Voting’s Hard: Don’t worry, we did the thinking for you here (or you could just scroll down a little). We’ll elaborate Tuesday on the Internets and Wednesday in the paper. Ballots should arrive in the mail this weekend.
Stupid Loud Engines: Blue Angels, hydroplanes will fly ‘n’ float around, close our bridges this weekend.
And You Can’t Even Avoid Them With Booze: ‘Cause it’s expensive now. Thanks, Washington.
They’ll Euthanize Your Grandmother, You Know: House committee passes health care reform bill, public option included. The full House votes next month.
This Won’t Be Good For Iraq’s Booming Tourism Industry: American hikers detained after accidentally crossing into Iran.
Justice: Robbers go to prison, cops do not.
Down under: Australia recognizes same sex unions, stops short of lifting gay marriage ban.
Obama Drinks a Beer: Meets with cop, wrongful arrestee. Drinking a Budweiser apparently still doesn’t make him a real American, according to right-wing intellectuals.
What’s more American than drinking beer? How often did ALL-AMERICAN champ Sarah Palin spout the “Joe Six Pack” line during the campaign?
But I’m interested in how many people agree with the Aug. 3 Newsweek, which said Obama violated his own “no distractions” policy by having a beer session instead of keeping focused on health care.
Opinions?
By “cop” you mean perpetrator of assault and kidnapping, right?
And by “wrongful arrestee,” you mean “world-renowned professor and law-abiding homeowner,” right?
Btw describing blacks as objects of white actor’s actions is a form of you know what. It adopts a racist-white p.o.v. of seeing blacks as passive objects.
If this was Henry Kissinger you wouldn’t call him “wrongful arrestee.”
Pls. make a note of it.
@PC: Your comments always seem angry, snide and bossy. Have a hug.
“Right-wing intellectuals?” There’s an oxymoron.
The health care reform proposal got thru one of the most liberal dominated committees on the house by 31 to 28 votes only. In the 28 there’s 5 Democrats. This does not bode well for the full house much less the senate, the body designed in 1787 to help plantation owners stop all change.
Btw there are written GOP plans already to have folks travel around to the town halls and disrupt them. Remember when they did that to create disorder during the Florida recounts? It worked pretty well then. These people don’t fuck around. On our side, we have a house dem caucus handing out talking points on note cards, and outside grups running ads in 25 districts. Well, that’s a start. The problem is there isn’t one simple message that any one in charge has settled on because you then have to repeat it in all 50 states in all media markets in every press conference and again in town halls and on the lips of every Democrat. for it to work.
“INSURANCE THAT WORKS, INSURANCE FOR ALL”
“We’re reforming the insurance market to ensure insurance that works, and insurance for all. You’ll have guaranteed coverage if you change or lose your job, or have a preexisting condition. And the public plan option leaves you your choice of private or public plans — but the competition makes sure your private insurer will work for you, and treat you fairly. That’s why the insurers are opposing the public option — they don’t want to face free and fair competition for your choice.”
Something like that. (It’s a bit wonky but this middle road they’re chosen is a harder thing to message then “Medicare for all” or “One America, One Plan” which I’d’ve preferred.)
@3 — noted. Hug accepted. Btw, Crowley needs one, too, maybe he’ll stop breaking the law.
Wait, they’re complaining because two uniformed cops didn’t shout, “Stop. Police.” while chasing a suspect? The cop was probably too rough on the take down, but I’m kinda sure the ‘suspect’ knew he was being chased by cops. I would hope that he’d recognize a police officer by the fact they were wearing that blue shirt with the badge on it. Also, I’m thinking the truncheon and handcuffs and gun may have given him some sort of clue these were police officers chasing him even if they didn’t yell, “Stop. Police.”
For those of you who aren’t sure what Seattle police look like, they are the gentleman in the picture here.
http://www.belltown.org/images/BikePatro…
Amen, @7. Running from the police is a crime punishable by a severe beating or worse, it doesn’t matter if you did nothing wrong. Hell, just looking at a cop the wrong way is justification for lethal force.
@7: Okay, here’s the scenario. You’re in Belltown on a weekend morning just before the bars close. You walk past what appears to be some sort of an altercation in a parking lot. Maybe the lighting isn’t all that great, maybe it’s actually pretty dark at the edge of that alley where you’re standing. Suddenly, from a distance you see two guys dressed all in black start chasing you, they don’t identify themselves and there’s no OBVIOUS indication from your perspective exactly who they are.
Given the above scenario, what do you think the average law-abiding citizen would do?
Let us not forget the KCSD has developed a notorious reputation over the past few years for these kinds of strong-armed tactics, including a flagrant inability to identify themselves as LEA’s when conducting their business, particularly when outside their normal jurisdiction (i.e. within the Seattle City Limits).
And look at the camera footage from the Cinerama. As the victim comes into frame, he’s not running; he’s obviously slowed down to walking speed. His hands are clearly visible, held slightly out from his body. In the bright light of the sidewalk, it’s clear he isn’t holding a weapon and doesn’t appear to pose any sort of threat. He begins to turn in the direction from which he came, then raises his arms defensively as the KCSD enters the frame at a full-speed run, bodyslams the guy squarely in the midsection, knocking him some SIX OR SEVEN FEET through the air and slamming his head into a concrete wall. He hits the wall so hard in fact that his feet fly up into the air nearly over his head. Meanwhile Ossifer Friendly is in direct line-of-sight of this with a completely unobstructed view of the impact a mere six feet from where he’s standing.
And what does he do then? As the victim lies limp and unmoving on the ground, probably already suffering massive brain-trauma, our victorious Executor Of Justice begins dragging his trophy like a hyena that’s just dropped a gazelle, twisting and rolling the body while his head bounces along the sidewalk, no doubt exacerbating whatever injury the poor man has already suffered.
While the good-ole-boys who run the KCSD, and their buddies in the Prosecutors Office may stand together on their side of the Blue Line, the victim’s family should take this guy to civil court and make him pay for the life he’s effectively, and unnecessarily, ruined.
And just for emphasis @7, these were NOT blue-uniformed SPD, they were black-clad King County Sheriffs Deputies, who from a distance at night on a street with low visibility might not be as immediately recognizeable to the average Seattleite. To someone in that situation, they could look like rent-a-cops at best, and at worst like street-thugs; from the Cinerama footage, it’s not obvious- even in the enhanced footage that comes at the end of the sequence – whether the KCSD who body-checked this guy had on a badge or even shoulder insignia (which is much more obvious on the second officer who comes into frame at around 0:11).
As to the “truncheon, handcuffs & gun”, maybe you haven’t noticed, but most cops sport these things called “utility belts”, with all sorts of pouches, loops & holsters attached for carrying their equipment. The standard-issue for these is black leather, with the cuffs safely stored in a black leather pouch (so that, for example, in a struggle they can’t be used to drag or exert leverage on the officer), and guns (black) secured in black leather or nylon holsters. So, we’ve got a couple of guys wearing all-black, sporting black belts off of which are hanging a bunch of black things that at night and from a distance aren’t going to exactly jump out in contrast against those all-black outfits.
Given the circumstances as described by witnesses in the various articles about this incident, the ONLY way anyone would have had a reasonable expectation of knowing these guys were cops would have been IF they had immediately identified themselves. The witnesses indicate this may not have occurred, at least not within their earshot, but the cops say they did. However, KCSD has a reputation for failing to ID themselves in similar situations that have occurred in the past, so their “word of honor” isn’t exactly pristine in cases such as this.
Okay, I can understand running away and being afraid if they’re KCSD & were dressed in the ninja-black uniforms (what’s up with that anyway?) and it was a really dark night, but in the other situation I would hope a person would have common sense not to run. It tends to make you look guilty of something and that’s where Seattle’s notoriously red-neck cops tend to pound the crap out of people. I’d rather the hassle of showing the cops my i.d. than being shoved head first into the ground and get cuffed. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.
Best take on the “Beer Summit” so far…
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/pare…
I’m guessing that whatever position I take, the comments would be even harsher than the time I admitting to liking Oakland. But as an American, there is one element of President Barack Obama’s sit-down beer-drinking dialogue with Gates and Crowley that deserves further comment:
I can’t believe the president doesn’t have better patio furniture.
The problem, @11, is that when somebody charges you without warning on a dark street, it sets off your fight-or-flight response. Even if the guys were recognizable as cops, it might not matter. In other words, the shock of going from innocent bystander to armed and dangerous suspect caused the victim to panic and flee.
It’s important to remember that the victim here was completely innocent. The cops nearly killed this man, and all they had to justify it was the word of another bystander that he was a criminal. The same thing could happen to any one of us tomorrow. In the twisted mind of a cop, if you run, you are guilty and deserve whatever you get. That is why I hate the police.
The “Beer Summit” was an attempt by Hussein and his racist buddy to kneecap the cop who made a reasonable arrest.
And health care “reform” is more like euthenizing your freedom. Imagine, the government will now have access to ALL of your health records. Another step towards socialist tyranny.
Finally, Hussein is not an intellectual. Ever hear him speak without a teleprompter? I’m surprised there wasn’t one at the beer summit. He really isn’t that smart. President Bush and Sarah Palin don’t need one everywhere they go!
And where’s the birth certificate? Right thinking Americans should support the billboard campaign, and buy yard signs and bumper stickers.
http://shop.wnd.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_…
@ 13,
Hate the training and the system. They are trained to react that way and protected by the system when they make a huge mistake or over react. In other parts of the world there are police that are actually civilized and think first and shoot later.
The Repubs should be the one blamed for not stopping the sale of Budweiser to InBev, the Belgium company who now owns them. Now they want to call Obama unamerican for drinking the results of the Repubs laziness.
@15: Systems and training can’t be held responsible for putting innocent people in comas. Because they are incapable of acting by themselves, as they are abstractions.
The cop should be held responsible for his wrongdoing in this case. He used force unnecessarily and irresponsibly. The decision to do so was not made by his training, it was made by him.