Joshua Claybourn summarizes why the Chrysler deal brokered by the Obama administration is much, much scarier than you think. (Link fixed!)
Retired Catholic archbishop says he was unaware of the fact that it’s illegal to have sex with children. No, really. He actually said that.
Cop drives 109 in a 45 mph zone, no lights, no siren. Wasn’t wearing his seat belt, either. He plows into a pick-up truck trying to make a left turn. Cop dies. Police arrest the driver of the pick-up for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. They’ve also charged the guy with DUI, even though his blood test came back at .03, less than half the legal limit.
Congressmen from Ohio and Oklahoma introduce bill to ban gay marriage in D.C. Because apparently allowing gay couples in Dupont Circle to wed will break up solid, hetero marriages in Toledo and Tulsa.
Another write-up in the local Mississippi paper about the Motorhome Diaries incident. This one’s much more sympathetic to the MHD crew.
RNC Twitter feed knocks Obama for calling Constitution “flawed,” neglects to mention he was referring to it’s treatment of black people. I’m sure three-fifths of Michael Steele will issue a correction any day now.
Wolf t-shirt that inspired thousands of joke reviews now top-selling piece of clothing at Amazon.com.
My favorite book growing up is now available for free online. Nice work, Internets!
Amen to Mario Rizzo: “I do not believe that the philosophy of freedom has much to do, in an essential way, with conservatism. The relationship is largely due to historical accident. Furthermore, analytically speaking, the moral, political and economic basis of freedom does not fit coherently in the conservative intellectual framework.”
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on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 10:54 am by Radley Balko
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TheAgitator.com
So, um… that judge is kinda attractive, but it’s not a link to the story. (First link.)
Judge Cristina Small is what’s wrong with the Chrysler deal! It all makes sense now! A picture really is worth a thousand words.
Might want to check the first link. It goes to a blond judge. One I might add that is very easy on the eyes.
I’m not a callous jerk. Really, I’m not. I still tear up when Bambi’s mom gets killed. But this really disturbs me.
America, you’re cop fetish is not rational. It is unhealthy and a serious self examination is in order. He wasn’t being a hero, he was being more of an irresponsible jerk than the .20 BAC guys that we all agree need to be punished and shamed.
I hope the DA drops the DWI charge, but the cynic in me says he’ll prosecute to placate the “brotherhood in blue” rather than serve justice.
I want her as the next Supreme Court nomineee. Whoever she is.
JILF?
Well, sheesh! What else are Altar Boys good for?
;)
Introducing the bill are Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio, pictured top) and Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla., bottom). It’s important to note that the legislation would define marriage in the District as between a man and a woman.
Don’t you just love bi-partisan douchebaggery? I surely don’t give good goddam if Fred wants to marry George. It affects my heterosexual life not one single iota. As Mom used to say “Mind your own business”.
It probably gets lapped up by the rednecks back home though.
In light of the archbishop’s knowledge of modern history and the church’s views on homosexuality and marriage, I guess the next argument against gay marriage will be that it will lead to people marrying children. The argument against extra-marital homosexuality will be that it will lead to pedophilia.
I wish voodoo was real and I could pay someone to dish out a hex or two…
I would like to know if the LVMPD checked the deceased police officer’s BAC?
The cop wasn’t necessarily out of line responding without lights and sirens- he wasn’t in control of his vehicle and that’s his biggest mistake. He paid for it with his life. The guy he collided with should be able to file a lawsuit for his damages- no police dept has ‘drive recklessly at 100 mph + without lights and sirens and not utilizing your restraint system’ as a policy. The citizen didn’t breach policy or break the law- he was wronged by the cop.
At .03 this man was not a threat.It was said he failed the field test.This shows those tests are made for failure.This will go down as a ‘alcohol related death” in the books,even if this man gets off.How may thousands of innocent people are accused each year.It takes 5000 to 10000 dollars to fight a d.u.i. now a days,I’m sure that has something to due with the conviction rate and the amount of plea bargains.
His BAC was .035 at the scene and .02 a hour later, so we know he was not drunk.
Sadly the driver admitted to drinking and failed a FST. That is just extra ammo for the prosecutor.
He should not have said he had been drinking, and he never should have taken a FST. Think about it he was hit by a 3,000 lb car going 109mph certainly he must have been shaken up, wobbly, a bit disoriented, who could stand on one leg, scratch their balls, and stick a finger in their ear at that time.
i think I like Sheriff Gillespie.
Let’s review what little we know about this. A guy with a blood tested BAC of .035, well below the legal limit is hit by a cop car being recklessly driven at extreme speed.
The bullshit information, that the guy was drunk and that the officers had their lights and sirens on, was what the initial arrest was based on. Who the fuck wouldn’t fail a sobriety test after a cop plows into his truck? Anyone would be freakin’.
What probably happened was the second officer instinctively lied to protect himself, saying the lights and sirens were on. This guy was drinking, bing bang boom. 2 plus 2 equals 4. Sheriff is given bullshit story, has no reason to not believe it, and gives statements.
Normally, this would be the start of a clearly apparent witch hunt to get Manor into jail and keep him there, to trot out that a ‘highly decorated’ officer died in the line of duty, and that all serfs should praise their heroic masters.
Guy goes to hospital. BAC is .035, (.021 one hour later) crash investigation clearly shows lights and siren were off.
Sheriff Gillespie then has the stones to go to the press and reveal all this. He put transparency and protection of the innocent (The guy in the truck) over the blue line. He actually had the balls to say an officer who just died in the line of duty was traveling at a speed that was “excessive and unsafe,”.
I fully expect all charges against Manor to be dropped, or if not… thrown out in court.
Oh, I forgot to add.
This needs to be followed up on. I wonder what the repercussions for Sheriff Gillespie will be? Will he be turned on by his fellow cops? All those stories will be largely local.
“The arbitrary whims of Obama’s administration threaten the very foundation of capitalism.”
Since we’re talking about the rule of law, and contracts in particular, I would say: “civilization.”
#13 stole my thunder. If I had just driving along and got suddenly slammed by a Crown Victoria doing 90mph+, I would probably be at least a little wobbly on my legs, to say nothing of throwing up and/or pissing myself.
Do the cops even think about how this makes them look? “We almost killed this man, but when we dragged him out of his crumpled wreck, he looked dazed and confused, so we assumed he must have been drunk”
Hey, here’s a morning funny for you all:
Yesterday, Ron Paul, often cited as a “libertarian,” was one of only two Republicans to vote in favor of Nancy Pelosi over the Waterboarding investigations. Nancy Pelosi, lifetime Libertarian Index ratings of virtually ‘0′; perhaps the most Authoritarian, anti-libertarian politician in America, and Ron Paul now supports her.
Meanwhile, up in Alaska, that pesky “conservative,” who leftwing libertarians refuse to identify as a libertarian, gave a Big ‘F’ You to the Obama administration, by turning down $30 million in stimulus funds, cause it would require Alaskans to enforce Fed building codes on small businesses and private dwellings.
Now, turn on your trusty little libertarian website this morning, like the Agitator, and there’s zero news about either of these events.
Ron Paul – “libertarian” Votes Authoritarian
Sarah Palin – “conservative” Votes Radical Libertarian
Run that by me again? Whose the libertarian and who’s not?
What are the odds that ANYONE who was just in a collision that killed a cop would be deemed to have “passed” his field sobriety test considering that the test is being administred by the dead cop’s buddies with his corpse a few feet away.
I am sure Los Vegas will now be calling on Steven Hayne and Michael West to do the autopsy, to prove that Darling deliberately shot the Officer.
The sheriff should be commended, and I am surprised how quickly the true facts are coming out.
Now will the other deputy be dismissed for obviously lying?
@ SJE # 20
Before or after he bit the officer?
#22: Both.
Doh! I used the dead Officer’s name. Manor, when I meant to use the victim’s name, Darling.
… slowly waves hand …
In post 14, you read ‘Darling’ instead of ‘Manor’. This is not the editing error you were looking for…
Move along…
Sorry, but I can’t be that charitable to the sheriff. I suspect he came out with the real story only after it looked like it might come out anyway.
From the cop crash item:
The facts of the accident have prompted Gillespie to form a committee of executive staff members to evaluate the department’s procedures and training for officers when responding to calls.
He said the department had prepared a message to its officers about the dangers of speeding.
If it takes special training to make cops not act like complete fucking idiots, then maybe they’re maybe they’re not drawing recruits from the best candidate pool. In any case, they might want to include a class on being truthful, something the sheriff might want to sit in on himself.
More from the article:
“As your sheriff, it is extremely important to me that Metro continues to have a reputation of integrity and transparency,” Gillespie said. “I promise you that as your sheriff, I will do everything I can to maintain the public trust.”
As sheriff, you’re probably pissed off that your brother cops got caught doing what they probably do on a regular basis with your blessing and are committed to making sure they don’t get caught again.
The very fact that these guys had the audacity to charge the pickup truck driver is proof that these cops couldn’t care less about the public they serve and they are ready and willing to crucify any citizen that happens to be handy to sooth their bruised egos and displace blame when one of them gets into trouble.
It never occurred to me that theagitator.com was a general purpose libertarian news site. Although it does report on libertarian issues, I’ve always considered it to be primarily dedicated to the topics of criminal justice as applied in the U.S.
“Retired Catholic archbishop says he was unaware of the fact that it’s illegal to have sex with children. No, really. He actually said that.”
Is his name Michael Jackson?
@ DK # 26
IGNORE THE DONDEROTROLL!
IGNORE THE DONDEROTROLL!
“My favorite book growing up is now available for free online. Nice work, Internets!”
When I was a kid, I didn’t look at anything that didn’t have a foldout and I didn’t learn to read until I was 23 (and I’m regularly told it shows).
Oops. You’re right. Sorry.
The crash investigation is continuing. So far, it has determined that Manor was not wearing a seat belt, Gillespie said. He said he didn’t know whether the lack of a seat belt contributed to the young officer’s death. Manor was not ejected from the vehicle.
Seriously? They aren’t sure whether a lack of seatbelt contributed to his death? I mean at that point a seatbelt probably isn’t going to do much to change the outcome considering the deceleration of the brain in the head as it smacks his skull at 109 MPH, but I’m pretty damn sure it might have given him a chance at survival. Sans seatbelt his chest, throat, and head are all getting blunt force trauma from the steering column, windshield, roof of the car, etc that guarantees he is dead.
As it is, he probably slid forward, got hit by the airbag, and either ejected to the passenger side of his cruiser (bouncing his head against the roof, center console, etc) or into the window because he had nothing to keep him in the seat.
“We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature.”
I am so going to knee this guy in the nuts if we ever meet. Yes, that may be a moral evil for me to do so, but I don’t think there is anything of a criminal nature to that, so I’m covered, right?
“RNC Twitter feed knocks Obama for calling Constitution “flawed,” neglects to mention he was referring to it’s treatment of black people. I’m sure three-fifths of Michael Steele will issue a correction any day now. ”
I pretty sure that the 3/5th of a person was “fixed” LONG before Obama made his comment about the Constitution being flawed. His comment was in regards to redistribution and other Marxist ideas that are prohibited if one follows the Constitution. Not that following the Constitution is even remotely in Constitutional Law Professor Obama’s mind.
So is it or is it not ok to transport alcohol through a dry county? Do beer trucks go around that county? Geez, I always thought a dry county was one where you just couldn’t buy alcohol. It never occurred to me that you couldn’t have it in your home or transport it in your vehicle.
Have a cop do it. That way it’s certain there will be no charges filed. Also, they’ve probably had more practice are better at it than you are.
DK # 35
My coworkers are wondering why I’m laughing right now.
“America, you’re cop fetish is not rational”
I blame Stephen Bochco.
The truth is we believe TV and the movies. We think Law & Order and ER are truly representative of cops and docs.
In reality it is closer to Reno 911 and Scrubs
What was your favorite book as an adolescent?
Mr. Rizzo hit the nail on the head in every way possible in that article. I think a more important quote is this one.
“To the conservative Faith in Power is very important.”
I think the conservative commentators are a prime example of this. They support the party no matter what the ideology is. They just want power for the party, they don’t really care what it does with it.
Also: it strikes me that conservatives have been on the wrong side of liberty at least as often as liberals have. It strikes me that the marriage between libertarians and conservatives is, well, a little queer (but what do I know?)
Ron Paul notwithstanding.
Rizzo’s also wrong in that conservatism died when Buckley started to lose influence. What we now have is a shitty mix of crass populism, uniformed hero worship and prejudice masquerading as a coherent movement. Much like how modern liberalism is nothing more than a support group for perpetual losers and a very complicated justification for why it’s okay to steal from your neighbor.
Dondero, you ignorant POS: “He didn’t want to cast a contentious political vote, because he thinks that torture is the real issue here. He sees what’s going on as a partisan stunt.”
And it is. Ron Paul puts reality ahead of politics. And Palin accepted 70% of the federal aid to Alaska, which still receives more federal dollars per capita than any other state. This is a political stunt. She asked for, and accepted, $642 million. She’s not a conservative, she’s not a libertarian, she’s a political whore. Do they not go into detail on Fox News?
I have a Class A CDL and I can get a DUI for a .04. I don’t think it matters what I’m driving at the time.
As an aside I used to go fishing with my ex-brother in law and he never wore a seat belt and he usually had a bud light handy.
He had plenty of stories to tell.
This deal jogged my memory.
An off duty cop got killed north of Cheyenne, WY a couple of years ago. He was driving on I25 totally shitfaced. He went off the roadway and hit the only tree within 10 miles and went through the windshield of his pickup truck. Why are so many cops chronic alchoholics? Maybe they should smoke weed.
Since no one’s said it yet:
DONDEROOOOOOOOOOO!
I didn’t have a chance to read the article earlier because of my connection but something just jumped out at me:
They didn’t interview the second cop at the scene because it had been a traumatic experience for him but they gave a field sobriety test to the guy who had just been hit by a cruise missle.
Today Dondero wiped back to front. Ron Paul stood while he pee’d. That’s 1-0 for Ron Paul after a sampling of 1 event.
I love you, Dondero.
I had that book. I remember bringing it to Kindergarten and the teacher reading it to the class.
Agree with #42.
I believe there’s only one useful universal difference between conservatives and liberals: conservatives are inclined to give more deference and assign more intrinsic value to tradition. It’s really that simple. Rep and Dem politics are far too complicated to strictly correlate a party with a philosophy. I identify with the conservative side of my (well not mine really) bipolar definition, but neither inclination conflicts with a broadly defined libertarian political philosophy.
re #40, my quick American 20th century scorebard of shame:
Liberals – prohibition, Wilson, commies, New Deal excesses, Vietnam, 60’s values, welfare expansion, price and wage controls, Commerce Clause jurisprudence
Conservatives – WWII opposition, black rights, expansion of drug war, M-I complex, gay rights, executive and police power jurisprudence
#47: Pinandpuller:
Isn’t that awesome?
However, they didn’t administer a field sobriety test to the victim on the scene, either. That was done at the hospital by a different officer that was not involved in the original crash at all.
Here is the arrest report:
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/pdfs/2009/05/11/arrest_report.pdf
Basically, the test consisted of strong smell of alcohol, bloodshot eyes (Hello! The guy was just in an accident!) and some test where he didn’t look in the right direction.
The big detail is that the first blood test, taken one hour after the accident, had him at .035, and the second, taken one hour after that was .021. Neither of those results were in the report.
Thank you for Grover.
Just think,if the guy would have tested .08(which is way too low ) he would be facing fines,jail and revocation even though he did no harm.I’m sure the cop will be given a hero’s funeral.The biggest causes of death on the road are to high of speed for conditions and not paying attention.This is an example of both.
#53
Looks like he DID get a hero’s funeral.
I’m kind of embarrassed that no Agitator readers picked up on the Wolf T-shirt story.
Sure, it’s a Wolf T-Shirt, but it’s not the Wolf T-Shirt.
Well, hero’s funeral or not, thankfully there were enough witnesses to make the sheriff backpedal on his bogus story of lights & sirens, or else Darling would be facing at least an almost guaranteed decade+ in prison instead of whatever relatively light charges they’ll do their damnedest to stick to him for the routine scapegoating.
I’d rather pay taxes for as many hero’s funerals as they want than see them destroy one more person’s life.
Mis-stating the “Three-Fifths Compromise” gets old. It was the South, after all, that wanted to count everyone in the census. The North didn’t want to count slaves (or even free blacks) at all, because they wanted to limit the South’s political power.
http://videos.pantagraph.com/p/video?id=4232140
Cop bodychecks kid into concrete wall, kid now in coma, police say cop was “following policy”. KID MISIDENTIFIED, completely innocent, gets coma for it. Innocent or guilty, getting your head cracked into a concrete wall from a linebacker rushing at you and then bodychecking you is BRUTALITY.
#57 — Where did I mischaracterize the 3/5s compromise?
And your post is a bit disingenuous too, isn’t it? I mean, it isn’t like the southern politicians insisted on counting blacks in the census because they believed blacks were actually people. They wanted the added political clout of counting people held against their will while still retaining the right to keep them as property — likely with the knowledge that said political clout would help ensure they *could* keep them as property.
That really kind of makes their position worse, doesn’t it?
I mean, it isn’t like they were also arguing to give slaves the vote.
And I’m sure Michael Steele is a douchebag, but he’s smart enough to recognize that the Constitution doesn’t say a darn thing about race – all 3/5ths of him.
Regardless of circumstance, has anyone ever “passed” a field sobriety test?
#61 I was arrested by a Virginia State Trooper after blowing .00 on his field meter. They had to let me go after the blood draw confirmed this.
I tried to sue for false arrest, but the judge declared that my bloodshot eyes (had been awake doing an internship at MedStar for 18 hours) was sufficient probable cause.
When it’s you against a cop, you’d better have videotape (and even that’s no guarantee).
#61 | MacGregory | May 22nd, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Regardless of circumstance, has anyone ever “passed” a field sobriety test?
I can testify. I was pulled over, quite shitfaced actually, in 1995 by a CHP officer in Anaheim, CA after leaving a strip club and making a U-turn against a red left-turn arrow. I thought I had to make a U-turn to get to a freeway, but it turned out I was supposed to go straight. Oh well.
He asked me out of the car — license, registration, insurance provided by me to him. He then put me through about a half-dozen physical field sobriety tests — lean back touch nose, walk a straight line one foot in front of the other, hold arms out then touch nose, etc. I passed them all no problem. Then he said, “I’m gonna say go and you’re gonna tell me when 30 seconds passes.” When he said, “Go!,” I started counting, “One Mississippi, two Mississippi — just like when we were kids playing football — and when I hit “thirty Mississippi” the cop was laughing his ass off. He looked at his watch and said I hit it on the nose, something he’d never seen before.
His parting words to me were, “I think you’re drunk but I can’t prove it. Drive home safe.” Didn’t even give me a ticket for an illegal U-turn.
This actually happened. I have a witness who was with me that night. I’m not proud of what I did and I do try my damnedest to avoid driving over the limit, but yes, I did beat a field sobriety test.
A few years back here in Springfield, il, we had a similar wreck with a cop doing 70+ on a 30 mph street, no lights, no siren. An old guy turned in front of him, and was killed.
It might never have hit the light of day, but the city billed his estate for the cost of the streetlight he hit as he died. The family ended up getting some cash from the city for killing their dad.
I love that Grover book, too. I used to read it to my little bro when he was a wee one. Grover was his man.
johnny
Maybe budget situations will get so grim that when you call 911 the dispatcher will get your credit card info first.
The New Face of Domestic Terrorism – THE POLICE!
Am I truly out of line here???
#58 Bam Bam
I saw the video you posted – horrific and inexcusable, um except if you’re the police.
El Monte, CA PD kick surrendering suspect in head, celebratory high fives follow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvv4vgZxGgM
And in closing, while searching for the El Monte PD video I stumbled across this gem. This video beating took place over a year ago, the police chief said he just found out about it’s existance!!! Fortunately, the Chief FIRED five officers but his characterization of the incident left me wanting.
One of the most sickening cases of brutality, er vengence I have seen in a while “enjoy”!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWumCZCzgog
My daughter works as a public defender out there near Fresno and sent me that link a few days ago. She said the cops knew the helicopter was there but thought it was a police copter. Cops apparently don’t worry about abusing suspects and otherwise breaking the law in front of other cops, because they know the other cops are part of the same culture.
She also mentioned that they don’t use their dash cams much anymore because it’s the video was being used against them too often.
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