There's an aspect of this earlier post today that bears clarification. Billy Beck says, in the post I referenced: There is something terribly wrong with cops, now. I can directly recall a time in my life when something like this would not have happened because cops still retained at least vestiges of two things: 1) something of a capacity for reason, being able to sort out the dangers involved in this sort of thing, and 2) an element of courage requisite to facing those dangers with the responsibility that necessarily complimented their authority to wield deadly force. So I created a The Hate File, and let me just tell you, just like I had to tell a neighbor, the other day, who happened onto my blog. That section is reserved for actions, not thoughts and beliefs. Anyone is perfectly free to spew forth whatever flaming nonsense they want without a fear in the world of ending up there. No, that is reserved for actions that do harm to harmless people, either intentionally or through error, but always under the assertion of authority. I want to like and respect cops. It's not like I can't acknowledge a basic societal need for...