Police in Whitewater, Wisconsin continue to harass an anonymous blogger for having the audacity to criticize them.
Seven states are now considering lowering the drinking age again, putting their federal highway funding at risk. Good for them. Missouri is leading the way. That state has long had some of the most open and free alcohol laws in the country.
The NY Times reports that the Pentagon’s been training flaks working for private military contractors to go do its bidding on the TV news shows–all without disclosure.
A German citizen has been held for four months at a U.S. military base in Kabul, apparently for wandering into a U.S. military store and attempting to buy a razor. This would be the second German citizen we’ve wrongly arrested and imprisoned without a trial. I made the mistake of listening to Sean Hannity the other day, who was bashing John McCain for promising to close Guantanamo. “These people are the worst of the worst,” Hannity told his listeners, echoing White House talking points. Thing is, most of them really aren’t.
A Portland lawyer watches a cop illegal park, stroll into a Chinese restaurant, and watch a basketball game while waiting for his lunch. Said lawyer proceeded to use a regulation allowing citizens to issue citations to cite the cop for breaking several laws. Ballsy. But good for him.
Up here, silly.
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TheAgitator.com
While the Pentagon’s actions don’t surprise me, I think we should be careful about believing the NY Times. They don’t have any credibility when it comes to the war.
Man if I ever need a lawyer in Oregon, I know who I’m going to hire. That guy must carry his balls around in a wheelbarrow.
how many times a month is that guy going to be pulled over, do you think? and John, the NYT article links to an archive of emails etc. they got off a FOIA. you can judge for yourself.
Radley!!! Criticizing the Beloved Republican Leader?! Close Gitmo?! Obviously you want the terrorists to win. You must be an Elitist. Do you think that ancient documents like the Constitution should stand in the way of our Leaders?! Dangerous thinking, sir. Very dangerous.
It’s a good thing that guy’s a lawyer, because he’s going to be in court a lot as a defendant over the next six months. He’s probably going to be fighting drug charges, too, as the cops plant evidence in his house and car.
Speaking of lawyers, John Adams needs to file a lawsuit against the town and criminal charges against the town employees involved in the illegal “criminal investigation”.
Anonymous blogger accuses police of being idiots who waste public resources. Police immediately prove him right by trying to deanonymize him using public resources.
The Wisconsin blogger story goes to the same link that was posted up a few weeks ago. Is there an updated story or were you just trying to bring it to light again as an ongoing issue?
Not saying that to be mean, just wondering since that’s a case of interest to me because of what the police have been trying to do to our site and if there was an update I’d sure like to read it!
Thanks! …and as always, keep up the great work!
“I made the mistake of listening to Sean Hannity the other day….”
Even though you admit it was a mistake I think a little less of you now. ;)
Petty abuses of the law (like in the Oregon case) help feed the collective ego of law enforcement. Power corrupts, and incremental power corrupts incrementally.
I can’t believe states would consider lowering the drinking age. Dammit! Those kids need to be sober so they can die for their country!
Police officers like the one in Portland often park illegally in situations like that so as to have their cars close at hand in case of emergency.
Is that really so hard to understand?
Is that really so unreasonable?
If the lawyer in that case had come across a private car illegally parked (on a hydrant, perhaps), would he have been so quick to take action? Doubt it. Would folks around here even care? Doubt it.
“Petty abuses of the law (like in the Oregon case) help feed the collective ego of law enforcement.” Yeah, today they illegally park… tomorrow it’s ‘Mississippi Burning’. Please…
REAL abuses of power need to be addressed immediately, and in the most severe manner as possible, so as to make an example of the offenders. However, this reflexive, petty cop-bashing? No wonder so many cops can’t stand the public.
Some people really need to get a life.
A cop who hates the public is probably in the wrong line of work, although that premise may explain some of law enforcement activities often discussed on this site…
The other day a sherrif’s vehicle passed me going 80 in a 55 — or probably more, as I did my best to follow him but my car can’t push past 80. I flipped him off and would definitely have reported the incident had I been able to get close enough for his plate number.
Point is: don’t use the emergency threat thing to justify breaking the law. Speeding without lights on is breaking the law. Parking in a no parking zone to pick your lunch is breaking the law. No one is exempt. And it’s a big deal to people around here because if the average citizen does it, you can bet the cops will be there to collect their revenue. But who will watch the watchers? No one watches them, and so they take on their sense of entitlement.
Oh please runcible. PDX cops don’t have a stellar reputation among the populace for a reason. They’re often trigger happy incompetents with corrupt leadership.
“A cop who hates the public is probably in the wrong line of work, although that premise may explain some of law enforcement activities often discussed on this site…” (Dave Krueger)
Well, I have news for you Dave… almost every cop I’ve known in the past 18 years (and that’s a lot of cops), couldn’t f*****g stand the public. Cops are, without question, the most misanthropic group of people I’ve ever encountered. Believe me, most cops take the job for the pension and the benefits, not out of any great desire to “serve and protect”.
Of course, anyone I’ve ever known that worked in any kind of service field hated the public, so I guess it’s not just cops.
runcible,
That’s why we don’t let most customer service personnel carry guns, tasers, clubs, pepper spray, etc. If almost every cop out there can’t live up to the standards of decent human beings (much less a higher standard to which they should be held), then maybe a wholesale housecleaning of the law enforcement community is in order.
Yeah, well… good luck with that, Scooby. I’ll be rootin’ for ya.
Well, I have news for you runcible… almost every member of the public I’ve known in the past 31 years (and that’s a lot of the public), couldn’t f*****g stand cops.
Unfortunately Matt, the average cop has A LOT more power, and can f**k you around A LOT more, than the average member of the public.
This why I tend to tread lightly around the PO-lice.
wow. cops (and their jocksniffing groupies) *really* don’t like the thought of cops being held accountable for ANYthing, do they?
Serve and protect, runcible. They’re our employees.
And this means what, in relation to this story, Matt?
I’m sorry, this is much ado about nothing.
You’re the one that went off on a tangent about how cops hate us and will take any excuse to fuck us up and there’s nothing we can do about it so we shouldn’t report them for parking illegally.
If a cop parks illegally they should get a ticket. No threats of retribution because they hate the public, no excuses about how they have to be able to get to their car quickly. Lots of people have important jobs but most of them don’t think that entitles them to break the law.