Cops on leave after Taser incident, student's behavior under scrutiny - CNN.com

Cops on leave after Taser incident, student's behavior under scrutiny - CNN.com: "Two University of Florida police officers were placed on leave with pay after using an electronic stun gun to subdue a student who was questioning Sen. John Kerry at a campus forum, the school's president said Tuesday.

But the student's behavior and past activities are prompting questions about whether the incident was part of a stunt."

I love it when police are put on paid leave for their indiscretions. Here in Schenectady, it is very rare for an officer to get suspended without out pay, much less fired, no matter what they have done. The police union has way too much power in this city, and I assume it is like that elsewhere.

Also, leave it to CNN to decide that this might have been some kind of joke or something... The videos make it obvious what happened, and until there is any proof otherwise, a respected "news" organization should not be making such baseless remarks... Everyone has pulled a practical joke or two, that does not mean that everything they do is a joke...

The Raw Story | Student Tasered at Kerry speech

The Raw Story | Student Tasered at Kerry speech: "Police Tasered and arrested a University of Florida student Monday when he engaged in 'combative diatribe' following a question of Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) at a student forum about why he didn't contest the 2004 presidential election or impeach President George W. Bush.

According to the Gainseville Sun, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications student Andrew Meyer 'approached an open microphone at the University Auditorium and demanded Kerry answer his questions. The student claimed that University Police Department officers had already threatened to arrest him, and then proceeded to question Kerry about why he didn't contest the 2004 presidential election and why there had been no moves to impeach President Bush.'"

This guy was arrested for asking a question, what freaking country are we living in here? Check out the video at the bottom of the story... The student was charged with disrupting a public event. He asked the hard questions, the questions that Kerry wants to avoid, and that the media wants to avoid, and he is arrested for it.

You also have to love the sheeple in the background that start to cheer as he is being arrested, again, for asking a question. Then there is Kerry, who keeps talking, and even jokes about the situation, almost as if nothing happened. Apparently he does not care about the abuse happening in front of him. Several police officers are hovering over the questioner just before he is shot with a taser. All those cops, and they cannot restrain the guy without resorting to a taser? Police are supposed to use THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF FORCE to effect an arrest...

Here is the web page of the University Police, perhaps emails/phone calls are necessary...

Update, my Sister found the full video of the question, shot from another perspective. It is below:




And here is another:

Missouri: Police Threaten, Detain Motorist for Parking After Hours

Missouri: Police Threaten, Detain Motorist for Parking After Hours: "A motorist who refused to discuss his personal business with a St. George, Missouri police officer was threatened with arrest last Friday. Brett Darrow, 20, no stranger to unconventional encounters with police, caught a St. George Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein stating that he had the power to invent charges that would put Darrow behind bars. Update: Sergeant Kuehnlein was placed on unpaid leave Monday pending an investigation.

'Try and talk back... to me again,' yelled Sergeant Kuehnlein. 'I bet I could say you resisted arrest or something. You want to come up with something? I come up with nine things.'"

Police threating to invent reasons to arrest a person? No, that never happens in these United States, where we have the Bill of Rights. Oops, I forgot that "piece of paper" was gutted in our war against the "terrorists."

Watch the video here...

I think the next time I have a car, I will do what Mr. Darrow has done, load it with cameras and recording equipment. This kind of thing happens often. I have been in a few similar situations, walking, and many people I know have been as well. It is simple, we no longer have rights in the Fascist States of America...

Police Dislocate Protester's Knee

Now this is exactly how the gestapo protect and serve...

Here is the story from RawStory, and the photo, by Jonathan McIntosh, can be found here, among others from the event.

The police, of course, claim that she was assaulting them... I don't care how hard she might have been fighting, there are ways in which they could have cuffed her without doing that kind of harm. It was my impression that the police should always use the minimum amount of force necessary.

War Room: Political News, Politics News - Salon

War Room: Political News, Politics News - Salon: "So what about impeaching George W. Bush? Pelosi said that any effort to do so would divide the country and that she isn't sure what the odds of success would be. But she said that if she weren't the speaker and weren't in Congress, she'd 'probably be advocating' Bush's impeachment herself."

WTF??? She is in the congress and can do something about it. If she were a citizen, she could do nothing about it. The fact is that she does not want to be held accountable to the public. She just wants to spin words so that it looks like she might be doing something good for the country. The Bush administration HAS committed serious crimes, and it is HER DUTY to support impeachment, just as it is HER DUTY to abide by the Constitution. By not supporting impeachment, she is, in fact supporting the Bush administration and all of it's illegal activities. By not impeaching, she is allowing Herr Bush to transform this country into his own little version of Nazi Germany. His most prized programs of torture, spying, and abuse of executive authority are duplicates of Herr Hitler's policies.

So stand up and Impeach Bush, Pelosi, or you will be held accountable for the new Fascist States of America...

Hillsborough: Freed man still in limbo

Hillsborough: Freed man still in limbo: "TAMPA - Mark O'Hara left jail without handcuffs Wednesday, two years after he went to prison and one week since an appeals court ordered him a new trial.

He was serving a 25-year sentence for having 58 Vicodin pills in his bread truck. Jurors weren't told that it is legal to possess the drug with a prescription, which he had.

The Hillsborough State Attorney's Office has not decided whether it will seek a retrial in the Dunedin man's drug trafficking case."

And you thought you were safe with your fate being decided by a group of your peers? Not if the government leaves out little details, like the fact that you had a prescription for the pills you possessed. The sentence is also a prime example of why the war on drugs is simply wrong. He received 25 years for prescription pills. I was recently on Vicodin for the cracked rib that the gestapo Schenectady police gave me. It is a mixture of Tylenol and a tiny bit of an opiate. It is not a very strong drug at all, just barely enough to dull the pain a bit. Honestly, it is not much better than the ibuprofen I am now taking. Is that sentence justifiable? What would have happened if I had been stopped by the cops while I was walking home from the drug store? Especially seeing as I have already accused them of abuse...

Also, why is the State attorney still undecided about a retrial? It is quite obvious that this man was railroaded to begin with...

"He sold two condos, his car and his bread business to pay for the appeal. But the state took the proceeds, according to family friend Eric Mastro, to pay toward the $500,000 fine that came with his conviction."

I think this is lovely too. The state tried to sabotage his appeal. Drop this war on drugs. It just fills the prison system with non-violent offenders, pushing out the violent ones. Drop the bogus war on terror while we are at it.

ABC News: POLL: Surveillance Cameras Win Broad Support

ABC News: POLL: Surveillance Cameras Win Broad Support: "Given the chief arguments, pro and con — a way to help solve crimes vs. too much of a government intrusion on privacy — it isn't close: 71 percent of Americans favor the increased use of surveillance cameras, while 25 percent oppose it.".

Somehow, this does not surprise me... I think it is always quite amazing how willing people are to invite supreme government control into their lives. In my city, the residents are pushing to have cameras installed throughout the streets. The fact is, however, that cameras do not necessarily reduce crime.

From this ABC news article, page 2:

"Effective at Documenting Crime, Less Effective at Reducing It

But have they been effective at cutting crime?

According to a British Home Office review of dozens of studies analyzing the cameras' value at reducing crime, half showed a negative or negligible effect and the other half showed a negligible decrease of 4 percent at most. Researchers found that crime in Glasgow, Scotland, actually increased by 9 percent after cameras were installed there."

Cameras are only the latest invitation of governmental control that the local citizens have asked for. In my neighborhood, they are trying to make the area a historical district. The fact is, that there are no architecturally significant buildings in the area. In fact, it was a cookie-cutter development when the houses were built. How do I know? Because my great-grandfather owned the land and started the development himself. By making it a historical district, the local code enforcement gestapo can then tell you what colors your house can be painted, can disallow you to use vinyl siding, and they can force you to revert back to the original blueprints and specifications anytime you renovate your house, among many, many other things. This drives up the cost of materials and labor, not to mention that you can no longer make your house your own.

Just a few weeks ago, driven by neighbor's complaints, the city council has disallowed paving of your yard. The people who complained stated that by replacing grass with concrete, it was hurting their "quality of life." What whine-asses. These were the kids in the back of the grade school classroom that were constantly saying "Tommy's touching me" and "Fred just picked his nose." Are they going to have patio bricks outlawed next? What happened to private property?

Anytime one of these kind of laws passes, we are giving up a bit of freedom, and these people seem to want it that way...

[Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that, from what I understand, if code enforcement comes to my door randomly and decides to inspect my home, I have to let them in. It does not matter if they even suspect I have been doing work. If they find anything wrong, I am subject to fines, and worse. What happened to due process and the protection from illegal searches?]

The Raw Story | US/E.U. plan to database airline passengers' personal information raises deep privacy concerns

The Raw Story | US/E.U. plan to database airline passengers' personal information raises deep privacy concerns: "In addition to data such as name, address, flight itineraries, and credit card information, the United States will now database more intimate details about passengers as provided by airlines, such as race, political opinions, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation."

This is completely outrageous. According to the article, the information will be compiled on all inbound travelers, so I would suspect that if an American were to travel out of the country, the information would be compiled before reentry. All of the details are scary, but I think the most telling is the fact that they will be gathering political opinions.

Rowe Arrested Despite Honorable Discharge Papers

Rowe Arrested Despite Honorable Discharge Papers: "Korey Rowe, the Afghanistan and Iraq combat veteran and producer of Loose Change, who was arrested on Monday under charges of desertion, presented his honorable discharge papers to the arresting officers and yet was grabbed after a sophisticated operation where police staked out his house from the woods and cut his phone lines."

The Gestapo must not like his film that is against the official story of 9/11. Amazing.

CITIZEN-TIMES.com: Flag-defiling charge ends in fight, arrests

CITIZEN-TIMES.com: Flag-defiling charge ends in fight, arrests: "State law prohibits anyone from knowingly mutilating, defiling, defacing or trampling the U.S. or North Carolina flags. Lt. Randy Sorrells of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said the Kuhns desecrated the flag by pinning signs to it, not by flying it upside down.

An upside-down flag typically is flown as a distress signal. The Kuhns said they flew it this way not out of disrespect but to symbolize the state of the country.

Deborah Kuhn said the signs pinned to the flag included an explanation on the meaning of an upside-down flag and asked to “help our country.” One of the signs was a photo of President Bush with “Out Now” written on it, they said."

Sure, this is not a political issue... Don't cops, and neighbors, have anything better to do with their time?

I go to court Friday morning...

I have to take time out of my day to go and fight the system. I will have to try hard to contain my anger over this incident, so that I do not end up with a contempt charge added on to my resisting arrest and violation of the noise ordinance charges. Unfortunately, I do not take well to my rights being violated and there is a good possibility something might slip out of my mouth.

WorldNetDaily: IRS loses challenge to prove tax liability

WorldNetDaily: IRS loses challenge to prove tax liability: "The jury in U.S. District Court in Louisiana voted 12-0 to find Cryer, of Shreveport, not guilty of failure to file income taxes for two years. He had been indicted in 2006 on charges of failing to pay $73,000 to the IRS in 2000 and 2001. The next step in his personal case will be up to the IRS and prosecutors, if they choose to continue the issue, he said."

This is a great win for all of us who believe the government has been fraudulently taxing us for years. Unfortunately, I bet the IRS will be appealing this decision.

The Gestappo Paid Me A Visit... Schenectady, NY

Thursday night, my friend and I were hanging out having a few beers. As the night progressed, we became a bit too loud with our music and goofing off, but the night was now winding down, because I had a trip to make in the morning. As I was drifting off to sleep, just after 1:30AM or so on Friday morning, my friend woke me up to tell me that the police were outside the house. Ok, no problem, I figured. They were probably going to give me a ticket for being too loud. They had never been called here for noise before.

So, half asleep and tipsy, I wandered down the stairs to accept my minor punishment. Unfortunately, I did not know what I was in for.

As soon as I opened the door, I was grabbed by the police and thrown on the floor of my porch. They then attempted to cuff me. I asked them what this was about, why I was being cuffed, and why I was being arrested. They gave me no answer, so, naturally I began to resist, asking why I was being arrested again. Before I knew it, one of the police was on me, punching the crap out of my ribs, over and over. My major focus was on that officer, but there were others joining in. When the attack began, I yelled for my friend. [While I was being attacked, a couple of officers were laughing at my "COME BACK WITH A WARRANT" door mat, like it was a joke...]

He came down the stairs just in time to witness the one cop repeatedly punching me. After a few more punches, the cop realized he was being watched, and ceased. I continued to resist, as my question had not been answered. They continued to attack me. My friend pleaded with the cops to stop, and then my friend pleaded with me to stop resisting, though the arrest was unlawful. At some point during the beating, they got the cuffs on me. Soon after that, I went limp, and continued to demand an explanation. At no point had I hit an officer, as their charges would show the next morning. I simply twisted and writhed to avoid being cuffed for no stated reason. After the cuffs were on, as their charges would also show, I used passive resistance.

After they dragged me off the porch, I asked again why I was being arrested, and they finally said that my music was too loud. I asked the officer where the decibel meter was, and got no response. Let's not forget, that a noise ordinance violation is just that: a violation. It is like getting a ticket for littering or not picking up a dog's feces. It is by no means a reason to cuff me.

Next they dragged me over to the back of the cruiser, and bounced my head off the trunk a few times, until my nose was bleeding and left a nice streak of blood on the vehicle. Soon, I was loaded into the transfer van and headed off to jail. I did not answer any questions during the booking process, including those of the social worker. I do not remember them asking anything about a phone call, though I could be wrong there, everything was so chaotic. (They claim I refused it. I did, however, ask for one many times later)

They placed me on suicide watch, because I refused to answer the social worker's questions, and I was left in the cell naked for a while. Finally, they left me with a cheap paper smock, that shredded when I tried to put it on. So I made do the best I could to cover myself and stay warm with the shreds of paper. I also let every person in the area know what was going on, by shouting over and over. At that point, that was all I could do.

In the morning they gave me my clothes back, and let me talk to a public defender. Apparently, because I own a house, I do not qualify for a public defender, though the defender gave me some good advice, anyway. [The only decent thing of the night] Then I went to my arraignment. (What happened to the right to counsel? I am just as poor as the people who were next to me but happened to rent.)

I have never been arrested before(I am 27), own a house, lived in Schenectady most of my life, and only was charged with a misdemeanor of resisting arrest and a violation of the noise ordinance, so the Judge saw fit to release me on my own recognizance.

My sister was in court to make sure they did not railroad me, so I went to her nearby house afterwards. From there I called my friend, to find out more about what happened. It turns out that they supposedly received a report of "shots fired" and "people fighting" at the house, which was later confirmed through some connections he has with law enforcement. They asked him if they could search the house, and since he has a family and did not want to end up in jail with me, he consented. It is too bad that it was an illegal search, because he does not live there. They found absolutely nothing in the house. Thank god my friend was there to secure my dogs, because the Schenectady police are known to shoot dogs on sight, even if they do not attack. Of course, they would not let my friend back into the house to let the dogs loose.

So my father, who lives with me, and downstairs neighbors did not wake up during our excessive noise, nor the arrest, though that took place outside, where it was not as easily heard.

Ok, so now the questions.

How can I be charged with resisting arrest when I should not have been arrested for the noise violation?

If there was, in fact, a report of shots fired, why did they not check to see if my downstairs neighbors were alright when they found no guns in my house?

Did they use force on the account of the fact that I know my rights? Perhaps they thought that I would be trouble with my WARRANT mat.

Did they fake the music citation because they realized they had screwed up?

If it was simply a noise complaint, why did the show up with 4 or 5 cruisers and six or seven officers?

I did not hit an officer, according to them, so why did they beat the crap out of me?

Why did they immediately take me down, without a single question?

I ended up with scrapes and bruises all over my body and, as confirmed at the hospital, a fractured rib. I have also been in intense pain since the incident, and the pain is only now starting to wane. I look forward to seeing the police report. I was drinking, but I am almost 100% sure that I am not forgetting anything that happened that night, and my friend was witness to the incident. Let me also be clear, that when they started violating my rights, I started acting like a real jerk, with a lot of foul language. I was mad, and I was getting beaten. I was not being nice at that point.

I am just now able to sit at the computer long enough to write this, now that the pain from my ribs has dulled enough that it can be taken care of with pain medication.

My sister's account of the entire situation is here, she is almost as pissed as I am.

The Raw Story | Bush acknowledges administration official leaked Plame's name

The Raw Story | Bush acknowledges administration official leaked Plame's name: "At a White House press conference Thursday, President Bush acknowledged that someone in his administration leaked the name of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame but avoided addressing the question of whether saw it as a moral issue or was at all disappointed in his senior advisers."

With the release of CIA documents, the FBI acknowledging the kind of information they are keeping on all of us, this admission, and other recent events, it is obvious that the administration no longer cares about the rule of law, and even flaunts the fact that it is breaking the law. They are simply prepping us for a trip to the "happy camps," for which Guantanamo Bay is the prototype.

'Fat tax' to save thousands of lives | Press Esc

'Fat tax' to save thousands of lives | Press Esc: "Governments could save thousands of lives by introducing a 'fat tax' on unhealthy foods, a group of Oxford University scientists reported in the journal Epidemiol Community Health, prompting a trades union to dismiss the idea as 'utter nonsense'.

Such a tax UK could prevent up to 3200 deaths from heart attacks and stroke every year in the UK alone, according to Oliver Mytton and his colleagues."

Here in New York the increased taxes on cigarettes more than doubled the price of cigarettes overnight. They said it was because of the health costs of treating smokers. Only obesity kills more people. I have always joked that there will soon tax the 1-dollar double cheeseburger at McDonald's, until it costs about 4 dollars. I guess it is coming...

I think the government just wants another way to turn a profit. With cigarettes, they now earn more than the manufacturer.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Woman jailed for 'neglected' lawn

BBC NEWS Americas Woman jailed for 'neglected' lawn: "The officer had judged that Ms Perry's 'sadly neglected and dying landscape' breached an Orem city guideline and was attempting to issue a formal caution when the 70-year-old was injured.

She was treated in a local hospital for the cut to her nose and for other bruises before being taken to jail.

But she was let go when police realised there were 'other ways' of finding out her identity without taking her to jail, a police spokesman said."

To protect and serve... THE LAWN!!! (What do you want to bet they have a hefty water bill in that area?)

TheHill.com - Lieberman calls for wider use of surveillance cameras

TheHill.com - Lieberman calls for wider use of surveillance cameras: "Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said Sunday he wants to 'more widely' use surveillance cameras across the country.

'The Brits have got something smart going in England, and it was part of why I believe they were able to so quickly apprehend suspects in the terrorist acts over the weekend, and that is they have cameras all over London and other of their major cities,' Lieberman said."

Yes, Mr. Lieberman, because the the only safe state is a police state. Heil Big Brother!!!

ABC News: Secret Document: U.S. Fears Terror 'Spectacular' Planned for Summer

ABC News: Secret Document: U.S. Fears Terror 'Spectacular' Planned for Summer: "As ABCNews.com reported, U.S. law enforcement officials received intelligence reports two weeks ago warning of terror attacks in Glasgow and Prague, the Czech Republic, against 'airport infrastructure and aircraft.'

The warnings apparently never reached officials in Scotland, who said this weekend they had received 'no advance intelligence' that Glasgow might be a target."

Oops, sorry Scotland, we forgot to send the memo. I wonder when this "terror spectacular" is supposed to happen. Sounds like the name of a roller-coaster, doesn't it? Or perhaps a carnival? I wonder if there Will be cotton candy and ice cream? Gotta love the propaganda...

WorldNetDaily: New gun control: Shut down shops

WorldNetDaily: New gun control: Shut down shops: "'Imagine having your driver's license revoked because you did not completely spell out the word 'no' when answering a 'yes' or 'no' question on your application five years ago,' his petition asks.

He told WND the inspectors begin with efforts to locate any petty violation they can, usually clerical mistakes. 'They list these errors as 'willful' which Congress set in the wording to protect FFL dealers,' he said. 'The dealer's Federal Firearms License is then revoked and the dealer must enter an appeals process which is extremely unfair.'"

I used to work for a large department store selling long rifles and shotguns behind the sporting goods counter. When filling out the application, absolutely no mistakes were allowed. Everything must be spelled absolutely correctly, there can be no abbreviations, and there could be no corrections. If any of these were present, the form would have to be thrown away, and a new one filled out. Then after that process, my manager would have to double check the work, then we would have to contact the FBI for the background check. If anything on the form was incorrect, and the firearm was sold, we would face prosecution. Customers would have to wait for days sometimes to be cleared, and there was no explanation when they were not cleared to buy. God forbid if the gun was put on layaway, the customer faced losing a significant amount of money if denied the sale. Now, this was a long time before 9/11, I wonder how much worse it is now?

FBI wants students to stop travelling

FBI wants students to stop travelling: "THE FBI IS visiting the nation's top technical universities in a bid to stop students taking their holidays outside the country.

MIT, Boston College, and the University of Massachusetts, have all had a visit from the spooks to warn them about the dangers of foreign spies and terrorists stealing sensitive academic research.

The FBI wants the universities to impose rules that will stop US university students from working late at the campus, travelling abroad, showing an interest in their colleagues' work, or have friends outside the United States, engaging in independent research, or making extra money without the prior consent of the authorities."

Wow, the FBI is being just a little paranoid here. Not to mention, these students will be loosing educational opportunities and their rights will be restricted.