hilarity ensued - Page 4

jhynesrockmtn · 01-06-2010, 07:32 AM

Quote:

hollywood promotes the myth that all homeless guys are really brilliant cellists who turned to drink after a broken heart. or they are down on their luck vets. or they are women thrown out of apartments by heartless mortgage companies.
bullcrap. the 1% who might actually be like that either get jobs and get off the streets in a few months, or they are killed by the other permanent homeless.

Sorry, that's just wrong. You may be correct for a single small group but studies show that as many as 40% of homeless are veterans. This is from a report in 2006 from the national alliance to end homelessness.

I'm not a big advocate or cop hater. I just don't find it at all amusing when an overzealous cop loses control and beats some guy over a word no matter how offensive that is.

The Gaijin · 01-06-2010, 08:13 AM

Not directly related to this link - but a more closely related issue than most of us realize:

"...success in lowering crime shows that the government can control antisocial behavior and provide public safety through enforcing the rule of law. Moreover, the state has the moral right and obligation to do so, regardless of economic conditions or income inequality...

From today's WSJ:

Heather Mac Donald: A Crime Theory Demolished - WSJ.com

M.D. Holloway · 01-06-2010, 09:20 AM

better than shoving the nightstick up dirt road...

Jeff Higgins · 01-06-2010, 09:39 AM

A guy far wiser than myself (and believe me, there are a lot of them) once said "the truest measure of a man is how he treats those who can do nothing for him". I would only add one thing to that - "or are defenseless against him".

The biggest cowards in our society today are cops that wantonly thump citizens for no reason other than to "teach them a lesson" or because they "deserved it". These "heroes" are effectively hiding behind mamma's skirt while doling out their abuse. They know they have the power and authority of the entire force behind them. They know that lacking any kind of compelling evidence, their word will always be taken over the victim's. I think they also know that in a fair fight, many of their victims would kick their sorry asses.

It's amazing, and a bit distessing, just how much of this behavior gets captured on tape these days. What is even more amazing (and distessing) is how often this behavior is justified, even in the face of clear video evidence. Witness the deputy that body checked the young man into the wall here in Seattle a few months ago. He got away with it. His peers (an internal investigation reviewed the tape captured on a store's security camera) saw no "excessive use of force". The victim, who was standing flat-footed with his arms out at his sides clearly in a submissive position, is still in a coma. And this steroid-crazed deputy is still out there somewhere. And the story repeats itself accross our country almost daily.

Just what does "higher standard" really mean? I have never seen this oft-used phrase manifested in any way whatsoever.

m21sniper · 01-06-2010, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

Not directly related to this link - but a more closely related issue than most of us realize:

"...success in lowering crime shows that the government can control antisocial behavior and provide public safety through enforcing the rule of law. Moreover, the state has the moral right and obligation to do so, regardless of economic conditions or income inequality...

From today's WSJ:

Heather Mac Donald: A Crime Theory Demolished - WSJ.com

Very interesting report.

We seem to have a pretty clear consenus on this thread. That cop was completely wrong and acted in a clearly criminal fashion.

Rikao4 · 01-06-2010, 10:48 AM

just crazy karma in the universe..
so he jams his stick and gets in a few whacks..
and the next day some of his buddies eat their last donut..
good guys /or bad cops...
ask the guy who got whacked...
I'm sure he could care less..
and he hopes it was the cop that beat him..
justice ?
seems to depend on who deals the cards

Rika

The Gaijin · 01-06-2010, 10:49 AM

I am not going to be judge and jury on this police officer. Completely wrong and criminal? I think Ol' Varmint's original post might have some hyperbole in it. And we all know how refutable eyewitness information can be..

"..but he caught up to him across the street near the 7-11, shoved a night stick through the rear wheel, and then introduced mr. homeless guy's head to mr. boot..."

Chasing this guy down? Night stick through the rear wheel? Most likely happend, and most likely not a good idea. But it always is good to "stop" when a cop yells "stop". The boot to head? I doubt it was a kick. It might have looked like something that it wasn't. A scuffle? Resisting arrest?

One giant Rashomon story - an ink blot test if you will. (No offense to the black guy.)

The point of the cut-n-paste link is to remind us all of the necessity of the original intent of the police. To clear these folks out of where they should not be and restore order to that neighborhood. I bet the local residents are happy.

m21sniper · 01-06-2010, 11:12 AM

I've seen far too many you tube videos of cop excesses, coupled with what i've actually seen here in Philly to ever give a cop the benefit of the doubt again.

Call me jaded, but after so many beatings, even the most faithful of dogs will stop trusting his master.

I'm that dog.

Looking_for_911 · 01-06-2010, 04:38 PM

I have been on many drug busts with different agencies around here and some of the things I have seen these enforcers of the law do would make a dead man's blood boil.
I'm not pro-drugs or pro-drug sellers, but due process shouldn't include beating the living crap out another human just because ya' got a badge and gun.
Nor should it include taking a lawn and leaf garbage bag almost full of money out of a house and having several cops take turns carrying it around the yard before it was placed in the van.
Substantially lighter, I may add.
How some of these cats ever made it by the psych tests in training I'll never know.
For the good police officers out there, the few that are left, I appreciate the job they do. Too bad most of the good ones are long gone.

m21sniper · 09:55 PM

I absolutely agree with the last poster, as i have seen (and personally heard cops bragging about) exactly that sort of behavior many times in the past.

My old man was one of a very few cops from his narcotics squad that didn't go to prison for corruption. One of the others later became police chief in LA (a totally 100% anti-gun and corrupted man who also earned a terrible reputation in LA, just as he did here among the rank and file)

At any rate, cops are as utterly corrupt as the rest of us...

I long for the advent of the Ed-209

At least it will be consistent and adhere to the law. It will have no motivation to steal drugs, steal cash, steal property, or frequent prostitutes. All favorite pastimes of cops all over America. (sorry i just don't buy this "small fraction of bad apples" crap. I think police corruption is wanton and widespread).

I am sure it will take far fewer donut breaks as well. Just replace the machine guns with multiple futuristic tazer units(i'd actually trust a machine to use one properly), and maybe a shotgun, and you're all set to go.

Robot cops are coming. And they'll be one of the first things to come because human cops suck so bad. The sooner we as a society can replace cops with fair, rational, NON EMOTIONAL robots, the better off we'll all be.

Then the former human cops can just be normal criminals like the rest of us.