Welcome the first bullshit of the rest of your life. Good bullshit locally.
* The Office of Professional Accountability has decided that professional accountability is a waste of time.
* Michael Medved thinks that the BBC describing the terrorists who drove a flaming car into the Glasgow Airport as members of, “the disfranchised South Asian community” is political correctness. Because doctors can’t be disfranchised. And they didn’t say Mohammedan, or something.
* Don over at Sound Politics thinks he has psychic abilities for having predicted the Libby pardon would come some time in a 2-year span. And the story proves that the beltway is out of touch with America, but not how you think.
* The final local thing, the Faith and Freedom network is concerned about the fate of the Dutch. Their sad experiment in secular humanism has come to an end, as evidenced by an article that says the most conservative member party of the ruling coalition, “say they are not pushing to banish legalized prostitution or soft drugs.”
And they gots some delectable bullshit nationally.
* Regular readers of HorsesAss.org know more than most about the tainted products from China. But did you know that former (?) coke head and rightwing gas bag Larry Kudlow has some thoughts. Maybe, the Chinese are secretly trying to poison our dogs and our kids. That makes a lot more sense than the problems being the effect of bad trade deals and a lax system of oversight in China.
* Wendy Shalit seems to be making stuff up.
* President Bush missed the chance to go after al Qadea leaders. The right wing doesn’t care all that much.
* And finally, John Edwards gets his hair cut, this is sinister.
Ahhh Carl, your concern that Medved (rhymes with Meathead) wants Islamic nuts called fascists, is so heartfelt. But, does it belong in HA? Maybe.
Not sure this is authentic bullshit. More like horse shit. Bull shit is .. pungent and , well real. This is more like the well formed turds that some folks use in place of coal. Why not call these posts Horseshit?
I esp. like calling Carl’s post on the Islamic fanatics in Britain .. HS rather than BS. If it were really shit, the smelly, slightly runny, squishy stuff one gets form a real manly bull, this post would be offensive. Instead it is so PC that one wonders if in Carl’s ancestor’s world the horsies wore diapers?
The simile is attractive. Imagine an early version of HA reporting on the good done to the environment by horseshit! Just think .. 100 years ago with every quart if milk or Amazon package delivered by UPS in Seattle, you got free energy!! First we feed the horsey grass, then he delivers our milk and leaves a token equine fuel pellet behind(so to speak).
Some on the right might suggest that equine fuel pellet is a euphemism .. but to them I say ,,, Bullshit!.
The former head of China’s food safety program is no more.
Really, he was put to death today.
Ah, I can just formulate Larry Kudlow’s train of thought on that one:
– The unregulated free market solves everything
– An unregulated free market in China led to tainted products
– They must be doing it on purpose to kill us!
What a legend.
CARL GET A JOB. YAWN
No better way to increase awareness of global warming than a concert by Hoobastank.
Here is real BS:
Sunny Jim is Working for Impeachment
Frankly I think the VEEP should be impeached BUT, where in hell is this idiot’s priorities? If he wants to pay act like a Congressman he shold quit serving as one and get a job! Maybe he can get Fred Thompspon’s job?
Here we have a guy near the bottom of Congressional clout, from a District with serious Federal needs, ina Democratic Congress and he is showboating.
Where is Jimmy in Immigration? NIH? Federal funds for mass transit?
Lets see … Reichert has great hair and Jimmy ….. what does Jim have? What kinf d of an Irishman attends an Episcopal Church? I’ll bet Jim doesn;t even drink.
More, with a picture, at SeattleJew
It’s too fucking hot. I can’t even be pissed at Medved today.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19685977/
Another Publican proves the moral majority is neither.
This exchange between me and Proud Leftist is so good, I am going to post it in every thread on HA from now on. It destroys the Publicans’ stupid talking points – period.
“I’m working really hard to understand how President Bill Clinton’s actions act as justifcation for the righties. Read this fuckwads.
If your lame ass argument is that Bill Clinton was a bad President – which is what you say – and if your argument now is that the AWOL coward GW Bush is in someway comparable to Bill Clinton, what you are actually saying is that GW Bush is NO BETTER THAN CLINTON.
Does it hurt to be that stupid? I really want to know.
proud leftist says:
RES @ 18
You’ve hit it on the nose. The rightwing fringefucks consider Clinton to be the personification of evil–indeed, he is the devil incarnate in their twisted little minds. Nonetheless, their justification for all of the Bushites’ sins is, always, “well, Clinton did it, too.” Methinks they never studied logic.”
And what’s better, is that the rightie traitor keeps pointing out that this is true. Thanks MTR. Please keep proving my point for me.
Ronald Reagan was a brainless old coot.
I call “BULLSHIT!” on Carl.
The Olson report decisively discredits the Patterson investigation “outrage” story. Point of fact by point of fact. Meticulously. Dispassionately. The kind of digging we should all aspire to … and the kind of digging we should all acknowledge, even if we came to the case with contrary preconceptions, and even if we shot our mouths off before we knew what we were talking about.
Here’s that report, by the way, which the people who have expended the most ink/bits on the subject don’t seem to think is worth a link.
http://www.seattle.gov/Police/.....7-0013.pdf
And for SeattleJew’s edification — McDermott now chairs one of Ways & Means four major subcommittees (specifically, the one responsible for safety net programs). That’s a big deal, and he’s a key cog in leadership, moving legislation (against GOP headwinds).
Most of the current legislative agenda is “damage control”, picking up after 12 years of Republican rule, but it’s conceivable Jim will advance to Chair of Ways & Means during a Democratic administration … and that’s a HUGE hairy deal.
We must read different things. Rankings of Congress, corrected for Mr. Jim’s seniority put him very low. Here is on example: McD = 115 This is esp. telling because coming forma safe district he has the power to get things done others do not have.
You are correct that Chair of W&M is a big deal, but even if he gets it where is the evidence that he would do anything useful? Somehow, I think Peolosu and Emmanuel can choose better. Maybe Hilalry will appoint hum to a token ambassador’s job … Bahrain?
Other than showboating on Iraq, his tapes issue, and one impeachment, what has this white haired fellow ever done?
With his seniority, he could have a lot of clout at home too, yet he never speaks out on relevant local issues.
Worst yet, the demographics of his Dostrict are changing as drastically as Darcy/Reichert. A moderate Publican oculd take this District .. err ahh, a moderate. log cabin, anti war Publican.
6 Damn well about time somebody did.
Basically, the Democrats in Congress have only two options that can have any influence on the course of events for the next year and a half. One, they can refuse to pass any appropriations and shut down the government, like Newt did in pushing his “Contract On America”. The other is that the House can pass Articles of Impeachment against Bush and Cheney.
Granted, with a nearly 50-50 Senate, and the trial presided over by the oh-so-loyalist John Roberts, there’s no way in hell there’d be a conviction. Nevertheless, the whole thing would tie up the White House’s resources and slow down the neocon juggernaut a bit, just like the Republicans used the Great Blow Job Kangaroo Kourt to keep Clinton off Osama’s butt while he was cooking up a “Perl Harbor-like event”.
Aside from a few like McDermott (who has practically nothing to lose at this point) it’s doubtful that most of the Democrats have the stomach for either.
Ron, I read through Olson’s PDF. I’ll wait to see if the folks at The Stranger respond to see if there’s something more substantial to write, but some initial thoughts, beyond the obvious fact that the person who produced this document reports to the chief:
– This part sums it up for me (from page 12):
The OPA determined the Officers were “exonerated” on the issue of honesty.34 A finding of “exonerated” means that a preponderance of the evidence indicates the conduct alleged did occur, but that the conduct was justified, lawful and proper.
I’m not exactly what cases of police dishonesty can be considered “justified, lawful, and proper,” but that appears to be a big part of what’s going on here. There are a number of non-trivial discrepancies in the incident that are just being glossed over. If this were just the average cop we’re dealing with and only one or two lies, I could be likely to believe that it was an oversight or an innocent error. But as we’ve gone over several times before, these two cops have a long history of issues with the black community (as was documented by The Stranger).
– Next, and I’ve hinted at this before, the continued allegations that Patterson is a drug dealer is not rooted in anything. They only (allegedly) found .3 grams of crack on him (1 gram = a paper clip). The police have described him as an 8-time convicted drug dealer, but that doesn’t appear to be true (although people are still investigating this claim). In the end, the charges were dropped as soon as the video came out. One really has to wonder how many people like Patterson have been sent to jail because no video surfaced.
– The missing dime bag of marijuana is a concern, not because Officer Tietjen may have pocketed it, but because it’s not clear why or how he discovered it in the first place. Because of I-75, adult marijuana use should be the city’s lowest law enforcement priority, and I know first-hand that Seattle had zero arrests all of last year for just marijuana possession (people are charged with it sometimes in conjuction with other crimes, but never alone). Why did that episode even happen in the first place if a crime like that wasn’t reported through all of 2006?
– Patterson is certainly not to be taken at his word, and very likely was technically in violation of the law, yet much of the black community is up-in-arms about his arrest. Putting aside the details of whether officers Tietjen and Neubert did their job in a professional manner, was any of this worth it? Are we accomplishing anything by having our police arrest people like this? People who are clearly no threat to society in any way, shape, or form. The bigger question for me in this entire episode has always been whether or not Chief Kerlikowske understands the damage he’s doing to the black community with the way drug law enforcement is done. When all of this started, I mentioned that Kerlikowske could really use a discussion with the previous chief on the topic.
– One of the main issues in this whole episode was not covered at all in the report – the fact that the chief is required to explain in writing when he disagrees with a recommendation from the OPA. Hopefully, that will not continue. But unless I hear further details, though, I don’t plan on continuing to ask for the chief to resign. The reason I made those calls in the first place was because both the chief and the mayor were too dismissive of the concerns of the black community. Oversight is important for people of color, for obvious reasons. I think the chief gets it and won’t be so quick to underestimate their ability to raise their concerns.
Non-BULLSHIT to make the koolaid drinkers weep…
A new poll by the Zogby International polling firm finds that American parents strongly support abstinence education for their children. About 90 percent of parents agree that being sexually abstinent is best for their child\’s health and future, with 8 in 10 strongly agreeing. Another 80 percent think it\’s important for their child to wait until they\’re married to have sex with about 60 percent in strong agreement. The survey found about 80 percent of American parents think sex education in public schools should place more emphasis on abstinence instead of contraception use. Two-thirds of parents don’t think it’s a good idea for sexual education classes to promote alternatives to intercourse that encourage sexual activity or risk behaviors that could lead to sexual relations. The poll also found strong support for federal funding of abstinence education programs despite opposition from abortion advocates in Congress. About 60 percent of parents say more funding should go to abstinence education instead of comprehensive sex education and only 20 percent want more sex-education funding.
Hypocrisy Alert: A Democrat lawmaker from Texas who opposed legislation giving citizens increased abilities to protect themselves with deadly force shot an intruder in his home in Houston.
SJ@13
Is proofreading against your religion? Or are you not observant in either? The truth resides somewhere in the alphabet soup of your posts, but do us a favor and stop typing like a wingnut…:>
Lee — I’ll respond to individual points in individual posts, starting with one howler. You speak of “the fact that the chief is required to explain in writing when he disagrees with a recommendation from the OPA” … but this is not a fact. This is not true at all today, and has never been strictly true, i.e., “required”, in the past.
There was a memo of understanding between a previous Mayor and a previous Chief to the effect that they would proceed in this fashion, but it’s not an ordinance, or a regulation, or an executive order, or a good faith personal contract to which current leadership was ever a party.
Maybe it’s a good idea, maybe it’s not (maybe there’s a good reason it was removed from the early drafts of the OPARB ordinance).
Lee @ 15 — As you read, “dishonesty” means failure to be “truthful, accurate and complete” in all communications. I’m sure you can understand that ordinary errors and omissions can occur (and will occur, and are expected to occur) and be justified, i.e., susceptible to reasonable explanation … to be inaccurate without rising to the level of unlawfulness or impropriety.
As you may have noted, the issues of dishonesty were confined to the officers’ cooperation in the subsequent investigative process — not Patterson’s arrest and processing.
And as you read, there was some equivocation in findings between “exonerated” and the even stronger disposition of “unfounded”. Footnotee 34:
Ron,
You’re correct, I goofed on that. It is not a requirement to submit something in writing, just a recommendation. I obviously think it’s a good idea to do so in situations like this, and hopefully the chief agrees.
@19
And I think this is where I’m most concerned about what’s happening, and where my background in these issues makes me extra sensitive.
When it comes to drug arrests, you often end up purely in a he said/she said situation. There is absolutely no shortage of instances from across the country where the sole word of a police officer sends someone (or large numbers of people) to jail. The temptation to lie in order to raise your arrest totals can be great for a cop whose performance is based even partly upon the number of arrests they make. In the infamous Tulia case, a single cop managed to get 10% of a town’s black population sent to jail for drug dealing. This particular cop had been given awards for his work. It turned out that he made up the entire case out of nothing.
This is why it’s a big red flag for me when a cop’s report of a drug arrest contains serious inconsistencies with video evidence or witness testimony. In this particular case, I think Patterson likely had a small amount of drugs on him, but I seriously doubt that he’s a “dealer”. Even here in Seattle, we allow for mainly harmless folks like Patterson to be caricatured as “pushers”, who are a danger to the community, when in reality they are just drug users who are, at most, a danger to themselves. If you follow how cases like his normally play out, it’s the cops word against theirs, so their attorney generally encourages them to plead guilty. Knowing that had that video not surfaced, that Patterson likely would have been encouraged to plead guilty to drug dealing, it should be an indication that something’s not right with how the system is functioning.
I know that’s another topic for another day, but that’s the perspective I have, and it’s why I’m extra vigilant about police honesty in these cases.
Lee @ 15 — Patterson’s record and status: if I’m not mistaken, police describe Patterson as an “8-time convict”, and as a “convicted drug dealer”, i.e., not all of his convictions are for dealing. (OPA and OPARB reviews are prohibited from taking such records into consideration.)
“Not rooted in anything”? The guy is under court supervision, in probationary treatment (which is why he claims he was at 2nd & Pike at that hour, and not in Burien where he was living), having an argument with a self-described crack addict who claims he was her dealer (and trying to get her car back from him), and observed by another individual (handcuffed man) who claims he had crack crumbs on his clothing and a rock in his waistband, well-known to police in the area, and reported observed making two deals by the officers in question (which report has not been subject of “dishonesty” issues).
Lee @ 15 — The missing dime bag? We don’t know why the man was detained and handcuffed, or why he was released. No reason to think he was nabbed for dime possession … but routine processing would take a lot of things out of his pockets and put a lot of things back. A dime bag could easily get lost in the shuffle, or in the wind, or maybe he thought he had it bu the didn’t. Hell, I lost two dollar bills this week — know right where I had ’em, know exactly when I lost ’em, can’t find ’em.
I don’t know if it’s SPD policy to give drugs back, but there’s no reason to think a dime bag was the original cause of the encounter.
“Not rooted in anything”? The guy is under court supervision, in probationary treatment (which is why he claims he was at 2nd & Pike at that hour, and not in Burien where he was living), having an argument with a self-described crack addict who claims he was her dealer (and trying to get her car back from him), and observed by another individual (handcuffed man) who claims he had crack crumbs on his clothing and a rock in his waistband, well-known to police in the area, and reported observed making two deals by the officers in question (which report has not been subject of “dishonesty” issues).
As I described above, drug users are often successfully prosecuted as “dealers” because their attorneys know that the people who actually fight this on principle get the book thrown at them. Our notion of who’s a “dealer” is warped. A person who gives his wife a Vicodin pill that had been prescribed to him is technically a “drug dealer”. In that sense, calling Patterson a drug dealer means nothing. Nearly every single person who uses drugs is a drug dealer as some point in time.
The question is, and I may end up eating crow on this, is Patterson an individual who sells drug to make money? I doubt it, but as I said, I could end up being wrong. Patterson strongly maintains that he’s not, and it would definitely be unusual for someone with his physical condition to be a street dealer (although not impossible). There’s a difference between being someone’s connection for drugs and being a “dealer”. If the system was fair, we should make a distinction between selling drugs for profit and selling it as a favor to people. But we don’t. And part of why we don’t is because blurring that distinction and abusing terms like “drug dealer” is part of how the drug war keeps itself alive.
But again, a topic for another day.
I was hoping to make it DL this evening, but unfortunately I can’t make it. If you’re there next week, first round of beers is on me.
@23
At this point, there are way more questions than answers when it comes to that other guy. But as someone who grew up in an area where police often took marijuana from people with a wink and a nod, I’m curious about what happened there.
Lee @ 15 — Now the big question: “Was it worth it?”
Though the purported “outrage” turned out to be nothing more than an artifact of conjectures and misimpressions born of raw prejudice against the character of the Chief and of police in general, one bureaucrat’s bruised feelings over bureaucratic slights and an official charter smaller than the one to which he aspires, and The Stranger’s slavering appetite for the Big Story culminating in the Big Kill, “it” will have consequences.
SPD officers will be less inclined to trust the civilian review process. “Good cops” will be harder to recruit and retain. Advocates and organizations that have gone out on the limb of supposition will find it difficult to walk themselves back, and will be inclined rather to manufacture additional pretexts supporting their reckless conclusions. Cops will carry bigger chips on their shoulders. So will young black males who will be more strongly conditioned to react confrontationally — sometimes fatally — in police encounters.
Worth it? You tell me.
Worth it? You tell me.
Well, I asked a question and you answered a slightly different one. But if “good cops” like Greg Neubert are more reluctant to join SPD, then what’s been done here has been a smashing success.
“President Bush missed the chance to go after al Qadea leaders.”
Not only Bush, but all the usual suspects in this dismally corrupt and incompentent administration. It seems not only they, but Clinton before them, have some strange compulsive need to suck up to Musharraf, even as his own hubris makes his position more and more precarious. We may be looking at Banizir Bhutto’s return to power, and a little “hell hath no fury”.
Yes, it is truly amazing that we are prepared to rely so much on someone hanging on the edge of the precipice. What happens when the islamists in Pakistan seize the nukes????
Chadt
Sorry, I am typing impaired. Don’t I get a pass under the ADA?
Sure. Hint: I just found while running Firefox under Linux (Ubuntu) that it has a built-in checker that works here. Saves me much cursing and mumbling. Dunno if the Fenestral version of Firefox does, but it might be worth a try.
Uncharacteristically excellent posts! Ronk, Lee, and DumbDarcy damn near give Goldy & his ridiculous blog a reason to live. Almost everyone else here, Goldy particularly included, practice the weird alchemy of turning electrons into shit, but Ronk & Lee show how useful this ‘Net thang can be.