November 2006 Archives

I saw this story. A rapist in India burned his victim alive after she refused to drop the rape charges she pressed. She might have survived the attack if she'd not been dalit, or 'untouchable'. The only people in her village that own cars and could have transported her to the hospital in time were all upper-class and did not want to help.

This kind of action brings to mind the acid attacks on women in South Asia, or the continued killing of infant girls in India and elsewhere that just makes me sad.

Heather and I have talked about adopting another child, and we'd love to adopt a little girl from someplace like India, or China, where little girls can be in danger, but the frustrating thing, aside from the cost is that some adoption agencies in India will not let non-Indian families adopt. If the alternative is the above, what's the point?

I know that the above is not the only alternative, and there are plenty of loving and wonderful Indian families that care for their daughters and raise happy and healthy and securely, and there are plenty of American families that horribly mistreat their children...I guess I'm just more frustrated than anything.

I admire the persistence of Asha Katiya in not backing down from her attacker and not cowering in fear. It is a testament to her strength and power that she lived long enough after being burned alive to be able to name her attacker once again.

I hope that she and her family will see justice done. Sometimes these crimes just go away. I have a feeling this one will not.

Update: My friend Amit suggested that I, and anyone else that feels like they should do something about this crime or other crimes like this could contribute to CRY, an organization that specializes in helping Indian children and youth. To sponsor the education of a child in India for an entire year costs about $25.

I spent the long-weekend doing home repairs and upgrades. My mom and step-dad helped greatly, as did my brother-in-law. We laid down new laminate in the playroom, removed the old nasty front door and put in a new pre-hung door.

I'm sore and tired, but I feel good. It's nice, working in the field I do, to get to work with my hands and do some physical work once in a while.

The floor and door look good. Now I just need someone to work on my shoulders.

Epileptics in the middle of seizures, students at UCLA, cops sure do love their tasers, because now in St. Louis they tasered a 5'7" 130 lb mental patient until he died. And not long ago, police in Saginaw, tasered a man in a town council meeting because he refused to remove his hat.

Maybe cops feel like since tasering is supposed to be non-lethal (see above however) that it's probably just okay to whip that thing out for whatever reason...

"This isn't diet soda. I clearly ordered diet!!!" ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!

"What do you mean all the tickets to the movie are sold out???? ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!

"Son, I'm sorry but I warned you what would happen if you got less than an A on your test." ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!

"Dammit dog, you go piss outside!" ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!ZAP!

Why, I bet if they were writing Andy Griffith today, every time Otis stumbled down Main Street half-tipsy, Barney'd be out with the taser and baton giving him a few lessons about "soberin' up", if you know what I mean.

I guess it's not all bad though...Philadelphia Police shot a man in the back of the head and would have us believe that he was sitting in the back of the cruiser handcuffed after being patted down and was able to pull a gun and blow the back of his head off. That's some ingenuity.

I'm fairly certain you've heard about it by now, but in case you haven't, police at UCLA walked through the Powell library last week checking IDs and when one student in particular, Mostafa Tabatabainejad of Iranian descent (for all you folk who fear anyone from that region) but born in the US, refused to show his ID, the UCLA police tried to drag him out of the library and proceeded to taser him over and over and over again.

The interesting thing is that the police would taser him and then tell him to stand up, and when he wouldn't stand up, they would taser him again. I always thought that the point of using the taser was that it stunned the target and incapacitated them for a while. Say, making it impossible to get up and be a threat again?

If you'd like evidence, I suggest watching video from the incident shot on someone's cellphone. Here's the video itself if you prefer:

You can also read this article from the LA Times or this commentary or this commentary. The Sepia Mutiny article points to a press release from the UCLA police's statement indicating that they did everything correctly. The LA Times today provides us with an article that shows that at least one of the cops involved in this incident, Terrence Duren, has been cited before for using too much force, including choking a student outside a frat house with his baton, and shooting a mentally ill homeless person. Twice.

Again the incident at UCLA as well as the other actions of Officer Terrence Duren highlight a culture in which the police that work for us instead assume that they're the power in charge, and act as bullies with badges, batons, and other assorted weaponry. These bullies feel that any dissent must be crushed before it emboldens the other serfs they so nobly protect. If you watch the video from UCLA, at the end, one of the students demands the badge numbers from the cops tasering Tabatabainejad, at which point one of the cops threatens to taser him too.

Do we really need police tactics? I just can't think of a reason why we do. Why is it necessary for the police to immediately escalate their actions to tasering students in libraries, or epileptics in mid-seizure in public parks when their target doesn't immediately give in. It's no longer innocent until proven guilty. It's guilty as suspected and whipped in public into giving in so the cops can feel powerful.

It's disgusting. It's disturbing. It's something the people of this country should be concerned with.

I saw this story via Reddit (quickly becoming my favorite news site, by the way).

To quote from the article:

"...a Michigan man with epilepsy, who, when experiencing a seizure, apparently was unjustifiably tasered, clubbed, arrested, jailed and committed to a psychiatric facility for violent offenders -- all based on non-threatening behaviors caused by a seizure."

(source: http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/epilepsyusa/beloungea.cfm)

Wow. It's apparent to me that in the particular case of Daniel Beloungea, the epileptic in question, because he was unable to comply with the orders of the police they viewed his non-compliance as an act of rebellion, and acted to stamp it out immediately.

The actions of the police officers in question are a perfect example of police abuse and further evidence of a nascent police state.

The police in question state that their actions were completely justified and that he was playing with himself in the park and lunged at the deputies with a weapon:

"He reportedly advanced on a deputy after being Tasered, ripping the barbed dart from his stomach and pointing it towards the deputy. He had to be dropped to the ground with a baton blow to the leg.

Beloungea was jailed and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting and obstructing an officer. On his lawyer's advice he pled not guilty by reason of insanity and spent 20 days under evaluation at a state forensic center.
...
Undersheriff Mike McCabe said deputies are trained for medical emergencies and stressed their actions were justifiable."

(source: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061006/METRO02/610060319/1022)

Apparently his men need more training.

As an epileptic I can tell you that when I've had seizures I'm completely disoriented during and after and my wife reports that I thrash about violently during the seizure. I don't have the partial seizures that Mr. Beloungea has, but rather, full clonic-tonic (grand mal) seizures, so it's more clear what I'm undergoing. Every time I've had a seizure, the ambulance gets called and the police come along as well, more to help the EMTs if I'm completely uncontrollable.

I can't imagine the horror for my wife if in the middle of a seizure the cop bursts in and starts beating me with a baton. My heart goes out to Mr. Beloungea and his family, and I hope that the deputies in question are punished for their reckless endangerment of a man who was clearly not a threat to them, but in terrible need of medical help.

Neighbors of Bill and Hillary Clinton were shot Sunday night in their SUV. It's a terrible tragedy and luckily for both of them they're still alive. The interesting thing about the story for me though is not that they were shot, or that they are the Clinton's neighbors, but instead that it will only take a few seconds for the lunatics at LGF and on Rush Limbaugh to start saying that Hillary shot them both to protect some secret they knew...

Because it's apparently wicked to claim that the president lead us into war on a false pretense, but claiming that Hillary shot Vince Foster (and now her neighbors) is 'good politics'.

I obviously give a lot of thought to the state of politics, and the state of liberty in this great country and our world at large. So it should come as no surprise that I've been considering what goes into honest government. There are a ton of people that would love to make millions off of this subject. Count me in that group. If I could make millions legitimately off of peddling this subject I would. However, I don't think that there's time enough for me to build up my business in that field because we've suffered enough bad dishonest government as it is.

So while I will probably spin this into a larger article, I want to present my tenents for honest government. First, I should explain what I mean by that. I mean a government that is truly constrained by law and contract. A government that is open and fair, a government that understands its power to rule is solely derived from the will of the governed, and recognizes that at any time if the govern so desire, they can tear down and remake government as they see fit. A government with transparency. A government that does not needlessly deceive the the governed.

I'm putting these out to call for this type of government no matter where we live. I would personally like to see a world of minimal government and maximal freedoms, but even if you live in a state or country which practices socialism, you too can demand these things. They are your right as one who gives power to your government.

1. An end to two-party politics. - I know this applies mostly in the United States and within each of the 50 States, but it's important, and I'm going to explain why. Large parties, of the type Democrat or Republican, do not give the voters the full ability to vote their conscience. By opening the rolls to all political parties, no matter how extreme or strange or small you potentially allow all people to have a say.
2. An end to ear-marking and pork. - We're all paying for the price of our lawmaker's abuses. Ear-marking, the process by which money for a pet project is tacked onto another bill as a rider needs to stop. As long as politicians can funnel money to whatever they want without full and open disclosure AND complete public oversight, we're not ruled by an honest government.
3. Make legislators read the bills they vote on first. - Downsize DC already has a campaign for this. It should be a no-brainer that politicians read the bills they're asked to vote on. Politicians should not be allowed to just vote on something because someone told them it was a good idea or they didn't have time to get to it. That's how bad laws like the PATRIOT Act come to be. Make them read the laws they're trying to pass.
4. Lobbying Reform - You can expect or demand that there are no more lobbyists. It just can't happen, and shouldn't. It's important that all people affected by a bill get a chance to speak on a subject with their politician. Politicians should be required to reveal every meeting with a lobbyist, ever dollar received, if we allow it all, which I don't think we should, and reveal every perk, gift, high-five, backslap, and pinch on the ass a politician receives from a lobbyist. Period. The peddling of influence should have the bright light of day shone on it.
5. An End To Gerrymandering - When politicians redraw district lines they do so with such lewd glee it makes even the most darkest of hearts at the sex offenders jail quake. The laws originally designed to ensure that changes in population were accurately reflected in representation have been used to make it possible for a politician or party to pick and choose their voters. It's shouldn't work that way. We choose our leaders. We give them mandate and authority. They should not get the ability to pick us the voters to ensure their career forever.
6. Expanded Freedom of Information Access - The governed should have the ability to seek information from their government with little pain. There is a place for state secrets, but information about the government should be available freely, and preferably online so it's easy to access.
7. A Strong, Exuberant, and Free Press - The people have the right to be informed of what's going on at all levels of government and how it's affecting people. Only a free press (including bloggers ;) ) can really perform this action.
8. The Right to Bear Arms - I know that not all of you will agree with this final right but it is essential for the continued safeguarding of liberty. While citizens remain armed it's much harder for the government to strip rights from people or to try to quash them. An armed citizenry is a free citizenry.

That's it for now. I'm very tired and worn out from the day and I'd love to write more but I'll circle back around later and get to doing that.

My apologies for being inactive on my blog for the last few weeks. We've had a big project at work that's consumed all of my head and time, but the major deliverable is done, and I can return to actually blogging now.

I've got a backlog of stuff that I want to talk about now, so I'll be posting a bunch in the next few days as I get time.

Rumsfeld announced his resignation today. That's one polarizing figure gone from the Bush Administration. For me it feels like Bush is saying "alright, I got the message!" with this one. Actually he said:

"I recognize that many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure with the lack of progress being made" [in Iraq]

Well fancy that.

Speaking of polarizing figures, a few weeks ago Karl Rove was on NPR speaking with Robert Siegel on Radio Day. During the interview Siegel asked Rove about the polls indicating a big win for Democrats on Election Day, and Rove was combative and dismissive and said "You've got your math, I've got THE MATH [which shows a Republic win]".

Imagine that. It must have been that new math he was using.

Saw in the news that Amendment E, the JAIL For Judges Amendment proposed in South Dakota was voted down by the voters in that state by a wide margin.

I didn't not anticipate that the Amendment E supporters would take failure well, and they're not. They've already screaming about voter fraud. And while any allocations of voter fraud need to be investigated for Democracy to retain its legitimacy, I don't believe it was voter fraud that killed the Amendment E initiative in South Dakota. 90% of voters voted No. Instead of fraud, I think it's got more to do with the fact that every professional group and politician and majority of bloggers stood up and said "That's an awful law!". When you get enough people saying that, the voters take notice.

This also means that Ron Branson and his merry crew of miscreants will now be on the hunt for another State in which to promote their ideas.

I'll let you know as I know.

Also notable in South Dakota was the size of the "No" vote on South Dakota's amendment that would ban all abortions outright. Way to go folks!

I'm going to bed now.but it looks like MO, MT, and VA are going to go Democrat. I know the major news orgs are calling TN for Corker, with a total count, but I thought that there was a large number of absentee ballots filed. I don't know if that's going to be a factor or not.

Hell, I am not sure I care. At this point I'm happy because I foresee great gridlock in our future.

I just hope the Democrats have enough power to check the ever-morphing ever-growing ever-consuming power lust the President's afflicted with.

Dan Rather on Comedy Central's Midterm Midtacular riffing on himself is just hysterical. Oh God, best part of the night.

The difference between the three major cable networks is stark today:

MSNBC is running just Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann and it's very subdued, almost classy. Ken Mehlman was just on MSNBC when I was flipping through and he looked like he hasn't slept in 3 days, which is probably true. I've never had a problem with Mehlman personally. He's articulate and personable, but he's very agitated and snapped at Chris Matthews. Olbermann and Matthews have been trading barbs. That's always fun, but they should just get it over with and start throwing fists.

CNN compiled a team like it's Monday Night Football. Hank Williams Jr. popped out and sang a montage with Britney Spears and the Rockettes. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME RECOUNTS????????????? I think I saw Madden in the back corner eating a hot dog. Seriously though they've got Begala, Carville, Bennett, all sorts of people out there in front of monitors shooting snappy commentary at each other and watching the results on the Big Blitzer Board. For all of the people, it's still kind of boring.

I turned on FoxNews for a minute, but the sad faces and weeping made me sad. Chris Wallace was behind Brit Hume and he was shredding a pile of documents, not sure what that's about, but he looked pale and sweaty...it was all a letdown.

So I turned to Comedy Central to watch the Midterm Midtacular, and caught the real news.

CNN's reporting George Allen is winning in Virginia. I'm not a fan of George Allen, but if the state does break hard-right, I'm not surprised. VA is a conservative state.

A lot of Republican pundits are dancing and cheering for Lamont's defeat as a clear indication that Democrats aren't going to win tonight. I don't know how that math plays out, but we'll see what happens.

I will say that Santorum's concession speech tonight was very classy and I applaud him for that.

I went with the kids and wife to vote. The process was painless, and we used the new Diebold machines which was okay, although I'm still not comfortable not getting a receipt for my vote. It's such a simple idea and one that should have been done from the start and yet here we are without receipts.

I checked the switch on the back of the machine, and it was firmly placed in the "Record Actual Vote" instead of the usual "Count Every Vote As Republican". It was annoying since the machine kept popping up a box that said "Are you sure you don't want to vote for the Republicans?"

I voted for Bob Casey.

In the choice between Bobby and Ricky it was a no-brainer for me. Ricky was too tightly wrapped around the Bush Administration and its policies. Rather than stand up for the rights of his constituents, like me, he worked purely for the Republican agenda, which I don't approve of. His continued support for the Iraq war, support for warrantless wiretaps, and all of the other failed agendas of the Bush Administration make him completely unsupportable.

Also, his equating being homosexual with screwing your dog just blows my mind.

So I voted against him.

After this upcoming Election Day, it is entirely possible that in South Dakota, there will never be a civil trial held again. That judges will rush to recuse themselves from cases they would have willingly heard months before. That child custody cases, divorce hearings, and medical malpractice cases will completely vanish, and people will suffer needlessly. It's also possible that in the years to come, in your State, in mine, across the country, the same bad law that's about to be voted on under the watchful eyes of Mount Rushmore will make it make its way onto your ballot and completely strip you of your right to have your day in court.

It's possible because of Amendment E, also known as J.A.I.L 4 Judges, and it's setting out to strip judges of their immunity to make decisions.

Assaults on the judiciary and specifically their immunity are nothing new. Pundits have been attacking all levels of the court, especially State courts and the Federal Judiciary when their views have not fallen in line with a certain ideology, normally, the prevailing conservative Christian hard-line ideology. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, the entire role call at TownHall.com, et al have all issued breezy hysterical screeds about the immediate doom we will all suffer at the hands of an independent judiciary that pokes its nose where it doesn’t belong, gives rights to the people that shouldn’t have them and forcing everything from a gay lifestyle to atheism to you name it from the bench.

So someone’s decided to do something about it. That someone is Ron Branson of California, and he directs the J.A.I.L 4 Judges movement, or the “Judicial Accountability Initiative Law”. The J4J movement has been brewing for a long time, but the first practical political attempt to get its goals advanced comes in South Dakota, where on Nov. 7th, people will vote on Amendment E. Why South Dakota? Because it has lower requirements to get an initiative on a ballot than most other states, and had a willing South Dakotan to sponsor and stump for the bill. But these are not the important matters. What matters is what the movement wants to do and how. So we should first examine what Amendment E says and does, and how it relates back to J4J. But before we can get there, we should define judicial immunity, and how and why it’s important.