Lima SWAT Team Should Serve This Warrant
From The Associated Press:
Vermont Anti-Bush Petition LambastedBRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) -- A town petition making President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney subject to arrest for crimes against the Constitution has triggered a barrage of criticism from people who say residents are "wackjobs" and "nuts."
In e-mail messages, voicemail messages and telephone calls, outraged people are calling the measure the equivalent of treason and vowing never to visit Vermont.
"Has everyone up there been out in the cold too long?" said one.
"I would like to know how I could get some water from your town," said another. "It's obvious that there is something special in it."
The petition - with more than 436 signatures, or at least the 5 percent of voters necessary to be considered - was submitted Thursday and the town Select Board voted 3-2 Friday to put it on the ballot. It goes to a town-wide vote March 4.
It reads: "Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictments for consideration by other authorities and shall it be the law of the Town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro Police, pursuant to the above-mentioned indictments, arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro if they are not duly impeached, and prosecute or extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them?"
Hard to argue with their logic. Bush and Cheney have clearly violated the Constitution. Can't wait to see how the vote turns out.
I Wouldn't Want To Visit That Town
Little ol' Lima made The New York Times.
Read the story here.
Another Victory For Justice
From The Associated Press. I think it speaks for itself (just because a stun gun is nonlethal, does not make it any less torturous).
Deputy uses Taser on fleeing bicyclist
HAMILTON CITY, Calif. (AP) -- A Glenn County sheriff's deputy shot a man with a Taser gun for allegedly riding his bike at night without proper lighting.
According to a sheriff's spokesman, the bicyclist ignored warnings from the deputy he would use the stun gun, then fled on foot.
One probe struck the bicyclist, Omar Herrada Rivera, 39, but he did not receive a shock.
After being checked out at a hospital, Rivera was held in the county jail on suspicion of resisting arrest, riding a bicycle without proper lighting, riding under the influence of alcohol and using false citizenship government documents.
The sheriff's spokesman said the deputy's decision to use the Taser was proper.
Text of the State of the Union Address
White House photograph
Following is the prepared text of President Bush's State of the Union address on Jan. 28, 2008, as provided by the White House:
Madam Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
Seven years have passed since I first stood before you at this rostrum. In that time, our country has been tested in ways none of us could have imagined. We have faced hard decisions about peace and war, rising competition in the world economy, and the health and welfare of our citizens. These issues call for vigorous debate, and I think it's fair to say we've answered that call. Yet history will record that amid our differences, we acted with purpose. And together, we showed the world the power and resilience of American self-government.
All of us were sent to Washington to carry out the people's business. That is the purpose of this body. It is the meaning of our oath. And it remains our charge to keep.
Read more!
The future of downtown Lima?
Here is a video showing the vision of downtown Lima by a group of graduate students at Ball State University. No chance of it happening, but it is nice to dream.
Read details of the plans at http://www.limaohio.com/story.php?IDnum=48531.
Purchase the book outlining the changes at http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/103875.
Democrats the whiniest people and Hillary is their queen
The Lima News conducted an online poll during the weekend and it found that Hillary Clinton was by far the whiniest candidate running for president.
No surprise there.
Of the 552 votes, 63 percent chose her as the whiniest candidate. Sen. Barack Obama was a distant second at 14 percent followed by John Edwards at 8 percent.
Two things are obvious. Democrats are more whiny than Republicans and the whinier you are, the better you do in elections, at least in Democratic primaries.
OK, that's not scientific, but we don't need a scientist to tell us that Democrats are the whiniest people on the planet. Actually, Green Party members are the whiniest, but they don't count because they are really just Democrats with a cause.
Obama wins South Carolina
NBC has called the Democratic South Carolina primary for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama!
Rock on, Barack. Anything is better than Hillary Clinton.
Lima SWAT policy a joke
Here is the Lima Police Department's entire raid policy. Heck, the Army has a bigger policy for making coffee. I guess when the policy is this short, it is easy to say a raid is "by the book" without lying.
General Directive 9.05
Raids and High Risk Warrant Service
I. POLICY: All raids and service of high risk warrants shall be a planned, concerted effort involving the Patrol Services Division, SWAT Team and other necessary components of the Police Department.
A. All warrants will be considered "high risk" when there is a likelihood that armed and/or violent suspects will be encountered. Factors to be considered in determining that likelihood include but are not limited to the suspect(s) past record of violence, weapons charges, etc.; information from confidential informants; personal knowledge of suspect(s), circumstances etc.; and the location, specifically if known to be a known drug house.
B. All raids against drug houses and other locations determined to be "high risk" shall be conducted by a team of officers according to a plan formulated by the incident commander (person given command responsibility for the drug raid), the SWAT Team commander, and the officers/detectives who have developed the information for obtaining the search warrant or conducting the raid.
C. The building that is to be searched/raided shall first be secured by SWAT Team personnel. No other personnel shall enter the building until advised by the SWAT commander that the building is secured. Other personnel may be assigned to secure a perimeter.
D. The incident commander or, if present, a command officer shall be responsible for coordinating multi-unit/agency operations. The SWAT Team commander or his designee shall be responsible for the SWAT Team function in any multi-unit/agency operations.
Sounds like a typical police raid to me
This will be in a brief in Tuesday's The Lima News:
Crime Stoppers reported four men in their 20s or early 30s forcibly entered a residence in the 200 block of Elm Street at about 11:30 p.m. while the residents were home. The men were all dressed in dark clothing with dark-colored scarves or ski masks covering their faces. One of them was wearing glasses and all four brandished handguns.
Crime Stoppers said the men smelled strongly of tobacco smoke and they held the residents at gunpoint, assaulted them and demanded money. They fled the home after obtaining an undisclosed amount of cash.
Doesn't sound much different from many police SWAT raids I've read about.
Happy Civil Rights Day
Happy Civil Rights Day.
Here is a video about a man who is more deserving of a holiday than any other civil rights leader.
In a free society, it is distasteful, to say the least, to name holidays after a specific person. It is certainly more distasteful when that person can be remembered by those who are still alive. Such hero worship should really be tested by the passage of time before evolving into a holiday.
Is it not more prudent to honor the idea of civil rights, for all humans, than to set aside a day named after a single man? After all, there were many civil rights heroes and they all stood on the shoulders of those who came before them.
Either way, civil rights are for everyone, not just a specific race. We should all ardently defend civil rights regardless of who the victim happens to be. After all, the government is increasingly violating the civil rights of all Americans, not just blacks.
Iraq War Takes Another Local Man
A 26-year-old local man was killed in Iraq last week. The family has already been notified. That is all the information I have at this point and it being a Sunday, more information will not be forthcoming until Monday.
How many more local men must die before we end this insanity?
Here is a news release of the only DOD-recognized casualty whose name has not been released:
Friday, 18 January 2008
Multi-National Corps - Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
APO AE 09342FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20080119-01
January 19, 2008MND-B Soldier attacked by IED (Baghdad)
Multi-National Division - Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD - A Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldier was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations north of Baghdad Jan. 18.
Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces operating in this area continue to conduct targeted raids and clearing operations in order to disrupt terrorist and extremist elements operating in Baghdad and the surrounding area. Destroying these cells reduces overall sectarian violence and helps set the conditions for the improvement of essential services, economic growth and aides in the transition of Iraqi-led security operation.
The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin and release by the Department of Defense.
Excellent Column On Drug Raids From A Former Cop
Artist unknown
There is an excellent column from a former L.A. police officer on drug raids in today's The Lima (Ohio) News. It goes to show that opposition to Nazi-like tactics by police officers does not make one anti-police, as some have accused me of being. Remember, this guy was a longtime police officer.
I am reprinting it here in its entirety:
American War on Drugs pits government against people
By DAVE DODDRIDGE
I've read and reread the account of the shooting death of Tarika Wilson with great sadness. Some of the folks in Lima have sent letters saying all the typical things Americans have been led to believe: Wilson should not have allowed drugs in her home, the police were only doing their jobs, we need to eradicate drugs from our community.
I would like to offer another perspective.
I joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1973, just eight years after Chief Darryl Gates, spurred by the LA riots and the SLA shootout, established the nation's first SWAT team. It was designed to respond to increasingly dangerous situations involving armed/barricaded suspects or wanton disregard for the law. After spending six years on the street and another 10 as a detective, I transferred to South Bureau narcotics in 1990. At first it was an adventure - undercover surveillance, writing warrants, smashing doors, hauling folks off to jail and picture taking behind tables of drugs and guns.
SWAT did not serve our warrants. We narcotics officers did. We knew dope, the neighborhood, and the people involved. More often than not when we served warrants, the family was there complete with hysterical mothers and crying children. The situation was often chaotic. We tried to settle things down and get to the dope quick before it could be flushed. This is a situation alien to SWAT teams. They are taught to escalate until control is achieved. They don't have time to de-escalate a situation by reason or compassion.
Read more!
Government Violates Smoking Law
Talk about government gone awry:
The Veterans Memorial Civic Center came down on the wrong side of the law last week when an actor playing Che Guevara in a performance of "Evita" lit up a cigar. Somebody in the audience reported the infraction against the smoking ban to the Allen County Health Department. The Center was not cited.
Why was the center not cited? Should the laws not be equally enforced or do laws only apply to nongovernment violators?
[COLUMN] Drug War Destroying America
Artist unknown
America's ill-conceived War on Drugs cost another life this month when a police officer in Lima, Ohio, accidently shot and killed a woman and injured her baby during a drug raid. They were looking for her boyfriend.
The accidental shooting of 26-year-old Tarika Wilson was just the latest in more than a quarter-century of bloodshed.
For example, in Belpre, Ohio, in October 1998, police shot 57-year-old Delbert Bonnar eight times. They were looking for his son.
In March 1994, a retired Methodist minister, Accelyne Williams, of Boston, died after a police special weapons and tactics team, given a bad address by an informant, raided his home. He died of a heart attack after police tackled him.
In February 2003, Drug Enforcement Administration agents looking for her father shot Ashley Villareal, 14, of San Antonio. The agents thought he was driving the car in which Ashley was sitting so they shot and killed her. The agents, by the way, did not even have a warrant for the father.
In August 1999, SWAT team officers looking for marijuana shot Mario Paz, 65, of Compton, Calif., twice in the back. Police found no drugs.
Read more!
Tommy "Larry" Pitts Needs To Go
Tommy "Larry" Pitts, one of Lima's Three Stooges, is without a doubt the biggest baby on the City Council. At a meeting earlier this week, there was a reshuffling of committee positions, a not-so-uncommon occurrence. Upset with the changes, which were agreed upon by everyone except the other two Stooges (Ray "Moe" Magnus and Darry "Curley" Glenn). Pitts got up and left the meeting like a petulant child (Read the full story here.)
This kind of childish behavior is the exact reason why Pitts, a hate-filled racist who thinks every white person is a sheet-wearing member of the Ku Klux Klan, is never taken seriously. His claims of inequitable police treatment of blacks in relation to drug use only became a problem in his eyes when his sons were arrested, and later sent to prison, for drugs.
Pitts does not deserve the seat the voters in his ward gave him. Hopefully, his temper tantrum will lead to his resignation so a serious person can occupy that seat. The ward deserves a representative who has the maturity and intelligence to represent the needs of the whole ward, not just a subset.
Tommy, you took your ball and went home. Please don't come back
Sir Edmund Hillary Dead At 88
Sir Edmund Hillary (left), who, along with Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, became the first person known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest, died Friday in New Zealand at the age of 88.
May he rest in peace and may his spirit of adventurism inspire ever greater feats by humans.
"Well George, we finally knocked the bastard off." -- Hillary's first words, to lifelong friend George Lowe, on returning from Everest's summit
New Results in New Hampshire?
Is it too much to hope that Hillary might have actually lost in New Hampshire?
Huckabee, Obama Leading So Far; Long Road Ahead
The Primary Results so far:
States allocating pledged delegates to date:
Iowa, Wyoming (GOP), New Hampshire
Republican Delegates (1,191 needed to win nomination)
| Candidate | Delegates |
|---|---|
| Rudy Giuliani | 0 |
| Mike Huckabee | 31 |
| Duncan Hunter | 1 |
| John McCain | 7 |
| Ron Paul | 0 |
| Mitt Romney | 29 |
| Fred Thompson | 3 |
| Total | 71 |
Democratic Delegates (2,026 needed to win nomination)
| Candidate | Delegates |
|---|---|
| Hillary Clinton | 24 |
| John Edwards | 18 |
| Mike Gravel | 0 |
| Dennis Kucinich | 0 |
| Barack Obama | 25 |
| Bill Richardson | 0 |
| Total | 67 |
Source: The Associated Press
Bad News For Dems, Good News for GOP
Hillary's win in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday can only be considered good news for Republicans. She is probably about the only Democrat the Republicans can hope to beat in November so I am sure the GOP base is silently cheering her victory. I would not be surprised if it were Republican voters who put her over the top because in New Hampshire you can vote in either party's primary regardless of your affiliation, which, if you ask me, defeats the purpose of a primary election.
I predict Barrack Obama will eventually win the nomination. Americans certainly have Clinton fatigue and we do not need another four years of obfuscation and leadership by poll numbers.
There was no surprise on the GOP side with McCain taking New Hampshire, as he always does when he runs for president. They love him down there.
Now it's on to Nevada (nobody cares how those people up north will vote).
P.S. VOTE FOR RON PAUL!
Sheriff To Hang Up Jackboots
Allen County Sheriff Dan Beck said he will be retiring his jackboots at the end of the year. (Read story here.)
I for one am disappointed to see him go. After all, I can't get all my comic relief from Lima's Three Stooges -- Derry "Curley" Glenn, Tommy "Larry" Pitts, and Ray "Moe" Magnus.
However, I suspect we haven't heard the last from Beck.
When is that Lima mayoral election?
City Showing Signs Of Guilt
Lima City Council tonight agreed to pay all the funeral expenses for 26-year-old Tarika Wilson. Wilson, in case you have been hiding under a rock, was shot to death by police during an ill-conceived, "high-risk" drug raid Friday evening. Also shot in that raid was her 13-month-old son, Sincere.
Police have been tellingly quiet on what happened, refusing to name the officer or explain why the woman was shot.
City Council's action tonight tells us the city knows the shooting was wrong. However, paying for the funeral expenses is little solace to six children who no longer have a mother thanks to overzealous police officers who risk the lives of others just to arrest someone with a little bit of drugs.
Derry Glenn Rips Community Apart Playing Race Card
Derry "Curley" Glenn and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference buddy are trying to make Friday night's shooting by police a racial thing when, in reality, it was nothing more than shoddy police work and another example of how the war on drugs has gone awry. (See full story here.)
Now Glenn's SCLC buddy, Bishop Richard Cox, is threatening to bring the not-so-Rev. Al Sharpton and the-even-less-Rev. Jesse Jackson to town.
Such atrocious behavior matches the language used Saturday by the Rev. Arnold Manley: "We're trying to bring the black community together," he said. "It was a peaceful meeting to show that we want to be treated equally. The police don't raid Shawnee, they don't raid Elida. They make it seem like the south end is the only place with drugs. We're tired of our kids being arrested and pulled over at night. We want to be treated right, and that didn't happen."
Read more!
[COLUMN] Time to close door on FBI
Artist unknown
The FBI, fresh from a major operation stealing more than $400,000 from an innocent retired Lima man, has now turned its sights on a nearly 40-year-old skyjacking case in which even its own investigators admit the skyjacker did not survive the crime.
Didn't I read somewhere that the government is waging a war on terrorism? Doesn't the FBI have better things to do?
Admittedly, I have always been fascinated by the Dan "D.B." Cooper case. Still, it is hard to see why federal dollars should be spent continuing to investigate it, especially because the FBI insists Cooper was killed during the jump.
However, the bigger question we should be asking ourselves is why we even allow the FBI to exist.
The FBI, like about everything that came out of the Progressive Era -- income tax, direct election of senators, the Food and Drug Administration, the Forest Service, the Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, National Park Service, limits on immigration, the Interstate Commerce Act, the Scopes trial, etc. -- is nothing but big government run amok.
Read more!
Another Innocent Casualty Of Drug War
Time for Lima Police Chief Gregory Garlock to step down or be fired. I like Garlock, but Friday night's shooting by police of a woman and her 1-year-old child resulted from poor judgment. We now have another innocent casualty to add to the tally of those killed by the government in its failed and ill-conceived war on drugs. (See full story here.)
Police officers raided the home, which happens to be owned by Lima City Councilman Derry Glenn, because they claimed to have evidence that Anthony Terry, 31, was dealing drugs. In fact, after the shooting, Garlock said crack cocaine and marijuana were found in the home.
Instead of simply arresting Taylor when he left the home, the Lima Special Weapons and Tactics team decided to do the macho thing that jackbooted government thugs like to do and bust down doors. Did police departments not learn anything from the 1993 Branch Davidian fiasco? There are better ways to arrest people than bust down doors.
At the very least, police should be damn sure who is in the house before they raid. They were only guessing children were in the house based on finding toys on the porch. What kind of planning is that?
Read more!
My Predictions For Today's Iowa Caucus
Democrats: I predict a Barack Obama blowout. That is bad news for the Republicans because Hillary Clinton is probably the only candidate they can beat.
Republicans: OK, this is more of a wish, but I am rooting for Ron Paul. I suspect Mitt Romney will be the winner, though, with John McCain a close second.
One question: If Ron Paul wins the Iowa caucus, will the media finally give him some press?