Comments on: Morning Links

By: Highway

Highway — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:02:40 +0000

Boy, for people who investigate crimes and supposedly should know all the tricks to evade detection for fraud, those Sheriff’s Department fraudsters are really stupid. I mean, cell phone records? Don’t you guys know about this stuff? Leave the phone at home! Get a burn phone! Anything!

What a bunch of clowns.

By: Bernard

Bernard — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:26:58 +0000

The article about cops committing financial fraud is hilarious. The detail it goes into about economic and sociological reasons why these poor deputies might be pushed into crime is worthy of the Onion, given the attitude of law and order types to this kind of analysis when the perpetrators are civilians.

By: Juice

Juice — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:04:26 +0000

I love (hate) it when people talk about government contracting as being free market.

By: Juice

Juice — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:56:33 +0000

Cop threatens to kill the dog of a paraplegic medical marijuana patient.

I think that definitively cinches it. Cops kill dogs as a tactic, not for “officer safety”.

By: Juice

Juice — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:53:37 +0000

Speaking of fat pay for public administrators, I just moved from DC to Prince George’s County and I quickly learned that my income taxes would increase, if you can believe that. Not only that, taxes on cigs and beer are higher and there’s little nickel and dime stuff around every corner. Oh and speed cameras. I didn’t think my taxes could get any higher than in DC, but they did. I keep wondering where the hell the money is going. It’s not like Prince George’s County is some paradise. It’s got to be going to inflated salaries of state administrators.

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:53:17 +0000

And here’s some New Professionalism for you folks:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110725/METRO01/107250357/Gang-cop%E2%80%99s-actions-cost-Detroit-$677-000

You’d think that at least from a fiscal point of view this would have been dealt with long ago. Although I suspect that folks may think that the real problem is trial lawyers.

By: Boyd Durkin

Boyd Durkin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:43:13 +0000

The point is that these are buyouts – school boards enter into contracts with superintendents (the same way companies contract with CEO’s),

Socrates would ask you how school boards spending other people’s money (taken by force) to hire/fire supers is the same as a business spending its own money to hire/fire a CEO.

Aristotle would tell you not all agreements are examples of a free market.

By: Radley Balko

Radley Balko — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:11:26 +0000

The “severance packages” are buyouts of an existing contract – its called “the free market”.

I think you need to check your definition of “free market.”

By: crazyzbob

crazyzbob — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:02:56 +0000

the chicago tribune didn’t “look at” the severance packages, they provided a hysterical, one-sided piece designed to inflame. The point is that these are buyouts – school boards enter into contracts with superintendents (the same way companies contract with CEO’s), and the board can’t simply abrogate the contract. The “severance packages” are buyouts of an existing contract – its called “the free market”. BTW most buyouts occur because newly elected board members disaggree with the style of the super hired by the previous board.

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:56:44 +0000

http://news.yahoo.com/mystery-prisoner-utah-jail-authorities-stumped-195453847.html

Life in prison for failing to identify yourself?

Okay, four weeks, but that still seems a bit problematic.

By: hooglyboogly

hooglyboogly — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:45:52 +0000

“This threat is nothing more than emotional terrorism by our domestic police force to trample a disabled man’s Fourth Amendment rights in a crusade over a plant.”

And it doesn’t stop at disabled people.

By: Yizmo Gizmo

Yizmo Gizmo — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:27:26 +0000

“Swerving” and “anonymous tip” have in common one
thing : the cop can pull each out of his ass, on the spot, whenever he wants.
“Suspicious” is another catch-all voodoo term that means nothing but can
be used against unsuspecting peasants.
A dog “alerting” is another good one. It’s all voodoo, as can be
seen in the Steven Anderson trial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8ihGI22HgQ

By: Marty

Marty — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:21:07 +0000

#2 | Scott Lazarowitz-

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately- I was pulled over the other night for ‘swerving’, the cop comes up and starts talking, he’s quite friendly. Says he’s working OT on a federal grant for ‘drinking and driving task forces’(?). He was satisfied that I wasn’t drinking and mentioned how bored he was and I was the 8th person he checked and he hadn’t found any alcohol… ‘Swerving’ was his anonymous tip. Bullshit. I wasn’t texting, sleepy, on unfamiliar roads…

By: DarkEFang

DarkEFang — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:03:53 +0000

Examples like we read in the first link demonstrate why school boards – along with parents – are the real problem with American education. Members of school boards, who rarely have any kind of teaching experience, spend the bulk of their time interfering in the work of teaching professionals.

By: Difster

Difster — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:45:28 +0000

I suspect the coffin case will be used by the hair braiders to get the ludicrous cosmetology license requirements overturned.

By: DoubleU

DoubleU — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:26:37 +0000

Did Reason magazine have an article on the casket cartel a few months back?

By: Yizmo Gizmo

Yizmo Gizmo — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:19:51 +0000

Game show similar to an old Steve Martin routine:
I went over to this girls house the other night. She cooked a great dinner.
I had a really good time and everything….
She made the best dessert… And she had the BEST PUSSY!
[Audience oooh..ahhh]
Oh come on now.. I’m talking about her cat!
You people make me sick. You disgust me!

That cat was the best fuck I ever had.

— Steve Martin.

By: Leah

Leah — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:14:22 +0000

Stuff happens a lot with breastfeeding mothers where they are pressured to switch to formula if they drink moderately or smoke or take depression medication or for tons of other reasons. Sadly, the risks of formula feeding equal or outweigh nearly all risks of drugs coming through breastmilk, but the medical community has been steeped in a culture of formula for nearly a century so sees formula as the default and breastmilk as “better if all these conditions are met.” The meth stuff is scary for the baby, and definitely needed treatment, and may have legitimately been part of the cause, but certainly not definitively.

Something of a tangent, but one of the few places to find well researched information on what is safe/unsafe in breastmilk is Dr. Hale’s Infant Risk Center at Texas Tech. I am fairly sure they wouldn’t touch illegal drug research/recommendations, but for anything legal they are a great place to go to get information on what does and does not cause legitimate risk to the nursing dyad. http://www.infantrisk.com/

By: Name Nomad

Name Nomad — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 14:04:51 +0000

Regarding the infant, even if the mother’s meth usage caused her breast milk to kill the child, wouldn’t the prosecutor have to prove mens rea for either manslaughter or murder? … Or is this another humble practice that has gone by the wayside along the lines of other limitations on government?

By: Kristen

Kristen — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:50:12 +0000

How could an upstanding LEO such as Sheriff Lee Bacca create such a corrupt culture among his deputies?!?! It’s shocking, I say – shocking!

/sarcasm