Friday, March 14th, 2008
- A failed war carried out under false pretenses, closing in on 4,000 dead U.S. troops, corrupt officials at the highest levels of his administration, incompetence, a complete lack of transparency and accountability–yes, it’s all quite funny, isn’t it? Har!
- So the woman was only on the toilet seat for a month. But yes, “Sheriff Whipple” has now recommended charges against her boyfriend. I wonder, what exactly was he supposed to do? At what point are you supposed to call the police when your girlfriend won’t get off the toilet? Apparently, a month is too long. Frankly, given the number of incidents of I’ve seen where a loved one called the police because of a stubborn psychologically disturbed loved one then escalated into all sorts of unnecessary ugliness and confrontation, I’d have been reluctant, too. I guess I just don’t get this knee-jerk need to throw out a charge every time something unfortunate happens. These people need help, not jail time.
- John Tierney looks at the science behind “A Boy Named Sue.” My biggest problem these days is getting people to believe that “Radley Prescott Balko” is actually my real name.
- Holding the sun.
- The two brothers who were accosted by police after videotaping a drug raid have won a $1.7 million settlement from Harris County, Texas.
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TheAgitator.com
In addition to the settlement, the judge in the case will decide how much the county will have to pay in attorney fees and court costs.
That means that $1.7 million will only continue to grow.
Nice to see that the lawyers share isn’t coming out of the 1.7 million settlement. The Ibarra’s deserve every penny.
“There may have been a few mistakes made,” said Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas. “As far as blatantly doing something wrong, I don’t see that, no.”
I hope Harris County is ready to pay out on more lawsuits. It doesn’t look like these cops have learned their lesson, and they probably never will learn it.
Don’t expect Harris County to capotulate in more cases. The problem with the settlement is that they admit no wrongdoing. In essence, its hush money to prevent other lawsuits and possibly criminal investigations.
Crap. I know they deserve the dollars, but this seems more like a cash grab instead of a lawsuit on principle. Oh, so close. Had they stuck it out and gotten an award in their favor, it might have set precedence and start exposing acts like the Harris County Sheriff’s as criminal
“corrupt officials at the highest levels of his administration, incompetence, a complete lack of transparency and accountability”
So if it wasn’t for the war, you’d like the guy, right?
“The unfortunate thing is this truly is a case of two people, in my opinion, with diminished mental capacity,” Whipple said.
Unfortunate, but not so unfortunate that the sheriff can’t find a way to charge one of the two people with a crime.
The benefit of an unusual name or an unusual characteristic is resilience. Because of taunting, etc. one learns that some things just do not matter, and makes us better able to handle life’s little problems. Not to mention, not falling apart when things are not going well. Not a bad outcome. Sue’s pa was right.
The police only solve problems with force or the threat of force, so exactly how were they going to get the woman off the toilet? My guess is they would have entered the house en masse, demanded that she remove herself. When she refused they would have tased her. When she still couldn’t remove herself because she was fused to the seat they would have tased her to the point of unconsciousness, then ripped her off the seat. While they “secured” the rest of the house she would have bled to death on the bathroom floor. Then the police spokesbureaucrat would have blamed the incident on the woman’s refusal to comply. The officers would get a month long vacation why the DA determined that they did everything by the book.
I really was amazed that the police officer that mentioned it, said she had to be there for at least a month! Bedsores or decubitus ulcers can show up in much less time than that. She especially would have been vulnerable sitting on a toilet seat for 24/7. I just love it when the cops, and other advisers, like “expert doctors” result in this type of, erroneous, conclusion. The time element , is unable to accurately be calculated. And, because this guy is too much a wimp, he let his girlfriend sit on the stool, for who knows how long, to please HER!! Why, the cops think he needs charged, is beyond me. Get the both medical help!
I really was amazed that the police officer that mentioned it, said she had to be there for at least a month! Bedsores or decubitus ulcers can show up in much less time than that. She especially would have been vulnerable sitting on a toilet seat for 24/7. I just love it when the cops, and other advisers, like “expert doctors” result in this type of, erroneous, conclusion. The time element , is unable to accurately be calculated. And, because this guy is too much a wimp, he let his girlfriend sit on the stool, for who knows how long, to please HER!! Why, the cops think he needs charged, is beyond me. Get them both medical help!
When I lived in Reno, there was a guy in the phone book named Graham Cracker. There was also guy with my name. But that other Dave Krueger wasn’t making his payments to GMAC, who just couldn’t believe I wasn’t him. So I was blessed with the experience of having bill collectors hound me without even having to go into debt. Lucky me.
You can tell we’re in a transitional period. The brothers were video taping the drug raid, but the cops destroyed the film in their camera.
Buddy Scott Bateman’s take on Bush’s serenade
An article in the Houston Chronicle - from about 18 years ago - decried the awful effects on a child given a name like “Bunny, Brunhilda or Bronwyn”. I promptly sent a scathing response in defense of my name.
Not even Bunny should be compared to Ima Hogg.
I just moved to Harris County, and because of the corrupt & aggressive nature of the cops here, I am now driving like a grandma
Remember. Sheriff is an elected position. Do the math.
A woman + possible mental handicap + nationwide publicity + local moral outrage + next election = charge the nearest white male.
See it all adds up.
Unbelievable — what genius cop thought it was a good idea to punish the guy who has been taking care of this woman for 16 years — and is probably her ONLY caretaker? I guess the same cop that is offering his amateur views on medicine and psychology and people’s mental capacity. I’d like to get his mental and educational records and see what kind of genius educational specialist he is.
“There may have been a few mistakes made,” said Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas. “As far as blatantly doing something wrong, I don’t see that, no.”
A common theme I’m seeing here is an absolute inability of police departments to ever admit they did anything wrong.
“Sure, we busted into this guy’s house without a warrant, and destroyed evidence, but we didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Sure, we pulled a woman over, threw her up against the car, and violated her, but we didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Sure, we arrested some guy at a bus station, sedated him, and shoved a camera up his ass, but we didn’t do anything wrong.”
Fuck these guys.