In the line at the store, the young cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But the old woman was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana .
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
EMPLOYEE QUITS, BASHES WHOLE FOODS MARKET
With more than 300 stores, this Austin, Texas based chain promotes protection of the environment and healthy living with emphasis on ‘natural and organic products.’ Just maybe, Whole Foods Market ain’t all that it’s cooked up to be.
‘YOU’RE A FAUX HIPPY WALMART’: WHOLE FOODS MARKET WORKER QUITS IN ‘EPIC’ RESIGNATION EMAIL
By Lee Moran
Mail Online
July 25, 2011
A Whole Foods Market employee has launched an hilarious attack on the firm with an extraordinary letter of resignation.
Fed up with what he described as the fakery of the store - which he claims is more of a 'faux hippy Wal-Mart than an 'earth-and-body-friendly organic foods paradise' - he sets about righting some of those perceived wrongs in a 2,343-word essay to former bosses.
In his outburst he says the firm mistreats and underpays employees, flouts its environmental responsibilities, and allows customers to abuse staff.
He also labels the food, the portion sizes of which he says are shrinking, as 'really quite awful on average' and not as healthy as advertised.
If his intention was to go out in a blaze of glory then it has certainly worked as the email, which was sent to every employee in the entire company, has now become an internet sensation.
In his parting shot picked up by Gawker website, the disgruntled Toronto bulk buyer, who has not been named, starts out noting point-by-point how the chain does not live up to its corporate ideals.
He writes: 'I was hired about five or six years ago. I appreciated and respected what the company said it's philosophies were at that time. The 'core values' essentially.
'However, it didn't take long to realize what complete and utter bulls**t they are.'
He then turns his attention to individual co-workers who he addresses, in turn, about how he cannot stand to work with them anymore.
In one post he says: 'We get it, we get it. You go to the gym. Nobody is impressed. In fact we all just laugh at your inferiority complex.'
And in another he adds: 'For the love of god, learn to respect women. You have no idea how insulting and aggravating it is to be around someone who is so condescending to all the women you work with.
'Stop calling them 'mamma' don't refer to them as 'beautiful'... for christs sake, just keep all pet names off the table.
'You are NOT complimenting women, you are being open about not knowing their names, and lazy enough to not read a name-tag.'
His diatribe, which was obtained by the Gawker website, ends with advice for the employees he has left behind.
'As I've said above a few times: you work at a grocery store. Go ahead and relax. Also, Whole Foods will try to make you feel like they are doing you a huge favor by employing you,' he says.
'It's really a mutual agreement or transaction. Don't fall for the guilt trips. Call in sick if you need to, etc.. There are laws in place to stop them from taking advantage of you.
'And if you're thinking 'This is just the way it is. Suck it up!' You're the biggest part of the problem. I'm afraid we can't be friends. Just enjoy life. It's pretty short, you know?'
A Whole Foods Market spokesman said: 'We disagree with this former team member’s statements, and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.'
‘YOU’RE A FAUX HIPPY WALMART’: WHOLE FOODS MARKET WORKER QUITS IN ‘EPIC’ RESIGNATION EMAIL
By Lee Moran
Mail Online
July 25, 2011
A Whole Foods Market employee has launched an hilarious attack on the firm with an extraordinary letter of resignation.
Fed up with what he described as the fakery of the store - which he claims is more of a 'faux hippy Wal-Mart than an 'earth-and-body-friendly organic foods paradise' - he sets about righting some of those perceived wrongs in a 2,343-word essay to former bosses.
In his outburst he says the firm mistreats and underpays employees, flouts its environmental responsibilities, and allows customers to abuse staff.
He also labels the food, the portion sizes of which he says are shrinking, as 'really quite awful on average' and not as healthy as advertised.
If his intention was to go out in a blaze of glory then it has certainly worked as the email, which was sent to every employee in the entire company, has now become an internet sensation.
In his parting shot picked up by Gawker website, the disgruntled Toronto bulk buyer, who has not been named, starts out noting point-by-point how the chain does not live up to its corporate ideals.
He writes: 'I was hired about five or six years ago. I appreciated and respected what the company said it's philosophies were at that time. The 'core values' essentially.
'However, it didn't take long to realize what complete and utter bulls**t they are.'
He then turns his attention to individual co-workers who he addresses, in turn, about how he cannot stand to work with them anymore.
In one post he says: 'We get it, we get it. You go to the gym. Nobody is impressed. In fact we all just laugh at your inferiority complex.'
And in another he adds: 'For the love of god, learn to respect women. You have no idea how insulting and aggravating it is to be around someone who is so condescending to all the women you work with.
'Stop calling them 'mamma' don't refer to them as 'beautiful'... for christs sake, just keep all pet names off the table.
'You are NOT complimenting women, you are being open about not knowing their names, and lazy enough to not read a name-tag.'
His diatribe, which was obtained by the Gawker website, ends with advice for the employees he has left behind.
'As I've said above a few times: you work at a grocery store. Go ahead and relax. Also, Whole Foods will try to make you feel like they are doing you a huge favor by employing you,' he says.
'It's really a mutual agreement or transaction. Don't fall for the guilt trips. Call in sick if you need to, etc.. There are laws in place to stop them from taking advantage of you.
'And if you're thinking 'This is just the way it is. Suck it up!' You're the biggest part of the problem. I'm afraid we can't be friends. Just enjoy life. It's pretty short, you know?'
A Whole Foods Market spokesman said: 'We disagree with this former team member’s statements, and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.'
Monday, July 25, 2011
ISRAEL IS BEING BETRAYED BY GEORGE SOROS AND HIS FELLOW LEFT-WING JEWS
I think it's a dirty rotten shame that America's left-wing Jews are helping the Palestinians who have vowed and continue to vow to eradicate the State of Israel. George Soros is hurting Israel far more than any other man in the world that I can think of. Jews siding with those who vow to eradicate the Jewish state is as low as it gets!
LEFT-WING JEWISH LOBBY GROUP FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS IS AIDING PALESTINIAN STATE BID
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
July 24, 2011
Left-wing American-Jewish lobby group J Street is actively aiding the Palestinian Authority in its unilateral statehood bid, according to Palestinian officials who spoke to WorldNetDaily.
The news website reported that Palestinian officials acknowledged that J Street has been helping them set up meeting with certain congressional representatives in an effort to win diplomatic support for their agenda.
The Palestinian Authority this September intends to petition the UN to recognize an independent and sovereign Palestinian state in the absence of a peace agreement with Israel.
US President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the motion in the UN Security Council, and Congress has warned that it will outlaw all funding of a Palestinian state established in that way.
But that isn't stopping J Street and its backers, which according to recent admissions by J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami includes radical left-wing money man George Soros.
LEFT-WING JEWISH LOBBY GROUP FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS IS AIDING PALESTINIAN STATE BID
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
July 24, 2011
Left-wing American-Jewish lobby group J Street is actively aiding the Palestinian Authority in its unilateral statehood bid, according to Palestinian officials who spoke to WorldNetDaily.
The news website reported that Palestinian officials acknowledged that J Street has been helping them set up meeting with certain congressional representatives in an effort to win diplomatic support for their agenda.
The Palestinian Authority this September intends to petition the UN to recognize an independent and sovereign Palestinian state in the absence of a peace agreement with Israel.
US President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the motion in the UN Security Council, and Congress has warned that it will outlaw all funding of a Palestinian state established in that way.
But that isn't stopping J Street and its backers, which according to recent admissions by J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami includes radical left-wing money man George Soros.
COACH BELIEVES POLITICALLY INCORRECT SONG GOT HIM FIRED
Although the story of his firing is a year old, I only received the song yesterday. Obviously it’s not politically correct, but I think it’s a clever song.
WHEN YOU’RE HOLDING A HAMMER, EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE A NAIL!
Words and Music by Kyle Hill and Bryan Glover
He was a little man, just turned three
Took the present from his daddy’s hand
A genuine toy hammer
He started beatin’ to beat the band
He hit the floors and the wall, broke a lamp in the hall,
Started swinging at the puppy’s tail
When you’re holding a hammer
Everything looks like a nail.
He was the president, number 44
He says, “Trust me, I’m here to help you
I have got some big big plans
You’re gonna love what I’m gonna do.”
There’s no problem too big or small
He thinks he’s got an answer that just can’t fail
When you’re holding a hammer
Everything looks like a nail.
He thinks big thoughts and he dreams big dreams
But it’s another man’s sweat that pays for those schemes
He don’t care how the little people feel
‘Cause saving the world is a big freaking deal
So he does his business behind closed doors
And pretends that the world is just begging for more
When the stuff hits the fan he says, “Don’t look at me
If you got trouble, blame 43.”
Now Congress is saving Wall Street
While they’re watching Main Street fall
They got health care all figured out
But it don’t seem to care much at all
As soon as they save the planet
They’ll put the fire out in hell
When you’re holding a hammer.
Everything looks like a nail.
He thinks big thoughts and he dreams big dreams
But it’s another man’s sweat that pays for those schemes
He don’t care how the little people feel
‘Cause saving the world is a big freaking deal
So he does his business behind closed doors
And pretends that the world is just begging for more
When the stuff hits the fan he says, “Don’t look at me
If you got trouble, blame 43.”
There’ll be a party come this November
When we’re gonna set things straight
All good people gonna gather ‘round
Gonna show what made this country great
We’ll run off the schemers and backroom dealers
So the Red, White and Blue will prevail
When we’re holding the hammer
When we’re holding the hammer
Everyone of them looks like a nail.
__________
Glover claims his song cost him his middle school football coaching job. The school superintendent denies that the song was the reason for his dismissal.
FOOTBALL COACH FIRED FOR ANTI-OBAMA SONG?
By Todd Starnes
Free Republic
August 23, 2010
A Tennessee middle school football coach said he got fired after he wrote a song that criticized President Obama.
Bryan Glover, an assistant coach at Grassland Middle School near Nashville, co-wrote the country music song, “When You’re Holding a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail.”
It was co-written by a parent who has a child on the team. Glover, 26, said he emailed a copy of the song to friends, family members and player’s parents through his personal email account.
And that’s when all the trouble started for the self-described independent conservative.
“The coach called me and said parents were upset – that I was being politically incorrect and the song had racial overtones,” Glover told FOX News Radio. “An hour and a half later I was told I was being terminated.”
“I was informed that I was being let go because of the song,” he said, denying claims there were any racial overtones in the song.
Williamson County School Superintendent Mike Looney disputed Glover’s account and said his dismissal had nothing to do with the song.
“Absolutely not,” he told FOX News Radio. “That’s a false claim.”
Looney said he was not allowed to go into specifics but acknowledged he spoke with the school’s principal and was satisfied with their handling of the matter.
“They presented me with logical, legally defensible reasons for doing so,” Looney said. “As far as I’m concerned they’ve handled the matter appropriately.”
Glover said he’s angry over what happened and believes he lost his job because his song was critical of President Obama. He is seeking legal counsel and may consider a lawsuit against the school.
WHEN YOU’RE HOLDING A HAMMER, EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE A NAIL!
Words and Music by Kyle Hill and Bryan Glover
He was a little man, just turned three
Took the present from his daddy’s hand
A genuine toy hammer
He started beatin’ to beat the band
He hit the floors and the wall, broke a lamp in the hall,
Started swinging at the puppy’s tail
When you’re holding a hammer
Everything looks like a nail.
He was the president, number 44
He says, “Trust me, I’m here to help you
I have got some big big plans
You’re gonna love what I’m gonna do.”
There’s no problem too big or small
He thinks he’s got an answer that just can’t fail
When you’re holding a hammer
Everything looks like a nail.
He thinks big thoughts and he dreams big dreams
But it’s another man’s sweat that pays for those schemes
He don’t care how the little people feel
‘Cause saving the world is a big freaking deal
So he does his business behind closed doors
And pretends that the world is just begging for more
When the stuff hits the fan he says, “Don’t look at me
If you got trouble, blame 43.”
Now Congress is saving Wall Street
While they’re watching Main Street fall
They got health care all figured out
But it don’t seem to care much at all
As soon as they save the planet
They’ll put the fire out in hell
When you’re holding a hammer.
Everything looks like a nail.
He thinks big thoughts and he dreams big dreams
But it’s another man’s sweat that pays for those schemes
He don’t care how the little people feel
‘Cause saving the world is a big freaking deal
So he does his business behind closed doors
And pretends that the world is just begging for more
When the stuff hits the fan he says, “Don’t look at me
If you got trouble, blame 43.”
There’ll be a party come this November
When we’re gonna set things straight
All good people gonna gather ‘round
Gonna show what made this country great
We’ll run off the schemers and backroom dealers
So the Red, White and Blue will prevail
When we’re holding the hammer
When we’re holding the hammer
Everyone of them looks like a nail.
__________
Glover claims his song cost him his middle school football coaching job. The school superintendent denies that the song was the reason for his dismissal.
FOOTBALL COACH FIRED FOR ANTI-OBAMA SONG?
By Todd Starnes
Free Republic
August 23, 2010
A Tennessee middle school football coach said he got fired after he wrote a song that criticized President Obama.
Bryan Glover, an assistant coach at Grassland Middle School near Nashville, co-wrote the country music song, “When You’re Holding a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail.”
It was co-written by a parent who has a child on the team. Glover, 26, said he emailed a copy of the song to friends, family members and player’s parents through his personal email account.
And that’s when all the trouble started for the self-described independent conservative.
“The coach called me and said parents were upset – that I was being politically incorrect and the song had racial overtones,” Glover told FOX News Radio. “An hour and a half later I was told I was being terminated.”
“I was informed that I was being let go because of the song,” he said, denying claims there were any racial overtones in the song.
Williamson County School Superintendent Mike Looney disputed Glover’s account and said his dismissal had nothing to do with the song.
“Absolutely not,” he told FOX News Radio. “That’s a false claim.”
Looney said he was not allowed to go into specifics but acknowledged he spoke with the school’s principal and was satisfied with their handling of the matter.
“They presented me with logical, legally defensible reasons for doing so,” Looney said. “As far as I’m concerned they’ve handled the matter appropriately.”
Glover said he’s angry over what happened and believes he lost his job because his song was critical of President Obama. He is seeking legal counsel and may consider a lawsuit against the school.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
COMMON SENSE TELLS US IT CAN'T BE TRUE
What has happened to the ATF? It used to be such a reliable law enforcement agency. Now it has been reduced to a political hack for the gun-control crowd.
The ATF, in response to an inquiry from California’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has informed her that of the 29,284 guns recovered from drug cartels in Mexico, and submitted for tracing in 2009 and 2010, 20,504 were “United States-sourced firearms.” To Sen. Feinstein and New York’s Sen. Charles Schumer, both ardent gun-control advocates, that means only one thing – 70 percent of the drug cartels’ guns came from American gun dealers.
Feinstein and Schumer are using the ATF report to buttress legislation they have introduced to reinstate the expired ban on ‘assault rifles’ like the AK-47 and the AR-15, as well as additional gun restrictions.
20,504 firearms purchased by straw-buyers from American gun dealers in a two year period? Come on, let’s get real! Common sense tells us that can’t be true. It would take an awful lot of straw-buyers to purchase one, two or even three assault rifles at a time and then try to smuggle them into Mexico. No way, Jose! Common sense tells us that most of those 20,504 guns, if they actually did originate in the U.S., came from large-scale arms dealers rather than from gun dealers along the border.
The ATF has become a tool of the anti-gunners and has lost a lot of credibility with me.
The ATF, in response to an inquiry from California’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has informed her that of the 29,284 guns recovered from drug cartels in Mexico, and submitted for tracing in 2009 and 2010, 20,504 were “United States-sourced firearms.” To Sen. Feinstein and New York’s Sen. Charles Schumer, both ardent gun-control advocates, that means only one thing – 70 percent of the drug cartels’ guns came from American gun dealers.
Feinstein and Schumer are using the ATF report to buttress legislation they have introduced to reinstate the expired ban on ‘assault rifles’ like the AK-47 and the AR-15, as well as additional gun restrictions.
20,504 firearms purchased by straw-buyers from American gun dealers in a two year period? Come on, let’s get real! Common sense tells us that can’t be true. It would take an awful lot of straw-buyers to purchase one, two or even three assault rifles at a time and then try to smuggle them into Mexico. No way, Jose! Common sense tells us that most of those 20,504 guns, if they actually did originate in the U.S., came from large-scale arms dealers rather than from gun dealers along the border.
The ATF has become a tool of the anti-gunners and has lost a lot of credibility with me.
STUPID LAWYER IS AS STUPID LAWYER DOES
This 39-year-old lawyer was either extremely desperate for love or she had taken leave of her senses – or probably both. Another professional career flushed down the toilet.
LAWYER ‘FELL IN LOVE WITH DRUG DEALER SHE REPRESENTED AND HELPED HIM ESCAPE JAIL SO THEY COULD MARRY’
By Daniel Bates
Mail Online
July 22, 2011
A defense attorney is facing a trial of her own for allegedly helping a client escape from jail so she could marry him.
Amy McTeer is said to have fallen in love with Roy Kuykendall and met up with him when he walked out of the correctional facility where he was serving nine years for dealing drugs.
So happy was she that she even took a photo of them walking away from the prison and posted it on Facebook, police say.
McTeer, 39, is said to have helped Kuykendall, 35, evade capture for a day by driving him around and lying to police.
When officers arrested them she allegedly said they were going to get married the next day.
Kuykendall was taken back to prison but when police combed through McTeer's Facebook page they found that she had been posting messages of affection toward him on her wall for some time.
In a series of pictures of them together they noticed she had got 'Roy' tattooed across her ring finger.
The couple had met in 2008 when she represented him during the drugs case for which he was caged for nine years in the Union City Community Corrections Facility in Oklahoma City.
At the time of his alleged escape he had 870 days left on his term.
The two appear to have been plotting for some time and corrections officers said they had a recording of a phone conversation between them talking about the escape.
Kuykendall walked out of the jail on July 9 this year and was arrested the following day at a restaurant in Oklahoma City when McTeer's bother tipped them off.
She then allegedly lied to police and said that she had no idea he had escaped.
A search of her $350,000 home in Nicholls Hill however turned up Kuykendall's prison uniform.
Officers also seized her iPhone, Kuykendall's inmate identification card from a kitchen cabinet, men's clothes and love letters which she kept in her bedroom.
Even after the arrest McTeer was still determined to get married and asked a judge overseeing her case to perform the ceremony
In a court hearing Oklahoma County District Judge Jerry Bass asked her why she would want to marry somebody in prison, to which she replied:
'I do'.
He then agreed to do it provided she got a marriage license, although she never bothered to do so.
'I'm not one to stand in front of love,' the judge said, according to the Oklahoman.
Kuykendall has been charged with escaping from a correctional facility and faces up to seven more years in prison if convicted of the felony.
McTeer is facing a felony harboring a fugitive charge - and the end of her career as a lawyer.
LAWYER ‘FELL IN LOVE WITH DRUG DEALER SHE REPRESENTED AND HELPED HIM ESCAPE JAIL SO THEY COULD MARRY’
By Daniel Bates
Mail Online
July 22, 2011
A defense attorney is facing a trial of her own for allegedly helping a client escape from jail so she could marry him.
Amy McTeer is said to have fallen in love with Roy Kuykendall and met up with him when he walked out of the correctional facility where he was serving nine years for dealing drugs.
So happy was she that she even took a photo of them walking away from the prison and posted it on Facebook, police say.
McTeer, 39, is said to have helped Kuykendall, 35, evade capture for a day by driving him around and lying to police.
When officers arrested them she allegedly said they were going to get married the next day.
Kuykendall was taken back to prison but when police combed through McTeer's Facebook page they found that she had been posting messages of affection toward him on her wall for some time.
In a series of pictures of them together they noticed she had got 'Roy' tattooed across her ring finger.
The couple had met in 2008 when she represented him during the drugs case for which he was caged for nine years in the Union City Community Corrections Facility in Oklahoma City.
At the time of his alleged escape he had 870 days left on his term.
The two appear to have been plotting for some time and corrections officers said they had a recording of a phone conversation between them talking about the escape.
Kuykendall walked out of the jail on July 9 this year and was arrested the following day at a restaurant in Oklahoma City when McTeer's bother tipped them off.
She then allegedly lied to police and said that she had no idea he had escaped.
A search of her $350,000 home in Nicholls Hill however turned up Kuykendall's prison uniform.
Officers also seized her iPhone, Kuykendall's inmate identification card from a kitchen cabinet, men's clothes and love letters which she kept in her bedroom.
Even after the arrest McTeer was still determined to get married and asked a judge overseeing her case to perform the ceremony
In a court hearing Oklahoma County District Judge Jerry Bass asked her why she would want to marry somebody in prison, to which she replied:
'I do'.
He then agreed to do it provided she got a marriage license, although she never bothered to do so.
'I'm not one to stand in front of love,' the judge said, according to the Oklahoman.
Kuykendall has been charged with escaping from a correctional facility and faces up to seven more years in prison if convicted of the felony.
McTeer is facing a felony harboring a fugitive charge - and the end of her career as a lawyer.
REVOLVING BORDER CROSSING DOOR
Jose, Juan, Manuel, Angel, Jaime, Pedro, etc.: In and out, in and out, and in and out again and again. Only in America! The revolving border crossing door makes a farce out of our government’s assurances that it is keeping our borders secure.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BORDER SECURITY
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections Blog
July 22, 2011
Jose Vigil Carbajal, 25, is a small fish in the game of border security criminality. He is, however, an indicator of what is wrong with the system.
Carbajal was stopped by the local constabulary in Escondido for a vehicle code violation. He was determined to be an illegal alien and turned over to ICE. Again. He has been deported 15 times. His arrest record includes multiple DUI and hit-and-run violations and at least two arrests for driving on a suspended license.
In the last 14 months ICE has arrested 539 illegal aliens who had previously been deported.
Anybody think that any of these guys will hesitate even slightly about coming back and committing crimes again?
THE IMPORTANCE OF BORDER SECURITY
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections Blog
July 22, 2011
Jose Vigil Carbajal, 25, is a small fish in the game of border security criminality. He is, however, an indicator of what is wrong with the system.
Carbajal was stopped by the local constabulary in Escondido for a vehicle code violation. He was determined to be an illegal alien and turned over to ICE. Again. He has been deported 15 times. His arrest record includes multiple DUI and hit-and-run violations and at least two arrests for driving on a suspended license.
In the last 14 months ICE has arrested 539 illegal aliens who had previously been deported.
Anybody think that any of these guys will hesitate even slightly about coming back and committing crimes again?
THE APPELLATE COURT GOT THIS ONE EXACTLY RIGHT
Score one for the cops.
WOLFGANG FISHER: TRIES TO REVERSE CHIMP-ABUSE CONVICTION BECAUSE WRONG COUNTY WAS ON THE SEARCH WARRANT
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 22, 2011
Acting on a tip, Harris County Deputy Constable Christine Kendrick went to a garage in Crosby in 2008 to check on a chimpanzee housed there.
She heard the chimp screaming and found a chimpanzee in a metal enclosure inside a garage. No water was available. The enclosure was extremely dirty with the floor covered with feces, vomit and trash. The chimpanzee is extremely ill, with lesions in the mouth, vomiting continuously is thin and appears to be in respiratory distress.
Untrained in handling primates in such conditions, she called for assistance and prepared a form for a search warrant. She made a mistake on it, though, and threw it away only to realize it was her last one.
So she borrowed one from an HSPCA volunteer accompanying her, filled it out and got it signed by a magistrate.
It wasn't until much later that authorities discovered the form was a Montgomery County form, not a Harris County form, and this gave chimp abuser Wolfgang Fisher a degree of hope.
After entering a guilty plea, he challenged the validity of the search warrant to the appeals court, since obviously a probable-cause form that was meant for Montgomery County shouldn't count in Harris County.
Kendrick testified that she had not read the form closely, just filled in the blanks as usual, believing it was a Harris County form.
Alas, Wolfgang's bid to escape an animal-cruelty conviction was for naught. The 1st Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that Kendrik's mistake had been made in good faith and didn't invalidate the warrant.
WOLFGANG FISHER: TRIES TO REVERSE CHIMP-ABUSE CONVICTION BECAUSE WRONG COUNTY WAS ON THE SEARCH WARRANT
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 22, 2011
Acting on a tip, Harris County Deputy Constable Christine Kendrick went to a garage in Crosby in 2008 to check on a chimpanzee housed there.
She heard the chimp screaming and found a chimpanzee in a metal enclosure inside a garage. No water was available. The enclosure was extremely dirty with the floor covered with feces, vomit and trash. The chimpanzee is extremely ill, with lesions in the mouth, vomiting continuously is thin and appears to be in respiratory distress.
Untrained in handling primates in such conditions, she called for assistance and prepared a form for a search warrant. She made a mistake on it, though, and threw it away only to realize it was her last one.
So she borrowed one from an HSPCA volunteer accompanying her, filled it out and got it signed by a magistrate.
It wasn't until much later that authorities discovered the form was a Montgomery County form, not a Harris County form, and this gave chimp abuser Wolfgang Fisher a degree of hope.
After entering a guilty plea, he challenged the validity of the search warrant to the appeals court, since obviously a probable-cause form that was meant for Montgomery County shouldn't count in Harris County.
Kendrick testified that she had not read the form closely, just filled in the blanks as usual, believing it was a Harris County form.
Alas, Wolfgang's bid to escape an animal-cruelty conviction was for naught. The 1st Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that Kendrik's mistake had been made in good faith and didn't invalidate the warrant.
SAD STATE OF CALIFORNIA'S PAROLE SYSTEM
California parole agents sound off in response to the following item:
COP KILLER HAD BEEN CONTINUED ON PAROLE LAST MONTH
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections Blog
July 22, 2010
Parolee Thomas Halloran, who murdered a Sheriff’s Deputy in Petaluma shortly before being terminally rehabilitated by an armed private citizen two days ago, had been COPd (continued on parole) in May on a drug beef.
The late and unlamented Halloran had tried to pass a forged script and got caught. He was sentenced to 2 years probation by the trial court and the parole people elected to take no further action against him. I think maybe they guessed wrong on that one.
BOB WALSH ADDED: Any form of conditional release will have failures. Some will be spectacular. If you have rules, the system should follow them. This guy committed a FELONY and attempted to illegally obtain drugs. He should have been rolled up.
I know the system now is biased towards NOT rolling people up except for the most egregious acts. The system pretends to supervise parolees and therefore pretends to preserve public safety. It is essentially dishonest.
We should not bother with the expense of pretense. Why should we drug test parolees if they will not be rolled up for drug use? Why should we have hearings where we will pretend to consider whether or not to roll a parolee up for criminal activity when we know we won’t do so?
J. J. CONROY SAID: Bob, I came to parole from a probation department in 2007. I’ve asked myself the same questions about why drug test, ect. The only outcome is that I’m generating paperwork stuck behind a desk and the parolee is not going to comply anyway. If the parolee doesn’t comply, than I’m gerating more paper work to cover why they didn’t comply. It has consistently gotten worse as each year has gone by with so-called “best evidence based practices” being implemented. It is especially bad now.
I have had case after case of parolees committing new felonies that are deferred to local adjudication over the years. I had one that committed four separate new felonies over a three year period while on parole. The Court kept giving him Drug Court (another joke) and parole deferred each time. This parolee never served a single day of revocation. I have had cases where a parolee has absconded for significant periods of time where we just have them sign an absconders waiver and all is good.
All this just delays the inevitable, which is most will commit a new crime that returns them to prison. CDCR and DAPO [the parole division] have continually stepped on their D%$KS and brought the ultimate demise of DAPO and maybe eventually CDCR.
My last day at work is next Friday as I’m completely fed up with DAPO and the state of California. I’ll spend the next three months with pay due to all those furloughs and PPL days that supposedly saved money. There is still hope that I’ll get that pick slip before I officially retire.
‘5,110 AND A WAKE UP’ SAID: This, gentlemen, is why parole will be a thing of the past in four or five years. If the hand ringers in Sacramento had paid as much attention to public safety as they have to discrepancy reports and STAR/Lit Lab attendance, parole would not be irrelevant now.
They made us jump through all of the hoops that the public demanded to cut the recidivism rate and our thanks is the public believes we’re a failure.
When a parolee finally goes to prison, he/she has failed every possible county diversion treatment program available. When the parolee continues his lifestyle, parole is a failure and Brown wants to give them back to the experts who have had them since juvenile hall?
AND I SAID: I really feel sorry for you guys and I’m being serious. Being part of a program that is nothing more than a joke has to be a real pain in the ass.
When I was a parole agent back in the 1960s, parole really meant something. The only problems I can remember is some of the sissy social worker type agents looking the other way and other agents returning parolees to get rid of a nuisance case. (My case load would have been reduced by more than a half had I returned my nuisance cases.)
As an agent in the CRC program, I was encouraged to work closely with the narcs in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. I was also encouraged to conduct surveillance and to make my own investigations of drug violations. As a result, I was able to seize some quantities of heroin by myself and other quantities together with my police narcotic unit friends.
Sure looks like them days are gone forever.
COP KILLER HAD BEEN CONTINUED ON PAROLE LAST MONTH
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections Blog
July 22, 2010
Parolee Thomas Halloran, who murdered a Sheriff’s Deputy in Petaluma shortly before being terminally rehabilitated by an armed private citizen two days ago, had been COPd (continued on parole) in May on a drug beef.
The late and unlamented Halloran had tried to pass a forged script and got caught. He was sentenced to 2 years probation by the trial court and the parole people elected to take no further action against him. I think maybe they guessed wrong on that one.
BOB WALSH ADDED: Any form of conditional release will have failures. Some will be spectacular. If you have rules, the system should follow them. This guy committed a FELONY and attempted to illegally obtain drugs. He should have been rolled up.
I know the system now is biased towards NOT rolling people up except for the most egregious acts. The system pretends to supervise parolees and therefore pretends to preserve public safety. It is essentially dishonest.
We should not bother with the expense of pretense. Why should we drug test parolees if they will not be rolled up for drug use? Why should we have hearings where we will pretend to consider whether or not to roll a parolee up for criminal activity when we know we won’t do so?
J. J. CONROY SAID: Bob, I came to parole from a probation department in 2007. I’ve asked myself the same questions about why drug test, ect. The only outcome is that I’m generating paperwork stuck behind a desk and the parolee is not going to comply anyway. If the parolee doesn’t comply, than I’m gerating more paper work to cover why they didn’t comply. It has consistently gotten worse as each year has gone by with so-called “best evidence based practices” being implemented. It is especially bad now.
I have had case after case of parolees committing new felonies that are deferred to local adjudication over the years. I had one that committed four separate new felonies over a three year period while on parole. The Court kept giving him Drug Court (another joke) and parole deferred each time. This parolee never served a single day of revocation. I have had cases where a parolee has absconded for significant periods of time where we just have them sign an absconders waiver and all is good.
All this just delays the inevitable, which is most will commit a new crime that returns them to prison. CDCR and DAPO [the parole division] have continually stepped on their D%$KS and brought the ultimate demise of DAPO and maybe eventually CDCR.
My last day at work is next Friday as I’m completely fed up with DAPO and the state of California. I’ll spend the next three months with pay due to all those furloughs and PPL days that supposedly saved money. There is still hope that I’ll get that pick slip before I officially retire.
‘5,110 AND A WAKE UP’ SAID: This, gentlemen, is why parole will be a thing of the past in four or five years. If the hand ringers in Sacramento had paid as much attention to public safety as they have to discrepancy reports and STAR/Lit Lab attendance, parole would not be irrelevant now.
They made us jump through all of the hoops that the public demanded to cut the recidivism rate and our thanks is the public believes we’re a failure.
When a parolee finally goes to prison, he/she has failed every possible county diversion treatment program available. When the parolee continues his lifestyle, parole is a failure and Brown wants to give them back to the experts who have had them since juvenile hall?
AND I SAID: I really feel sorry for you guys and I’m being serious. Being part of a program that is nothing more than a joke has to be a real pain in the ass.
When I was a parole agent back in the 1960s, parole really meant something. The only problems I can remember is some of the sissy social worker type agents looking the other way and other agents returning parolees to get rid of a nuisance case. (My case load would have been reduced by more than a half had I returned my nuisance cases.)
As an agent in the CRC program, I was encouraged to work closely with the narcs in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. I was also encouraged to conduct surveillance and to make my own investigations of drug violations. As a result, I was able to seize some quantities of heroin by myself and other quantities together with my police narcotic unit friends.
Sure looks like them days are gone forever.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
NOTHING BUT THE BEST FOR THIS OKIE CAR THIEF
Who says Okies don’t have any class?
BENTLEY BANDIT BAGGED
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
July 21, 2011
Police have finally caught up to the "Bentley Bandit," wanted in seven states for allegedly stealing luxury cars, after he wrecked -- you guessed it -- a Bentley after a chase.
Justin William Durbin of Altus, Okla., was arrested six hours after he allegedly wrecked a 2007 Bentley stolen from a Florida dealer.
The car was stolen in Naples, Fla., and the personalized license plate had been stolen separately, according to authorities. The license plate read, "CALL 911."
Florida authorities determined late last week that Durbin had apparently taken the car to Louisiana, where Louisiana State Police found him in Lafayette. We suspect finding a Bentley in Lafayette is easier than turning up a stolen Toyota Corolla.
Durbin initially eluded police in a chase, they caught up to him again, according to the AP, in Lake Charles and chased the car to Sulphur. Durbin fled on foot after the car crashed and police called out bloodhounds and trackers to find him. He was arrested without incident.
BENTLEY BANDIT BAGGED
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
July 21, 2011
Police have finally caught up to the "Bentley Bandit," wanted in seven states for allegedly stealing luxury cars, after he wrecked -- you guessed it -- a Bentley after a chase.
Justin William Durbin of Altus, Okla., was arrested six hours after he allegedly wrecked a 2007 Bentley stolen from a Florida dealer.
The car was stolen in Naples, Fla., and the personalized license plate had been stolen separately, according to authorities. The license plate read, "CALL 911."
Florida authorities determined late last week that Durbin had apparently taken the car to Louisiana, where Louisiana State Police found him in Lafayette. We suspect finding a Bentley in Lafayette is easier than turning up a stolen Toyota Corolla.
Durbin initially eluded police in a chase, they caught up to him again, according to the AP, in Lake Charles and chased the car to Sulphur. Durbin fled on foot after the car crashed and police called out bloodhounds and trackers to find him. He was arrested without incident.
REAL TEXAS WOMEN
We like to have our women settle their differences Texas style. None of that California kumbaya feel-good stuff for real Texas women. Them East Texas cops ain’t nothing but a bunch of spoilsports. Instead of arresting these broads, they should have waited for the fight to be over, then had them shake hands and sent them on their way.
SEVEN-WOMAN CATFIGHT AS EPIC AS IT SOUNDS
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 21, 2011
The current lead item on the Cherokee County Sheriff's Web site is the impending auction of a stray heifer, but that doesn't mean things have been quiet lately.
Unless you consider an epic catfight between seven women, in full view of the cops, to be quiet. Maybe in Jacksonville, Texas, they do.
KLTV has the details on the Sunday incident.
Two of the women involved, Soni Brooks and Christina Thornton, had been "exchanging heated text messages" over...wait for it...you only get one guess....correct! "...about the father of Christina's children."
Mere text messages could not contain the passion involved in the baby-daddy discussion, so two carloads full of pissed-off women met in the parking lot of a convenience store.
Where they commenced to whaling away on each other.
But it gets better:
__The owner of the convenience store called police, but before officers got there four of the women had already left.
__While officers were questioning Ms. Thornton, the four women that left came back and began fighting with the other women again.
Because you're not going to let a couple of cops stop you from dealing out an ass-whupping.
The final scorecard:
__Brittany Monique Spink, 22, Soni Lynn Brooks, 20, Terri Jean Birck, 38, Elizabeth Cova, 19, Christina Thornton, 25, and Skyla Victoria Singleton, 21, were arrested and charged with "participating in a riot." Kimberly Shana Darty, 19, was charged with "giving a false name to police" and "retaliation" for threatening one of the witnesses -- Ms. Birck -- while police were present.
SEVEN-WOMAN CATFIGHT AS EPIC AS IT SOUNDS
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 21, 2011
The current lead item on the Cherokee County Sheriff's Web site is the impending auction of a stray heifer, but that doesn't mean things have been quiet lately.
Unless you consider an epic catfight between seven women, in full view of the cops, to be quiet. Maybe in Jacksonville, Texas, they do.
KLTV has the details on the Sunday incident.
Two of the women involved, Soni Brooks and Christina Thornton, had been "exchanging heated text messages" over...wait for it...you only get one guess....correct! "...about the father of Christina's children."
Mere text messages could not contain the passion involved in the baby-daddy discussion, so two carloads full of pissed-off women met in the parking lot of a convenience store.
Where they commenced to whaling away on each other.
But it gets better:
__The owner of the convenience store called police, but before officers got there four of the women had already left.
__While officers were questioning Ms. Thornton, the four women that left came back and began fighting with the other women again.
Because you're not going to let a couple of cops stop you from dealing out an ass-whupping.
The final scorecard:
__Brittany Monique Spink, 22, Soni Lynn Brooks, 20, Terri Jean Birck, 38, Elizabeth Cova, 19, Christina Thornton, 25, and Skyla Victoria Singleton, 21, were arrested and charged with "participating in a riot." Kimberly Shana Darty, 19, was charged with "giving a false name to police" and "retaliation" for threatening one of the witnesses -- Ms. Birck -- while police were present.
GRAZIE MILLE AMERICA! (2)
This is what Fiat inherited from the American taxpayers: A bunch of pot smoking, boozing union workers. I suspect this type of behavior is common throughout the auto industry.
YOU JUST CAN'T FIX STUPID
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
July 21-2011
The Fox TV station in Detroit has again caught on video Chrysler union workers smoking dope and drinking before work and on their lunch break.
This time it was not in a public park, but in the parking lot of their nearby United Auto Workers union hall, before they headed back to finish their shift at Chrysler Group's Trenton engine plant that builds the new Fiat 4-cylinder for world use.
FOX 2 reporter Rob Wolchek says he got calls from two workers in the plant who told him that working with people who have been getting high is dangerous.
This is the same Fox reporter who last fall caught workers at Chrysler's Jefferson North Plant in Detroit spending their lunch hour drinking beer before going back to build the newly launched Jeep Grand Cherokee. The video was a severe embarrassment for Chrysler, which took action against the workers, and for the union.
The station says Chrysler sent people to the station to review the latest video and the station posted on its website this reaction from Scott Garberding, Chrysler senior vice president of manufacturing:
"I just want to say I am both hurt and angered over what your cameras captured. Again, we have Chrysler workers in a compromised position, without regard for the impact of their actions, the reputation of their coworkers, the plant, of the company, not to mention their own reputation and that of their families.
"As a company, in the last two years we've come too far and made way too much progress to let the bad actions of a few put a shadow on the rest of the employees."
Late update: Chrysler Group announced it has identified and suspended without pay nine union workers caught on video drinking and smoking marijuana before their shifts and on their lunch break. Chrysler said it identified the workers using the Fox2 video and has suspended them pending an investigation that will determine their final fate.
YOU JUST CAN'T FIX STUPID
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
July 21-2011
The Fox TV station in Detroit has again caught on video Chrysler union workers smoking dope and drinking before work and on their lunch break.
This time it was not in a public park, but in the parking lot of their nearby United Auto Workers union hall, before they headed back to finish their shift at Chrysler Group's Trenton engine plant that builds the new Fiat 4-cylinder for world use.
FOX 2 reporter Rob Wolchek says he got calls from two workers in the plant who told him that working with people who have been getting high is dangerous.
This is the same Fox reporter who last fall caught workers at Chrysler's Jefferson North Plant in Detroit spending their lunch hour drinking beer before going back to build the newly launched Jeep Grand Cherokee. The video was a severe embarrassment for Chrysler, which took action against the workers, and for the union.
The station says Chrysler sent people to the station to review the latest video and the station posted on its website this reaction from Scott Garberding, Chrysler senior vice president of manufacturing:
"I just want to say I am both hurt and angered over what your cameras captured. Again, we have Chrysler workers in a compromised position, without regard for the impact of their actions, the reputation of their coworkers, the plant, of the company, not to mention their own reputation and that of their families.
"As a company, in the last two years we've come too far and made way too much progress to let the bad actions of a few put a shadow on the rest of the employees."
Late update: Chrysler Group announced it has identified and suspended without pay nine union workers caught on video drinking and smoking marijuana before their shifts and on their lunch break. Chrysler said it identified the workers using the Fox2 video and has suspended them pending an investigation that will determine their final fate.
COLD BLOODED KILLER COPS (2)
It’s a good bet that, despite evidence to the contrary, the ‘witnesses’ will continue to insist that those cold blooded killer cops shot an ‘unarmed’ choir boy.
TURNS OUT THE COPS DIDN’T SHOOT HIM AFTER ALL
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
July 21, 2011
Three days ago I wrote in a post linked here about the late and not particularly lamented Kenneth Harding, 19, believed to have been shot to death by the S.F.P.D. I say unlamented because Harding was suspected of having murdered a pregnant woman in Seattle just before coming to The City By The Bay. When he died he was running down the street throwing shots indiscriminately back over his shoulder as he ran. Turns out he shot himself in the process.
The autopsy has revealed that Harding died from a shot fired at very, very close range that left a light-weight 9mm slug in his head, probably fired from a .380 automatic. SFPD has carried .40 cal for almost 15 years.
The cop haters will still rail, because they did shoot at him. It will, however, take some of the wind out of their sails.
TURNS OUT THE COPS DIDN’T SHOOT HIM AFTER ALL
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
July 21, 2011
Three days ago I wrote in a post linked here about the late and not particularly lamented Kenneth Harding, 19, believed to have been shot to death by the S.F.P.D. I say unlamented because Harding was suspected of having murdered a pregnant woman in Seattle just before coming to The City By The Bay. When he died he was running down the street throwing shots indiscriminately back over his shoulder as he ran. Turns out he shot himself in the process.
The autopsy has revealed that Harding died from a shot fired at very, very close range that left a light-weight 9mm slug in his head, probably fired from a .380 automatic. SFPD has carried .40 cal for almost 15 years.
The cop haters will still rail, because they did shoot at him. It will, however, take some of the wind out of their sails.
MOONLIGHTING ON DUTY
Groping bare breasts and spanking bare buttocks? My research has shown that a lot of women love to have men in uniform do this to them.
Traffic officers are assigned to issue parking tickets and guide motorists at heavily congested intersections, among other duties. Apparently, L.A. Department of Transportation officials did not agree that groping and spanking qualified for ‘among other duties.’
While moonlighting on duty is strictly verboten, these guys bring new meaning to the term ‘dumb cops.’ Anyone with half a brain should have known that once the porn film went on sale, some viewer(s) would have contacted the authorities about a couple of uniformed LA cops and an official LA cop car appearing in the movie.
LA TRAFFIC COP SACKED AFTER APPEARING IN PORN FILM WHILE ON DUTY AND IN UNIFORM
Mail Online
July 22, 2011
A Los Angeles traffic cop has been fired after he was caught in appearing in a porn film while on duty and in uniform.
John K. Dancler, who has worked in the role for 23 years, was stripped of his role for 'misconduct on the job and engaging in indecent acts that reflected poorly on the city workforce'.
The officer's discharge notice said his indecent acts included 'groping the bare breasts, spanking the bare buttocks, and being straddled by an adult video actress in public,' around March 2008.
Mr Dancler, who had worked at the Department of Transportation, challenged his firing on the same day, and has filed an appeal with the city's Civil Service Commission.
Mr Dancler and another traffic officer came under investigation three months ago after KNBC reported they appeared in a video showing a uniformed officer spanking and fondling an actress.
While Mr Dancler has been fired, the other officer in the movie, Vaughn Dorsey, has been allowed to return to his job as a parking enforcement officer in the Valley Division after being disciplined, NBC reported.
In the film, Mr Dorsey stood by while a porn actress got into his official police car and performed lewd acts on herself on camera, according to NBC.
Mr Dorsey received appropriate discipline and is still working, a transportation department spokesmansaid.
He declined to elaborate on the discipline because state law protects the privacy of employees when they don't appeal a disciplinary action.
Mt Dancler was hired in 1988 by the department and earned nearly $56,000 annually.
His lawyer, Bobby Samini, called the termination unwarranted and claimed to the Los Angeles Times that city officials had made his client a 'convenient scapegoat.'
Mr Samini said the public has not been given an accurate depiction of Dancler and warned that, depending on the outcome, the termination proceedings could result in a lawsuit.
'There are going to be a lot of facts that are going to come out regarding what happened after the incident that will paint a very unpleasant picture for the city,' he told the LA Times.
Traffic officers are assigned to issue parking tickets and guide motorists at heavily congested intersections, among other duties.
Traffic officers are assigned to issue parking tickets and guide motorists at heavily congested intersections, among other duties. Apparently, L.A. Department of Transportation officials did not agree that groping and spanking qualified for ‘among other duties.’
While moonlighting on duty is strictly verboten, these guys bring new meaning to the term ‘dumb cops.’ Anyone with half a brain should have known that once the porn film went on sale, some viewer(s) would have contacted the authorities about a couple of uniformed LA cops and an official LA cop car appearing in the movie.
LA TRAFFIC COP SACKED AFTER APPEARING IN PORN FILM WHILE ON DUTY AND IN UNIFORM
Mail Online
July 22, 2011
A Los Angeles traffic cop has been fired after he was caught in appearing in a porn film while on duty and in uniform.
John K. Dancler, who has worked in the role for 23 years, was stripped of his role for 'misconduct on the job and engaging in indecent acts that reflected poorly on the city workforce'.
The officer's discharge notice said his indecent acts included 'groping the bare breasts, spanking the bare buttocks, and being straddled by an adult video actress in public,' around March 2008.
Mr Dancler, who had worked at the Department of Transportation, challenged his firing on the same day, and has filed an appeal with the city's Civil Service Commission.
Mr Dancler and another traffic officer came under investigation three months ago after KNBC reported they appeared in a video showing a uniformed officer spanking and fondling an actress.
While Mr Dancler has been fired, the other officer in the movie, Vaughn Dorsey, has been allowed to return to his job as a parking enforcement officer in the Valley Division after being disciplined, NBC reported.
In the film, Mr Dorsey stood by while a porn actress got into his official police car and performed lewd acts on herself on camera, according to NBC.
Mr Dorsey received appropriate discipline and is still working, a transportation department spokesmansaid.
He declined to elaborate on the discipline because state law protects the privacy of employees when they don't appeal a disciplinary action.
Mt Dancler was hired in 1988 by the department and earned nearly $56,000 annually.
His lawyer, Bobby Samini, called the termination unwarranted and claimed to the Los Angeles Times that city officials had made his client a 'convenient scapegoat.'
Mr Samini said the public has not been given an accurate depiction of Dancler and warned that, depending on the outcome, the termination proceedings could result in a lawsuit.
'There are going to be a lot of facts that are going to come out regarding what happened after the incident that will paint a very unpleasant picture for the city,' he told the LA Times.
Traffic officers are assigned to issue parking tickets and guide motorists at heavily congested intersections, among other duties.
Friday, July 22, 2011
GRAZIE MILLE AMERICA!
The American taxpayers lost $1.3 billion bailing out Chrysler only to have Fiat, an Italian company, end up with the majority ownership of the former all-American auto maker.
WE HAVE LOST OUR WAY
I couldn’t have put it any better.
NOTABLE PASSING
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
July 21, 2011
Exactly 42 years ago today Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. A few hours ago the last scheduled American space shuttle landed. America’s manned space program is, for the foreseeable future, dead and stinking. We do, however, have plenty of money to study the drinking habits of Chinese prostitutes and to exercise shrimp on treadmills. Somewhere, somehow, we have lost our way. I am unfortunately unsure that we will ever find it again and it is truly a damn shame.
NOTABLE PASSING
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
July 21, 2011
Exactly 42 years ago today Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. A few hours ago the last scheduled American space shuttle landed. America’s manned space program is, for the foreseeable future, dead and stinking. We do, however, have plenty of money to study the drinking habits of Chinese prostitutes and to exercise shrimp on treadmills. Somewhere, somehow, we have lost our way. I am unfortunately unsure that we will ever find it again and it is truly a damn shame.
ANOTHER NON-VIOLENT, NON-REVOCABLE CALIFORNIA PAROLEE
California voters do not want to spend any more money on prisons and the Supreme Court has ordered the state to reduce its prison population. In either case, public safety was obviously not a consideration.
PRISONERS RELEASED AS STATES CUT SPENDING
By Christopher Palmeri
Bloomberg
July 20, 2011
Zackariah Lehnen, a 30-year-old transient, was paroled from a California prison in November after serving five months of a 16-month sentence for drug possession. He left under a program intended to reduce state costs by freeing nonviolent prisoners without supervision.
Six months later he was arrested and charged with murder in the torture and stabbing deaths of an 89-year-old man and a 27- year-old woman in a Los Angeles suburb, according to court documents. He’s in jail, with a plea hearing set for July 28.
Lehnen’s case, reminiscent of Willie Horton, the Massachusetts inmate who committed rape in 1987 after failing to return from a weekend pass, is an extreme illustration of the risks states face when they look to reduce prison spending by locking up fewer convicts.
“It’s a perfect example of what goes wrong when you prioritize saving money over public safety,” said Ted Lieu, a former military prosecutor who’s now a Democratic state senator from Torrance, in a telephone interview.
“We’re going to release more prisoners around the country,” former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, who heads the security consulting firm Kroll Inc., said in a telephone interview. “A large share of those being let out are going to be people who are clearly a danger to society.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered California to take 33,000 inmates out of prisons in two years to resolve overcrowding and substandard health-care. California runs the nation’s largest correctional system, with about 161,000 inmates.
Governor Jerry Brown, a 73-year-old Democrat, plans to meet the Supreme Court order by no longer admitting low-level offenders to state prison, leaving that responsibility to local law enforcement.
“The system of corrections itself is failing with a 70 percent recidivism rate, and at a cost of $50,000 per inmate, this is not a sustainable system,” Brown, who was previously the state attorney general, said in an April press conference. “The realignment plan is a very well-thought-out response to the problem.”
Lehnen, accused of the double murder in California, is an example of how the state’s system for sorting inmates by the risks they pose can fail, Lieu said. A month after his release from prison, Lehnen was in a state court in Beverly Hills, where he pleaded no contest to assault.
Though on parole at the time, and with prior convictions for spousal battery and drug possession, Lehnen was released again, unsupervised, on Dec. 23, court records show. Lehnen was given credit for time served and good behavior, according to court records.
“I don’t understand why he got the credits he did,” Steve Katz, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, said in a telephone interview.
Lehnen met the criteria for unsupervised release in November because his most serious prior conviction was for drugs, according to Luis Patino, a spokesman for the state Corrections Department.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department medical records on file in the murder case indicate Lehnen has bipolar paranoid schizophrenia and takes medication.
Kathryn Doyle, the mother of Erica Escobar, the 27-year-old that Lehnen is charged with killing, said she is studying California’s changing parole process with the goal of preventing violent criminals from being released.
“I understand prisons are overcrowded and the inhuman treatment in them, but I don’t understand why my daughter’s dead,” Doyle said while choking back tears in a telephone interview. “I know she would want me to find out.”
“This guy was bipolar and supposed to be on psych meds -- who is making sure he takes his meds?” asked Doyle. “He’s not the only one. It’s a major concern.”
PRISONERS RELEASED AS STATES CUT SPENDING
By Christopher Palmeri
Bloomberg
July 20, 2011
Zackariah Lehnen, a 30-year-old transient, was paroled from a California prison in November after serving five months of a 16-month sentence for drug possession. He left under a program intended to reduce state costs by freeing nonviolent prisoners without supervision.
Six months later he was arrested and charged with murder in the torture and stabbing deaths of an 89-year-old man and a 27- year-old woman in a Los Angeles suburb, according to court documents. He’s in jail, with a plea hearing set for July 28.
Lehnen’s case, reminiscent of Willie Horton, the Massachusetts inmate who committed rape in 1987 after failing to return from a weekend pass, is an extreme illustration of the risks states face when they look to reduce prison spending by locking up fewer convicts.
“It’s a perfect example of what goes wrong when you prioritize saving money over public safety,” said Ted Lieu, a former military prosecutor who’s now a Democratic state senator from Torrance, in a telephone interview.
“We’re going to release more prisoners around the country,” former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, who heads the security consulting firm Kroll Inc., said in a telephone interview. “A large share of those being let out are going to be people who are clearly a danger to society.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered California to take 33,000 inmates out of prisons in two years to resolve overcrowding and substandard health-care. California runs the nation’s largest correctional system, with about 161,000 inmates.
Governor Jerry Brown, a 73-year-old Democrat, plans to meet the Supreme Court order by no longer admitting low-level offenders to state prison, leaving that responsibility to local law enforcement.
“The system of corrections itself is failing with a 70 percent recidivism rate, and at a cost of $50,000 per inmate, this is not a sustainable system,” Brown, who was previously the state attorney general, said in an April press conference. “The realignment plan is a very well-thought-out response to the problem.”
Lehnen, accused of the double murder in California, is an example of how the state’s system for sorting inmates by the risks they pose can fail, Lieu said. A month after his release from prison, Lehnen was in a state court in Beverly Hills, where he pleaded no contest to assault.
Though on parole at the time, and with prior convictions for spousal battery and drug possession, Lehnen was released again, unsupervised, on Dec. 23, court records show. Lehnen was given credit for time served and good behavior, according to court records.
“I don’t understand why he got the credits he did,” Steve Katz, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, said in a telephone interview.
Lehnen met the criteria for unsupervised release in November because his most serious prior conviction was for drugs, according to Luis Patino, a spokesman for the state Corrections Department.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department medical records on file in the murder case indicate Lehnen has bipolar paranoid schizophrenia and takes medication.
Kathryn Doyle, the mother of Erica Escobar, the 27-year-old that Lehnen is charged with killing, said she is studying California’s changing parole process with the goal of preventing violent criminals from being released.
“I understand prisons are overcrowded and the inhuman treatment in them, but I don’t understand why my daughter’s dead,” Doyle said while choking back tears in a telephone interview. “I know she would want me to find out.”
“This guy was bipolar and supposed to be on psych meds -- who is making sure he takes his meds?” asked Doyle. “He’s not the only one. It’s a major concern.”
JUSTICE TRUMPS FORGIVENESS: VICTIM TRIES AND FAILS TO STOP EXECUTION
Mark Stroman saw himself as an avenger when he waged his personal war against the Arab Muslims he held responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. However, the people he attacked at convenience stores were not Arabs.
On September 15, 2001, four days after the attacks, Stroman killed Waqar Hasan, a Pakistani Muslim. On September 21, he shot and seriously wounded Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim who was born in Bangladesh. On October 4, 2001, he killed his third and final victim, Vasudev Patel, a Hindu. Stroman was sentenced to death for Patel’s murder.
Rais Bhuiyan, who had been shot in the face and lost an eye, survived against all odds. Bhuiyan went to court and tried to stop the scheduled execution. He claimed that his Muslim faith required him to forgive his assailant. He held that if Stroman were executed, his (Bhuiyan’s) rights as a victim will have been violated because he would be deprived of the opportunity for a "healing dialogue" with his assailant.
The man Bhuiyan wanted to hold that healing dialogue with had served two prison terms before he went on his shooting rampage and claimed membership in the Aryan Brotherhood, that notorious white supremacist prison gang.
Bhuiyan failed in his efforts to spare Stroman’s life. The scumbag was executed Wednesday evening by the State of Texas. Among his last words, Stroman declared that he was “still a proud American, Texas loud, Texas proud!”
Well folks, us Texans sure as hell ain’t proud of that sorry ass scumbag. We are proud that justice has been done and that the earth is now rid of a vile subhuman. His mistake was that he went on his hate-filled shooting rampage in this state. Had he done so in California, he would never have been executed.
On September 15, 2001, four days after the attacks, Stroman killed Waqar Hasan, a Pakistani Muslim. On September 21, he shot and seriously wounded Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim who was born in Bangladesh. On October 4, 2001, he killed his third and final victim, Vasudev Patel, a Hindu. Stroman was sentenced to death for Patel’s murder.
Rais Bhuiyan, who had been shot in the face and lost an eye, survived against all odds. Bhuiyan went to court and tried to stop the scheduled execution. He claimed that his Muslim faith required him to forgive his assailant. He held that if Stroman were executed, his (Bhuiyan’s) rights as a victim will have been violated because he would be deprived of the opportunity for a "healing dialogue" with his assailant.
The man Bhuiyan wanted to hold that healing dialogue with had served two prison terms before he went on his shooting rampage and claimed membership in the Aryan Brotherhood, that notorious white supremacist prison gang.
Bhuiyan failed in his efforts to spare Stroman’s life. The scumbag was executed Wednesday evening by the State of Texas. Among his last words, Stroman declared that he was “still a proud American, Texas loud, Texas proud!”
Well folks, us Texans sure as hell ain’t proud of that sorry ass scumbag. We are proud that justice has been done and that the earth is now rid of a vile subhuman. His mistake was that he went on his hate-filled shooting rampage in this state. Had he done so in California, he would never have been executed.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
DON'T FORCE-FEED THEM, LET THEM STARVE
The hunger-striking inmates are the worst troublemakers and the most dangerous criminals in the California prison system. Force-feed them? No, fuckem! Keep offering them their three squares and if they refuse to eat, let them starve!
TOP PRISON OFFICIAL TO SEEK COURT ORDERS TO FORCE-FEED HUNGER-STRIKING INMATES
LAPPL NewsWatch
July 20, 2011
More than 400 inmates in California prisons have refused food to protest what they call "inhumane" conditions in isolation units. Some of those inmates have not eaten for nearly three weeks; they risk permanent physical damage and death. The head of the state corrections department said Tuesday he'd force-feed inmates if necessary to save their lives. Prisoners in Security Housing Units spend 23 hours a day in their cells and one hour in a concrete exercise yard.
_________
The hunger-striking inmates don’t realize how good they’ve got it. Let me repeat how my Aussie friend Dorina Lisson described Asian and Middle Eastern prison conditions:
If you are unlucky enough to find yourself on the wrong side of the law and end up in an Asian or Middle Eastern prison, here is a sample of what to expect.
In these countries drug-traffickers are presented with the death penalty. If you are caught with 15 grams heroin, or more, it is a mandatory death sentence.
These countries make no legal distinction between 'soft' and 'hard' drugs. Harsh penalties for carrying illegal drugs can be severe, even for offences involving marijuana and alcohol.
Penalties include public executions to the sound of cheers, life in prison without parole, limb amputation, flogging and even torture.
Be prepared to share your prison cell with a bucket, at least a dozen cockroaches, some lice and a few rats. You will need to become accustomed to the aroma from the bucket (your toilet).
If you conform, prison officials will reward you with a lid for your bucket. If you refuse to conform to what is expected of you by authorities, you may be legally flogged.
Most prisons have small dormitory cells and can contain up to 20 prisoners with one large bucket for everyone to share.
A variety of contagious diseases and infections including hepatitis and HIV are plentiful. The local drinking water contains a natural potent laxative - diarrhea becomes a habit.
Every prisoner is allowed one cold shower (2-3 minutes max before the tap is turned off by prison staff) per week. Every prisoner is allowed clean underpants once only per week. If you soil your underpants you will have to sit in it.
The bed is usually a thin mat on the floor/ground, but do not assume you will get much sleep - those annoying mosquitoes keep buzzing in your ears and the rats have a bad habit of running over your face throughout the night.
As for the food ... you wouldn't feed it to a dog - the cockroaches look more appetizing!
TOP PRISON OFFICIAL TO SEEK COURT ORDERS TO FORCE-FEED HUNGER-STRIKING INMATES
LAPPL NewsWatch
July 20, 2011
More than 400 inmates in California prisons have refused food to protest what they call "inhumane" conditions in isolation units. Some of those inmates have not eaten for nearly three weeks; they risk permanent physical damage and death. The head of the state corrections department said Tuesday he'd force-feed inmates if necessary to save their lives. Prisoners in Security Housing Units spend 23 hours a day in their cells and one hour in a concrete exercise yard.
_________
The hunger-striking inmates don’t realize how good they’ve got it. Let me repeat how my Aussie friend Dorina Lisson described Asian and Middle Eastern prison conditions:
If you are unlucky enough to find yourself on the wrong side of the law and end up in an Asian or Middle Eastern prison, here is a sample of what to expect.
In these countries drug-traffickers are presented with the death penalty. If you are caught with 15 grams heroin, or more, it is a mandatory death sentence.
These countries make no legal distinction between 'soft' and 'hard' drugs. Harsh penalties for carrying illegal drugs can be severe, even for offences involving marijuana and alcohol.
Penalties include public executions to the sound of cheers, life in prison without parole, limb amputation, flogging and even torture.
Be prepared to share your prison cell with a bucket, at least a dozen cockroaches, some lice and a few rats. You will need to become accustomed to the aroma from the bucket (your toilet).
If you conform, prison officials will reward you with a lid for your bucket. If you refuse to conform to what is expected of you by authorities, you may be legally flogged.
Most prisons have small dormitory cells and can contain up to 20 prisoners with one large bucket for everyone to share.
A variety of contagious diseases and infections including hepatitis and HIV are plentiful. The local drinking water contains a natural potent laxative - diarrhea becomes a habit.
Every prisoner is allowed one cold shower (2-3 minutes max before the tap is turned off by prison staff) per week. Every prisoner is allowed clean underpants once only per week. If you soil your underpants you will have to sit in it.
The bed is usually a thin mat on the floor/ground, but do not assume you will get much sleep - those annoying mosquitoes keep buzzing in your ears and the rats have a bad habit of running over your face throughout the night.
As for the food ... you wouldn't feed it to a dog - the cockroaches look more appetizing!
FIRST THE ISRAELIS, THEN HIS LIBERAL BASE, AND NOW THE ARABS
The Israelis were the first to become disillusioned with Obama. Then his liberal supporters came to realize that his ‘change and hope’ rhetoric was nothing more than hot air. And now the Arabs, a major part of the Muslim world that the president has been reaching out to, are disillusioned with Obama.
NOW IT’S THE ARABS WHO ARE DISILLUSIONED WITH OBAMA, EXPERTS SAY
By Lydia Mulvany
Jewish World Review
July 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama isn't living up to his promises in the Middle East, and it's driving Arab attitudes toward the United States to their lowest point in years, analysts say.
In a Zogby International poll released last week, respondents in four out of six countries surveyed had a lower opinion of the United States than at the end of the Bush administration in 2008.
The feeling among many in the region is that no American president can bring about change, James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute and a senior adviser at the eponymous polling firm, said Tuesday.
Citing conversations he had in the region during the polling, Zogby said, "There was this sense that it's a fundamentally broken system, that (the U.S.) can't do the right thing."
Part of the reason were sky-high expectations after Obama's celebrated speech to the Muslim world in 2009 in Cairo.
Arabs believed Obama two years ago when he said he would change Washington and the world, Zogby told a roundtable at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. Now, a stunning majority — as high as 99 percent of those surveyed in Lebanon and 94 percent in Jordan — said Obama hasn't met expectations.
Even actions that could be construed as constructive, such as establishing a no-fly zone over Libya or killing Osama bin Laden, didn't win points. In the poll, the killing of bin Laden actually worsened attitudes. Zogby said it was because those actions reinforced America's image as the bully on the block.
"I use the example of the next-door neighbor (who screws) around with your wife for a couple of years, and then one day trims your bushes and takes your garbage out. You don't say, 'Gosh what a great guy,'" Zogby said.
Of course, U.S. approval ratings in the region have been low for a long time. Arab opinion of the United States rose briefly after 9-11, then dropped with the invasion of Iraq. While favorability surged in many Arab countries when Obama was elected, it was clearly on the wane by 2010.
After the Cairo speech, hopes for a solution for Israel and Palestine were high. Lack of progress on that issue was a chief disappointment, analysts said.
Shibley Telhami, a senior fellow at the center-left Brookings Institution, said that the numbers showed that the "Arab Spring" popular uprisings this year haven't had much of an effect on how Arabs view the U.S. Rather, they continue to view America through the prism of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Analysts also said that Obama gave the impression he would change foreign and security policy drastically, while such changes often occur incrementally.
Republicans jumped on the poll and said that Arab countries wanted the George W. Bush administration's more aggressive foreign policy back. Elliott Abrams, a deputy national security adviser under Bush, said the Obama administration wasn't supportive enough of freedom in the Middle East and wasn't with the people when they rose up against dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.
One poll question asked people to name the greatest obstacles to peace in the Middle East. The top two answers were U.S. interference in the Arab world and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The issues people in the region might welcome help with are pressing needs like the economy, health care and education — not democracy, Zogby said.
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, said the message she took from the poll results was: Just stop interfering.
"There was a time when you'd get questions back, like we need you to lead here differently, or we need you to be balanced — that's just gone. Now it's just stay out of it," Berry said. "We are now reduced to interference."
NOW IT’S THE ARABS WHO ARE DISILLUSIONED WITH OBAMA, EXPERTS SAY
By Lydia Mulvany
Jewish World Review
July 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama isn't living up to his promises in the Middle East, and it's driving Arab attitudes toward the United States to their lowest point in years, analysts say.
In a Zogby International poll released last week, respondents in four out of six countries surveyed had a lower opinion of the United States than at the end of the Bush administration in 2008.
The feeling among many in the region is that no American president can bring about change, James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute and a senior adviser at the eponymous polling firm, said Tuesday.
Citing conversations he had in the region during the polling, Zogby said, "There was this sense that it's a fundamentally broken system, that (the U.S.) can't do the right thing."
Part of the reason were sky-high expectations after Obama's celebrated speech to the Muslim world in 2009 in Cairo.
Arabs believed Obama two years ago when he said he would change Washington and the world, Zogby told a roundtable at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. Now, a stunning majority — as high as 99 percent of those surveyed in Lebanon and 94 percent in Jordan — said Obama hasn't met expectations.
Even actions that could be construed as constructive, such as establishing a no-fly zone over Libya or killing Osama bin Laden, didn't win points. In the poll, the killing of bin Laden actually worsened attitudes. Zogby said it was because those actions reinforced America's image as the bully on the block.
"I use the example of the next-door neighbor (who screws) around with your wife for a couple of years, and then one day trims your bushes and takes your garbage out. You don't say, 'Gosh what a great guy,'" Zogby said.
Of course, U.S. approval ratings in the region have been low for a long time. Arab opinion of the United States rose briefly after 9-11, then dropped with the invasion of Iraq. While favorability surged in many Arab countries when Obama was elected, it was clearly on the wane by 2010.
After the Cairo speech, hopes for a solution for Israel and Palestine were high. Lack of progress on that issue was a chief disappointment, analysts said.
Shibley Telhami, a senior fellow at the center-left Brookings Institution, said that the numbers showed that the "Arab Spring" popular uprisings this year haven't had much of an effect on how Arabs view the U.S. Rather, they continue to view America through the prism of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Analysts also said that Obama gave the impression he would change foreign and security policy drastically, while such changes often occur incrementally.
Republicans jumped on the poll and said that Arab countries wanted the George W. Bush administration's more aggressive foreign policy back. Elliott Abrams, a deputy national security adviser under Bush, said the Obama administration wasn't supportive enough of freedom in the Middle East and wasn't with the people when they rose up against dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.
One poll question asked people to name the greatest obstacles to peace in the Middle East. The top two answers were U.S. interference in the Arab world and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The issues people in the region might welcome help with are pressing needs like the economy, health care and education — not democracy, Zogby said.
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, said the message she took from the poll results was: Just stop interfering.
"There was a time when you'd get questions back, like we need you to lead here differently, or we need you to be balanced — that's just gone. Now it's just stay out of it," Berry said. "We are now reduced to interference."
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