= new reply since forum marked as read
Truthout had an article about the amount of military equipment the police departments are getting from the Pentagon. I could see it coming after I read that article.
Recently I had my own encounter when a campus police officer (oh, yes, the campuses are getting this military crap, too) stopped me for a brake light--in, get this, an unmarked police car that had tinted windows and antennas all over it. I didn't even know it was "campus security." I teach at a state university.
Is that an over-reaction or what? When a middle-aged English professor gets stopped by campus police in an unmarked police car with tinted windows--for a brake light. God help us all.
Oh, and he was very threatening about it. He tailed my car like he thought I was a freaking drug dealer.
OK, so I was going along thinking that was pretty bad but the following week, campus police beat up a middle-aged English professor in Arizona for asking them to be a little more respectful when they demanded her ID because she walked across the street in the middle instead of at the corner (there was construction going on, forcing her to do so).
I am not letting this go. I took the matter up with my teacher's union and I also contacted the police officer's supervisor (who was embarrassed over the incident). I am fighting the ticket in court and furthermore, I am putting up a web page describing the incident and the behavior of the municipal court where I am fighting the ticket.
Cher
