Ain't your Grandaddy's America anymore

I suppose it wasn't universal, but I remember a time when this poster, at least in white middle class America, pretty well depicted the police presence in Anytown, USA. Police officers then were more or less in "protect and serve" mode rather than "control and intimidate." Far cry from where we are now, a half century later.

The face of today's law enforcement ever more often looks like this:

And this. And this. And then read Greg Mitchell's OccupyUSA live blog where he has been relentlessly curating links, practically 24/7, since day one.

Of course this didn't start with the Occupy movement. It's the reult of a stealthy and steady encroachment on our civil rights under the cover of the war on some drugs, and the war on some terrorists. Sold to the people as necessary for their protection.

Anybody feeling safer yet? Me neither. [Graphic via. Photo via.]