Politics: Forgotten "Heroes" of a Forgotten War

It's heartwarming, to say the least, that despite the unpopularity of both the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars, the troops who are doing the fighting have not faced anything like the hostility and condemnation that Vietnam veterans faced when they returned from that unfortunate military episode. Despite the fact that the Vietnam "war" was never actually a war (that is, Congress never actually declared war) and that it was originally sold to the public and the military as a noble attempt to "contain" the "communists," it was, at least initially, quite popular with the American public.

It was not until later in the prosecution of this terrible adoration of Moloch that the American public, seeing their sons come home in body bags, turned against the war that was not a war. Some 58,000 dead sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, and friends later.

The legacy of that military orgy remain with us today. It'll be gone soon enough, when we sweep the last of the bodies under the rug and continue with the foolish militarism that Eisenhower's warned-of "military-industrial complex" continues to indulge in, at the expense of minds and bodies worldwide.

In the interim, what we have are incidents like these:



The elderly man in this clip is one Thomas Bruso, known throughout the Bay Area as "Tom Slick," or "Vietnam Tom." He is apparently well known throughout the Bay Area, having been involved in at least one other videotaped altercation. He swears like a fucking longshoreman, and as you visitors and friends at this fine blog can testify, that makes him exceedingly popular with los gatos de mi casa, given as we are to the fine art of fucking swearing.

Mr. Bruso is, some say, 62 years old, or perhaps 67. Nobody seems to know exactly. The other incident that brought him to the attention of the authorities involved an A's game. Mr. Bruso apparently brought his own alcohol to the game and sat in a seat that he was not entitled to deposit his arse in. Some irate motherfucker or the other called the police, and multiple pigs descended on this elderly gentleman and proceeded to taser the fuck out of him.

To the credit of the fine people of Oakland who were watching the game, the crowd pretty universally booed the pigs, and they have been forced to defend their use of a taser on an elderly man whose only apparent crime was to flip them a finger for interrupting his enjoyment of the game.

Of course, Mr. Bruso may be elderly but he is a motherfucking big guy, and apparently scares the shit out of a lot of people when he starts cussing. Buncha fucking pussies, if you ask me. Actually, los gatos de mi casa would like to repudiate the use of that term and refer you, our fine readers, to cats of your own acquaintance who, in the middle of a fight, have been known to call each other things that would make a longshoreman faint dead away.

In the event, it is not clear to us that Mr. Bruso actually *is* a vet, or actually served in Vietnam, but it appears to be the case, and we take the man at his word. As for his encounter with this dumbass, some people — a lot of people, sadly — are trying to make this about race.

To that, and to those people, let me just say a hearty "Fuck you." Black, brown, and white, all of us who saw this saw an idiot messing with a guy that he should have left alone. And he got his fucking ass kicked, and that's fine by me, and, apparently, by a huge honkin' slice of Oakland's nonwhite community. So don't try to make this about no white people's shit, because it ain't. Kudos to the black lady who tried to calm everyone down and keep the situation from escalating. And a heartfelt kick in the ass to the bitches who kept egging the parties on.

It's about acting tough and trying to fuck people over and getting what you deserve.

The people who videotaped this whole escapade apparently stole (as seen on the video clip) Mr. Bruso's bag, and although police returned it to him some time later, it was missing the money that had been it. I hope the thief develops the world's worst case of crotch rot that will only be alleviated by returning the money.

The upshot of this little incident is that Mr. Bruso was taken by the police to a psychiatric facility to be evaluated. Apparently, he had gone off his medication.

In the event, it ended reasonably well for Mr. Bruso. He was released, and his assailant has refused to press charges. I guess it's just too embarrassing to admit that someone your granddad's age fucking kicked your ass even though you were armed with a knife. It should keep the idiot, at least temporarily, from pulling knives on elderly bus riders.

Here is Mr. Bruso telling his story:



You can tell from listening to him that something is not quite right with Mr. Bruso. He might be developmentally disabled or delayed; he might be mentally ill. Nothing has been confirmed as yet. But there was no call for that bratty little thug to treat him the way he did, and I'm glad that Mr. Bruso escaped unhurt.

In the meantime, he's become an Internet sensation. Apparently, a lot of people are really really pissed off about the thug shit they see going down every day, and the unfortunate characters involved in this YouTube episode have attained the status of a meme. Mr. Bruso is now Epic Beard Man, although I'm not sure he understands any of it. Whatthefuckever, yaknow?

Just please note that if he actually is a Vietnam vet, Mr. Bruso represents a generation — some 3 million young men (mostly) and a few young women — who answered their country's call and (mostly) volunteered to serve in Vietnam because their leaders told them that they were protecting America and keeping her safe. And many of those who fought in that "war that was not a war" came home to a lukewarm welcome at best. More to the point, many of them came home severely fucked up, to a country that did not seem to want to address what they had gone through.

It's too late, probably, to fix whatever went wrong with most of the boys who were shipped over there with their young heads stuffed full of lies. But it's not too late to help the men they have become. If you know a vet who served in that war, thank them for their service. Give them a little respect. Understand that they've seen things, and lived through things, that would have you screaming from nightmares for the rest of your life. They didn't ask for it and they didn't know, but they and their families have had to deal with all kinds of toxic fallout — physical, mental, and emotional — for decades. So give them the kindness of your attention and your respect.

Note: As always, the jackals and vultures are already hovering. Someone's selling "I Am A Motherfucker" teeshirts and advertising it via YouTube, claiming they'll give some of the money to Mr. Bruso. I kind of doubt that. But who knows? We'll try to follow up on Mr. Bruso's story. In the meantime, if anybody tells you this is about race and white people kicking black folks' ass, or black "thugs" owning public transportation, please tell them to just go fuck themselves. The man is not quite right and I hope no one takes advantage of him.

That is all.

Stumble It!

Politics: Incitement to Violence

ICHC FTLOL

The Foofaraw-Of-The-Day (hereinafter FoTD) was that some motherfucking idiot butthole surfer decided to create a poll asking whether his fellow FaceBookers thought that President Obama deserved assassination.

For those who don't use FaceBook, lots and lots of third-party developers write little apps that you can use to do silly stuff on FB, like create stupid polls that actually go to your FB account and pull all kinds of data about you and your friends and then sell it to people who want to pay money to find out what kind of people use FB and how dumb they are and also how likely to pay money for the dumb things these people want to sell them.

So there's this third-party app that lets you create polls. And most of the polls are really silly, harmless stuff like "What flavour of ice-cream are you?" and "Do you wear frilly panties?" and shit like that.

Well, this bright soul (not) decides to create this fucking poll about whether the President should be assassinated, and the choices it gives you are (Yes), (Maybe), (If he cuts my healthcare), and (No).

Some 700 or so other idiots found this poll and decided to take it. Well, actually, the first person to take it probably sent it to five other friends, who sent it to 25 other friends, and it snowballed. To the credit of most of the idiots who took it, the answer was NO by a staggering margin. And the total number of responses was very small in terms of the total number of users on FB. And, the Internets responded by reporting the dumb motherfucker to the Secret Service.

To FB's credit, they immediately suspended polls when this was brought to their attention. They then had a little talk with the app developer, asking him to fix his code so that no one could ever do such a revoltingly swinish thing again. Which he is, I believe, doing as we squeak. They also had their little session with the Secret Service and, no doubt, have turned over captured IP addresses and the like.

Welp. It won't be too long before the Men In Black have a little conversation with the feckin' eejit who wrote that feckin' poll, will it, now?



Good luck, you scum-sucking swine. You're going to need all of it that you can get. Not that we think you should be allowed much of anything, with the exception of bread, water, and shelter from the elements in a jail cell for some years, but hey. You get your day in court while the prosecutor tries to prove you guilty.

Maybe this will stop the likes of Annhole Coulter, Glen Blech, and Flush Rimbowl from making their unacceptable and unwarranted cracks about poisoning Supreme Court Justices, or the Speaker of the House, or shooting at the Speaker or the President.

Listen up, Fuckwits, one and all: US Code TITLE 18 PART I CHAPTER 115 § 2385:

Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes, or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
If two or more persons conspire to commit any offense named in this section, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.
As used in this section, the terms “organizes” and “organize”, with respect to any society, group, or assembly of persons, include the recruiting of new members, the forming of new units, and the regrouping or expansion of existing clubs, classes, and other units of such society, group, or assembly of persons.

So before you form into astroturfer organizations carrying placards advocating the violent overthrow of the government, please note that it is a fucking CRIME as defined by law. There are penalties for this kind of hate speech. You can't run around flapping your ugly gobs about killing people without consequences.

Do you understand, you cone-headed dimwits? The Free Speech amendment to the Constitution gives you the right PEACEABLY to assemble. Read it, idiots:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

If you're not assembling PEACEABLY, without guns or hate speech or threats or incitements to crime, well, there are consequences for that kind of behaviour. You have to take responsibility for your bullshit, assholes. Better start sending money to the ACLU now, motherfuckers, because they're the only ones that will bail your oversized useless lardy asses out of the hoosegow.

Moreover, these heah threats you're making against your freely and fairly elected President? That shit is laid out in the same fucking code, you worthless buttfucks. Read it and meep: TITLE 18 PART I CHAPTER 41 § 871.

Threats against President and successors to the Presidency

(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b) The terms “President-elect” and “Vice President-elect” as used in this section shall mean such persons as are the apparent successful candidates for the offices of President and Vice President, respectively, as ascertained from the results of the general elections held to determine the electors of President and Vice President in accordance with title 3, United States Code, sections 1 and 2. The phrase “other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President” as used in this section shall mean the person next in the order of succession to act as President in accordance with title 3, United States Code, sections 19 and 20.

OK, assholes? Didja get that? Do you understand the words of more than one syllable here? The next time one of you motherfuckers starts making that cocksucking pout of the lips and spouting off about the tree of liberty being watered with the blood of tyrants? Y'awl better be prepared to see some Men In Black coming through the front door, the back door, or both.

What part of PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE do you pointy-headed assholes not get? "Peaceably to assemble" does not mean "bring your fucking Uzis and AK-47s to the town hall and terrify little children and old ladies," do you get that yet?



Because by all you fucking hold holy, you brainless walking excrement, if you harm one hair on the head of our lawfully elected President, our Vice-President, or our Speaker of the House, be prepared for some real patriots to kick the holy fucking shit out of your cheetos-laden ass.

Stumble It!

The Police State

Jesus fucking J.H. Christ and his Black brother Harry. Is this what it's come to? Body-slamming frail, elderly grannies with dementia in the interests of "protecting and serving?"

Who the fuck, just who the fuck are the cops "protecting" when they slam this poor old lady to the ground and leave her bleeding? Like being old and disoriented isn't bad enough?



I thought the last time the cops engaged in a little granny-bashing was, truly, the last time I'd hear about this. But these motherfuckers — hey, that lady cop has got to outweigh the victim by a good 100 lb., at least.

Your friendly local Cat has had to disarm knife-wielding persons before. It happens sometimes in the course of an argument that an overly-excited person picks up something that they think will help them, um, forcefully drive their point, as it were, home. If you're younger and stronger than the other person, you can get the weapon away from them pretty easily. You do risk getting cut, of course, and you might lose a little blood. But, you know, if you're, like, arguing with grandma, it's no big deal to step behind the old lady, grab her wrist, and twist it till she drops the knife. Unless she has a black belt in some martial art, she's not gonna be able to fight back.

So why these fucking proto-fascists felt the need to body-slam Grammy is completely fucking beyond me, OK?

Here's the facts of the case, as reported by Raw Story:

• The lady in this disgusting video evidence of police brutality is one Virginia Dodson of Whitehall, Ohio;
  
  
• Ms. Dodson is 84 years old and suffers from Alzheimer's Disease;
  
  
• Her daughter, who is her primary caregiver, was running an errand at the local Mall*Wart, and took Mom with her (probably because there is no alternate caregiver, or one wasn't available right then);
  
  
• Understandably, the daughter didn't want to take her into the store, so left her buckled into her seat in the car;
  
  
• At some point, poor disoriented Ms. Dodson lost track of why exactly she was all alone in a car, strapped into her seat, and panicked. She cut the strap with a steak knife she found in the car and exited the car, knife in hand, calling her daughter's name.
  
  
• Thanks to the police, she now has stitches closing the wound in the back of her head, and possibly a broken hand.

Now, some people are all, incensed, screaming, hey, the cops had to take her down 'cause, you know, she had a knife and she threatened some kid, and like that.

OK, you dumb motherfuckers, you wanna live in a police state, move to fucking Afghanistan or where-the-fuck-ever. And ask yourself how you'd feel if that was your Grandma the cops were bashing around. Or you, your very own precious self, some 40 or 60 years from now when you can no longer remember your name or how to wipe your own fucking ass. And don't forget to meditate on the fact that any kid that can't outrun an 84-year-old frail elderly woman who walks with a cane is gonna get Darwinized sooner or later.

Other people are claiming Ms. Dodson's daughter is responsible for this unholy mess because she "neglected" her mom. You lot, form a line to the right. The trucks will be coming any minute now to schlep you off to the local senior home or nursing home or any other place with a high proportion of physically and/or mentally disabled people. You're sentenced to do caretaker duty for them until you figure out just how difficult it is to look after someone with that particular combination of disabilities.

What does this story teach us, boyz'ngirlz?

• One, somebody is putting something truly sinister in the drinking water in Ohio. Either that or the whole fucking state is in the nth degree of crayzee natural-born fucking fascist loons. Maybe we should send all the other loonies there and build high concrete walls around the state. Eh?
  
  
• Two, Our care of the elderly, especially the elderly with mental disabilities, is fucking appalling. Why is Ms. Dodson's daughter forced to schlep Mom around and lock her in a car while she does the grocery shopping? Why don't we have daycare for the elderly and mentally disabled?
  
  
• Three, The police forces in this country desperately need new, better policy positions. One of the first things I'd like to see is the removal of those glorified cattle prods known as Tasers.
  
  And yes, I'm well aware of the fact that most cops lose their lives when intervening in domestic violence situations.

Is respect for the human rights enshrined in the Constitution too much to ask of our police? Because if it is, we need to scrap the existing police force and recreate it from the ground up.

Stumble It!

Turrrrrrrsm: How Many Lone Wolves

make a pack?


From MSNBC comes today's "lone wolf" story about yet another fucking demented rightard loony who just decided to off him a cop. To no one's great surprise, this fucking demented rightard loony, just like previous fucking demented rightard loonies, had a cache of bombs and other deadly devices, guns, and Nazi symbols. Law enforcement officials are currently investigating whether the fucking demented rightard loony, one Gilbert Ortez, Jr., has any ties to white supremacist groups.

Mr. Ortez' family are claiming that deputies illegally entered the home. Given that this took place in Texas, we at La Casa de Los Gatos will withhold judgment temporarily as to the exact degree of fucking demented rightard looniness involved here. OTOH, the entire fracas started because the water supply company sent a meter reader there to shut off the water for nonpayment of bills, and Mr. Ortez' "common-law wife," one Pamela Leggett, apparently decided to register her disapproval of this act by shooting at the meter reader. Whereupon the cops were called. And one of them tried to enter the trailer and was shot dead for his pains.

What argues most strongly in favour of the currently very late Mr. Ortez being a fucking demented rightard loony, however, is the vast quantity of munitions yielded by his premises. What the fuckin' fuckity-fuck in fuckellation does anybody need with over 100 bombs?

Here, we would like to make the following snarky aside: How come most "leftwing activists" or, if you prefer, "fucking demented leftard loonies," are, like, you know, some sandalista longhaired dudes and dudines with posters and buttons and signs saying things like "Peace Now," and "No More War," and shit like that, and the most grief they give you is, they're, like, stopping or slowing your morning commute or your desperate daily reconnaisance for that urgently needed Starbucks triple decaf soy mocha latte, or whatever that trendoid shit is? And the "lone wolf" rightwing dementards are usually, like, blowing the holy fuck out of the local cops or potentially wiping out the whole fuckin' trailer park, or killing some, like, nice smiley dude who makes a shitty wage opening doors at some local institute dedicated to the prevention of violence, or something?

Stumble It!

Religion: It Makes You Craaaaaazy

Gustav Doré, Paradise Lost

As fuckin' batshit crazy as a mother moose with quintuplets, and in heat. From FB friend Frank Bell (how appropriate is that?) comes this report about a fucking Christian minister who thinks his Imaginary SkyDaddy is some kind of holy hitman. You know, pray to him when you don't like somebody, and, poof! He puts teh Holy Stinkfinger on the unfortunate victim, who cooperatively curls up and dies. Or something like that. FTA:

Former Southern Baptist Convention officer Wiley Drake claimed on Fox News Radio that he is praying “imprecatory prayer” against Obama. In other words, he is praying for God to kill President Obama.

Drake said on “The Alan Colmes Show” that unless Obama repents, he is praying that God will kill the president. He believes that is what happened to slain abortion provider George Tiller. It worked on Tiller, why not the president?

Are you fucking kidding me, you fucking loon? What the fuckity-fucking-fuck in the name of all fuckaciousness is wrong with you, motherfucker? I know lots of Christians and they're all about "our religion is teh religion of peace," and all that, yaknow? I don't think they're gonna be too happy about you, Mr. GodIsMyHitMan, waggling your weenie in public about how you're all gonna lay teh H8 on anybody who doesn't do what your perverted fuckwitted old mind tells you is the right thing to do.

Jesus Fucking J.H. Christ and his Black brother Harry!

Denizens of La Casa de Los Gatos, having been subjected to at least two major religions as tender yoofs, find religion an altogether inadequate filter for the wondrousness of life. Nevertheless, we distinctly remember that religion was supposed to be "teh GOOD," yaknow, white hats, white suits, white wings, whatever. We don't recall hearing as how you were supposed to pray to God to KILL the people you disagree with. Why not just pray to God's purported Other Half, the Devil? Isn't it his, or her, business to be killing?

Fucking mendacious, pitiful loons. Hey, Drake! Go find yourself an adult female or male person who could tolerate or even like you, and rub your nubbins against theirs until you're all juicy and sweaty and deliriously happy. It's better for your nonexistent eternal soul, not to mention your happy bits. Oh, and furthermore, as Mr. Deity shows, God just erases those messages anyway:




I love Mr. Deity. Oh, and that's his son, by the way, with him. Cute kid.

Stumble It!

World: No Regrets?

No, it's not the Billie Holliday song. It's what's happening in the trials of the Khmer Rouge criminals right now.

Prisoner at Tuol Sleng, Pol Pot's notorious S-21 prison

No, my knowledge of Kampuchean history is not great. I know something about the early history of the Khmer and other peoples of that part of Southeast Asia, the Funanese empire, the Dong Son bronzes, but almost nothing about their modern history, except that my parents greatly respected and admired Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

I am about to begin my historical explorations of that deeply wretched nation.

However, today's report from Reuters does not bode well for my virtual travels thereto. According to Reuters, one Mam Nay, aka Chan, who served for a time as an interrogator under Pol Pot's head jailor, Duch (real name Kaing Guek Eav) testified in court today that he has no regrets for

what happened at the Tuol Sleng prison, where more than 14,000 men, women and children were killed, [...].

Tuol Sleng, also known as S-21, is the infamous prison referred to in "The Killing Fields."

No regrets for this, Mr. Chan? Or Mam Nay, if you prefer?

Tortured Prisoner, one of 6,000 photographs left behind when Khmer Rouge jailors evicted Tuol Sleng prison in advance of invading VietNamese troops

Mam Nay, who is appearing as a witness for the prosecution in the joint Kampuchean-UN war crimes trials, has denied any part in torture or killings of prisoners and blamed the United States and Vietnam for undermining his country.

"My only regret was our country was invaded," he told the joint Cambodian-U.N. tribunal. "Frankly speaking, the Americans invaded us then Vietnam invaded us. That is my regret."

[...]

"I did not use torture in my interrogation. I believed I would not get a true confession."

Asked about the deaths of innocent people, Nay, 76, said: "None of them was innocent -- those people committed offences, either minor or serious.

"This was the reason for their arrest. How serious or how minor, I don't know."

Note: This guy was a schoolteacher. Maybe he was a brainwashed cadre turned schoolteacher. But how do you become a schoolteacher if you cannot empathize with frightened children? And some of the 14-20,000 imprisoned at Tuol Sleng were children. Ony six people survived that prison. The remaining 13,994 — or 19,994, no one really knows — died as a result of torture.

There is no denying that the US bombing of Kampuchea and various associated military actions led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge. But who thought they would be so inhumane as to kill between 1 and 3 million of their own people? Between the U.S. bombing and the NVA attempts to escape U.S. military actions by slipping over the border into Kampuchean territory, evicting Kampucheans, and training members of the Khmer Rouge, Kampuchea's attempts at neutrality and Sihanouk's heroic efforts in that direction were virtually worthless. Here is a brief background on these aspects of Kampuchean history.

Mam Nay, or Mr. Chan, or whatever you call yourself, should a "minor" offense warrant waterboarding? Or, as Americans and other Westerners used to refer to it, "Chinese" or "Japanese" water torture?

Picture taken by Jonah Blank in 2005 at the Tuol Sleng Museum. Published on the Web by David Corn.*

Oh, well. I guess now that it's come to light that we waterboarded mentally ill or innocent or possibly innocent people ourselves, repeatedly, I guess we're in no position to quibble about anyone else's crimes.

Ain't torture egalitarian?

*See here for copyright/licensing information on this picture.

Incidentally, the still-adored ex-partner made a trip to those parts some years ago, and opined that "the whole place seemed haunted. It was like going to a ghost town. Even the people's faces look haunted." The ex is a tough businessperson who has had plenty of occasion to mock and deride my own claims of sensitivity and queasiness and unexplained oojie-woojies, so to hear those words from such a person, well. Virtual trips to Kampuchea is all I'm up to for now.

Stumble It!

!! TAKE THEIR GUNS AWAY !!

Like most Oaklanders and others in the Bay Area, I am mourning the loss of a young man who was shot in the early hours of New Year's day. What a way to start the new year.

My heart goes out to Oscar Grant's family. Please know that many many people in the Bay Area are mourning the death of Oscar. Small comfort, I know. His life was precious and something must be done so no one else falls.

BART officials have acted with incompetence and coldness. Where were the heartfelt condolences? They acted like they just wanted to shake the blame off of themselves. I have not seen one official who looked shaken and upset by this tragedy. Yes, yes, I know ... you must look professional. But really now -- this is a tragedy. Can't you show some emotion? Most of us in this city are feeling a lot of emotion about this.

It also looks like the BART police need some anger management training. In my opinion, they did several things which escalated the problems on that platform. From the videos that I saw, it looks like the folks “in custody” were much more subdued than the BART officers. I believe that the situation didn't even require the taser gun ... never mind a real gun. And the officer who did the shooting looked downright shocked that his gun went off. What's up with that?

Plus, why hasn't BART released some kind of substantive statement? Yes, the officer who did the shooting has resigned but BART officials have gotten statements from the other officers and eyewitnesses on the platform. So ... tell us what happened.

The BART officer who shot Oscar Grant has not been questioned yet. Why? Why wasn't his statement taken right away? Again, this smells of "well, they protect their own." Plus, it seems to me like this officer is a flight risk. Shouldn't he be charged with ... negligence? Manslaughter? You can't shoot a man who's down on the ground and walk away. A crime was committed.

Was racism involved? Yes, of course. In the plain fact that we all know that black and brown people's sacred lives are devalued by authorities and in all kinds of systematic ways. They are not offered the same level of safety as whites are offered. (Although I'm starting to feel that that's on shaky ground too. When it comes to police, it often ends up with an "Us" and "Them" mentality. And, folks, I am not one to put down police in a general way. I've had some neighborhood problems and called the police. They were helpful and respectful. Which shows that the potential is there in every community for police to really be our helpers not oppressors.)

Also, this seems to be a big problem in the U.S. of A. Why? How do other countries handle crowd control? Why don't we hear about more incidents of police shooting innocent people -- in other countries? What do they do differently there? Do we need to take away their guns like the bobbies in the UK of old? I know. Ridiculous when you think of gangs with automatic weapons. But, how can we change this dangerous system?


Things You Can Do Right Now About the Oscar Grant Shooting

These actions were inspired by a list on www.racewire.org compiled by Makani Themba-Nixon. I added to Makani's list.

Watch the videos. Don't buy into the BART officials' statements that watching the videos doesn't give you the real story. There's a lot you can pick up from the videos. Here are some places to watch videos:
KTVU
KRON
YouTube [you must have to register and sign in]


Talk about this tragedy to friends and neighbors. Some people may not be aware of it. Blog about it. Make sure your blog gets the widest exposure. Please keep in mind that Oscar Grant's family has requested that we protest PEACEFULLY. I know, young folks like to get rowdy -- I did. But now's not the time. We want lots and lots of folks to listen and do something. The fires and broken glass do not help teach folks. And, yes, of course, I am definitely aware that those things might have been caused by agent provocateurs of all colors.

Write letters to editors of the Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and other newspapers covering the story.

Contact the Mayor’s office:
Mayor Ron V. Dellums
1 Frank Ogawa Plaza
3rd Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com
T: (510) 238-3141
F: (510) 238-4731
Note: Mayor Dellums looked more passionate today than I've seen him since he's been in office. So, maybe there's some smidgen of hope that The Quiet Mayor might do something.

Contact the district attorney’s office:
Tom Orloff
1225 Fallon Street, Room 900
Oakland, CA 94612
alacoda@acgov.org
Telephone: (510) 272-6222
FAX: (510) 271-5157

Contact BART -- tell them how incompetent and shady they have been; tell them what you expect them to do. For example, they should release a statement based on the information they have gathered from the other officers and eyewitnesses on the Fruitvale platform. Remind them of their own damn slogan on their website:

"The Bay Area is your home and BART is going your way. Whether you're headed to work or meeting friends, catching a flight or catching a game, BART brings the Bay Area together."

BART police
Toll-free: 877.679.7000
To call any of the persons or sections below, call this toll-free number and press the last four digits of the phone number you wish to reach.
BART Chief of Police:
Gary Gee 510.464.7022, ggee@bart.gov

Internal Affairs:
Sergeant David Chlebowski 510.464.7029, dchlebo@bart.gov

BART Board of Directors
P.O. Box 12688
Oakland, CA 94604-2688
(510) 464-6095
BoardofDirectors@bart.gov

Note: indicate whether you're contacting the full Board or an individual Director. Their website is here.

Contact the Oakland City Council members:
To find your city council member, click here.

You might want to especially contact these council members:

Jane Brunner, voted in as new president
Phone: (510) 238-7001
Fax: (510) 238-6910
Email: jbrunner@oaklandnet.com

Desley Brooks
Phone: (510) 238-7006 (office) Fax: (510) 238-6910 (facsimile)
Email: dbrooks@oaklandnet.com

Rebecca Kaplan
Email: rebinfo@earthlink.net


Stay tuned for other actions, protests, etc., especially if you are in the Bay.

Related news
An extremely chilling piece of news reported by Judith Miller of Fox News about the New York City Police Department training their officers in the use of machine guns:

Another change, initially reported by The New York Post, is the decision to ensure that more police officers are trained to use machine guns and other heavy weapons. In mid-December, for the first time, recruits at the police academy received basic instruction in the operating systems of three types of heavy weapons. Prior to this, the testimony says, only the Police Department's Emergency Service Unit was given such training. Now it will become a standard feature at the police academy.

On a Fox program earlier today, Miller mentions that other city police departments are considering this as well. They claim that the reason for training in even heavier weapons is to protect citizens from terrorists.

But what do citizens do when the protectors become the terrorists?

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World: For All Our Friends In Mumbai

We know nearly 200 people died and an additional 300 or more suffered injuries. You can't say, in the face of so much human suffering, God, I hope none of my friends caught it in the neck, or Please God keep my friends safe. Because what kind of a god would it be that responded to your requests, but not those of some other friend of some random victim of this violence?

In the event, here is further proof of nonexistence of any kind of divine being. To kill randomly and deliberately people who have done you no harm simply because they're unfortunate enough to be in the same place at the same time as yourself, well ... Jon Stewart and John Oliver say it best:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mumbai Tragedy

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

As for the absolute motherfuckers and giant assholes behind this, may every one of them develop scrotal rot that causes their fun bits to fall right off never to be repairable or renewable. Also their progeny, if any, unto the nth generation. Offspring of venereally diseased camels that they are. May their wives have more hair than a wool rug and may their sons and daughters repudiate them with beatings. Be sharam haramzadas.

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World: War

It's official. Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia, has just declared a "state of war" in response, he claims, to an unprovoked Russian attack.

Russian spokespeople are saying that they were merely protecting the people of the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia. Now Abkhazia is being drawn into the conflict. The Russians claim 2,000 Ossetians have been killed. Separatist South Ossetians claim the death toll is closer to 1,600. The Georgians claim the death toll is 100. Whom to believe?

The "state of war" declaration gives Saakashvili broad powers but is not yet tantamount to a declaration of war. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is in Vladikavkaz, near Russia's border with Georgia. Saakashvili is appealing to Western powers to pressure Russia into a ceasefire. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev claims that Russia is merely responding to Georgian attacks on Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia.

As a result of the conflict, Georgia is withdrawing its military force of 2,000 troops from Iraq. The U.S. is responsible for transporting the troops to Georgia, where Saakashvili says they are needed. However, no schedule was announced, so it's unclear exactly when the withdrawal takes place.

To no one's great surprise, there is oil involved. Why else would the CIA have sponsored the "Rose Revolution" that "liberated" Georgia? Why else would the Western powers seek involvement? James Schneider gives you the dirt on the situation there. We're off to repair our sad ignorance of the history and politics of that region.

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The Police State: More Misbehaviour

Cheye Calvo and Trinity Tomsic walk their dogs Payton and Chase

More information available here and here.

Those sworn to protect and serve have increasingly been doing the exact opposite, of late. These days we seem to be suffering from a surfeit of stories of bad behaviour by these so-called "public servants." They're beating up and jailing innocent citizens, subjecting them to strip searches and repeated taserings leading to death, kicking in their front doors, shooting them, and generally acting like the worst thugs of the third reich. But today's outrage is really beyond the pale.

The county police of Prince George's County in Maryland, working with the Sherriff's Office SWAT team, kicked in the door of the Berwyn Heights Mayor's home and shot his two black Labs to death — one, in the back, as it tried to run away. What, exactly, was the Mayor's offense?

Apparently, the police, posing as deliverymen, delivered a parcel that contained 32 lbs. of marijuana to the house, and the mayor took it inside. The county police and the Sherriff's office didn't bother to inform the police of Berwyn Heights that they were on a pet-killing spree. What the hell is wrong with these people? Oh, yeah. Their president is a lawbreaking thug. So why the hell should they abide by the law when their own leader (probably the chimp they voted for) can't be bothered to do the same?

Of course, what this means is the cops can deliver a parcel of marijuana to anyone's door and if you take it in, they can kick your door in, and handcuff you and your elderly mother-in-law for hours while they interrogate you. Really, Mayor Calvo, you should be grateful they didn't waterboard you.

So who is this Mayor Cheye Calvo? Commenter Pete over at Raw Story unearthed this information about the Mayor:

Cheye Calvo
National Conference of State Legislatures

Cheye (pronounced "shi") Calvo directs the National Conference of State Legislatures' (NCSL) transportation and financial services committees and represents state legislatures in our federal system of government on banking, insurance, securities and transportation issues. Cheye played a leading role in efforts to create state-friendly federal driver's license standards as part of the intelligence reform in December 2004 and more recently in opposing the driver's license provisions of the REAL ID Act. Cheye has spoken, testified and written extensively on a wide range of public policy matters, and has co-authored and co-edited studies on human genetics policy, genetic privacy, and auto insurance ratemaking. He also serves as the part-time, elected mayor of the Town of Berwyn Heights, Maryland.

Calvo, 37, has been mayor of the 3,000-person town near College Park since 2004. His wife is a finance officer for the state, he said. He works part time as the mayor and serves as director of expansion for the SEED Foundation, a well-known national nonprofit group that runs urban public boarding schools.

Sounds reeeeal threatening, people. Of course, those of us who are working-class, or poor, or dark of skin have had stuff like this happen to them pretty routinely. But, goodness me, when a middle-class white working couple like the Calvos have it happen to them ... isn't it time to, um, do something?

To their credit, the Berwyn Heights police department had a reaction pretty similar to ours:

Berwyn Heights Police Chief Patrick Murphy said county police and the Sheriff's Office had not notified his department of the raid. He said town police could have conducted the search without a SWAT team.

"You can't tell me the chief of police of a municipality wouldn't have been able to knock on the door of the mayor of that municipality, gain his confidence and enter the residence," Murphy said. "It would not have been a necessity to shoot and kill this man's dogs."

Common law holds that a person's home is their castle — that every person has the same right to freedom under their own roof, whether rented or purchased, as a king or queen has in theirs. And the Constitution is explicit regarding search and seizure:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Do you see anything in there about kicking down doors and shooting people's pets? The fucking police fucking SWAT team is scared of black Labs? A turtle could outwit a Lab, and there isn't a dog like it for sheer friendliness and sweetness of disposition. And why would you shoot a dog that is running away from you?

Want an action item? Call the PGCP Chief, Melvin High, at 301-772-4740 to let him know what you think of his high-handed tactics.

Melvin High! What a name.

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Civil Rights: So This Is How Low We've Sunk

Ohio again. Goddammit, Ohio! What the holy perforated fuck is wrong with you? Are you a state full of goons and thugs? Hope Steffey. Tarika Wilson. Just last week, you tasered Denise Harris, a 50-year-old blind diabetic cancer patient after kicking her door in.

And now, this? If it's not already glaringly obvious to everyone on the planet that the war in Iraq has zero, zilch, zip, nada, nothing to do with our rights and freedoms and everything to do with Commander Codpiece's overweening sense of entitlement, it looks like we can certainly count on Ohio to set the record straight, huh?

How the hell did y'all manage to elect a progressive like Dennis Kucinich for your Rep? Ah, what the hell. You owe the rest of the country big time for that viper, Mean Jean Schmidt and that revolting blubberer John "Boner" Boehner.

But really, you gotta cut out these weekly assaults on the citizenry. And what is with your poor choice of victims? Don't you know if you're gonna turn the tasers on people you want to be sure you pick (1) minorities (2) preferably male (3) preferably poor or working class (4) preferably armed (5) preferably with a criminal record?

And stop videotaping this shit. Seriously. It's time to grow some brains and some sense of civic duty and quit kicking the crap out of elderly religious types and blond middle-class housewives that you outweigh by 100 lbs. or more. Or, worse yet, blind diabetic cancer patients.

Today's blot on Ohio's good name is brought to you by security guards at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center in Toledo. Hey, wait a minute. What the fuck? Security guards? They're not even cops and they get to beat the crap out of the citizenry? Shouldn't we have the crap beat out of us by people that we're paying for the privilege?

Wait. It gets better. The good Reverend Al Poisson had been out shopping with his son and 6-year-old grandson when some unnamed third party was injured under unexplained circumstances. The good Reverend decided to take his duty of Christian charity seriously and visit the injured man in the hospital, taking his kid and grandkid with him. While he was visiting the injured man, the good Reverend teased one of the armed thugs with the question, "Are you happy?" When the guy replied "Yes" in a dour tone, the good Reverend suggested he inform his face, as it didn't appear to reflect his claimed state of mind.

Whereupon five &mdash count them, FIVE &mdash armed security thugs fell upon this 66-year-old gentleman, dragged him out of the hospital (no doubt before the horrified eyes of his son, his grandson, and the unfortunate patient being visited), tasered him, beat him, kicked him while he was down, and generally roughed him up.

Say fucking WHAT? Excuse me, the guy's sixty-six years old and, if you get our drift, he doesn't look like he's even in as good shape as Dick Fucking Cheney. Why does it take five of you to beat his ass? Plus, hello, you're armed with tasers. We've already seen plenty of evidence that tasers are a lethal weapon, they can kill healthy strong young men. You tased the old guy, which is, like, not too smart given that he's a fucking prime fucking candidate for a fucking heart attack, you fucking bozos. And then FIVE of you got together and kicked his ancient ass.

What the fuck is wrong with you? What kind of gangsters, goons, and thugs are Toledo hospitals hiring to provide security? And why are they armed with tasers? Whatever happened to "never hit a man who is down?" Do you people have the slightest fucking shred of decency? Of dignity? Of self-fucking-respect? Jesus fucking J.H. Christ and his black brother Harry.

And in case you, dear readers, were wondering if the good Reverend Al didn't try to kick one of these studly young thugs in the old nuttolas or something, it's all on videotape. The good Reverend would get short of breath trying to lift his leg that high, if you get our drift. Plus, the security goons tried to file charges, and a court has already thrown them out. The good Rev. Al is suing the hospital. Good on ya, Reverend. They kicked your ass, you need to kick theirs in return.

Whatever happened to the goddamned rule of law, is what we want to know? When did it become OK to randomly taser anyone you think is giving you the stinkeye? Haven't these people heard of the Constitution? St. Vincent must be spinning like a corkscrew in his grave. Better rename the hospital. Kikurass Medical Center sounds more appropriate.

CBS news' video clip of the interview with Rev. Al and his lawyer available here.

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Politics: The Police State

Hello, What. The. Fuck? Ohio? What is going on here?

Police in Ohio apparently went to the home of a legally blind diabetic cancer patient in her fifties, looking for her son, a felon. The woman, Denise Harris, was suspicious, for legitimate reasons WHIO TV says they will air tonight in an interview with her.

Police are claiming they knocked on her door and she "became combative" and didn't want to talk to them. So they tased her.

Excuse me? They fucking WHAT? Is somebody putting mind-altering drugs in the water in Ohio? The Hope Steffey case wasn't bad enough? The Tarika Wilson case wasn't bad enough?

Look at me, Ohio, I am talking to you goddammit. What the fuck is this? Tasering a woman in her fifties because she doesn't want to talk to you? Have your fucking idiot police ever heard of the Constitution? Specifically the Fifth Amendment thereto?

Oh, yeah, we forgot, Jor Jee wiped his ass on it so you can't read it any more.

Jesus fucking J.H. Christ on a pogo stick with bells on! What the hell gives that you people actually think it's OK to use a weapon that can kill on a blind, diabetic fucking cancer fucking patient???

Just one point in your favour: you proved that you don't discrimate based on race when you slammed blonde, white Hope Steffey face-first into a police cruiser, stripped her naked, forcibly and physically violated her on the pretext of a full body search, threw her shivering beaten naked ass in a jail cell, and videotaped the whole disgraceful thing.

Of course, you killed Tarika Wilson because her boyfriend was a drug dealer. Shot her to death in front of her children.

People, look at this long and good. The police state, which we've blogged repeatedly before, is upon us. Commenter Sungold points out that a pregnant woman was tasered in Ohio last fall. These cops need to have tasers taken away from them.

The "security bracelet" favoured by the DHS in lieu of a boarding pass is looking more likely by the second.

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2008 Elections: Barbara Ehrenreich Weighs In

As longtime admirers of Barbara Ehrenreich, we were delighted to read her post in The Huffington Post today.

Titled "Hillary's Gift To Women," Ehrenreich's piece analyzes the myth of the nonviolent female of the species &mdash a myth that we, given our relationship with Mummy Dearest, have always known to be based on the slenderest of realities. Relevant excerpts:

A mere decade ago Francis Fukuyama fretted in Foreign Affairs that the world was too dangerous for the West to be entrusted to graying female leaders, whose aversion to violence was, as he established with numerous examples from chimpanzee society, "rooted in biology." The counter-example of Margaret Thatcher, perhaps the first of head of state to start a war for the sole purpose of pumping up her approval ratings, led him to concede that "biology is not destiny."

Need we remind the world of Golda Meir, who would have cheerfully kicked her opponents in the nuts; or Indira Gandhi, who had no qualms at all about forcibly vasectomizing working-class and poor men, or "disappearing" beggars, and flipped the mighty U.S. a rigid digit when offered wheat for the starving masses.

History records plenty of women like the Borgias, the Medicis, the dowager empresses of China who used military might, poisoning, war, and murder to get their own way. Regrettably, Hillary Clinton is made in their mold. As Ehrenreich says,

[...] by running a racially-tinged campaign, lying about her foreign policy experience, and repeatedly seeming to favor McCain over her Democratic opponent, Clinton didn't just break through the "glass floor," she set a new low for floors in general, and would, if she could have got within arm's reach, have rubbed the broken glass into Obama's face.

We don't agree with everything Ehrenreich says in her piece. For example, she states that the majority of those prosecuted for Abu Ghraib were female. We believe that is because women are generally treated more harshly for offenses that go against gender stereotypes. We note that Janis Karpinski's male bosses should have gone to the hoosegow for permitting untrained personnel, male and female, to "soften up" the prisoners of Abu Ghraib for interrogation. Yet Donald Rumsfeld walks free, as does Dick Cheney. Condi Rice will pay a greater price than Cheney or Rumsfeld for the mishaps of our foreign policy, although Cheney is undoubtedly the greater evil. We hold that this is due to sexism. Women who have power are often punished simply for holding power, much less wielding it.

Which is not to defend Rice, either, since she has proved herself at best thoroughly incompetent and at worst decidedly malign.

In any event, do go read the article. It, and the comments that followed, were instructive.

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Crime: Jean-Pierre Orlewicz Sentenced

Jean-Pierre Orlewicz

The psychopathic little wretch will get life in prison without possibility of parole. He was seventeen years old when he committed his crime. He is eighteen years old today.

We have mixed feelings about Mr. Orlewicz' sentence. There is no denying that he is a detestable little boil without the slightest trace, apparently, of what makes people human beings &mdash that is, a capacity for empathy, for understanding the pain that others suffer and therefore being incapable of inflicting it upon them.

Mr. Orlewicz' crime, in case you're not up on details, involved luring a supposed friend to the Orlewicz grandparental home, having first prepared the garage with tarps to minimize cleanup of blood. He then set upon his victim, Daniel Sorenson, and stabbed him repeatedly, which caused Mr. Sorenson's death.

Having murdered Mr. Sorenson, whose only crime appears to have been borrowing money from Mr. Orlewicz and failing to repay it, he then cut off Mr. Sorenson's head and applied a blowtorch to the hands and feet, to make identification more difficult. He bullied another debtor and friend into helping him transport the body to an open area, where he doused it with flammables and set it on fire. He disposed of the head in a river.

The friend and fellow-debtor in the case, one Alexander James Letkemann, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, for aiding and abetting inthe crime. Although Mr. Letkemann, who was 18 years old at the time, did not actually assist in killing Mr. Sorenson, he helped prepare the scene and helped dispose of the body. Foolish boy. He may never see his parents alive again.

Orlewicz did not speak at the sentencing hearing, having, apparently, already seriously damaged his case by taking the stand in his own defense. However, the judge who sentenced him, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Annette Berry said she was grateful he was convicted.

"I am grateful that you are going away for the rest of your life, because in my view I believe you will kill again," Berry said.

[...]

The judge called the killing "an evil act." "There is a difference between mental illness in this country and evil," Berry said. "But your actions, sir, are tantamount to evil. No two ways about it."

Judges, in our estimation, are not always the best evaluators of character. Like any other human being, they have their own biases and their life experiences shape much of what they see and how they think. However, the judge's assessment in this case makes us wonder what she saw in this teenage boy &mdash because we saw some evidence of psychopathic behaviour, but we freely admit that we are very prejudiced against him &mdash that would cause her to say such things.

We understand that there is a video clip on YouTube of Mr. Orlewicz testifying on the stand. For reasons we don't understand, and don't want to troubleshoot, we cannot view the clip. But we are told by those who have viewed it that it revealed Mr. Orlewicz to be a nasty little wretch and pretty much guaranteed his conviction.

Mr. Orlewicz' attorneys will appeal. Let us hope they meet with no success. We really do not think this teenager should be allowed to find potential new victims. The parents of both these children and the murdered man have our deepest sympathies. What must it be like to know that you have raised a monster, and that your own flesh and blood is condemned by society at large never to walk free again?

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War: Telling It Like It Is

Fellow-blogger and esteemed compadre Chuck Butcher over at Chuck for ... lays out very clearly exactly what war is.

We highly recommend you read it. Better yet, go find every warmongering service-dodging conflict-humping Yellow Elephant you know, tie them to a chair and read it to them in cycles. Preferably, accompanied by illustration.

Chuck pulls no punches, so don't read immediately after a meal. On the other hand, this excellent post could serve a dual function as a diet aid.

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Politics: Republican Courts Hispanic Vote

See, these people have absolutely no shame in saying what they think of working people, working-class people, poor people, brown people, black people &mdash anybody but the rich and powerful. Those, they plentifully kiss-ass.

Colorado State Rep. Douglas Bruce actually prepared a two-page single-spaced speech to declaim the "illiterate peasants" who pick his tomatoes and clean his house and make his wine. In honour of the immigration bill being debated in the House, Rep. Bruce managed to get on his hind legs to deliver his nasty comment before being told to bag it by acting Democratic speaker of the house Rep. Kathleen Curry. Raw Story tells us that the nasty little brute had the gall to subsequently insist that he was merely telling the truth, which offended his colleagues.

However, the chupacabra previously kicked a photographer during a House prayer, putting the lie to his "truth-telling" pretensions. He had the gall to excuse that incident by claiming the photographer was disrupting the prayer session. So taking your photograph equals disruption, but assaulting someone else does not. He meant to insult and offend both times, and he succeeded.

The issue under discussion was a guest worker program, something we need right quick as produce prices rise and farmers are unable to find workers to labour in their fields and cities decay even further as undocumented immigrants in fear for their lives and safety leave, taking their disposable income with them.

Raw Story has the video clip.

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Crime: The Murder of Daniel Sorenson

Jean Pierre Orlewicz

Some time ago, we blogged about two Michigan teenagers who were accused of murdering a supposed "friend" of theirs, decapitating him, blowtorching his hands to prevent or slow identification of the corpse, and setting fire to the torso in a field. Charming pair, eh?

Today, one of the pair &mdash Jean Pierre Orlewicz &mdash was found guilty of first-degree felony murder in the killing of Daniel Sorenson. Jean-Pierre Orlewicz was 17 years old at the time that he committed the murder. The prosecutor introduced evidence that he had planned the murder in advance. Orlewicz claimed self-defense, but the jury apparently did not buy it. Orlewicz is looking at a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The other defendant, Alexander Letkemann, pled guilty to second-degree murder in return for testimony against his erstwhile bosom companion, Orlewicz. However, Orlewicz apparently admitted that Letkemann did not commit or assist in committing the murder. Letkemann is looking at between 20 and 30 years in prison.

This is what the kid looked like before his attorney got him all cleaned up for court:



This is so sad. Three families have lost their children. Frankly, it sounds/looks as if Jean Pierre Orlewicz might be a psychopathic killer. The killing was so senseless, one is hard put to understand what was going on. Imagine if there was some way of culling psychopaths before they could be born. We wouldn't be at war in Iraq today, for one thing. After all, the Orlewicz kid only killed one person. The neocon cabal that took us to Iraq has already killed close to one million.

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., always missed down to the depths of our souls

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said this:

"I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettoes without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today--my own government."

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