The recent tasering of a student after he questioned John Kerry during a university appearance was a painful example of misjudgment by police officers. In "ganging" up on him both physically and psychologically, they instigated his shock, disorientation, then panic. Yet he was never a threat; nor was he vicious. He was not an "enemy combatant." His questioning was passionate but salient, his only "crime" being wordiness.

Such passion is not unheard of at these events. An aide will usually move in to focus the person's attention on time and decorum. Occasionally it will accelerate to a warning about calling security. No such preliminaries occurred here. The overkill in numbers and brutish behavior created a crisis of fear and an unjustified, wrongful tasering. There was NO justification for introducing this weapon.

The taser was allegedly supposed to be a weapon of last resort in a crime setting. Unbelievably, in this case it was employed for political convenience. In deference to a senator's comfort level, law enforcement officers engaged in conduct that violated the playbook and exacerbated emotions rather than defused them. Misuse of tasers on people innocent of any crime is un-American, incompetent, and insane. For knowledgeable law officers, such cavalier abuse marks a wretched benchmark: the self-fulfilling prophecy.

The incident's larger symbolism was also unmistakable. This student's passion mimicked the frustration of millions who have been anguishing for years while Congress does nothing to stop the serial violence of unchecked greed. They watch passively as innocent people are tortured or killed, and their own sympathizers brutalized.

For six years these tyrants have been soiling in our collective messkits. But instead of stopping them, Republicans close ranks trying to cover it up, while democrats run around waving a diaper trying to change them.

Preemptive overkill rules - because war is now officially permanent.