Man shot dead in armed siege in West Yorkshir

[Peter Lemkin]

We are becoming a state where the police now routinely carry weapons - which is something that goes against a proud tradition of well over 100 years of policing. We are becoming a state were the police will shoot to kill rather than shoot to disarm. In other words the surreptitious reintroduction of a form of capital punishment where no jury, no judge and no court weigh any evidence, but where police commanders issue a peremptory kill order.

One of the first steps in the breakdown of society is when the state so fears its pubic that it must intimidate them them by force. The hitherto sympathetic symbiosis between the governed and the governing, has irreparably broken down.

Well,you've got a long way to go before you reach our standards.In the US the man would have had a minimum of 50 bullet holes.You know,just making sure he doesn't get up and cuss at the cops.....

The 'race' to the bottom of the moral cesspool......don't worry Keith, the Brits are trying hard and fast to catch up, but granted, they still have a way to go....but in BOTH countries there are the same trends.....don't wait it out....don't try to capture them an alive, don't try to use non-lethal means [of which they now have a whole ugly playpen full of], don't try to talk to him, don't wait until he runs out of ammo, don't get those he loves to talk to him......JUST KILL HIM...as if being upset at the 'system', going insane in an insane society, and/or having a gun is DE FACTO reason for execution...period! Next case!...angryfire These are the rules of engagement in a war...not among civilian populations in peacetime.....but I think that is key. While the Publics and Sheeple in US and UK think they are not at WAR; those who run the countries are sure they ARE AT WAR, and act accordingly! Perhaps most frighteningly, is just who they think the 'enemy' is.....anyone and everyone!....and the darker, poorer, less like the 'average', and less 'well-bred' (cough!) the more enemy-like is the everyman and everywoman. Intimidation is the name of the game. Shut-up, consume, give us your money, and die!

These are the conditions that eventually lead to the breakdown of polities [in full agreement on those points David!]...they in fact lead inevitably to police states or revolutions.

Let us hope.....which one we get..or, rather, which one we are willing to FIGHT FOR!!!!!