apocalypse cafe

Editor's Note

2011-12-06T20:25:00.006-10:00

I don't know for sure how many years ago it was... 3?, 4?... when we decided to focus on a larger, more coherent project. Things went horribly off the rails in the meantime. Horribly. I mean, bad horribly, like: 'When did I get this tattoo?' and 'Where are my kids?' horribly.

But I think we've regained enough equilibrium to proceed. So, the long and short of it is that Apocalypse Cafe will be getting quiet as we concentrate on the larger issues of Kanakas and Mahus and the certain coming apocalypse. But do not be afraid, we are here, monitoring the situation, and will report and comment where necessary.

apocalypse cafe editorial staff

Passive Aggressive Corporatism

2011-11-26T01:10:00.009-10:00

I've been in a lot of bad relationships. My shrink says I'm redlining after he heard I was getting passive aggressive with my cat. It's bad like that. But I can spot an abusive relationship a mile away.

Have you ever seen those cute chic-fil-a commercials? You know, where the cow says: "Eat mor chickin" ? It's so cute and funny and you feel like you know these people, they're part of our community. Then you go to chic-fil-a's and their sandwiches suck ass and their employees are all thousand-yard-stare-zombies making minimum wage with no health insurance, and the owner of the LLC is a Southern Baptist who likes to throw his vast profits around supporting right-wing social political causes, when he's not hating on Catholics and Muslims. Eeew. Now that dried out piece of hormone injected chickin really taste gamey.

This has become our culture. This is who we have become. You could go down to Walmarts and get something to help with the pain. Of course, you'll have to deal with the same burnt-out, dead end, no benefit zombies there, and you might get maced by some freak who likes how the our militarized, corporate sponsored cops deal with conflict, while she's fighting to get ahold of the last Chinese made xbox. The Walton family has $92 Billion in the bank to deal with these little dust-ups and to push their corporate friendly agenda. They've got kids to think about, after all.

_________________

"Avarice, the spur of industry."
David Hume

_____________

emcat

You Might, Rabbit, You Might

2011-11-18T00:31:00.003-10:00

The Republican primary season.

Mika Xanax, What? Who Said That?

2011-11-17T03:02:00.006-10:00

Some, very sick friend of mine, who hates the NCAA and the BCS system, recently told me that they should have a special Cornhole Bowl for Penn State.

Way too soon, dude. Even in impolite company.

The cringe videos have been vicious for months. What the hell is happening? Perry's New Hampshire speech and then his number three brain freeze? Cain's, well, take your pick? Sandusky's call in interview? Newt's narcisist pathology on youtube... hours of it, if you're up for it.

I can't take much more. You just want to make it stop. It's time to crush our laptops and TV's and go after these pigs, and pray to God that he forgives us for taking... no, for making it stop. He needs to get here soon.

________________

fritz of-the-empty-xanax-bottle gomez

The Right's Leading Edge

2011-11-11T23:36:00.011-10:00

I don't know what's happened to Chuck. They used to say he was a smart guy, but he's just not credible anymore. It's like he's sold his soul and credibility for a multi-year Fox News contract-- or maybe it's fear. Maybe one night at three in the morning he woke up with The Fear and realized that everything he believed was wrong. Everything he believed was just a sand castle on the beach.

We all go through that. Some of us wander away and stop answering the phone for a while and come back a little more humble. Some of us freak out and start pouring a concrete retaining wall around our washed out lump of sand.

Ckuck was always quick to point out people using racial victimisation as an excuse, except, suddenly, when it might be useful to Herman Cain, then... racial victimisation anyone?

Chuck has been hating on the 99% movement since the first dead-hippies showed up in Zucotti Park, but even then you couldn't get anyone to explain the supposed irony that Chuck was pointing out-- something about ipads and nike shoes. No one understood it. It was just Fox News white noise. When you've got cred and an intelligent thought you don't want to just be background noise for partisan hacks. Apparently Chuck's ok with that these days. He never bothered to explain any of it.

Poor Chuck. Sometimes I wonder what it feels like to sell your soul, or just not care anymore, like a $10 whore just lays there and thinks about her laundry. What's that like? I don't know. On Friday Chuck was back on Fox to dish some more on the 99%ers. The value of your name drops with every one of these showings, Chuck-- but it's like trying to talk to a zombie or a crack whore.

Chuck said of the Occupy Movement: "It doesn’t have a core,” he said. “It doesn’t have a philosophy. It doesn’t have a program.”

Irony alert. Chuck is accusing someone of not having a core. I thought the Occupy Movement's core was about economic inequality and economic injustice, but I might be wrong. Maybe Chuck just missed it.

He went on to predict that the movement would end this winter due to bad weather and/or local government's cracking down.

I will take some money on that, Chuck. And that is the bottom line on credibility. Will you put some cash on it?

It's a simple numbers game, Chuck, I bet it will continue and get worse. You can not have more and more people getting fucked by fewer and fewer people and not have this. Put some cash on it , Chuck, or you are a complete Fox News sock puppet.

__________________

fritz gomez

The Great Awakening

2011-11-08T22:45:00.010-10:00

Imagine.

Imagine if you knew that you were immortal. Imagine it.

Imagine.

Imagine there was nothing to fear anymore. Nothing. There is no fear. There is no death.

You are a god.

Here's the only thing, and, don't panic, but it's kind of a big thing. You will be with your own kind.

Not racially, silly. Spiritually.

Far be it from me to judge, but imagine you're Glen Beck. Who will you spend eternity with?

I don't know. Rush Limbaugh? Sean Hannity? Eva Braun?

I mean Gandhi isn't going to be hanging out with those guys.

Hell isn't going to be fire and brimstone, it's going to be your associates.

Yea, so when contemplating eternity think about who you'd like to spend it with. That's probably who you will spend it with. Together. And you will be able to create a new heaven and a new hell. And live in it.

There is a very scary thought.

___________________

Fredrick Von Swineheart

I'm A Little Confused

2011-11-02T20:10:00.004-10:00

Didn't groper Cain just say last week that serious racism was a thing of the past?

But a week later, on Fox News, Chuck Krauthammer tosses Herman a softball pitch, asking him whether the stories about his sexual harassment are racist, and Herman says...

I'm so fucking confused.

__________________________

fritz gomez

The Prison Shower Of Capitalism

2011-11-02T16:35:00.023-10:00

There's been a lot of noise about how Bank of America decided to back down off it's $5 a month debit card fee. It's been played as a win for the common shmuck.

Thanks for not taking that fiver from me Bank of America.

I saw a representative for Bank Of America on CNBC explaining it all. He blamed B.O.A.'s initial decision to add the fee on Senator Dodd and the legislation he pushed through barring the banks from tacking on all sorts of hidden fees. He said that B.O.A.'s loss of revenue had to be made up somewhere, implying that it's customers were still going to pay... somehow.

Bank of America posted 6.2 billion in profits LAST QUARTER.

But that, apparently, is insufficient.

Can you imagine banking without profits? You know, where the employees were paid a fair wage for their services and there was no motive to try to wring the last penny out of the customer or push sub-prime loans? Wouldn't that be nice?

Walmart was a great retail idea-- just make pennies, but make pennies off millions of people. The Walton family sits on a $92 billion fortune. Their employees have not been allowed to unionize. They do not share in the company's great profitability. A class action discrimination suit filed by female employees was dismissed by the Roberts, Scalia, Thomas Court because, they reasoned, that there couldn't be a class action claim since the women worked at different stores. The women have no recourse. The Waltons have $92 billion.

If you like buying cheap shit from Chinese workers, Walmart's great. If you're an American worker, including an American Walmart worker, not so much.

Imagine a not-for-profit grocery/department store that pushed American goods and treated it's employees fairly? You'd probably pay more, but, hell, wouldn't it be worth it?

I saw Bowles testifying before congress, begging the, so called, Super Committee, to raise the age for medicare eligibility. It would help decrease the debt.

America pays more for its for-profit health care than any other country on the planet. What we get for all that money is crap. Period. Raising the eligibility age might reduce the debt, for a minute or two, but it will really just shift cost from the government to regular Americans, causing more to fall into poverty to feed the for-profit health insurance industry, while, at the same time, the for-profit health insurance industry continues to choke out the rest of American industry.

Can you imagine...?

_________________________

fritz gomez

A Day Of Evil Football

2011-10-30T15:06:00.014-10:00

We shouldn't really be surprised. I'm pretty sure Satan runs the National Football League. But some Sundays the cloud of brimstone is so thick around the league that even old pros start to choke.

Mike Shanahan, who might have been on his way to the Hall Of Fame for his coaching, got to see today that contracts with the devil never turn out well. He had never been shut out before. Ever. Back to his coaching Pee Wee Football days. Never.

Welcome to Snyder's Redskins, Mike.

I bet that at his post game press conference today he remembered that decision. Retire in glory. Maybe buy a condo in Miami; do a little contract work, but mostly read the sporting rags on the beach and play with the grand kids. That or take this big pile of cash and glory from Dan Snyder and the silent man dressed in black behind him. In the end the intoxicating sulphur smell swayed him... He comes back to the present and flashing cameras and trying to explain how he feels about his first ever shut-out.

Welcome to the Redskins, Mike. Welcome to the NFL.

____________________________

Akamai O'Hara

Mr. Lucky

2011-10-29T21:04:00.015-10:00

It seems the scouts were right.

Andrew Luck. Mr. Lucky. You think about 4th ranked Stanford without Mr. Lucky at the helm and the 2011 Colts come to mind. Which is ironic since the Colts have made it pretty clear that they're willing to go 0 for 16 to acquire Mr. Lucky. And you just know that Peyton Manning is crying into a bottle of vicodin in some dark, empty room of his mansion.

Mr. Lucky's father was a quarterback for the old Oilers and then became a coach. Mr. Lucky is a 6'4" 235 pound, valedictorian of his high school. He is intelligent, tough; has no problem scrambling; throws left on the move, and definitely knows how to win, as his triple over-time 'go for the conversion' win over USC aptly demonstrated.

You'd like to be this kid's agent right about now. And you'd hate to be Peyton Manning, who's probably in that dark room, sobbing, rattling down vicodins, going over the film-- bitterly praying that the Dolphins beat the Colts in this ugly race to the bottom.

Mr. Lucky.

___________________

Akamai O'Hara

Winter In The Islands Already?

2011-10-26T03:27:00.014-10:00

I come from a North Western tribe. Hell, New York and Jersey was the tropics to them.

But being in the actual tropics takes some getting used to. You don't know winter is upon you until it happens. The nights drop down to the 6o's, it starts raining , big swells move in, you grab the buried away sweater and suddenly remember-- Fuck, it's winter, or coming up on it.

Hawaii is funny like that. Everything looks so easy going and peaceful, but you've got a little cold, what with the weird drop in temperature, even if it is only a few degrees. You go swimming and are suddenly carried away by the North Pacific currents and winter swells.

Again and again we see this: Paradise is a dangerous place, not for pussies or the weak of heart. Think you're a badass? Swim across Lahilahi cove in November. You'll be chum.

______________________

emcat

Enron Field Of Dreams

2011-10-23T14:51:00.006-10:00

The fourth game of the World Series kicked off at corporate mortgage giant Ameriquest Stadium. Oh, Look, Zooey Deschanel is going to sing the National Anthem.

Who the fuck is Zooey Deschanel? Wait, the announcer tells us. She's a big star for Rupert Murdoch's Fox Channel. But wait, why are we talking about Fox Channel during the National Anthem? Oh yea, the World Series is being televised by Fox.

Oh look! Look! Here comes a United States of America Military fly over... over corporate mortgage giant Ameriquest Stadium and Rupert Murdoch's Fox Channel star.

Well, thank God George W. Bush is here to clean up this corporate whore fest and throw out a pitch.

The whole thing is so moving to me that I need to run down to the $92 billion Walton family fortune store and buy some Koch Industry Brawny Paper Towels from the un-unionized workers there to clean the corporate spooge off my ass.

____________________

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. - Samuel Adams

_______________

fritz Gomez

It's All About The Children-- A Modern Proposal

2011-10-19T14:12:00.027-10:00

That bastard Swineheart sent me a letter.

I know who that tool is working for. He's been tracking me for years. I thought I lost him when I fled out here to the middle of the Pacific, but then he showed up. I shouldn't have been surprised, but he caught me at a bad moment and I didn't care much for his attitude. I ended up taking a bat to his sorry ass.

I didn't hear from him after that, and to be honest, that kind of made me nervous. I knew he was close by, but I didn't know exactly where. It's better to keep a man like Swineheart in front of you. He's determined and operates in the upper end of too-smart-by-half, and he has a genius for showing up at the worse possible moment. It's a gift.

I was sorting through the mail, putting the different lawyers' uclers-in-envelopes in different piles when I came across Swineheart's. I opened it immediately.

It said something about how sorry he was that we had a misunderstanding at my house warming party. I had no idea what he was talking about. I had been in the house for six months when he showed up. I was a rainy night. There was no one there but him and I and the pitbull I let loose on him as I beat him with a bat.

Whatever.

He went on to say that he'd like to take me to dinner to patch things up. I called him and we made arrangements to meet at the Thai Palace in Maili the next night.

I ordered the prawn tom yam with coconut milk, a side of Thai dragon peppers and a pot of green tea. Swineheart said the island food was ruining his stomach and just asked for a bowl of rice and a glass of ice water.

Finally he got down to business: "Ehms, you know I've been trying for years to get you to come work for our team, we could use a man with your talents, but the hour's getting late. The shit's going to hit the fan soon. It's time to be counted, Ehms."

I was testing the tom yam. This place made it hot, but I needed to know whether it wanted one or two of those violent little Thai dragon pepper son-of-bitches.

"What are you talking about Swineheart...?"

"Doctor Swineheart."

"Doctor, smoctor, who gives a fuck? So, just hypothetically, what would be in it for me?" I had picked up one of those treacherous little Thai dragon fucks and was examining it with suspicion.

"Ehms, don't you hate those welfare queen parasites? Always with their hands out, 'Give us more, give us more.' Wouldn't you like to humiliate them with piss test and kick their dead-beat selfish asses off the government teet?"

"Damn, I could get onboard with some of that! I think we should piss test all those welfare queen faggots. Hell Yes! Drag the CEO of Exxon into the piss stall with Nurse Nutcrack! Hell Yes! The CEO of Haliburton! Goldman Sachs! Citibank! Yes, all those bastards! Those scum Koch brothers get a bunch of government money. Beat their kidneys with electric eels 'til they piss blood in a cup! Shit, all the Republican dogs that sign on for piss test programs! Piss them! Piss them all! And kick them off the tax payer's dime, and then take their children and drench them in a heavy bechamel sauce, you know, like dingbats do with left-over, rancid meat, and serve the little bastards to the Wall Street Journal's editorial board and then just sit back and watch mad cow disease run its course! Hell Yes! Sign me up!"

In my excitement I squeezed the little demon Thai dragon pepper and the juice hit Swineheart in the eye. He started screaming and fell to the floor. I dumped the pot of green tea on his face to wash the pepper out of his eyes but forgot the tea was still scolding hot.

Swineheart was howling and clawing at his eyes, knocking over tables as he rolled and writhed around the floor like an epileptic snake on PCP.

I asked for my tom yam to go.

The old queen's become an embarrassment to the industry.

__________________________

emcat

A Quick Note

2011-10-12T00:46:00.006-10:00

The money brokers are tripping over themselves to say that magic underwear is not an issue.

Is Islam?

Oh, snap. that's where we draw the line.

_______________________________

Scientologists need not apply
emcat

Lions Go 5 for 0

2011-10-10T18:16:00.008-10:00

There's been some under-current of grumbling that Jay Cutler is a pussy. He may be, but he is a top shelf Quarterback. He's accurate, determined and smart. He's the only thing that kept Chicago in the game.

Detroit's defense is just scary. Jay, pussy or not, will not be the same for a few weeks. He took a lot of ugly hits.

To the Lion's shaky starts-- young player nerves, I think, but you don't want that characteristic to become part of your culture. I would tell Stafford to run the ball more in the early going until he and the rest of the offense calms down.

Remember a couple of seasons ago when Detroit hadn't won a game in like 16 starts ( the Redskins finally helped them break that streak)?

My, how things have changed.

_____________________________

Dr. Swineheart

The Coming Offensive

2011-10-08T13:47:00.007-10:00

The odds are good that the powers that be will bust a move to squash the Occupy Protests soon. It's gone on too long and spreading. The Big Money Boys, through their political mouth pieces, are scrambling to put together an argument against the protesters that doesn't too obviously rape reason, in light of what they said about the Teabagger Protests of just a couple of years ago.

The more they dismiss the Occupy Protesters the more they look, sound and smell like diseased, craven liars and hypocrites. They are normally impervious to shame, but the sheer scale of this lie is becoming so toxic as to be deadly, even to the puss-filled tongues of the people who brought us the arguments about 'class warfare' and the wars for peace and welfare for super-rich 'job creators'.

No, arguments that the Occupy Protesters are 'un-American' while Teabaggers, carrying guns and signs of the president as a witch doctor, are patriots is getting embarrassingly thin.

They will probably try to incite violence or riots to discredit the Occupy Protesters. That's one of their favorite moves. There's news that NYPD has brought mounted cops into the area, and the protesters are planning a march to Washing Square Park to set up another encampment.

They should watch for plants and try to preempt any attempts at it by publicizing their concern about such a move. And if the cops charge-- the best strategic move would be to peacefully take it.

The Man is coming, make no mistake about that.

_____________________

"Murphy: Right, right. We’ll back you any way we can. But what we were thinking about the crowd was, uh, was planting some troublemakers.

Walker: You know, well, the only problem with that — because we thought about that."

Wisconsin Govenor, Scott Walker, talking with blogger Ian Murphy during the Wisconsin Union Protest. Walker thought he was talking to billionaire Charles Koch.

________________

“Remember, the guy who suggests getting the dynamite is usually the Fed.”

Old hippy saying.

___________

emcat

"I'll Believe Corporations Are People When Texas Executes One"

2011-10-07T12:38:00.010-10:00

That's from an Occupy Wall Street protester's sign.

“The difference between this and the tea party is that these people have admittedly no idea what they want,” Krauthammer said. “Whereas the tea party, who are reputedly the toothless proletarian and underclass turned out to the people – no, this is how they were covered all through The New York Times the first year as ignorant peasantry – they had an idea: Smaller government, less regulation and lower taxes. You can disagree but it is an idea. Unlike the indignant indolents in the street who are carrying around their iPods, wearing their Nike shoes and wearing designer Levi’s while protesting corporate America.”

Krauthammer is expressing the new Rightwing talking points to discredit and dismiss the 99%ers. Not only will Chuck eat these words but they are still further evidence that the man has left reason behind and slipped over the edge of cliff Cool Aid.

"...wearing their Nike shoes and wearing desgner Levi's..." Wait, What? What the hell are you talking about Chuck? "Nike shoes"? "Designer Levi's"? What the hell?

__________________________

fritz gomez

We're Broke-- What Poverty Looks Like In America

2011-10-06T19:00:00.003-10:00

Percent of Children Living in Poverty by Nation:

Three Card Rightie

2011-10-06T12:32:00.004-10:00

Right after Rick Perry started to implode The Big Money Boys decided to try and shift their bet and began to put the heavy lean on Chris Christie to get into the race.

Perry tried to be cool about the situation. He made some noise about healthy competition and then went on to say that he was going up to Jersey to take away some jobs for Texas. He is a job creator, you know.

I saw 'ole Joe Scarborough interviewing his buddy Rick Scot, Governor of Florida. Joe gushed over Scot. Indicated that he couldn't understand Scot's toxic-low poll numbers. Never asked him about piss testing people seeking government aid. He did ask him about jobs though. Scot responded that he was going to continue to set up Florida to attract jobs and people from other states.

Not long ago I heard 'ole Joe talking about how, while auto-manufacturing jobs were getting scarce in the Rustbelt, foreign companies, like VW, were building plants in the South. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that an entry level job in the Southern VW plant starts at $14 an hour.

That's the thing about the jobs that the Right brags about-- they don't create any jobs, they steal them from other states where workers make a living wage. It's an ugly race to the bottom. They don't create anything except a lower standard of living for everyone.

If you want to take jobs from California all you need is a pay scale and worker's benefits package more in line with what's going on in Mississippi. If you want to compete with China...

___________________________

“Conservatives say if you don't give the rich more money, they will lose their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they've lost all incentive because we've given them too much money.”
George Carlin

____________________

emcat

Protect And Serve... The Rich

2011-10-01T06:08:00.008-10:00

The day is coming, indeed is here, when the greedy will hang like fruit from the trees, and their servants will flee, bloody, into the wilderness to be the prey of jackals and wolves.

You heard it here first.

_____________________

another emcat haiku

Our Demands

2011-09-28T19:06:00.018-10:00

It is true that the Occupy Wall Street Protest was a little weak out of the gate, but everyone who has, and continues to, discount them is a fool. As Barry said: Math is not class warfare. There will be more of these protest because of math. You can't have fewer and fewer people getting more and more while more and more people get less and less without social unrest. It's a simple mathematical equation.

This is one of the things about the Right that always confuses me. They over-reach against their own self interest, constantly. Look at Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio. They win and then push it too far. Look even at the wealth disparity in the US. The Right could figure that they could protect the top 2% to control, say, 30% of the country's wealth and they'd be safe. 40% is getting into the red-zone, more than that is just suicidal. but they just can't help themselves. That's what confuses me-- if the Right gets everything they want (and they might) they will be destroying themselves and the country. I mean, who is going to buy their services if we're all being paid Chinese wages?

To the protesters-- it's kind of a practical/stylistic point, but still. Listen, everyone should wear the same bandanna over their faces for obvious reasons. I would suggest something tie-dyed with crossed-out dollar sign pattern. It would help thwart prosecution.

Secondly, let's come up with a list of demands. I've got some suggestions. I'm pretty far to the left but I think they should be considered.

1) Corporations are not people. They don't fall in love, they don't feel pain, they don't die in wars and their sole (soul) purpose is to make profits for their shareholders.

2) Any and all PEOPLE involved in illegal activity that led to the 2008 economic collapse must be prosecuted and imprisoned for a long, long time.

3) All industries vital to the US should be nationalized, including energy production, health/medical, and banking.

4) All military action by the US, whether it be drone strikes, covert action or full scale war, has to be approved by congress AND paid for in a way that effects all citizens-- rich and poor. That would put all of our skin in the game and force a serious discussion about killing people and the cost of killing people.

5) Policies and a time table should be put in place to result in the top 2% of earners never earning more than (some percent, let's say:) 10% of the country's total income.

6) All elections should be publicly funded and all outside political entities must disclose all their donors.

7) It should be illegal for any public servant to get wealthy while in office.

There's an early rough.

Oh yea, and how about cops who brutalize protesters face heavy criminal penalties after the revolution?

_________________________

"For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies."

psalm 54:7

_________________

emcat

The Infallible State

2011-09-21T21:51:00.008-10:00

"Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
Ronald Reagan, first inaugural address, 1981

A cornerstone of American conservatism is that the government is incompetent, ineffectual, irresponsible and completely fallible. The government can't do anything right.

Except when it comes to government sanctioned homicide, then the government is infallible.

Beyond, or below, arguments about the morality of government sanctioned homicide, that's the argument that you'll hear from conservatives who are trained in the law.

In 2006, Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia voted with the majority to uphold the government sanctioned homicide in a Kansas case. In his opinion he stated the modern conservative justification for the murder, saying that there had not been “a single case—not one—in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he did not commit. If such an event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the innocent’s name would be shouted from the rooftops.”

This is what you will hear from every Rightwing lawyer when talking about a specific death penalty case or the death penalty in general. Their argument is that the government is infallible when it murders (the death certificates of every executed prisoner correctly reads: "Homicide" as the cause of death).

If you bring up the fact that 138 people have been exonerated while they were on death row in the US since 1973, your law trained conservative will argue that that just proves the system works.

The state is infallible when it comes to murder, period, hard stop, end of sentence.

If you don't believe that, if you say, "Well, if a few Innocent people are put to death as a sacrifice to the god of justice, then so be it." If you say that then you also have to say that you would be OK with the government murdering you as a sacrifice, or your wife, or husband, or your children. You can't have it both ways. You can't say, --It's OK if Cameron Todd Willingham was an Innocent man murdered by the government, or Troy Davis, or anyone else, but if you murder me or my kids, that's just not right, I'll scream my head off about that..."

No, if the government can murder innocent people in your name and you're cool with that, be cool with it when your kid gets strapped to the gurney, period, hard stop, end of sentence.

___________________________

Michael Edwards

__________________

Screen grab from comments on Troy Davis' execution on FoxNews.com, courtesy of News Hounds

From The LA Times: Two Fullerton police officers charged in homeless man's death

2011-09-21T20:48:00.004-10:00

By Abby Sewell, Richard Winton and Scott Gold
Los Angeles Times

September 22, 2011

Orange County prosecutors charged two veteran Fullerton police officers in the death of a mentally ill homeless man, accusing them of a callous cascade of violence against Kelly Thomas as he begged for his life.

Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas on Wednesday said what began as routine questioning by police devolved into a "beating at the hands of an angry police officer," with other officers eventually joining in. He stressed that Thomas did not provoke the attack and that all of his movements were purely defensive.

"This never had to happen," Rackauckas said. "And it never should have happened."

Photos: Kelly Thomas case

Rackauckas, a former paratrooper and judge, was unusually animated as he announced the charges, at one point raising his fists like a bar brawler to mimic the alleged actions of one officer.

His account of Thomas' death was vivid and chilling, and inside his office, onlookers choked back tears and gasped at the details as he spoke. Outside, dozens of supporters of Thomas' family watched on television monitors and erupted in an audible cheer as the charges were announced.

Officer Manuel Ramos, 37, a 10-year veteran, was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the beating death of Thomas, 37, at a bus depot. If convicted, Ramos could face a life prison term. He remained in jail Wednesday, with his bail set at $1 million, after his arraignment was delayed Wednesday.

It is extremely rare for an officer to face murder charges for actions on duty, and Rackauckas said he could not think of another such case in Orange County.

Rackauckas took the unusual step of attending Ramos' first court appearance. At one point during the hearing, he invited Ron Thomas, who has led a crusade for justice for his son, to address the judge. After the hearing, the father expressed satisfaction that Ramos was facing serious criminal charges.

"He's wearing handcuffs right now — which is great — for the murder of my son," he said. "I hope the man is hurting, hurting inside.… I'm completely torn up, but I'm satisfied to an extent."

A second officer, Cpl. Jay Cicinelli, 39, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and using excessive force; Cicinelli faces a maximum prison term of four years. He pleaded not guilty, posted bail of $25,000 and was scheduled to be released from custody late Wednesday.

All told, six police officers with a combined 72 years on the force participated in the July 5 physical altercation at the Fullerton bus depot. Ramos was the first; according to Rackauckas' account. Ramos stood over a frightened and disoriented Thomas and made a show of snapping on latex gloves.

"See my fists?" Ramos asked Thomas.

"Yeah," Thomas replied. "What about them?"

"They are getting ready to f— you up."

"Start punching, dude," Thomas replied.

In the next nine minutes and 40 seconds, Thomas was tackled, hit with a baton, pinned to the ground, punched repeatedly in the ribs, kneed in the head, Tasered four times and then struck in the face with the Taser device eight times, Rackauckas said.

Any response from Thomas was "in self-defense, in pain and in panic," Rackauckas said.

According to an 11-week investigation, Thomas initially struggled, his screams echoing across the parking lot: "I can't breathe!" "I'm sorry, dude!" "OK, OK!" "Please!" "Dad, help me." But, Rackauckas said, the beating continued even after Thomas stopped struggling and screaming, even after blood began pooling around his body.

Hospital records showed that Thomas suffered brain injuries, a shattered nose, a smashed cheekbone, broken ribs and internal bleeding. The cause of death, Rackauckas said, was "mechanical compression of the thorax," basically being crushed and unable to breath. There were no traces of drugs or alcohol in his body. He died five days later after he was taken off life support.

Much of the evidence came from a recording device attached to Ramos' uniform, which all Fullerton officers wear. The investigation also included 151 witness interviews, seven surveillance videos and two videos recorded by witnesses on their cellphones.

Ramos' attorney, John D. Barnett, said the officer was doing his job under difficult conditions.

"Officer Ramos was confronted that evening with a non-compliant suspect with a history of violence," said Barnett, who represented one of the Los Angeles police officers accused of beating Rodney King in 1991. "Officer Ramos had the responsibility and the duty to detain, restrain and arrest him.… This was an attempt to use less force, not more."

Barnett contended that the charges would have a chilling effect on policing.

"Police officers who risk their lives daily … now have to be concerned with being charged in the courtroom for simply performing their duties," Barnett said.

Cicinelli's attorney did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Rackauckas was deliberate in pointing out that the case should not be viewed as a broad indictment of police in Orange County.

"In Orange County, we generally trust our law enforcement — and with good reason," Rackauckas said. "I believe the law enforcement we have in Orange County is second to none."

But he added that authorities must work to protect the covenant between the community and law enforcement — "including prosecuting police officers if they violate the law."

Rackauckas cited numerous aspects of the case that made criminal charges inevitable. Thomas, who suffered from schizophrenia, was a well-known character in downtown Fullerton — indeed, Rackauckas said, Ramos knew Thomas from his patrols in the city.

The district attorney also said Thomas was clearly unarmed, non-combative and appeared confused by his interaction with police, who had been summoned to the depot to investigate reports of a man peering into car windows and pulling on the handles of parked cars.

Ramos repeatedly ordered Thomas to sit upright on a curb with his legs out straight and his hands on his knees. "I can't do both," Thomas told Ramos.

"Well, you're going to have to learn real quick," Ramos replied.

"It would be obvious to any reasonable observer that Kelly Thomas had cognitive issues and difficulty in following Ramos' instructions," Rackauckas said.

Rackauckas said the turning point in the confrontation came when Ramos threatened Thomas.

"He was going to hurt him for no apparent reason," Rackauckas said.

The turning point for Cicinelli, the district attorney said, came when the officer — after using his Taser four times on Thomas, once near Thomas' heart — began beating Thomas in the face with the device itself. Rackauckas called that behavior "gratuitous and unnecessary," and noted that the investigation showed that Thomas offered no response to those blows, indicating that he was "down and seriously injured."

"That is not 'protecting and serving,' " the district attorney said.

Rackauckas said the four other officers were not charged largely because they did not witness the exchange between Ramos and Thomas and were unaware that Ramos had issued threats.

Document: Read the district attorney's report

Heavy Jackassery

2011-09-18T12:23:00.012-10:00

I used to go to car shows with my father, who fancied himself something of a motorhead. It took me a while, 15 or 20 minutes, of going to these things before I spotted a couple of disturbing trends: 1) The events were peopled, almost exclusively, by late-middle aged white men with way more time and money on their hands than imagination; and 2) The Chevy 350 engine was the answer to all life's problems.

They'd stuff a 350 into any and everything. Fords, Fiats, Dodges, Renaults, Yugos. Anything sitting still too long around these guys got a 350 shoved up its ass.

I started fucking with the old man, I'd see some car off in the distance and say: "Whoa, check that out... Hey! Hey! I got an idea-- we could put a 350 in it!"

After a while he could see it coming so I had to step it up and go all Kafkaesque on him. I'd ask him about my bitch-lawyer-sister.

"Oh she's good. Just made partner."

"Reeeeally? Oh, I should do something nice for her. Hey! I know-- I could slap a 350 in her..."

It's really no wonder the guy hates me.

The Republicans are the same as the old white motorheads: Many problems, One solution, but instead of the Chevy 350 being the answer it's: Cut taxes for the wealthy and social programs for everyone else. That's it-- that's the answer to all life's problems.

Worse economic implosion since The Great Depression? Cut taxes for the wealthy and social programs for everyone else! Financial institutions pushing bad mortgages and then wrapping them up with good ones and selling them to their customers? Cut taxes for the wealthy and social programs for everyone else! Huge wealth disparity and social unrest looming? Cut taxes for the wealthy and social programs for everyone else! Your dog has fleas and your girlfriend has crabs? Cut taxes for the wealthy and social programs for everyone else!

Got a passenger-seat-exploding Pinto in your driveway? Shove a 350 in it... and then Cut taxes for the wealthy and social programs for everyone else!

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emcat

The Party Of Life

2011-09-14T22:28:00.017-10:00

Anthony Graves was watching the Republican debate when the audience broke into cheers over Rick Perry executing 234 people.

Anthony Graves was convicted in 1992 of murdering six people, four of them children.

He was convicted solely on the testimony of a murderer who later recanted, saying that he had been threatened by prosecutors with the death penalty if he didn't testify.

Anthony Graves spent 18 years in prison, 12 of them on death row.

He was exonerated and released last year.

He was not impressed with Rick Perry's praises of the death penalty, saying simply: “I was exonerated from the very same system that he is boasting about."

Anthony Graves was 26 when the state of Texas locked him away. He was 45 when he was released from death row. He spent a quarter of his life expecting to be put to death as a monster. He had grandchildren who he had never touched. He is just one of 12 Texas death row inmates to be exonerated since 1973.

Of course there's that other death penalty case that the Party Of Life might remember. The Party Of Life cheered when he was sentenced too, and tortured him as he carried his cross up the hill.

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"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John 8:44

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emcat