I'm just beginning to think about this issue based on some anecdotes that I've heard recently. I'm collecting some links here to educate myself and facilitate discussion.

Does any one have any other sites that would be helpful? Has anyone had experience with the OPD that would have benefited by a citizen review?

Here's Seattle's Police Chief talking about citizen oversight (thanks Sarah):

But I'm not for the war. And being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken — and they're wussy by definition. It's as if the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn't to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw a parade afterward.

I actually agree with his sentiment. If you're against armed conflict there's absolutely no way you can support the people pulling the trigger. You might respect the person, as mentioned earlier in Stein's piece but, you can't respect what they're doing. He does raise another good point about joining the US military, regardless if it's for Iraq or not.

But when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you're not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse. Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it's Vietnam.

First of all, it's factually incorrect to say Kosovo was "ethnic genocide." I realize this is probably more about technical terminology for some people but Kosovo was not genocide. It's as if you wrote an article saying a person who went on trial for the death of an individual and was convicted of manslaughter was convicted of murder. Sure, in the end someone is dead but manslaughter and murder are two very different legal terms.

Second, he's right. When you sign up for the military, regardless if we go into Haiti, Kosovo, Somolia, or Iraq, the US is still acting as a global force. Whether you agree or disagree with a conflict the bottom line is, in the end, you're going to a foreign country and are going to end up shooting foreign people, whether they want you there or not.

When a parent arrives to pick up their child at one of three grade schools in the Freehold Borough School District, they'll need to look into a camera that will take a digital image of their iris. That photo will establish positive identification to gain entrance into the school.

Funding for the project, more than $369,000, was made possibly by a school safety grant through the National Institute of Justice, a research branch of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Continued

I would keep an eye on who funded the project and where it is being used. Unreasonable to think the government might use this technology in other public space? Or if the private sector decided to adopt the technology to enter into a mall? Stadiums? The possibilities are certainly endless.

Brendan Williams gets down to brass tacks. From the Olympian:

A pair of Democrats propose to end funding for a Lewis County project included in last year’s massive gasoline-tax financed package — because the rail line in question has already been built.

Reps. Geoff Simpson of Covington and Brendan Williams of Olympia want to pull $3 million in tax dollars that are marked to buy a short rail line from TransAlta, a Canadian-based energy company with a power plant near Centralia.

“I think it’s ridiculous for the state to reimburse a multinational energy conglomerate for an expense that it’s already incurred,

MEETING TO PLAN MARCH ANTIWAR ACTIVITIES 6:00 - 7:00pm

OMJP invites people from different groups (Green Party, VFP, ORSCP, FOR) to help plan several activities around the third anniversary of the start of the war:

1. Iraq War Forum in Lakewood or Lacey, early March
2. Community Teach-In and kids' activities on March 19 at the Capitol Theater
3. Rally at the Capitol Building on March 20

REGULAR OMJP MEETING 7:00 - 9:00pm

1. Introductions
2. Announcements
3. Discussion about community response to hate groups -- 45 min
4. Committee reports
5. Endorsement decisions

Please bring other items to the meeting.

It's winter, you need something to do, and you know some of your closets are a tad disorganized and overstuffed. Clean out your closets and donate winter clothing, sleeping bags, blankets, and other good stuff to those in need.

Where to donate

While you are in those closets, drag out unwanted musical instruments too.

A guy in Wales has figured out a mathematical formula that he says proves that today (though in the BBC article they say that Monday is the 24th and now I am confused) is peak misery day.

• 1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA. Where:
• W: Weather
• D: Debt
• d: Money due in January pay
• T: Time since Christmas
• Q: Time since failed quit attempt
• M: General motivational levels
• NA: The need to take action

Me, I just want to know what day it is.