When we were in Mexico last year at the resort on the Yucatan, I saw something that sort of freaked me out. Dani and I were in one of the numerous little bars watching the surf when I noticed two men in full camo walking down the beach, each carrying large semi-automatic rifles. This was well after 9/11, so I’d become accustomed to seeing this in US airports, and when we drove through the little towns near our resort I saw them patrolling there as well. But why on God’s green earth would they be walking down the beach of our resort hotel? And, since practically the entire western coast of the Yucatan peninsula is resort-owned, why did it appear that they were patrolling resorts?

Apparently, folks on BART better get used to this too. What kills me are the passengers who say they feel safer. I just can’t fathom that. I happen to know that the presence of a heavily armed officer, which perhaps deterring any immediate action, typically indicates a bigger problem, like a specific terrorist threat or the like. So, to have these officers on the line “just in case” is not that great a comfort. We’re already freaked out enough. And this is just one further step into making our nation appear like many of those third-world nations ruled by militant dictators. This is the price for freedom? Having a guy carrying an AR-15 ordering the man prying the BART doors open to back off? I can’t wait for the Bush junta to end.