A little authority

The video below is unsettling, but apparently such actions by police are as common in Australia as they appear to be in the U.S. Without knowing and understanding the full context I shall reserve judgement, other than to say that the level of viscous behavior by the one cop, and the attempts of others to illegally prevent the filming of the incident appear to be abuse of authority.

Although I've not found the full story, it appears the Sydney police have issued some form of communication alleging that the man under arrest had earlier attacked someone. Even if true I still don't see the justification for such treatment of an already restrained individual, and when we consider an illegal attempt to prevent the video journalist from tapine the incident, this appears to be a rather clear case of abuse of authority.

What follows are the cameraman's words and the video shot.

"I was a press photographer for the parade, walking along the backstreets shortly after it had concluded between 11pm and 11:30pm, we heard a man screaming for repeatedly for help.

Walking over we saw him being restrained by two police officers with another 4 in close proximity, he was repeatedly asking them 'What have I done wrong?' which they would not respond, all they would say was 'you are under arrest'. 

He calling for people walking past to help him and with a large crowd of people began to surround the event. 

He was struggling and resisting but not aggressively. 

The officers told him to stop resisting to which he would reply 'why are you doing this I haven't done anything?.' 

The officer 'FAIRFIELD LAC 266' then grabbed him by the back of the neck and slammed his head into the stone pavement, as he tried to get up he was then punched multiple times in the head, leaving blood all over the pavement. The crowd of people overlooking screaming at the officer to stop. 

After seeing that I began filming."

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"What I found most shocking about this event is that the other officers seem to be aware that the amount of force they are using was completely unmerited and excessive.

So they hastily try to force me to stop filming. 

As a press photographer I knew I was completely within my rights to film police officers in a public space, doing nothing wrong and breaking no laws, so I refused. 

You will notice I ask multiple times why I am not allowed to film and what laws am I breaking and receive no response. 

There were at least 6 officers in the immediate vicinity, the victim was only small and could have easily been restrained by the officers without injury. 

Instead they choice to force him into submission by repeatedly punching him and throwing him into the pavement."

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Goodhair back in the clown car

... and Texas women better keep their powder dry. The first bill on Guv. Goodhair's list of "emergencies," with full support from the teabagger section, is another attempt to foist their personal religious beliefs onto the taxpayers. Never let it be said that a teabagger let a little thing like our U.S. Constitution (or ethics) stand in the way of dogma.

"While legislators begin to file legislation during this pre-filing period that began today, they, too, look forward to supporting the flagship Pro-Life bill for the next session: Texas Right to Life’s Pre-born Pain Bill."

I've got a feeling this state is boing to be turning blue a lot quicker even than we'd hoped.

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Taking a page right out of the George W. Bush playbook

Indiana University Southeast, which is just outside of Louisville, Kentucky, has thrust itself into the middle of an anti-constitutional free speech controversy as they become the latest of several public colleges to enact codes limiting students wishing to express opinions to designated free speech zones. For a student to express an opinion on campus requires a permit which may or may not be granted. Not surprisingly, the rule that has been in effect since 2004 is now being challenged.

The purpose of the zones, supposedly… is to ensure the safety alternately of the gathered attendees, and the protesters themselves. We find that the technique is used mainly for political gatherings, although such zones are increasingly being found enshrined in the rules of conduct for university campuses.

The history of the Free Speech Zone is long and checkered. This is a similar tact as was taken by the Secret Service during the George W. Bush administration to limit access to the President and his staff as they travelled to, around and from Crawford, TX and Bush’s Western White House, and the implementation of these exclusionary zones was greatly expanded during the Bush presidency, with these actions frequently meeting with court challenge.

But to be fair, the experimentation with the Orwellian concept of limiting free speech to designated zones is a tactic employed often and by diverse groups from every wing of the political spectrum. Colleges first started implementing rules establishing free speech zones to control the war protesters of the Viet Nam era. At the 1988 Democratic National Convention, the City of Atlanta established a single designated protest zone and enforced it with police actions. Similar zones were erected at the 1992 and 1996 conventions. The exclusion zone at the 2004 convention was likened to a prison camp, with concrete barriers and barbed wire fences.

The existence of such exclusionary zones is based on previous court decisions which stipulate that the government can regulate the time, place, and manner of free expression, but not the content. This selective application of a constitutionally guaranteed right is at the heart of the disagreement at Indiana University Southeast and is the basis for new litigation.

Where we get into the constitutionally vague area is when the restrictions result in censorship more so than just a safe environment. Placing an FSZ in a location far away from the activities, out of sight of the public and the media, serves only a single purpose – the squelching of free speech. Though authorities have in the past denied specifically targeting protesters, on a number of occasions in subsequent court testimony these denials have been contradicted.

With this latest action we have strange bedfellows uniting, with FOX News all up in arms, the ACLU once again involved, and the rather liberal advocacy organization, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), defending the free speech and due process rights of the college kids. If the case passes muster on the district level, it will be interesting to see if SCOTUS will be willing to stick its paw into another sticky constitutional mess.

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Always loved country music

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H/T

This woman wants your kids

Barbara Cargill is running for State Board of Education place 8 seat. The Texas SBoE writes the curriculum that will be used for future textbook. She is Guv. Goodhair's hand picked successor to that whacky dentist, Don McLeroy.

Doesn't get out much, does she? Bless her pointed little head...

Dear Barbara and her cohorts are the product of decades of slow inflitration into the SBoE by dominionist xian zealots. For more information on the ongoing battle for the minds of Texas school children, read the TFN Timeline of textbook censorship.

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Is there a war on job growth?

Welcome to the modern Republican Party.

From the moment Barack Hussein Obama was declared the winner of the 2008 Presidential elections, the GOP has been on the move. Who could forget Mitch McConnell’s reaction to Obama’s success and the petulant assertion that the Republican’s “top priority” over the next four years was about making Obama a “one term President.”

Three years have gone by since McConnell uttered those words and the "Party of No" has held true to the course. GOP actions (and inaction) had until recently stalled the economic recovery. A successful campaign of distortion turned everything bad in the world into Obama’s fault.

The 2010 mid-term elections resulted in a new GOP controlled House and a greatly diminished Senate majority for the Democrats, severely compromising the ability of Congress to move any progressive legislation. The drag on economic recovery would continue.

Truth has always been a bit of a stranger in American politics, but the modern GOP has taken this truism to even greater horizons. The misinformation and dirty tricks machine was successful prior to the mid-term elections.

The oft-repeated mantra was that the bad economy was an entirely Obama creation. Questions were raised about the President’s right to hold office, his patriotism, even his religious faith. GOP resistance was framed as a patriotic mission denying an evil President the pleasure of destroying America.

Following the mid-terms, flaunting their new Congressional prowess, GOPers continued to block efforts to rebuild the economy. But these efforts have ceased working, mainly because some of the programs and policies put in pace prior to the mid-terms were actually resulting in modest job creation. In spite of the best Republican efforts the economy was improving. A GOP change in tactics became necessary.

The new complaint eminating from the GOP is the administration’s “economy busting” “crony capitalism,” and “job killing” green energy agenda. After some great successes in casting the now bankrupt Solyndra as epitomic of President Obama’s energy policies, Republicans now are lambasting what they have dubbed “Obamacars.”

Congressional Republicans and FOX News talking heads targeted the Chevy Volt, made by an auto maker saved from bankruptcy by Obama administration policies. The claim was that the vehicle is a fire hazard and economic boondogle.

Unhappy with these characterizations, the electric car industry is fighting back. Bob Lutz, a UC Berkeley business school graduate who championed the Volt when he was vice chairman at GM, wrote in his blog…

“…the loony right has its jaws sunk into the Volt with all the stupid determination of a terrier who has locked his teeth into the mailman’s butt. And with the same result: painful, but without any useful purpose.”

The same “loony right” has also targeted Tesla Motors, claiming that grants issued to the upstart electric car manufacturer amount to crony capitalism. Tesla received a $465 million Department of Energy loan but has since dropped pursuit of any further federal loans. They are instead raising private cash. The car maker plans in July to start deliveries of its $50,000 S car, claiming it is on its way to the mass car market.

Ricardo Reyes, a spokesman for Tesla, very gently told the GOP exactly what they are full off...

“We applied during the Bush administration, and we were approved under the Obama administration, so as far as we’re concerned, we at least had a bipartisan relationship for the loan...

We got one of first loans and we used it to build the car that is now going into production in a U.S.-based facility…

I’d like to think we’re pretty much a case study on what the loan program was designed to do.”

It is unfortunate that much of this tactic has been successful... and that jobs have been lost because of it. The GOP managed to taint the renewable energy loan program in spite of the fact that this particular program was started by the Bush administration as an effort to wean America off of imported oil. Now, due to character assassination by the right wing, the formerly bipartisan effort is in jeopardy.

GOP tricksters have pulled the wool over an under-informed electorate, but the efforts likely will not kill the electric car. This Republican led campaign of misinformation has General Motors pissed, and theyre doing something about it. GM Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson has complained about the political atmosphere that surrounds the Volt.

“Sometimes I feel bad for President Obama,” he said this month after an appearance at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. “This car was designed and committed to well before he was president, and it’s called the ‘Obamacar.’ It’s not the Obama car. I’m proud and I’m pleased that he thinks highly of it, but it’s all on us. It’s not a political issue.”

The automaker accused Republicans and the right-wing media of hyping claims that the car caught fire during testing.  1,300 jobs were lost at the Volt plant due to GOPer posturing and mischaracterizations, even though there has never been a fire except in one in a controlled testing environment. A battered test vehicle burned hours after a crash test, blamed on test workers neglecting to properly secure the wrecked vehicle.

On March 1 GM opened an unprecedented campaign to re-introduce the Volt in California, the biggest U.S. auto market. Sales are expected to be brisk and the company hopes to re-start manufacturing once inventory levels drop. In spite of the GOP, people will be going back to work.

For the GOP it has never been about job creation, the economy, helping the environment, creating stability in the financial markets, making sure Wall Street never again melts down, jobs, budgets, controlling the debt, or paying off our deficits – that was just smoke and mirrors.

For Republicans it is all about ensuring Obama is a one term President... economy be damned.

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A spade is a spade

Young people with courage in their convictions always impress me. This young lady tells it like it is.

“Your decision to cut the funding of clinics that provide free and low-cost health care to over 100,000 low-income Texas women is shameful ... I cannot in good conscience continue to be associated with you or a Legislature that would so unabashedly and unapologetically belittle the hard-fought rights of women ... Trampling the rights of women in an effort to grandstand against the federal government is simply wrong and I cannot be a part of it.”

Grandstanding is exactly what it is. Profiteering and pandering have become the reality of the Republican Party. The bigots and the authoritarians have won. Lincoln would likely not be proud.

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Arizona legislature endorses controversial contraceptive bill

For my conservative friends saying that the government should stay out of the contraception issue, this story ought to make your day.

“I believe we live in America. We don’t live in the Soviet Union,” Lesko said. “So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom and pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs.”

So it is the Soviet Union that would impose upon a "mom and pop" if the government insists that insurance must cover all people equally, but it isn't when the government passes a law authorizing said "mom and pop" to pry into an employee's medical records? ...and Senator Lesco thinks the First Amendment allows this?

Really?

The Republicans keep on telling us they are the party of liberty, small governemnt and freedom. So why do they keep on trying to pass laws that allows the governemnt (and now my employer) to poke noses into my library and my bedroom?

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TSA's Incompetence "Frightens Me"

"Yes, the TSA has spent about $65 billion of our tax money over the last decade, but look on the bright side -- we get absolutely nothing for it.

Well, we do get groped. I guess that's something."

But then the same could be said about just about every arm of Homeland Security... most especially FEMA. Brownie did not do a good job, and nobody since has either.

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An unmarried woman is unqualified to speak on birth control

Or so says Washington state Sen. Michael Baumgartner.

Cantwell has been singed by the issue. An opponent, state Sen. Michael Baumgartner, denounced her for signing a Senate letter arguing that the so-called "morning after" birth control pill should be available over the counter at pharmacies. Baumgartner said that Cantwell was not qualified to talk on the issue because she isn't married.

If it walks like the 15th century, and it quacks like the 15th century... and this is Monday... it must be more Republican bullshit.

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To my rightwinger buds...

When Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy's old seat you were upset, because Scott Brown "is only a RINO."

Seems like I remember that at the time, I told you that I figured you were full of shit... and now your RINO has proven me correct.

Y'all keep the faith though... ya hear?

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All is fair

If we're going to be going to all these extremes, invading the female body and such to save the living souls of the unborn (and even the unfertilized), turnabout is certainly fair play.

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Article 5 of Chapter 12 of Title 16 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to abortion, so as to make certain legislative findings; to prohibit the performance of vasectomies in Georgia; to provide for an exception; to provide for penalties; to provide an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

There are some really ingenious female legislators out there... even though they are sadly outnumbered.

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More abusive, authoritarian cop behavior

The cops have really been on a roll over the past few years. Wonder if it has anything to do the the Patriot Act...

"The audio recording (below) shows Fiorino, 25, being confronted by a Philadelphia police officer about carrying a gun in public. Fiorino is allowed to open carry in the city, but the officers appear completely ignorant of their own directives and became increasingly hostile to Fiorino’s effort to show them that he was lawfully carrying the weapon."

But thanks to that oft demonized American Civil Liberties Union, this one is going to court... and the City of Brotherly Love likely will feel the pain. Gun owners should take not too.

"For those on the right who criticize the ACLU, the case is also a reminder of the work that this organization does for all citizens regardless of their politics or views."

Exactly. For the ACLU the mission is about protecting individual rights. Consider this in the future, please, before excoriating the organization for standing up and defending folks you don't like for doing things you don't care for... even when it doesen't affect you.

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Is babysitting while white reasonable suspicion for police questioning?

A terribly sad story told by one of my favorite Texas, liberal bloggers. 

She told me to take my hand out of my pocket and to step away from Ty, declaring that someone had seen a white man chasing a black girl and reported a possible kidnapping. Then she began asking the five-year old about me. The last time this happened, Ty was barely two, and I wasn't about to let police question her. This time, though, at least initially, I decided to let her answer. "Do you know this man?" the deputy asked. "Yes," Ty mumbled shyly, "he's my Grandpa."

It goes downhill from there.

Damn!

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