Peachy Keene!
Keene New Hampshire (pop. 23,000) residents reject Homeland Security’s offer to buy them a $285,000 tank. With $34 billion already spent on this program of arming small towns, there’s got to be a politician involved. My guess is that Diane Feinstein’s hubby owns a tank company, but maybe it’s Maxine Waters. Neither would surprise me.
For What It's Worth 
It’s manufactured by a privately held company headed by Len Light and based in Pittsfield Mass. The make virtually every SWAT style armored vehicle in the US.
His brother owns a similar company based in the same area.
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/berkshirebusinessoutlook/ci_3609336
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=52706297
I couldn’t find anything on his politics or donations but since he’s been in business since the Clinton years, got busier during the Bush 2 era, and is still chugging away under Obama, I’ll just assume he’s equally at home with either party’s leadership.
The tanks are powered by bean sprouts, have a top speed of 4 mph and shoot canisters of “good karma” instead of traditional ammunition.
What about the “free” hi-tech boat that the Greenwich police and/or fire dept are salivating for? What’s the status of that? I read in the Greenwich Time that Stamford will be taking delivery of this same “freebie” boat.
Trouble is, there ain’t even a decent-sized pond in Keene, or they coulda had a nice boat for sniffin’ yellowcake and whatnot.
Greenwich 38’ $600K
Stamford 34’ $610K
Norwalk 38’ $590K
Fairfield 34’ $488K
New Haven 39’ $1.1M
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/New-Stamford-safety-boat-plans-progressing-3334733.php
The militarization of local police forces — where will it all end? I shudder to think.
“Private Prison Company to Demand 90% Occupancy
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The nation’s largest private prison company is offering cash-strapped state governments to buy up their penitentiaries and manage convicted criminals at a cost-savings. But there’s a catch…the states must guarantee that are there are enough prisoners to ensure that the venture is profitable to the company.” Source: http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/Private_Prison_Company_to_Demand_90_Percent_Occupancy_120216
What are they going to do when they fall below 90%? Start rounding up people at random? This cannot end well.
“What are they going to do when they fall below 90%? Start rounding up people at random?”
Start the roundup at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Let’s face it most public jails probably run at 110% or more, so this sounds like an improvement.
We should take all the free tanks we can get and turn them into a ride at Playland. That should help keep order in case more people come and want to get on rides but won’t take off their scarves.
Peeps, they ruined the Dragon coaster at Playland when they replaced the old cars with new ones with a much tighter saftey bar. No more standing up on the big drops took all the fun out of it. They do have that coaster that goes upside down though. I learned the secret of how to ride upside down coasters from watching a show on acrobatic flying: just keep moving your head and your vision ahead of, or in front of, where you’re going and you’ll never get sick or dizzy — it works.