"Don't suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it."

That's what graduates of Idaho's Police Officer Standards and Training Academy (POST) were encouraged to do by the slogan on their graduation program.

HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes were a clever way to force carpooling. HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes are new to me.

Are you ready for change? Will we let technology control our lives?

Are drivers ready to be scanned like groceries at the supermarket?

In case you missed it, the federal government used the "sneak and peek" warrant provisions of the Patriot Act to bust up the Cock County cockfighting scene.

It seems we have forgotten that the "Patriot" in "Patriot Act" stands for "Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism," (you can thank John Ashcroft for the tortured acronym, which along with color coded terrorist threat charts are keeping America safe from terrorist attacks since 2001).

Not that I'm trying to defend it, but can someone explain when cockfighting became "terrorism"? First they came for the cockfighters...

Michael Silence has more here and here, and Joe Powell comments re. the ever expanding threat to civil liberties.

Some new statistics just out...

Total Crashes during the enforcement period 2007= 260
Total Crashes during the same period 2006= 297
Percentage of change= -12%

Total number of angle crashes during the enforcement period 2007= 50
Total number of angle crashes during the same period 2006= 75
Percentage of change= -33%

Total number of rear-end crashes during enforcement period 2007= 160

The Maryville Daily Times reported on an attempted robbery at the Richy Kreme donut store in Eagleton Village. The suspect got away, but the Sheriff's Office released the following:

The woman then left the shop and fled in a 1993 gray Toyota, traveling toward Maryville on East Broadway.

O’Briant said the tag number on the vehicle was 340PQH.

The woman was described as white, about 5 feet tall, with brown hair.

Anyone with information about the attempted robbery should call the Blount County Sheriff’s Office crime information hot line at 273-5200.

How much more information do they need? Maybe they'd like someone to go ahead and arrest the suspect and bring her on down to the lockup for them?

(Memo to would-be robbers: Donut shops should be pretty far down on your list of targets.)

Remember how the right wing blogs and media hacks tried to torpedo Gov. Phil Bredesen's 2006 reelection campaign with allegations of politically motivated promotions and corruption in the THP?

Remember the guy the GOP sent around in a bear suit to embarrass the Governor at his campaign events?

For some reason they are curiously silent on this.

According to The Maryville Daily Times, the City of Alcoa, with the huge population of approximately 8,000, is voting to update their animal control laws. The AKC has done a lot of research and found that some of these laws are not a solution to any problem and can possibly add to the problem. The AKC has extensive information on why pet limit laws are not that effective.

My main concern has to do with an apparent existing law, "It allows an officer to enter a person's property without a warrant or even probable cause to ensure the animal control laws are being followed. Even if its just to check an animal's registration, an officer has the authority to enter private property without permission, Dunn said." Dunn is a City of Alcoa Police Captain.

City of Alcoa pet owners beware! Apparently law enforcement officers can enter your residence without a warrant or probable cause. It appears to me this is unconstitutional, but what do I know. It sure is hard to interpret citizen's rights these days.

Yet another employee v. customer incident at McDonald's. Bonus: law enforcement jurisdiction controversy. But again, no gunplay, so there's that.

Hmm. Toast. Butter. Side.

What do all his addressees share in common? No, that's just reading into it. You're seeing things, Metulj. It's terrorist for you to even point that out. 

UPDATE: The guy is a regular at Free Republic (who I am sure are pulling his posts most quickly). Wow. Whodathunkit? 

A friend of mine received an unintentionally hilarious flyer in the mail from the Tennessee GOP today. Here's the cover:

The inside content is after the jump. See how the Dems are preventing the government from intercepting all those calls from Tennessee to Al Qaeda (on rotary phones, no less). It's priceless.

Sounds like great news if you are addicted to heroin. I wonder how much of this money is going to Al Quaeda.

Four police officers tasered and handcuffed a 61 year old disabled veteran at a Morristown rally protesting illegal immigration on Saturday. The man was arrested for "disorderly conduct" and "resisting arrest" while attempting to carry an American flag onto the courthouse lawn.

According to news reports, the protesters had permission to assemble at the courthouse, but there were more than 80 law enforcement officers including police, a SWAT team, THP troopers, and a police helicopter present. According to other reports, electricity was cut off to the protester's PA system and the helicopter hovered over the crowd disrupting the rally.

I'm probably not aligned much with the politics of these protesters, but since when did "the right of the people peaceably to assemble" get thrown out the window? And since when is it a crime to carry an American flag onto a courthouse lawn? And why does it take four strong young police officers with tasers and SWAT backup to take down an elderly, disabled veteran?

It seems like these peaceful assemblies only turn disorderly when the cops show up.

UPDATE: Joe Powell has more, including reports there were snipers on the courthouse roof.

It's budget shortfall time in Tennessee, and the end of the fiscal year is upon us, so you know what that means.

Metro is on pace to collect more than $6 million in traffic fines during this fiscal year, the same amount the city has estimated it will collect next year, city officials said.

The latest figures put to rest speculation that Metro police would have to step up the number of tickets issued next year to reach the city's revenue estimates.

Metro officials had expected they would collect $4.5 million in traffic fines during the fiscal year ending June 30.

Anyone coming through on their way to Bonnaroo, for example, take heed.

Saw palmetto berry poaching is apparently a huge problem in Florida. And the poachers are apparently some pretty dangerous dudes. Check out the standard issue kit for berry poaching interdiction and enforcement: