American law enforcement officers know down to their tippy-toes what really, really works—force. And the more the better. It's "Shock and Awe" on the local level. For the less threatening miscreants—the elderly and school children—the taser is employed. For everyone else the SWAT team—the police equivalent to the military's "special forces"—must be called in.

But this reliance on yang over yin is hardly confined to the Homeland. In fact, it's so universal that when an exception occurs, we must invoke a Higher Power to explain it. Such an event occurred in Tasmania this past week.

According to The Australian,

Not every police siege ends in a street party, but this is Tasmania and this week's siege in New Norfolk – the longest in the state's history – was far from typical. Police opted for patience rather than firepower to resolve the stand-off, which involved a couple armed with guns and a bomb. Groceries and even pizza were allowed past the police barricades in exchange for concessions from the outlaws holed up in their unit. The softly, softly strategy worked – after 68 hours the couple gave themselves up, no doubt out of boredom. Now the local constabulary is throwing a free street barbecue tonight for neighbours inconvenienced by the stand-off. "A lot of residents helped the police, bringing out food and drinks, so this is our way of saying thank you," a spokesman for the Rodneys said.