#Occupy

What is Occupy? According to the Occupy Wall Street Web site, "We are our demands. #OWS is conversation, organization, and action focused on ending the tyranny of the 1%. On Saturday we marched in solidarity against corrupt banking systems, against war, and against foreclosure." To Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone, the protests transcend "left vs. right," despite the efforts of right-wing provocateurs: Instead, it is "a populist and wholly non-partisan protest against bailouts, theft, insider trading, self-dealing, regulatory capture and the market-perverting effect of the Too-Big-To-Fail banks." Justin Elliott of Salon writes that you can't understand the movement without also understanding its "radically decentralized structure."

OK.

One thing that's clear is that the various Occupy protests have showcased the militarization of law enforcement, something that has long troubled my older cop friends. Billions of your tax dollars have gone into equipping a nationwide paramilitary force to protect the "homeland" from terrorists — and conveniently from citizens who might be seeking to change the status quo, even through peaceful assembly. A friend emailed me an evocative photo (above, taken by Mauro Whiteman for the Downtown Devil) from Occupy Phoenix showing a phalanx of robocop-looking  PPD officers confronting sitting demonstrators. Cal Lash, a distinguished retired officer and assistant to two chiefs of police, was among those deeply troubled. We all should be.