Let's Try This...

"Maybe lots of people support lots of things, and we can't twist that generalized support into blame for maniacs who decide to take up arms for their own demented reasons. Maybe that's a better idea after all."

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/12/lets-blame-conservatives-all-killings-theyre-responsible

I am sick and tired of the yelling, blaming, pointing fingers, lying, surmising, generalizing, name calling, racism, back-turning for spite, photo-opting, attention getting, ratings reaching, knee jerk reacting…and general spittle producing rhetoric that is rampant in today's society and media after the last few weeks. GET OVER YOURSELVES.

Yes, there is a problem with some cops in some areas…and the militarization of such people. Yes, there are some people that are just bad and given any opportunity will show their disdain, and even hatred, for those not like themselves. Yes, there are some folks….black and white…that do NOT think the law applies to them. But NOT everybody. And every police officer is NOT a saint. Remember that, Lynch, Kelly and Giuliani: Police acting like spoiled kids is disgusting to most of us, just like those in Congress. 

You might want to check out:

 http://ezkool.com/2014/12/rudy-giuliani-pat-lynch-new-yorks-finest-covones/ 

Todays' technology has certainly provided a window into what for years has been 
hidden….and as such, has brought what has been hidden and distasteful to the forefront where it needs to be addressed…NOT USED AS ATTACKS.

For decades media such as FOX, Breitbart, Limbaugh, NRO, and The Blaze have goaded and prodded in their own sly way the behavior we see now…and each time they look at the damage and say "what, me??"

This circle has to break….now. 

But I am not holding my breath……

The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Well, That Certainly Explains It…..

UPDATE: In case you were still unconvinced about the conditions of the us versus them mentality of the police today:
http://www.dailydot.com/politics/nypd-beats-12-year-old-black-kid/

The police and other law enforcement folks in this country cannot understand WHY ordinary, taxpaying people in this country do not really LIKE them. (Well, not all of them…just those that seem to think they are not only keeping the law: they ARE the law.)

Remember how they'd denigrated Eric Garner about his weight and medical conditions, saying "he brought about his own death?" How Michael Brown was a BIG obese kid…even though both he and Wilson were the same height? Really? 

"Employees in law enforcement have the highest rates of obesity among professions, …"   http://tinyurl.com/m46frgc

Of course all lot of them also seem to think that the Average Joe is a complete idiot, and it is up to THEM to inform US of our legal positions, even if we already are aware of them…or happen to be of a different color. There seems to be a reason for this attitude, too.

"The reason for the disqualification was literally because he had scored “too high” on an intelligence test…... 

http://politicalblindspot.com/police-officially-refuse-to-hire-applicants-with-high-iq-scores/

Now…don't you all feel a whole lot safer now? Especially with all the surplus military gear being spread around for these guys to play with….

The End Result….

Just saw a segment on CBS on how schools are getting by after all the cuts being demanded from them (not to mention the attrition of good teachers due to "teacher-shaming" from the Right). It proved to me just how well the "small government" folks in our country are doing, at our expense. We all know that teachers in the last decade or so have had to supply all sorts of teaching materials and everyday necessities for students….out of THEIR paychecks, that is. Now they have have to be more creative:

"Many school districts across the country face budget cuts just about every year. In Chicago, teachers are turning to crowdfunding website Donors Choose, which helps them raise funds for classroom necessities." http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/teachers-turn-to-online-donors-to-fund-classrooms/

Why allocate more funds to our kids' education from government, federal or state budgets when you can get the taxpayers to pay for it (use the word "donate" to make them feel better about it). Then we can give more tax breaks to big corporations and the 1 percent... 

Same thing with helping workers: instead of asking billionaire business owners (let's say…..Walmart) to cut into their earnings to give employees more hours, better wages, and possibly healthcare, they let the taxpayers do it.
"..a single Walmart Supercenter cost taxpayers between $904,542 and $1.75 million per year, or between $3,015 and $5,815 on average for each of 300 workers.”
http://tinyurl.com/puu9eyf

All those overstocked, out of date, no longer useful bullet proof vests, tanks, tazers, and tear gas that the government contractors have produced, at a profit to shareholders and political investors alike, …..give or auction them off to state and local police forces.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/us/war-gear-flows-to-police-departments.html
That way you are "killing two birds with one stone"…..sorry…..giving these articles of war a "peacetime" use, and keeping the people you despise the most at bay when they finally have had enough.  At least for awhile.

At this point I am afraid that the selfishness, greed, misinformation and not-bothered-to-be-concealed racism is finally winning. It will not always be this way; everything in this world comes and goes in cycles. I just makes me cringe to see that so many people…in government and otherwise….do not understand and do not even care enough to see how it ultimately affects their lives and those of their families.

“The darkest secret of this country, I am afraid, is that too many of its citizens imagine that they belong to a much higher civilization somewhere else. That higher civilization doesn’t have to be another country. It can be the past instead—the United States as it was before it was spoiled by immigrants and the enfranchisement of the blacks.
This state of mind allows too many of us to lie and cheat and steal from the rest of us, to sell us junk and addictive poisons and corrupting entertainments. What are the rest of us, after all, but sub-human aborigines?” ― Kurt Vonnegut, Bluebeard

And Lyndon Johnson had it right:" If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."  Today, a winning strategy…….

I used to be very proud

…….. of my former city, Beavercreek, where I graduated high school and my kids are raising their families. We moved just four years ago. It is a very diverse place with great schools, college, Air Force, former rural area now with lots of technical and medical industry..…but on the fringes is the usual "redneck" sensibility. (Yes, I said that.)

Then THIS happened: 

all because some wanna-be military type white guy Ron Ritchie, who LIED about his "service," got scared of a black guy with a gun and called 911...

"The attorney said as Crawford leaned on the pellet gun like a cane, he was “shot on sight” in a “militaristic” response by police.

“He said he was at the video games playing videos, and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were,” said his girlfriend LeeCee Johnson, the mother of his two children. “The next thing I know, he said, ‘It’s not real,’ and the police start shooting, and they said, ‘Get on the ground,’ but he was already on the ground because they had shot him.”

She said she and his parents heard him die because she put the phone on speaker mode.

“I could hear him just crying and screaming,” Johnson said. “I feel like they shot him down like he was not even human.”

Yet a third witness stated that he had only been standing in the sporting goods section, holding the rifle and speaking on his cell phone.

The video below is a synchronization of both the 911 call and the Walmart video showing the time line. Disgusting. There is also a video of Ritchie talking to John Crawford's friend…he obviously had NO clue of her identity, didn't see her with him earlier, or what was really going on! ( http://tinyurl.com/ozmn5vv )

Sorry, I can't get the video to show, but it is here:

http://www.whio.com/videos/news/911-call-surveillance-video-together/vCtDnb/

This is getting out of hand, don't you think? Take a look at this video from EZKOOL for another example of this "shoot first ask questions later' mentality."
http://ezkool.com/2014/09/video-state-trooper-shooting-unarmed-driver-alleged-seatbelt-violation-columbia-gas-station-graphic-video/

I Suppose It's Just Optics….

edited or otherwise. 

We all know by now some version or other of the killing of a black Ferguson teenager by a white Ferguson policeman. We have all heard at least three versions of the police chief's explanation of the chain of events. We have all seen the military-type response to both the outpouring of grief, turned to rage, leading to looting that had nothing to do with the original shooting.

I am pretty sure that somewhere in the midst of all this racism, hatred, and feeling of frustration lies the truth. You can be sure of one thing: if a black policeman had shot and killed a white teenager (whether he was aware of an alleged crime or not) in a white neighborhood (middle-class or poorer…) the aftermath would have been different. And a LOT different if it had been an upperclass area……

Two of the autopsy reports are out: the first really saying nothing. The second one can be somewhat inconclusive except to discredit partially the witnesses belief Brown was shot in the back, but NOT disproving he had his hands up in surrender. Then there are the live tweets about the shooting hat the msm has not touched on. Hmmmmm.

The police department very co-incidently released a surveilance video along with the name (finally) of the shooter who has long since scooted out of town. They were asked not to, since tensions were already high…... I guess the cops were bent out of shape at being replaced by the Highway Patrol folks with a black leader. (My take on things, only)

They released only a portion of the video…..but not this part: 

2:00 PM - 17 Aug 2014

YouTube @YouTube

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/43740_Ferguson-_Down_the_Rabbit_Hole

Then add to the story that the police and others in charge are still attempting to thwart the media from doing their job…informing the public what is really happening…instead of hoping they will rely on sanitized press releases being put out by those "in charge."

http://tinyurl.com/mjcvspy     (Thanks, EZKOOL)

And the officials, and our government (local or otherwise) wonder why we have no faith or trust in them???

Give Us Lawyers, Guns and Money

NASHVILLE — The National Rifle Association is spending $75,000 to unseat House Republican Caucus Chairwoman Debra Maggart while asking all state legislators whether they will side next year with the organization, even if it means breaking with GOP leadership.

"As a legislator, would you follow the demands of party leadership even if they run contrary to the NRA's legislative agenda?" one survey item asks. ihttp://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/jul/10/nra-spending-75k-to-unseat-house-gop-chair/

I see that Grover Norquist is alive and well as a clone in the NRA. This group is appealing to the basest of Southern instincts: gun control and the right to "pack" at any given time, at given place.

The NRA and the Tennessee Firearms Association have targeted Maggart for defeat because of her role in blocking a vote on a bill that would allow Tennesseans to keep guns in their locked cars in parking lots, even if the lots are owned by a company or government entity that prohibits firearms on its premises.

I don't believe that the colonists were this obsessed with "being armed" at the time the Constitution was being written. Why, if EVERYBODY was allowed to carry some type of gun anywhere, to "protect himself" from criminals, or opposing viewpoints and religions....we would have NO NEED for any type of police force, private or otherwise. Hmmmmm..........Of course, this is PURELY speculation on my part, and a coincidence that certain shadowy elements are involved:

Koch Industries has vigorously defended ALEC, and has assailed reporting that noted that the company, led by billionaire brothers Charles and David, is a long-time funder and leader of ALEC and that ALEC has long advanced the NRA agenda through "model" gun bills, including Florida's controversial SYG law that was ratified by ALEC in 2005.http://articles.cnn.com/2012-04-06/politics/politics_nra-alec_1_nra-officials-alec-gun-rights?_s=PM:POLITICS

Not all of the Koch money is going to large political pushes the country can see (but won't acknowledge)........a good portion is working it's way insidiously into our local legislation and everyday lives.