Civil Rights: The Police State

Is here. Remember, you heard it on Faux Noise first.

The state of Washington will pay $15,000 to a man who claimed he was forcefully catheterized after being arrested for investigation of drunken driving, authorities said.

The state is claiming that their refusal to admit wrongdoing and settling out of court is "a better way to go than to spend more money litigating it," according to the report. The victim, Mr. Arthur, was required to undergo screening for intoxicants upon request under a probation agreement. Either he refused, or the cops didn't wait to find out, they simply took a blood sample by force and had him catheterized to obtain a urine sample.

You'd think they'd have the decency to throw him in the drunk tank instead. Wouldn't a breathalyzer be sufficient? Yeah, we don't want people driving drunk, especially if they already have a rap sheet, which would sort of tend to indicate that they've been guilty of poor judgment in the past, or of a degree of indifference to the rest of society that might be criminally culpable. That still doesn't mean you stick a tube up their dick and forcibly draw a urine sample.

What the fuck ever happened to the rule of law in this country? What happened to the constitution? Just as we said recently, when the Crook-in-Chief and all his minions refuse to obey the law, why the hell should the cops? Or the citizens?

Here, for example, the head of the EPA tells Congress that he can't say when his agency will get around to complying

with a Supreme Court directive and determine whether greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles should be regulated.

In a tense exchange with a senator, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson suggested that few if any people at the agency were directly working on the issue now. The high court in April 2007 had said the EPA was required to determine whether carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases posed a danger to public health.

Johnson originally had promised a reply to the court's ruling by last fall.

Can someone tell us exactly why this worthless son-of-a-turtle has a job? Yaknow, thousands of people are losing their jobs every day here. And Mr. Johnson's job comes with a hefty pay packet plus all kinds of sweet, sweet benes - retirement money, pensions, guaranteed bonus, top-notch health care, yada yada yada. Let's fire him and give one of the many unemployed his job. And while we're about it, let's fine him &mdash him personally, not the agency he works for &mdash $10,000 per day for every day that Congress has had to waste trying to get him to do his job.

In case you're wondering, yes, Mr. Johnson is the same dickwad who assures us, the people, his employers, that he cannot make a decision on whether California's environmental standards, which are tougher than Federal, should be allowed to prevail in the state of California.

State's rights for the unborn only, apparently. The born are so fucked.

Incidentally, the unfortunate Mr. "I've got a catheter in my dick" Arthur was subsequently tried and convicted on the charge. He is currently serving a two-year, nine-month prison sentence.

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