Tuesday, September 30, 2014

19th Amendment

Sandra and I were canvassing for Wolf in Union Hill, when I ran across a woman who proudly announced, “I’m 80 years old and I have never voted.”  

I said, “You know they did pass that amendment.  Women now have the right to vote.”


She was not amused, although Sandra thought it was funny.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Joseph McNamara, Irish Cop, 1934-2014

When I moved to San Jose in 1973 the San Jose police were not very popular.  Few of them were Latino, although Latinos made up a large percentage of the population.  They were known for using excessive force, and they were often seen as an occupying force.  

In 1975 Joseph McNamara was appointed the Chief of Police.  At that time San Jose was the 17th largest city in the nation; it is now the 10th largest.  In his 15-year tenure, the city grew by 40%, while major crimes (homicide, rape, robbery, assault, and burglary) dropped by 9%.  In 1990 San Jose had the lowest crime rate of any city over 400,000.

McNamara opposed the militarization of police, criticized the L.A. police for the Rodney King beating, and thought the “War on Drugs” created a military mindset.  In an action I especially liked, he also took on the N.R.A. 

McNamara believed in “community policing,” in which police developed relationships with store owners, community leaders, and residents.  Many of his ideas, considered rather radical at the time, are now accepted as common sense by police departments.  He was one of the good guys.


P.S.:  One of these days I will post about the “hooker patrol,” a community action Linda and I were involved in to rid downtown San Jose of prostitutes.  McNamara’s police force was a major help in that.  I really liked that man.


Sunday, September 28, 2014

Obama really does get it

Here’s what he said at the U.N.:

For all the immediate challenges that we gather to address this week—terrorism, instability, inequality, disease—there’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate.


That changing climate results from human activity.  I recently read that only six percent of Republican congress members even “believe” in climate change.  In my own district a candidate for Congress named Moylin denies that the earth is getting warmer.  After November our President may confront a Congress controlled by the willfully ignorant, elected by willfully ignorant people.  We have a real battle ahead.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Take that, N.S.A.

The iPhone 6 allows users to encrypt emails, photos, and contacts based on a mathematical algorithm using a code created by the phone’s user.  Apple will not have access, and N.S.A. won’t either.

First of all, I don’t know what an algorithm is, and secondly, I don’t have an iPhone.  Nonetheless, I do know a thing or two about government overreach, the right to privacy, and the erosion of our freedoms.  

Thank you Mr. Snowden.  Thank you Apple.  And goodbye Attorney General Holder.

Of course the F.B.I says Apple will be aiding terrorists.  So does the requirement for a search warrant to enter someone’s home.  So does freedom of the press.  And free speech.  And the 14th’s guarantee of equal protection of the law.  


You don’t fight tyranny by imposing it.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Jim Zbick trusts in god

It is always amusing to watch politicians and columnists try to wrap themselves in either religion or patriotism.  Today in the Times News the old reliable Jim Zbick did both, attacking the Allegheny County Council for voting against displaying the motto “In God We Trust.” 

In the Fifties U.S. politicians were desperate to show we were different from the atheistic Commies.  We adopted “In God We Trust” as the national motto and put “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, itself adopted earlier as a way to sell flags.  Neither pledge nor motto was around when our country was founded.

If Mr. Zbick wants to be a patriotic American, he needs to be more tolerant, more respectful of minority religions and people who have no religion, and more vigilant about separating church and state.  


If he really wants a motto, how about one that predates the Fifties:  In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.  Now that’s a real American motto.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Republican fat cats exposed

A pile of documents were inadvertently released that detailed donations to the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, a 501(c)(4) organization, which under present Supreme Court policy, does not have to publicize its donors.

According to the New York Times, last year the Committee “allowed corporate donors to make their cases on how to carry out the Affordable Care Act; discuss hydraulic fracturing, an oil-and gas-exploration method regulated at the state level, and hash over state budgets just as coffers began to loosen.”  (For the full article, go to <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/25/us/republicans-corporate-donors-governors.html?action=click&contentCollection=U.S.&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article>).

A group of corporations known as the “Statesmen,” whose members donated at least $250,000, included Aetna, Coca-Cola, Exxon Mobil, Koch Companies, Microsoft, Pfizer, UnitedHealth Group, and Walmart.


In 1969, the first year I taught college classes at the Penn State Behrend Campus, one of my more radical students kept complaining that the U.S. was a “plutocracy,” rule by the rich.  I argued with him and explained why he was wrong.  Now I’d have to agree.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Wolf-Corbett debate

No, I didn’t watch it, and I won’t watch any of them.  If you have lived in Pennsylvania for the last four years and don’t know that Corbett must go, you must have been in a cave.  Political debates are all about producing a “gotcha”moment, all about appearance rather than substance.  You will learn nothing except maybe who has the better appearance or has the better handlers.

Do you really think what someone says in an hour will undo four years?  Get real.


The first Palin-Biden debate was the only exception to this that I can remember.  That’s where we first learned that Palin was a complete idiot.  

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Stolen guns

A small item in today’s Times News reported that several guns were stolen from a residence in Lower Towamensing Township.  The burglar broke a lock on a first floor window and made off with at least five guns.

Evidently the victim reported the theft to the police.  I would think that anyone who had a gun stolen would want to report it to the police—after all, the weapon might later be used in a crime. Nonetheless, the Pennsylvania legislature has not mandated that gun thefts must be reported.

In response, a number of municipalities, such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, have passed ordinances mandating the reporting of gun thefts.  Now the Republican members of the Pennsylvania House are considering a bill (which may have passed by the time you read this) to allow the N.R.A. to sue such municipalities.  

The bill, HB 2011, would permit the N.R.A. to sue any city, township, or borough that enforces such laws.  In addition, the N.R.A. could bill the municipalities for attorney fees and court costs.


We live in a strange world.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Little Time Left

No, I didn’t participate in the Climate Change march in Manhattan on Sunday, and yes, I feel guilty that I didn’t.  

I read books like The Sixth Extinction and Collapse, and I realize how little time we have.  I read articles that say that in 2013 we set a record for greenhouse gas emissions, and I despair.

I read that 43% of Americans believe that God created the world about 10,000 years ago.  I see that a guy named Moylan, who denies that the global climate is changing, is running for Congress in my district under the label of a political party that may well capture the Senate and already controls the House and the Supreme Court. 

I have a grandson who is eight years old.  He will face a world that has too many people, too little drinkable water, too much air pollution, too many countries like Haiti and Bangladesh and Ruanda that have decimated their environments.  He will see wars, famine, rising sea levels, and charlatan politicians who will find scapegoats to blame.


I love the fact that on Sunday people marched in countries across the globe.  I should have been with them.  Unfortunately, I fear we may have already passed the tipping point for a global collapse.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Easter Island values

Jared Diamond explains in his book Collapse how deeply held societal values can interfere with rational decision-making and even cause a society to become extinct.  

One of his examples is the Norse on Greenland, who did not eat fish (?) and attacked the Inuit, who could have taught them how to hunt whales and seals.  The Norse also kept cows, totally inappropriate for the climate on Greenland, but a matter of prestige back in Norway.  After roughly 400 years, the Norse colony died out.

Another of Diamond’s examples is Easter Island, at one time home to both a substantial Polynesian population and palm forests.  The Easter Islanders erected huge statues, which they carved out of the rock on the island and transported over large distances using trees as sleds.  Prestige was won by erecting bigger statues.  Unfortunately, all the trees were cut down and the island’s economy collapsed.

This made me think of our own inappropriate values that are causing us much harm.  A number American religions oppose the use of birth control and abortion, and as a result, the population keeps growing past the level of sustainability.

A secular value is that many Americans believe that everyone has the right to be armed, resulting in about 60 deaths from guns every day.  This is obviously not rational, but the value is ingrained.

I’ll bet you can think of more examples. 


By the way, the Norse on Greenland lasted over 400 years.  Do the math.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

The Koch Brothers and Scotland

That was a rather major referendum just held in Scotland.  Should Scotland be independent of Britain?  (In case you haven’t been keeping up, the vote was about 55% to 45% to remain part of the UK).  

According to a letter from Chistine Ward from Allanton, Scotland, the total spent was something on the order of $15 million. although the final figures are not yet tabulated.  Evidently the largest single contributor was J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame.  (She opposed independence.)  Everyone who made contributions had to disclose his or her name.  

In the U.S. in this year the Koch Brothers alone will spend almost half a billion dollars to influence Congressional races.  Let me repeat that—half a billion. 


Kind of wants to make you live in either Scotland or England, doesn’t it?

Friday, September 19, 2014

The Hundred Foot Journey

The manager of the Mahoning Cinema has launched the Exceptional Film Series.  He is booking movies that are often considered “art house” films, hoping that he will attract an audience.  

The first one in the series was “Inequality for All.”  Since then he has shown, among others, “The Budapest Hotel” and “Chef.”  Currently playing is “The Hundred Foot Journey,” a story of an Indian family in France who opens a restaurant across the road from a Michelin-rated restaurant.  It stars Helen Mirren.

The film received rave reviews.  Linda and I saw it tonight.  One other couple was in the audience.  All four of us loved it.

Listen up, folks.  If you want quality films shown locally, you have to patronize them when they are shown locally.  Otherwise we are going to get the same old crap of “Fast and Furious Seventeen,” or “One More Zombie Movie,” or “Spiderman Returns for the 7th Time.”


Do I have a self-interest in this?  Of course I do.  I don’t want to have to drive to Allentown to see good movies.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Archeological review for the pipeline

Today I was out distributing yard signs, but I assume representatives of Western Land Services, a company hired by the Penn East pipeline people were walking on our farm to check for its archeological value.  They called two days ago and said they were coming today.

They were here earlier this month to see if we had any wetlands.  We don’t, and we don’t have any archeological features of value either.  In all my years of plowing and cultivating and hoeing, I found one arrowhead.  

It is in our interest to have the land checked.  I assume if Western Land Services found something of value, the pipeline might be diverted.  Since the company won't find anything, I am sure it will come right through our fields.


I understand the need for eminent domain.  One landowner can’t be permitted to stand in the way of a highway or park.  What I can’t understand is how eminent domain procedures can be used to benefit a company that is making a profit.  It has no “public interest.”  It is trying to make money for stockholders.  Yet somehow that company can force us to accept a gas pipeline across our land.  Why aren’t the conservative anti-government Republicans complaining about this?  I guess because they believe private companies can do no wrong.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Canvassing

At times when I am canvassing for Wolf, I sometimes wonder—does all of this do any good?

“Research has found that broadcast ads and robocalls are far less effective at motivating people to vote than the personal touch:  face-to-face, door-to-door reminders that there is an election coming up, in a direct conversation what discusses the high stakes.”


That is from an editorial in the Sept. 15 New York Times.  My opinion is that if it is in the Times, it must be true.  I’ll be canvassing tomorrow with renewed confidence.

Monday, September 15, 2014

The latest from Francis Fukuyama

The recently published Political Order and Political Decay by Francis Fukuyama looks not only at how liberal democracies develop, but also how they decline.  “The fact that a system once was a successful and stable liberal democracy does not mean that it will remain so in perpetuity.”

Fukuyama believes that the U.S. has been in decline for the past few decades.  The decline is caused by a number of factors, including the inequality of wealth along with political rules that allow the rich to manipulate the government for their own ends.  

Another problem is that interest groups with narrow agendas (read N.R.A. or fracking companies) can exercise a huge influence on governmental policy at the expense of the public good.

Finally, when the government fails to deal with problems, people get disgusted and resist paying taxes, which weakens the government further, and we get into a downward cycle.

Look at what people say about Congress.  You have one party trying to enact reasonable policies.  The other party, however, has set out to block every initiative.  And which one do the people blame from the stalemate?  Both of them.  

Citizens have good reasons to be cynical.  The Supreme Court has managed to subvert democratic government with its decisions on campaign finance.  The gerrymandered districts skew government.  Voter suppression discourages participation.  We are on the downhill slope.


Incidentally, one of the things I learned in graduate school is you don’t have to read the book if you read the reviews.  I have not read Political Order and Political Decay, but I did read a great review of it by Sheri Berman of Columbia that was published on Sunday in the Times Book Review section.  Thank you, Dr. Berman.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

An Independent Scotland?

The vote to determine Scotland’s independence is being followed closely around the world by disaffected people who would also like to create their own independent states.  Catalonians in Spain, Walloons in Belgium, Texans in the U.S.—all are watching this vote closely.

Would the world be better off if every disaffected population had its own state?  We could have a giant federal system in which local groups would have self-government, but would also cooperate to solve problems that spill beyond national boundaries.

Self-determination, which was one of Wilson’s 14 Points after World War I, has an inherent difficulty.  Just how do you determine what peoples get “self determination,” and what do you do when the populations are mixed?

Would India be better served by ten or fifteen independent states?  Would the U.S. be better served if Texas were granted independence?  Would Canada be better off with an independent Quebec?  

On the one hand, we are all united by global issues—environmental problems, trade, technology; on the other hand we are still divided by medieval loyalties—language, religion, race.

In a world of Facebook and Twitter, we have religious groups beheading people. 

I am not optimistic.


(But I do hope Texas leaves the U.S.  What a wonderful thing that would be for the rest of America.  I’m sure King Perry the 1st would do an amazing job.)

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Cross-pressured voters

Voters generally use three categories to decide how to cast their ballots.  Those categories are what they think of the candidate, the candidate’s party, and the issues supported by the candidate.  When all three line up, the vote choice is easy.

For example, say you like Rep. Doyle Heffley.  You think he is a wonderful man, a local boy who made good, and you’d like to see him receive the pension he will get if he is re-elected this November.

Let’s also say your parents were Republican, you have always been a Republican, and you associate the Democratic Party with the middle class or worse.

Finally, let’s say you deny climate change, think fracking is a great idea and it would be a shame to tax natural gas drillers, and you don’t care one bit about endangered species or the environment in general.

I can predict with confidence that you will be voting for Corbett and Heffley this November.  Candidate = R.  Party = R.  Issues = R.  Vote = R.

The interesting voters are the ones who don’t line up.  Say you think Heffley is a nice guy, “one of us” as his ads say, but you are registered as a Democrat.  On issues, you are annoyed that Rep. Heffley voted for vaginal probes for women who want abortions, and you find his actions on endangered species and educational cuts to be appalling.  

I can’t predict with confidence how you will vote.  Candidate = R.  Party = D.  Issues = D.  You are a “cross-pressured voter.”  Cross-pressured voters tend to make up their minds late or fail to vote.  They are also the ones candidates need to win over.

I would be remiss if I didn’t print out that some voters only vote one of the three variables.  They only look at the candidate, or they always vote straight Republican, or their only concern is the 2nd Amendment.  Those voters never made sense to me, although you can predict their vote if you can identify their voting variable.


And yes, this will be on the quiz.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Gobitis v. Minersville School District

Recently I read Shiksa by Eva Antwerpen, a memoir of growing up in Nazi Germany.  Ms. Antwerpen’s parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses, and they did not believe in saluting the flag, which in their case was the flag with the swastika.  As you can imagine, thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses died in concentration camps.

Ms. Antwerpen survived the war, although her father was not so lucky.  When I read her book, I thought how terrible it would be to live in a country where one was forced to salute the flag.  Then it occurred to me that in the U.S. at that time, children were also required to salute the flag.

In 1935 an 11-year-old student in Minersville, Pennsylvania, Lillian Gobitas, who was also a Jehovah’s Witness, decided that saluting a temporal symbol was idolatry.  She refused to do it.  She was expelled.

The case reached the Supreme Court in 1940, one year before the U.S. went to war against Nazi Germany.  The court ruled 8-1 that schools could require students to salute the flag.  While it is true that Ms. Gobitas was not sent to a concentration camp, it remains a blot on American freedom.  Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote that “National unity is the basis for national security.”  An 11-year-old girl’s refusal to salute the flag evidently would undermine national security.

In 1943 the Court overturned the Gobitis decision in Barnette v. West Virginia.  The Court ruled 6-3 that religious freedom was more important than saluting the flag.


Lillian Gobitas died earlier this week.  I salute her.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

More education = higher income

Ok, maybe not in my case, but for just about everyone else.  That is one of those things you look at and say, “Well, yeah,” but just how much a college education pays off is the subject of an article in the Business section of today’s Times.  

Unfortunately, the U.S., the country that pioneered high school education for all, coed education, and access to college (remember the GI Bill), now lags behind almost all industrialized countries in the rate of college graduation.  

Not only that, but we are getting worse.  While countries such as Japan and Canada have learned how to educate the socially disadvantaged, in the U.S. the socially disadvantaged (read blacks, Hispanics, and poor whites) are relegated to crappy schools and have little chance at a college education.  The wealthy, meanwhile, can send their kids to expensive private high schools.


The article features statistics, analyses, and hard numbers.  If you want to be depressed, here’s the link:  <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/business/economy/a-simple-equation-more-education-more-income.html?ref=todayspaper>. 

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Bog turtles

The headline in tonight’s Times News read:  “Bog turtle habitat creates problems for L. Towamensing sewer plant project.”


I would have written the headline this way:  “L.Towamensing sewer plant project creates problems for bog turtle habitat.”

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Heartland Institute

Today’s Times News ran a puff piece on Dr. David Moylan, candidate for Congress.  The article noted that Moylan had attended an “International Conference on Climate Change” in Las Vegas sponsored by the Heartland Institute. 

What the article failed to mention was that the Heartland Institute is a far right (ok ,wacko) front group sponsored by energy companies and coal companies and ALEC.  


The article also noted that Moylan said there had been no global warming in the last 17 years.  People like Moylan are the reason that this planet is doomed.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Eric Cantor gets a job

When Eric Cantor lost his primary election in June, I felt really bad.  How would he live?  Would he be able to pay his mortgage?  How would he pay his grocery bill?

You can understand my relief when I read that he was hired by the investment bank Moelis.  He will be the vice chairman and managing director of the 7-year-old firm.  He will receive an annual salary of $400,000.  He also received a $400,000 cash payment and $1 million in stocks.


Tonight I will be able to sleep, knowing that Eric has a job.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Pro-life voters

On more than one occasion, when canvassing for Democratic candidates, I have encountered voters who tell me that they only vote on one issue—is the candidate “pro-life”?  In the past I have said something like “Thank you for listening to me,” and moved on to the next house.

Not any more.  Next time I will confront them.  I will say, “I think it is interesting that you only pick one aspect of your religion to decide your vote.  What about people who live in poverty and don’t get enough to eat?  What about poor people who are old and denied medical assistance?  What about people who are on death row?  What about kids who are coming across the border fearful for their very lives?”

“Which party do you think will be more helpful in those cases, Democratic or Republican?  If you are going to vote ‘pro-life,’ then you really should be pro-life.”


I know I won’t win any votes for this, but it will give me immense satisfaction.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Electronics recycling in Towamensing

Towamensing, the township I call home, is holding an electronics recycling event this weekend.  I took in a whole piles of stuff—computer monitors, old tape players, and some equipment the purpose of which I did not know.

Many of the items had been donated for a yard sale we held last month to raise money for the headquarters of the Community Outreach Association.  Let me give you a heads-up.  Old electronic devices and computer parts NEVER sell at yard sales.

Among the items donated was a VCR player.  The recycling guys unloaded everything but that; they told me the recycling fee for that was $30.  I told them, “just leave it on the truck; I’ll throw it in the woods.”

Everybody laughed, and then I got out $30 and recycled the damn thing.  I am curious, however, about how many people would pay that fee and how many would just throw it over a guardrail.


When a customer buys a car battery, he or she pays a recycling deposit.  Almost all car batteries are now recycled.  I have read that in Germany car buyers pay a similar fee for cars.  In America recycling is “external” to the cost of most items, including TVs, computers, and just about everything else.  Those items tend to end up in informal dumps or along a rural road.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Socialism for the rich, free enterprise for the poor

I was reminded again today of this saying often used to describe the economic system in the U.S.

Page one of the Times business section featured an article about the tax breaks the state of Nevada gave to Tesla to open a battery plant near Reno.  The tax breaks amount to $1.25 billion over the next 20 years.  

Page two of the business section featured this headline:  “Least Affluent Familes’ Incomes Are Declining, Fed Survey Shows.”  The Fed Chairwoman, Janet Yellen, said that income inequality was “one of the most disturbing trends facing the nation.”  I’m sure the Republicans in Congress will take note.


Finally, page three of the business section had an article about the arrests of hundreds of fast food workers who were striking for higher pay.  The protests took place in six cities—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Seattle.  I haven’t heard anything about wages being raised.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Cat video


I have never done this before, but I’m putting in a link to, of all things, a cat video.  The cat in question is a lion, and when I watched it, I teared up.  It was sent to me by my good friend Janette, a faithful reader in Belgium.


Just watch it.  Here’s the link.  <http://www.vitality101.com/Fun/lion-kisses-rescuer>.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Eating Spot and Fluffy

Allentown columnist Paul Carpenter this morning wrote about a rider to SB1750, a bill to ban pigeon shoots.  The rider would ban the eating of dogs and cats.  I just sent Mr. Carpenter an email, which I will now share with you.

Dear Mr. Carpenter, 

I lived in San Jose, California, from 1973 to 1985.  In those years we received a huge influx of Vietnamese refugees.  There was the usual prejudice against new immigrants; one of the charges was that the Vietnamese were catching dogs and cats and eating them.  In response to this prejudice, the California legislature actually passed a law making it illegal to eat dogs and cats.  

     You address a deeper issue.  If people want to eat dogs and cats—or horses and cows—why shouldn’t they?  I would support laws that say that we can’t eat endangered species, but dogs and cats—or horses and cows—are certainly not endangered.  I personally wouldn’t eat our own chickens (we have 15), but that doesn’t mean I don’t like the extra crispy bucket at Kentucky Fried Chicken.  I don’t know those particular chickens.

     

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

An apology


Every so often I do something where, in retrospect, I know I behaved badly.  Two days ago I noted that I would not be attending the Redneck Festival in Weissport in future years and said that I was uncomfortable with the confederate flags and the assault rifle raffle by the 9/12 group.

Duane Dellecker, a main organizer of the Redneck Festival and a good friend of mine, sent me an email saying that I should have spoken to him first before going public with my complaints.  He noted that there was an empty space next to the Republican booth, and we could have set up our booth there.

He’s right, and I know better.  When you have a complaint about an event, you speak quietly to the organizers.  If you get no satisfaction, then you go public.

I also know that the Redneck Festival funds go to the Weissport Recreation Fund, and Weissport, a low income borough, does need assistance.  

I should explain that our booth at the Festival was not an official Democratic Party booth.  Linda and I paid the fee and ran the booth from the first year of the festival.

Here’s what I will do.  In future years I will pay the vendor fee, knowing that it benefits the young people of Weissport, but we won't have a booth.

Bottom line:  I should have talked to Mr. Dellecker before I took down our tent.  Nonetheless, I'm no longer confident that this festival is in keeping with my values as a liberal who supports racial equality, gay rights, reasonable restrictions on assault weapons, and environmental protection.


I would also note that the back of my neck is red from working in the truck patch.  You want to see a real redneck, drop by.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Race Relations

According to Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, a 2011 study by Harvard and Tufts scholars found that whites on the average believed that anti-white racism was a bigger problem than anti-black racism.  Wow.

Kristof presented some statistics:

The black-white income gap is roughly 40% greater today than it was in 1967.  

The net worth of the average black household in 2011 was $6,314.  The average worth of a white household was $110,500.  That gap was greater than in South Africa during apartheid.

A black male child born today in the U.S. has a life expectancy five years shorter than a white male child.

And while we are on this subject, let me tell you about the son of the Allentown police chief, who was charged with threatening the lives of two policemen.  He was being followed by two men in an unmarked car.  They followed very closely, so he tapped the brakes a few times.  He finally stopped, and they stopped.  They were not wearing uniforms.  He then pulled a gun and pointed it at the two men.  They then identified themselves as police officers and arrested him.


What would you have done if followed by two guys in an unmarked car?  Did I mention that the son of the Allentown police officer is black?  Those cops owe that young man an apology, not an arrest.