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I'm on Skype again.
It's been a few years since I've been on this thing and I've got to say that I'm impressed. It looks/feels much better than it used to. And I picked up a bitchin' headset so I can be one of those annoying jerks talking too loudly in the coffee shop.
SKYPE ID: endurablegoods
Cops vs Skaters - The Timeless Battle
Just finished watching the latest police brutality video to hit the web. This time, a Baltimore cop takes down a 14-year-old for skating in the Inner Harbor area. Short version: The cop was a dick.
This got my brother and I to speaking about the public perception of the police, the ethics of authority and the current atmosphere of heightened threat levels their resulting tensions. What we came down to was this - We are more afraid of the police than we are comforted by them. Perhaps afraid is a bit too dramatic. 'Concerned for our safety' may be more correct. That is to say, we tend not to trust them.
For instance, say it was night and I was on the side of the highway with a flat tire or car problems. If I saw a police car pull up behind me and put his reds and blues on and spotlight my car, I'd be far more scared than relieved. Indeed, I'd almost want to hit the pavement face-down and lock my hands behind my head and hope for the best. I would already feel like a criminal.
For many, 'protect and serve' as become 'threaten and tase'. The police force - indeed, government authority in general - has slowly drifted toward a more ominous, heavy-handed identity leaving it's original intent of protecting the public on the back burner. What happened to the Friendly Neighborhood Cop?
Yes, this is an instance of a few bad apples sullying the image and reputation of a good and honorable organization such as the police. These guys are out there risking their lives and they deserve our thanks. Perhaps Office Salvatore was having a really bad day and simply took it out on the kids. He's human like everyone else. Of course, he has a more public job and is far more exposed to public scrutiny.
However, one our big gripes was the sharp lack of respect with which the office approached the kids. Before giving them a chance, Office Salvatore rips into them with insults and a complete lack of common courtesy. That kid was in a headlock before he knew what hit him.
And I'd love to give Officer Salvatore the benefit of the doubt. But then I saw this clip. Seems that officer Salvatore Rivieri has done this kind of stuff before.
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When you have the police tricking people into picking bags up and then arresting them, it is no wonder that trust of the institution has eroded.
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Digg has a cute little entry on their front page taken from a site called TheMishMash.com entitled 'Unquestionably the Oddest, Most Objectionable Band Name Ever.'
I'm going to pat myself on the back here and brag about how I posted something on these guys back in October 2006. Too lazy to click back? Here.
From their website
MY BABY WANTS TO EAT YOUR PUSSY do not want to arouse interest only with a striking name – there’s nothing about this band, that does NOT draw everybodys attention to them! With a barefaced smile, this dazzling shell opens up to present her chiselled pearl to a glazed and simple-minded, though still opulently weird generation. As if it was a matter of course, this gathering of mentally unique characters makes themselves a legend. An artistic and catchy middle finger to everything, that has been before. MY BABY WANTS TO EAT YOUR PUSSY celebrate the otherness and sacrifice themselves to pop and style.
This is why I loathe John McCain
Earlier, on NBC's "Today" show, McCain said he had to convince voters
that he is the conservative candidate. "I've got the record, and I can
lead this nation in the struggle against radical Islamic extremism," he
said.
Why this myopic, fetishistic obsession with a couple hundred illiterate peasants with AK-47s halfway around the world? How can this perceived 'struggle' be the primary - if not ONLY - platform of the Republican party?
How about the nation's struggle against homelessness, corporate malfeasance, the erosion of our civil liberties, failing schools, our crumbling economy, a rotting infrastructure and overall social malaise?
