Friday, December 19th, 2008
Eliot Spitzer (newly minted columnist for Slate) spotted at a party the publication threw at a trendy bar that opened up where an “erotic massage parlor” used to be. Bar is called “Happy Ending.”
Couple sues United Airlines for serving the husband too much to drink, causing him to beat his wife. Why not sue the liquor manufacturer, too?
Doctors pull tumor out of newborn baby’s brain that includes a fully-formed foot. The baby has mostly recovered. The tumor has signed an endorsement deal with Nike.
One of my favorite more recent year-end traditions: Unanswered questions sent to the authors of Slate’s “Explainer” column.
Sneak preview of the entire second season premiere of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords here.
Details are sketchy, but it looks like a military police unit from a nearby Marine base is at least observing and possibly participating in DUI checkpoints on a civilian highway.
Kids say the darndest things. To fully appreciate the comment, you should know that the Woodliefs have four boys. The Agitatrix and I once watched three of them for an evening. They are ridiculously cute kids.
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TheAgitator.com
Eliot Spitzer is such a pathetic washed up idiot.
http://rightklik.blogspot.com/
Foot tumor link takes me to airline drunk story.
#2 – Link fixed. Thanks.
That kids one almost killed me. Had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
The marines were just observers at the DUI checkpoint.
I hope someone was able to get video of this checkpoint, I’ll bet we see Marines actively involved with drivers.
Funny how it always start with observers, then escalates to participants, then to enforcers rather quickly.
And as for the military ‘helping’ police, this is what you get when Posse Comitatus is weakened in the name of ‘fighting drugs’. And when those military personnel take on a more aggressive role? This kind of thing happens. Odd way to ’save’ a kid from drugs…by killing him, huh? All thanks to that weakening of Posse Comitatus. And here’s a military man to explain why this is such a bad idea.
Even if the marines were only observing to learn how to set up their own on-base checkpoints, it’s annoying that they are probably learning the techniques that are among the worst examples of police work on the roadways. Field sobriety tests are garbage from both a science and civil rights perspective (”trained” police giving tests to random motorists will have a very high incidence of false positives, sober people “failing” the FSTs).
Civilian sobriety checkpoints are unconstitutional, despite SCoTUS’s attempt to straddle upholding the Constitution (as in Edmond) and carving out exceptions to the Constitution (as in Sitz). I state again that the wholly contrived “compelling state interest” in preventing drunk driving is secondary to Fourth Amendment concerns. And, generally, no invented or implied “compelling state interest” should ever trump the explicit restrictions on state / police power as outlined in the Constitution.
I can’t support drunk driving, but the DUI laws are often draconian. And, worse, the judicial rules for adjudicating DUI cases are outrageous, often assuming guilt, presuming accuracy of tests known to be inaccurate, allowing punishments of people before they are convicted (and regardless of whether they ever are), etc. Really, in civilian law, DUI cases are in a class only comparable to civil asset forfeiture cases when it comes to throwing out rules of evidence and due process. (Of course, financial disclosure and various USA PATRIOT Act laws are trying hard to catch up…)
Anyway, I agree that locals should keep video cameras with them when driving past those checkpoints. If the military folk are actively participating in the checkpoint activities, it would be a good Posse Comitatus case, at least while the Act still exists.
(Ironically, it’s possible that checkpoints on military bases might be Constitutional.)
Unbelievable! That foot looks just like Jesus’ foot.
they should take the foot that was removed from the baby’s brain and stick it up the couple’s ass that’s suing United. unbelievable!
Baby with a foot in its head? What’s the big deal?
I have to take my foot out of my mouth every damn day.
The way I understood the Eliot Spitzer debacle is that he was targeted because he wanted to investigate the subprime home mortgage shenanigans in NY, so the Feds shot him down. He went off the reservation and threatened the big plan.
It is possible that the Blagojevich scandal has similar roots.
Nota bene: the above comments are not endorsements of politicians, merely attempts to get at the truth. All politicians are corrupt, and to the degree of the power they wield.
Regarding the brain-foot operation, I really liked that the surgeon’s name is Dr. Grabb.
“The act as originally passed referenced only limitations upon the Army. After World War II, it was amended to include the Air Force. By DoD Directive 5525.5, the limitations of the act have been administratively adopted to apply to the Navy and Marine Corps as well.”
By law Posse Comitatus applies only to the Army and Air Force. Administratively adopted means is can be administratively un-adopted.
Now I think the DUI checkpoint is so much BS. And personally, I’d prefer a military member over most cops I know.
Thought I would toss this in here since I usually feel that cops get over no matter how egregious the crime they commit.
This cop had 14 child porn videos on laptop in his police car, and here is the kicker they arrested him, put him in general population in jail, and even suspended WITHOUT PAY.
If they did this on a regular basis I would at least start to respect the Gestapo Blue Storm troopers a little more.
http://www.theweeklyvice.com/2008/12/stephan-thomas-florida-deputy-arrested.html
You know, MacK, as it is, when they actually *do* something like this it often turns out that he is being punished for something else. Just one example:
http://injusticeinseattle.blogspot.com/2008/09/navin-sharma-good-cop-who-cant-be-cop.html
“This cop had 14 child porn videos on laptop in his police car, and here is the kicker they arrested him, put him in general population in jail, and even suspended WITHOUT PAY.”
Its almost identical to the one in my area from yesterday…
Hastings, Minn. Cop Charged with Child Porn in Wisconsin
18 Dec 2008
NEW RICHMOND, Wis. (FOX 9) — A Hastings police officer was charged Thursday with possession of child pornography after he admitted to downloading and exchanging porn while on duty.
Anthony T. Miller, 40, was arrested Tuesday in his New Richmond, Wis. home. The 11-year veteran of the Hastings Police Department acknowledged downloading and trading child porn for the past two years.
Wisconsin Justice Department agents said Miller also acknowledged using his personal laptop while on duty to access unencrypted wireless networks around Hastings.
Miller is charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of sexual exploitation of a child.”
His mugshot is worth a thousand words lol.
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=8102442&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Michael Chaney I had read that before, and yes that is often the case. I think if you look a little more you will see they also canned another officer who testified for the original officer, which in fact helped him win his suit case.
It is a great link to see just how corrupt the blue system is though.
Thanks!
I still have found no link to a video of the marines involved in the DUI checkpoint.
I’m still confident something will surface in time.
Oh, didn’t scroll down first…
Regarding the idea of military doing work normally done by civilian police forces…
One the one hand, the military is heavily inculcated with an attitude that they are up against an enemy and their job is fight, kill, and defeat the enemy at all costs as quickly as possible. Not the optimum mentality for someone whose job is to calmly evaluate the facts and differentiate between the good guys and bad guys (as evidenced by the collateral civilian death toll in warring countries).
On the other hand, the cops are inculcated with the attitude that they are superior, above the law, and free to inflict pain and misery on innocent people with impunity (or with a slap on the wrist in the rare event they’re caught on camera).
A few decades ago, I would never have said it, but anarchy isn’t looking all that bad anymore.
No good deed goes unpunished. Now, if someone asks why you are reluctant to cooperate with federal officials, there is another good case besides Martha Stewart to point to: http://www.wftv.com/news/18311874/detail.html
#9 | Marty
“they should take the foot that was removed from the baby’s brain and stick it up the couple’s ass that’s suing United. unbelievable!”
ROFLMAO!!!!!
Good one Marty!
@7:
What do you mean by “drunk driving”? A BAC of .08? .05? I’m reminded of a study conducted by the University of Utah. They took forty drivers and ran them through a simulator while sober, legally drunk, and using cellphones, in both manual and hands-free modes. The group was entirely accident free when they were drunk. A quote from the paper itself:
“Doctors pull tumor out of newborn baby’s brain that includes a fully-formed foot. The baby has mostly recovered. The tumor has signed an endorsement deal with Nike.”
This is one of the reasons why a fetus is not a person.