the wealth" program. There's fewer [rich, producers, energy companies, etc.] than poor voters, ergo, tax, tax, tax Group A to get votes of the poorer. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. (At least until your hair falls out completely).



 
From "protect and serve" to "wait and report"

The recent upstate Binghamton shootings revealed a disturbing trend in police operations (which isn't just limited to the U.S. as Mark Steyn has noted) where police in responding to 911 "emergency" calls arrive and then... wait. But it highlights that in a real emergency you're on your own - and should plan and react accordingly. Jack Baeur isn't coming to come bursting through the window at the 11th hour to save the day.

As "Jack Dunphy" notes in The Corner:
Even if the gunfire had ceased, the people already wounded deserved an all-out effort to provide them with medical care as quickly as possible. I expect we’ll be learning that some of the victims bled to death while waiting for the help that came too late. Knowing how police departments function as I do, I have no doubt that there were officers ready and willing to enter the building within minutes but were prevented from doing so by superiors who, in ordinary circumstances, make no decisions weightier than selecting which desk tray to place a piece of paper in. These people had to be prodded from their desks when the trouble started, and their presence at the scene merely clogged up the decision-making process.





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