Authored by: Rolf on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 06:22 PM GMT+4

"The sales manager for the Pittsfield, Mass.-based
manufacturer, stated: “If a group of terrorists decide to
shoot up a shopping mall in a town like Keene, wouldn't
you rather be prepared?" "

Pinch me. Tell that this is not real, that it is actually an
Onion news story and an Onion news style quote.






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Dreams Trump Video

Authored by: Lise on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 08:54 PM GMT+4

I thought the same thing -- this has to be a joke. Until I read the story and then the details convinced me. Wow. It's kind of jaw-dropping. I'm glad my father didn't live to see this -- it would've killed him. (My father would get that joke....)

So libertarians and liberals seem to be together on this one. Interesting bedfellows but they do have one thing in common -- the word liber in their name. (Freedom's just another word.....)

But apparently we aren't going to be the Land of the Free anymore. I forget when they took that vote, but it must have been a good one. If this wasn't so godawful, I'd be rolling around on the floor laughing with Annikee.

Speaking of which, I've heard that ticklishness is actually a defense mechanism. I wonder if there's anything we can do with that...

Authored by: Maus Anon E on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 06:27 PM GMT+4

It's absurd for Keene, of course, but Brattleboro should definitely have a small fleet of these things for their new TETAS (Taser-Equipped Tactical Attack Squad).

BOOBS (Bold Ordinances Of Brattleboro Society) is working closely with NIPPLE (National Institute of Police Policy and Law Enforcement) on enabling legislation that would create the country's first taser attack squad right in Brattleboro.

The taser attack squads would be called in by police officers confronted with dangerous and non-compliant criminals like jaywalkers, protesters, nudists, skateboarders, and trespassing grannies.

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"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain

Authored by: LorieC on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 06:55 PM GMT+4

I cannot resist adding alleged garbage ordinance violators to the list of potential tazees.

Authored by: Maus Anon E on Monday, February 20 2012 @ 08:02 PM GMT+4

Absolutely! That goes without saying. If you put a mayo jar in your regular trash, you're begging to get your eggs scrambled with 50,000 volts.

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"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain

Authored by: cgrotke on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 07:01 PM GMT+4

Won't Mutual Aid allow us to use this whenever we need it
here in Brattleboro?

Amazing that taxpayers put up with funding things for others
to control them.

Authored by: Maus Anon E on Saturday, February 18 2012 @ 10:36 PM GMT+4

Mutual Aid agreements cover fire and rescue; I'm not aware of any
mutual aid agreement for police.

Besides, Brattleboro PD needs their own armored personnel carrier to
keep their officers safe all the time. I mean, you can't expect them to
borrow equipment in an emergency situation. What if hundreds of
white-haired 92-year-olds show up and start occupying private
property with dangerous and life threatening signs? What if some 18-
year-old terrorist in the Harmony lot threatens the populace with his
pale white arse? What if one of these skateboarding anarchists
threatens to plunge the town into chaos by rolling on public property?
And those are just the threats we know about!

No, Brattleboro should sell their quaint old-fashioned Impalas and get
one of these for every officer.

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"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain

Authored by: Rolf on Wednesday, February 22 2012 @ 07:41 PM GMT+4

Clearly Keene plans on invading Brattleboro. Why
else would they purchase such an armored vehicle ?
Their murder rate is riddiculously low, so this can't be
planned for use against violent offenders. It is
meant as the flagship invasion vehicle.

That being the case, we have no choice but to
respond in kind and get our own vehicles. And yes I
mean plural. Otherwise we stand the risk of getting
out spent and overwhelmed by their force.

Alternatively, we could launch a pre-emptive strike
against their vehicle.

Seems logical, no?

We could use one of snow plows, or three of them to
make sure we got the job done.

VIVA BRATTLEBORO !

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Dreams Trump Video

Authored by: djmatter on Saturday, March 03 2012 @ 03:00 PM GMT+4

I'm with Rolf, NH has always been our rival state. They are too close and they are always watching us. We should consider building a large electrified fence by the railroad tracks to prevent the certain onslaught of marauders. Another suggestion might be to place sentries at local bridges to slow the inevitable attack.

Authored by: BrandieStarr on Monday, March 05 2012 @ 06:11 PM GMT+4

Hahaha...sigh...this is just what I needed to break the day up. here here!

Authored by: spinoza on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 08:59 PM GMT+4

...invest in taser attack squids.

Authored by: annikee on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 07:40 PM GMT+4

“If a group of terrorists decide to shoot up a shopping mall in a town like Keene, wouldn't you rather be prepared?"

I'd LMAO if I didn't know at least one or two Chicken Littles really believe this salesman line. The terrorists we really have to watch are the type who'd be operating this expensive weapon of mass submission. Congratulations, NH, on arming the government you profess to oppose.

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veritas fortis vocat

Authored by: rperkins on Sunday, February 19 2012 @ 11:42 PM GMT+4

How about this then.... employee murders boss and takes several hostages at local food store? What then? How about protester sets fire to local office building, trapping employees inside? Both events occured in little ole' Bratt but the outcomes were much different, though they could have ended in a similar way. We can all say coulda, shoulda, woulda... but there's nothing wrong with being prepared in some manner.

Authored by: annikee on Sunday, February 19 2012 @ 11:52 PM GMT+4

I must've missed the "employee murders boss and takes several hostages". When was this? That's not at all what happened at the coop, if that's what you're refrring to. So when did this other murder at a food store occur?
And just how would a 'tank" have helped inside a building?

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veritas fortis vocat

Authored by: cgrotke on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 09:11 PM GMT+4

Live Free, Or Perhaps Not; We're Undecided Now

Authored by: Todd on Friday, February 17 2012 @ 11:16 PM GMT+4

I've always thought, of the NH State motto: its not live free OR die. If you are very lucky, maybe you get both, but no matter what - you will get one of them! :-)

Authored by: mr.mike on Saturday, February 18 2012 @ 12:59 AM GMT+4

Believe it or not,there's one of these residing in Windham County.

Very impressive vehicle. The outer shell appears to be about 1/2 inch thick steel. The windows are bullet resistance glass that's about an inch and a half thick. It has a mount on top for a 50 cal. and 2 windows on each side with doors for guns. Even the radiator is protected. Not sure about the tires.

Put it this way, this thing would literally destroy a Prius just by backing into it.

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Misery Loves Company like Vermont Loves Socialism.

Authored by: tamo on Saturday, February 18 2012 @ 05:55 PM GMT+4

I'm with you, Mr. Mike. Note how it says "Rescue" below the front window? These types of civilian applications of military technology make us all safer, especially with all of those swarmy occupiers raising rabbles everywhere. Do you know how I can buy stock in this company?

Authored by: Patricia on Saturday, February 18 2012 @ 02:57 AM GMT+4

As we all know, tanks don't protect anyone: they kill people
and destroy buildings. They cause havoc among civilian
populations and cause them to mistrust authority. The video
from the tank manufacturer was hideous. Watching it made
me feel as though I had just awakened into a nightmare. I
spent my childhood in New Hampshire as did both my parents
and I have just returned to Northern New England. Sadly, as
Thomas Wolfe said, "you can't go home again."

Authored by: Maus Anon E on Saturday, February 18 2012 @ 11:00 PM GMT+4

But this thing isn't really a tank, it's an APC. Or maybe it's more like a
cross between an SUV, a van, and an APC. I don't think it will hurt
anybody except the poor saps who are paying to buy them for all the
Keenes across the country. Unfortunately, we're the saps.

I wonder how many other towns across the USA are getting these
super SUVs? I wonder if there's a method to the madness? What
does the US government fear so much in Keene that they want to
militarize the police force there?

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"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain

Authored by: tomaidh on Sunday, February 19 2012 @ 12:05 AM GMT+4

You never know what those crazy kids at Keene State might do.

Authored by: cbridge on Sunday, February 19 2012 @ 11:40 AM GMT+4

Molotov pumpkins.

Authored by: xteeth on Saturday, February 18 2012 @ 11:53 AM GMT+4

Sadly, this is just one of the things New Hampshire wing nuts are promoting. We have Itse who wants to have a New Hampshire defense force which is like a local army, assumedly to keep immigrants in their place or to attack Vermont whose seditious ways are well known. Then there is the arming of women who have restraint orders against husbands, boyfriends etc. Then there is permission to take guns anywhere - bars, schools, political rallies, legislative meetings. So, don't you see, tactical weapons in the police force is just a part of this program. They don't see the purpose as "controlling citizens" because they don't regard you as a citizen if you protest anything.

The funny part is that many of these armaments are possessed by all the chickenhawks who have avoided the military training and lifestyle. Talking and walking are not their strong suits - also chewing gum. It is easy to see just which ones have been in actual combat - they don't talk about it, brag about it or try and foist their opinions on the rest of us. Most sat behind desks and pushed pens when they were unable to avoid service. They wish to have wars for your kids to enjoy, but will have nothing to do with wars in person. A coward with a handgun is just another step into the dissolution of society. Recently a bill was voted down (surprise) which would allow firearm possession by convicted felons as long as there was no violence associated with their crimes. A tank is just a "special purpose" with another name. And still we are expecting Obama to take away our guns. Well, he's black isn't he?

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"Some people cause happiness wherever they go, others whenever they go." Oscar Wilde

Authored by: Donnie on Sunday, February 19 2012 @ 02:20 AM GMT+4

If the Keene Police really want a vehicle for emergency situations in this area, this is it. It is not armored, but likely would find much more use. Fire Department should operate it for the police department as a real rescue vehicle: New amphibious truck targeted to first responders

Authored by: jude on Sunday, February 19 2012 @ 03:31 PM GMT+4

Ya see, logically, "live free or die" is after all a binary
choice.

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Bob Jude Ferrante
Managing Director
Sanctuary: Playwrights Theatre

Authored by: tomaidh on Wednesday, February 22 2012 @ 01:19 AM GMT+4

A good article describes “the increased militarization of U.S. domestic police forces, which began with the onset of the War on Drugs in the 1980s. This militarization accelerated in the wake of September 11th, as federal dollars flowed through the Department of Homeland Security to local police forces in the name of fighting terrorism. Under this broad umbrella, domestic police have justified the acquisition of military technologies and equipment, ranging from assault rifles and armored cars to tactical training, and soon drones. There is reason to expect such expansions in the reach of government power to continue.”
For more, go to:
Crisis and the Creeping Militarization of US Society By Christopher J. Coyne & Abigail R. Hall George Mason University http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article30609.htm

Authored by: Rolf on Wednesday, February 22 2012 @ 05:09 AM GMT+4

As usual, someone said it far better than I could.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every
rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from
those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold
and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending
money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers,
the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This
is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the
cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a
cross of iron."

Dwight D. Eisenhower, From a speech before the
American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953

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Dreams Trump Video

Authored by: Rolf on Wednesday, February 22 2012 @ 05:13 AM GMT+4

I wonder, if the town owns it, can the town sell it at
auction and use the proceeds for something worthwhile,
say the salary of a teacher's aide, or art supplies for
school?

Hell even a new ambulance would be better purchase.
An ambulance will always be useful. A " bearcat" will
probably never be useful, or as useful.

Seems obvious.

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Dreams Trump Video

Authored by: louc on Friday, March 02 2012 @ 09:09 PM GMT+4

Last night the Keene Council voted to
puchase the "tank". Be careful out
there.


http://www.sentinelsource.com/news/
local/council-goes-for-bearcat/
article_5837cdb2-3730-5e02-a354-
5bce3023755a.html

Authored by: annikee on Saturday, March 03 2012 @ 04:13 PM GMT+4

There goes the neighborhood.

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veritas fortis vocat

Authored by: babalu on Saturday, March 03 2012 @ 04:17 PM GMT+4

Has anyone noticed the words "rescue" on the tank?
Must be they anticipate driving into a war zone to save
hostages. I wouldn't go into Keene for the world until I
know whatever it is they must know to have spent that
kind of money on a tank !

Authored by: DaveC on Monday, March 05 2012 @ 03:00 PM GMT+4

I don't see what all the fuss is about. A tank for Keene is nothing compared to what a state rep is Wyoming waa proposing in a bill that calls for, among other things, a state-run draft, state army, warplanes, and get this, an aircraft carrier. Believe it or not, the bill actually passed an initial voice vote. The latest news is that they dropped the idea of the aircraft carrier after they realized they were landlocked. Wisdom and geography prevails!

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/should-wyoming-build-aircraft-carrier

Authored by: cgrotke on Monday, March 05 2012 @ 03:49 PM GMT+4

And candidates thought I was being ridiculous asking if they
would purchase drones.

I should have said tanks and aircraft carriers to be more
realistic.

Authored by: babalu on Monday, March 05 2012 @ 04:05 PM GMT+4

Having worked feverishly for hours to find a code... I
think the deal is to take the second letter of each word
twice (because it's second) in forming a word jumble;
then fashion a new word from the jumble. If
I do that with the word "drone", you were clearly asking
if he'd buy "orders". If I'm wrong about doubling the
second letter, it was clear you were simply asking if he
snored (sleeping on the job; one of many sub-
meanings).