POLJUNK

I don't know if any of you are following the bizarre story of the town in Montana who built a prison, couldn't find any prisoners for it, tried to get the GITMO detainees, and sold off the management rights to a shady private security firm headed by a drunken ex-con. This is life in post-Bush/hyper-privatized security America.

Talking Points Memo has been following the story for a while now and it just gets better every day. Alarms started to go off when officials for the company showed up in Benzos and Hummers emblazoned with "City Of Hardin Police Department" decals. Locals got freaked out because Hardin does not have a police force and suddenly a gang of paramilitary types come rolling through.

That of course got the press sniffing around, not to mention raising the dander of conspiracy freaks on the right and the left. My favorite rumor is that APF plans to impose experimental H1N1 vaccines on residents under threat of quarantine in the jail. Um...what?

American Police Force is headed by a guy named Michael Hilton, who has a long criminal record and history of alcoholism. Now, I've done some stupid things while drunk but I do not (to my knowledge) have 14 felonies, including fraud and grand theft.

And now the Minnesota AG is looking into the matter.

The silly logo aside, American Police Force's website is like a page out of Guns & Ammo and is surely giving flat topped guys everywhere a boner just looking at it. My favorite pic is this one: