Denial

 While I was watching a documentary on a mosque being established somewhere in the deep, ignorant, Pentecostal South, it dawned on me that many people say the exact opposite of what they actually think-the kicker is that they honestly don't believe that they're being dishonest or contradicting themselves! The residents of this town tried to prevent the building of this Mosque  by citing concerns over traffic, the ecological impact of coffin-less burial on the local watershed, as well as the rapid approval of the building permit. They conflated Islam with a radical interpretation of Sharia law and worried that the mosque would be a training ground for future terrorists. They said all of this, but at the same time insisted that they respected the right of Muslims to worship and practice their religion. One reactionary protester drawled "We don't hate'em. We just don't want'em around here." Another patrician lady, a town matriarch from old money, gently acknowledged that she knew many good Muslim people, but later conceded that she was worried the mosque would lead to a society like the Taliban's, where women were mutilated by having acid thrown on their faces for not covering up. If this seems off topic to you, just consider how many cops who taze and rough up suspects/victims will rationalize it  by saying that they're just doing their job, and their actions have nothing to do with racism or any other form of bias. In this case, a 12 year old girl gets tazed as a result of local yokel police investigating her mother for unpaid traffic tickets. This didn't happen as the result of "mom's" car being pulled over. For some reason, some presumably white people, who would probably tell you they weren't racist, called the police, who were "just doing their job," and set them loose on a mother and her 12 year old daughter. As a self described expert, it is my belief that police officers usually don't lie in wait for people at the mall, hoping to bust them over unpaid fines for speeding.

Kooks And The Cops

  I don't subscribe to the anti-American, anti-Semitic  Kremlin mouthpiece of a YouTube channel known as Russia Today anymore.  To be sure, it's one of the few media outlets that's even close to a bona fide news service to offer interesting perspectives on the "occupy" movement, Julian Assange, and the dark side of the Arab Spring. That said, Russia Today makes no pretense or effort to be objective, and it is, at its worse, little more than editorializing for Russian foreign policy and at its best a forum for more marginalized perspectives. YouTube viewer emptor!  This is one of those "better moments" where Russia Today reports on someone GOING TO JAIL for having the temerity to record heavy handed police response. I don't know where the interviewee is coming from ideologically, but I do follow CopBlock on YouTube.

 

Running Over The Suspect

Burned out police officers or those without the restraint necessary to be a law enforcement professional will most often show their stripes after a car chase. Obviously, law enforcement officers need to do something to get a fleeing suspect in custody, but I'm pretty sure clipping the suspect with a police cruiser and kicking the shit out of him aren't by the book. 

The Code of Silence

A police officer, on camera, slams a man against the wall so hard that he's left paralyzed-a quadriplegic. The cops booking him don't believe him at first and call him an actor, a "pussy," and other insults. The officer tried to sit the injured man up, whereupon he promptly fell down again. These aggressive, ambitious lawyers managed to sue the police department in question for $3million dollars, and the officer was fired. No word about criminal charges. As per usual, the officers maintain "the code of silence" as one attorney puts it, and the city was none too eager to acknowledge the surveillance video relevant to this case.

Cops and TSA: When Pigs Fly

There's no point in being anti-police. We don't live in a world right now where we can do without law enforcement.I have had and will probably have to rely on first responders again. On the other hand, policing the police and scrutinizing the corrupt police paradigm is essential. Corrupt authority, all authority really, can't just be blindly accepted, nor can repeatedly failing institutions just continue on as they are with nothing more than a few personnel changes. The cops backing cops attitude has to change. The pigs in this video should have been arrested and should facing serious jail/prison time.

The Police Just Where We Need Them

Police officers roughed up an adult for using a student i.d. to get a cheaper subway fare in New York. The salient detail is that the girl in question was actually 15 and entitled to use a student i.d. On the other hand, I'm sure you're all very relieved to know that New York's finest are on the lookout for those trying  to illegimately use student i.d. for reduced fares. It's no laughing matter and, frankly, Homeland Security should be brought in to stem this, the undermining of our public transporation system.


http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/harlem-teen-cuffed-held-metrocard-flap-article-1.1126674#ixzz22aqmlfdw

What The Church Considers A "Nuisance."

One of the reasons the Catholic church has been able to historically get away with  its many abuses is because of its emotional and spiritual power over its faithful. One would hope that modern Catholics would practice their faith while holding the Church lords and monarchs accountable by treating them like the fallible humans that they are.