Ramblings on politics, film, music, literature, current events, pop culture, lists, dirty words, trapezoids, birds, cartoons and any other damned thing that strikes my synapses. A 39ish-year-old freelance journalist and writer living with his wife and baby daughter in the hardscrabble environs of Oklahoma, Chase McInerney now spends much of his time frozen in stark, cold sweat-inducing, gut-percolating fear. For it will be soon .
.. yes, very, very soon.
Slipped Down the Slope, Or Regular Abuse of Power?
for not leaving the library fast enough when he didn't have his proper ID. Then they Tasered him again when he wouldn't stand up.
has more disturbing details:
"As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.
"Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number."
I thought that in this nation, Tasers were used to protect people from violence, not as torture devices to get people to do what the police want.
cause muscles to spasm, which makes the person fall to the ground and renders physical violence impossible. Tasers also happen to cause severe pain. In this case, the Taser was used specifically to cause pain.
So, are we now living in a society that yawns at torture, or is this just another example of run-of-the-mill abuse of power?
Are we, as a nation, still able to see that this incident was wrong?
From by President Bush on Rush Limbaugh's show:
"RUSH: Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Hey, Rush, how are you?
RUSH: Never better. It's a thrill to have you on the program today and many thanks for making time for us.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, sir, for giving me a chance to visit with you."
Our Commander-In-Chief is awfully darn chatty with the guy who has shown his true and hateful colors in his attack on Michael J. Fox.
Last week I was asking of Rush, "Have you no shame?" And now Why doesn't the mainstream media pounce all over him for going on the show of such a jerk?
We all know the answer.
Bush's base loves that jerk. And Bush will pander to anyone to win an election.
So I guess what I really want to know is this: Does Bush at least know and believe that Rush is a jerk?
Or does he agree with Rush's assessment of Michael J. Fox? Maybe someone from the media will ask him.
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