Amy at blog Amy noticed the perception of stream of consciousness poetry contained in many spam e-mails.

This was the body of an e-mail I received recently:

bedbug absolve oscar conformance attendant galvanism
spend naivete alphameric eavesdropping phosphate splendid
gleam countervail cheerlead precision doggone chantry
gibbet allay lurid inorganic arcing yellow knife
creosote macrophage dibble sixgun armful airstrip
altercate coccidiosis seminar alum allyn barbarism

Back in the 1970s and 80s I was in law enforcement. During that time we started noticing a worrying phenomenon: incidents in which individuals seemed to be intent on making officers use deadly physical force. These are cases in which the individual has no chance of escape or other benefit to be derived from confrontation.

Even if there is no announced outside investigation, all police shootings are subjected to microscopic investigations in the police community. The results are rarely published, but they spread rapidly through the “blue” network.

Eventually these incidents began to be referred to as “Police Assisted Suicide”. In general they involve people who are depressed and decide to commit suicide, but lack the courage or knowledge to do it, or want to really hurt those they leave behind.

Reading Julia’s post at Sisyphus Shrugged on the LA train wreck, it occurred to me that we are seeing another facet of the same problem.

It is hard for me to understand why these people don’t have the common decency to buy a book that gives the details of a successful and painless suicide, rather than involving others in their problem.

If this guy wanted to end it all, he could have volunteered to drive trucks for Halliburton in Baghdad.

Challenger

Commander:
Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Pilot:
Michael J. Smith, Commander, USN

Mission Specialist:
Judith A. Resnik
Ronald E. McNair
Ellison S. Onizuka, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Payload Specialist:
Gregory B. Jarvis
Sharon Christa McAuliffe

Friday Cat Blogging [^TM Kevin Drum]

How would you like to eat that camera?