Ferguson...

What was on the news last night was disturbing. It was worse than disturbing, it was horrific. The implications of it were horrific and scary. They were also embarrassing. A race riot in the very heart of America. The prosecutor spent about an hour delivering his announcement that no charges would be brought against the officer that shot Michael Brown. In doing so he succintly summarized the facts that were presented that led to the decision. The rule of law was followed and due process was performed.

Without doubt, this was a tragedy. A life was lost and another life has been critically marred. In a better world, not perfect, there is no such thing and never will be, so let's settle for just slightly better, this would not have happened. Michael Brown would not have robbed a liquor store, stole some cigars and walked down the middle of a busy street blocking traffic, requiring a police officer to respond to a call and ask him to please walk on the sidewalk. Michael Brown would not have promptly told the officer to go fuck yourself and proceed to pummel him and attempt to take his gun.  Yes, in a better world Michael Brown would not have done these things and this wouldn't have happened. The protesters who commenced looting, rioting, vandalizing wanted to hold the officer responsible and punish him. Screw the facts and the evidence, we've got our own facts and evidence. In a better world Michael Brown's parents would have done a better job of parenting him. He wouldn't have been robbing a liquor store and telling a policeman to go fuck himself. And reaching into his waist as he charges the officer with clear intent to inflict bodily harm? Come on man.


Don't get me wrong, I'm not pro-police. I'm not really fond of the bastards myself. I grew up in a house with an abusive stepfather who happened to be a police officer. And all of his fucking police friends were the same kind of shithead he was. A good majority of them are no more than half-cocked bubbas with a badge and a gun. They should be avoided at all costs.

Things aren't exactly great in this country at present, but one of the things we have going for us is we are a nation that lives and works within a framework of laws. For over two hundred years that has served us pretty well for maintaining order and justice. Far from perfect, very far. Not everyone receives justice when they are trespassed upon. Facts are often ignored and some do indeed go unpunished. And sometimes the innocent are punished. But for the most part it serves us well. We enjoy freedom here that most others in the world do not. That freedom isn't only from the oppression of foreign aggressors, it's often from those who would do us harm and steal our property right here at home. Our rules of law facilitates and provides our freedom. As our prescient forefathers stated, everyone is equal under the law. No special treatment for anyone, it doesn't matter if you are black, white, red, yellow or any other color. If Michael Brown had been white and did what he did that fateful night in Ferguson Missouri, he still would have been shot. It was not about his skin color when  he was shot. But it became about skin color afterwards by a lot of other people. The problem, my fellow Americans, was not his skin color, it was the content of his character. And nothing else.