Line
Of Fire
 On
Wednesday the police in Pasadena, California shot and
killed an innocent teenager, Kendrec
McDade. They justified
it by saying he "made a motion to his waistband".
Allow me to be very clear about this... no officer
of the law should EVER be allowed to use the excuse
that he "thought" someone
has
a gun
as a
reason
to
murder them in cold blood. Either the person has
a gun
or they don't. And the last time I looked we were allowed
to own guns, even carry them around for fun. Using
a gun in a criminal manner, though, makes you liable
for
any
consequences
but being
murdered
in cold blood simply because the officer in question
has an overactive imagination is
not a
good
enough reason.
So I went looking for statistics to see how many U.S.
citizens the police kill every year and you know what
I found?
Nothing. Bupkiss.
Even though the Crime Control
Act
was passed in 1994 requiring State Attorney generals
to collect the data and make it public such reports
are piecemeal at best. The information is being
obscured and it's easy
to understand why because if we REALLY knew
how many people
the
police kill
every
year, and the number is obviously a staggeringly large
one, (179 people were alone tasered to death in 2011)
there would certainly be an outcry of tsunamic proportions.
But what the people don't know can't hurt the cops.
Only us.
--------------
 Rachel
Maddow's first book, Drift, was lovingly admired
by the New
York Times book reviewer Janet Maslin. She
sums it up by saying "And thank Ms. Maddow for picking
this and every other fight that “Drift” provokes.
It will be a smarter public debate than the kinds we’re
used to."
=Lefty=
----------------
Note 1: Carbon dating relies on the
half-life of naturally occurring radioactive materials.
This science got rather confused when the U.S. and
Russia started testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere
in the lat 40s. As a result, the official "Before
Present"
date for studies in this field is forevermore January
1, 1950.
Note 2: A young and prolific animator,
Edd Gould, died recently at the age of 24 of leukemia.
His 68 works on Youtube had wracked
up an astounding 80 million collective views. I didn't
know the man but I admire his industry and his craft. My
condolences to his family.
Note 3: The operator of a women's
clinic in Rockville, Maryland, turns
the tables,
with love, on anti-abortion protestors.
Note 4: Though Rush Limbaugh's show
continues to shed advertisers a handful are slowly
creeping back under the assumption that the firestorm
over
Rush's public derision of Ms. Fluke is easing.
Dissuade them of this illusion by sending Rush's
advertiser's a
message.
Note 5: I had a pair of lovely Jehovah's
Witnesses come to the door today. I took one of their
pamphlets but I insisted they take one
of these.
Note 6: Say "Hello!" to Rick
Santorum!
------------
And now our Chart of the
Day: Law
Enforcement Officers Feloniously Killed 1973-2007.
(I wanted a chart of citizens killed by the police
but they don't release those numbers. Gosh, wonder
why.)
Slightly
more massive
version
available here.
------------
Republican Job Creation Update
 3-30-2012: The
House voted to end Medicare, again, but at least
they signed a 90-day extension to the transportation
bill.
No jobs were created.
------------
Fox News Lies. Dump
Fox News
 The
"Cornhusker
Kickback" was never part of the new Health
Care law. You wouldn't think that if you watched
Fox News.
Click here to help Drop
Fox from your cable system.
|
