Click here to access article by Radley Balko from The Wall Street Journal.
When the militarization of the US is published in a ruling class source such as this, you know that the issue has become well known. I suspect that it was published as a way to promote a new normal in American life.
From my experience in watching Seattle local media over the past five years, the use of SWAT teams has been applied to even the mildest sort of suspected crime scenes, and often they have resulted in deaths both of innocents and police officers.
Then there was a recent incident in a small nearby town where residents were awakened to the terrorizing roar and spotlights of low flying helicopters. Supposedly military officials simply forgot to inform the town officials ahead of time. According to Bill Van Auken this has been happening across the country.