Here's a good one to forward to anyone you know who still believes police officers are "the good guys" or that they are more trustworthy than defendants when giving testimony in criminal cases.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Just a thought: My elderly Mom last week called PG&E about a strong smell of gas in her basement. A PG&E employee came to her home, inspected the appliances, and told her that her water heater was old and that if she could keep it quiet he would sell her one for X amount. When my Mom said "no", the PG&E employee turned off her hot water and left. My Mom did not know why she had no hot water, and today a plumber came and turned the hot water back on. I was mad as heck, but not ready to paint of PG&E employees with the same brush.
Marcy
Marcy,
That is messed up what happened to your mom. Possibly she violated an unwritten "law" against giving attitude to a PG&E official, just as other people are persecuted by police for similar "offenses." Clearly some cops (and PG&E employees) are worse than others. But as a group, the government police are in the business of enforcing immoral, unconstitutional laws, and violating peoples' rights on a routine basis. Via their professional associations they routinely lobby in favor of more expensive, more intrusive government. They are not, on the whole, friends of freedom.
Yet too many people still find them trustworthy, and according to those familiar with the criminal justice system, the public still tends to take their word over that of defendants. Hopefully that is starting to change, and I'm going to do what I can to let people know the truth of what's going on.
Did you hear the recent story about the $122,000-a-year SFPD crime lab employee who was embezzling cocaine from her workplace? The good news is that apparently they are having to throw out a bunch of drug cases as a result -- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/10/BAG81CDOTU.DTL&tsp=1.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Starchild, your comment about giving attitude reminded me of another recent incident. I was still working at my computer around 11 pm, when I heard what sounded like cries for help outside. I rushed to the window to see what was going on. A big dog was cornering a woman, a policeman was wondering what to do and radioing for help. Without thinking, I yelled out the window for the policeman to get the @#$%%**%%@@ dog out of the yard. Bedlam ensued. Three more policemen arrived. The poor dog ran out yelping. I ran out yelling at the policemen not to shoot at the dog. Bart thought for sure I was going to spend the next few years in the slammer for yelling at the police. Nothing like that happened. So, I guess there is attitude and there is attitude.
Marcy
Wow Marcy, all I can say is that not everyone who acts as boldly as you did is as fortunate. But good for you for sicking your neck out and trying to do the right thing! Indeed though, what kind of person would simply shoot the dog under those circumstances? The fact that you feared such an outcome -- and that Bart feared you might be locked up for years, just for yelling at the cops -- says something about the way that police typically approach confrontations, does it not? Yelling at an officer is not even illegal!
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))
Tell Henry Louis Gates Jr that.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html
The mass media roundly criticized Gates for his disrespectful language to the officer and concluded of the arrest that he "had it coming." Even when Obama tried to defend Gates, Obama had to apologize to the officer and hold that ridiculous "beer summit".
If a Harvard professor of such stature (he's currently hosting Faces of America on PBS) can get arrested for yelling at an officer and have the majority of people in the country side with the officer, then yes yelling at an officer is illegal. And it clearly is racial. Have you seen Gates? He's not much bigger than Marcy. Nobody could ever consider him to be more threatening when he yelled at that Cambridge officer than Marcy was when she yelled at the San Francisco officer. The officer fearing for their safety simply cannot be used as an excuse for overreaction in either case.
When there are laws on the books that equate yelling at an officer with inciting a riot, and when public opinion clearly holds officers in high esteem, it doesn't matter that it's technically legal to yell at an officer. You'll still find yourself in jail.
And it doesn't help when so-called-libertarians (like the ones commenting to the post at http://delawarelibertarian.blogspot.com/2009/07/racism-dr-henry-louis-gates-and.html ) defend things like racial profiling.
Thought experiment: What do you think is Wayne Allyn Root's opinion of the Gates arrest and Obama's reaction? Go ahead -- think about it. What would Root, who may well be the next LNC chair, say? Once you're pretty sure, go visit:
And be sure to read the comments, as well.
The fact is that "Libertarians" in LP leadership positions bear just as much culpability for out-of-control police as any other group, if not more.
At least SF cops won't have tasers now. Enjoy the small victories.
Rob
Oh, I left out the part that the dog (about the size of a small elephant) lunged at the policeman. Fortunately when I yelled my head off, the dog got confused and ran away! So, had the dog been shot, I would consider it self defense on the police's part. However, the reason I yelled was that the poor dog, in his own dog mind, was also acting in self defense.
Now the part about me maybe being arrested for yelling at the police, Starchild...well, you had to be there to appreciate the circumstances!!
Marcy
Perhaps one way to prevent this is for the fines and restituttion to come out of the police retirement fund.
PG and E is hardly a free market company.
Rob,
I'm well aware of how the police may *react*, as opposed to what is legal, let alone what is *really* legal (constitutional). What I was saying to Marcy is that Bart's and her fears *were* justified (well, maybe not the fear of her being in jail for several years, but at least of getting arrested), and that this shows how bad the police typically are.
As for Wayne Allyn Root, I didn't see his column about the Gates affair at the time, but I'm not surprised. Siding with the police in an incident like this is ideologically in character for the conservative-leaning Root, and I'm sure he couldn't pass up an opportunity to decry Obama as being a racist and again tell the story of how they went to the same university. At least most of the LP members who commented about his remarks seem to have more sensitivity to police abuses.
Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))