Drones Slowly Becoming a Fact of Life

Grand Junction, Colorado - Denver's ABC-7 seems to be in preemptive spin mode with the idea of having drones keeping an eye on the residents of Mesa county.  It reports:

The Mesa County Sheriff's Department has purchased a small drone aircraft for $14,000 to use in investigations and in search and rescue operations...The sheriff's department is test-flying the aircraft and expects it will be ready for use within the next couple of months. Officials said the department has FAA permission to fly the drone anywhere in Mesa County in daylight hours.

Now I don't doubt what else is present in the article, that it will help find lost hikers and bikers, but just like what happened in Montana and other western states it will more than likely be used on civilians too.  The station then went on to praise the drone's looks and abilities, never stopping to question the real possibility it may be used on citizens.

Sheriff's officers demonstrated the 4-foot-long, 9-pound vehicle Friday. The plane can stay airborne for an hour, fly at an altitude of 400 feet and send video and infrared images to ground controllers...Officials said the plane could also be useful for observation during wildfires. The plane has manual pilot capabilities but is most useful and efficient on autopilot, allowing its operators to type into a computer where they want the plane to fly. "You tell it where to go, and it will continuously fly over those parameters you set for it," [sherriff's spokeswoman Heather] Benjamin said.

It will only be a matter of time before seeing drones in the skies for no reason will become commonplace.  Right now we are just being normalized to it.

Commentary: A Possible Attack on the American People

This is an interesting opinion piece from Al-Jazeera's Heather Digby Parton. The feeling I got from it is the same as the one I got while reading “Police State America” which dealt with the militarization of the police. What I find the most frightening, though not unexpected, thing is “pain compliance.”
"An operator squeezes off a blast. The first shot hits them like an invisible punch. The protesters regroup, and he fires again, and again. Finally they’ve had enough. The ray gun drives them away with no harm done." cites Harper's Magazine article The Soft-Kill Solution: New Frontiers in Pain Compliance. The author, Ando Arike, writes about a 60 Minutes piece in which soldiers, dressed as protesters yet called Iraqi fighters, are zapped with a ray gun.

This stuff will be used domestically as well. Look at the Occupy groups. The people in charge of weapons would LOVE to sell something like this to police officers and they would do so at a very high price. Am I being paranoid? I hope so. I really do. However the way things are looking this will be used in the near future. I wouldn't be surprised if they use it at the main Occupy group in New York City. If they have a smaller version of it they could put it in Sky Watch at Zuccotti Park and make sure nobody ever goes back. I know this may seem even more extreme but what if the police put a computer program which constantly scans for peoples' faces and even if they go back ten years later they will get zapped. That would end the Occupy groups forever. It might even be used on a bigger scale to discourage protesting by certain people.

Okay so I'm being a little too paranoid.

However this article is almost a plea for the people to stand up against those in control. It's saying to be aware of what's to come if you don't go to the streets and show your anger. Forget the fake Democrat and Republican stuff. I'm aware it can be very difficult but the Republicans are taking away rights and the Democrats are letting them do it. The judges are even in on it. Our voices must be heard and they must be heard now.