April 20, 2015

Homeless man, pinned down by LAPD officers, shot and killed

Source: Daily Kos

From the LA Times:

...a dramatic confrontation caught on video, Los Angeles police shot and killed a homeless man in the heart of downtown's bustling skid row Sunday...
Witnesses at the scene identified the victim by his street name, “Africa”, and gave conflicting accounts of what they saw...

An area resident, who identified himself as Booker T. Washington, said police had come by repeatedly to ask Africa to take down his tent. People are allowed to sleep on the streets from 9 p.m to 6 a.m., but they are supposed to remove their tents in the daytime, under a court agreement.

“This man got shot over a tent,” Washington said.


Read more: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/02/1367900/-Homeless-Man-Pinned-Down-by-LAPD-Officers-Shot-and-Killed#comments

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When I had some financial problems a few years ago, I discovered first hand that America is a 'kick 'em while they're down' kind of place. Now, it seems to have become a 'shoot 'em while they're down' place. This video blew me away because they had the homeless guy pinned down and immobile, and all of a sudden, one of the cops, who still was pointing his gun at the prone guy, let off at least two shots point blank.

Geez.

April 9, 2015

Does this sound familiar?

"To be weak is miserable, doing or suffering, but of this be sure, to do aught good never will be our task; but ever to do ill our sole delight: and being the contrary to his high will whom we resist. If then his providence out of evil seek to bring forth good, our labor must be to pervert that end, and out of good still to find means of evil, which oft times may succeed, so as perhaps shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb his inmost councils from their destined aim."

This is a quote from John Milton's Paradise Lost, one of my all time favorite books, but it could as well have come from Karl Rove or Dick Cheney.

Basically, Milton's point is that Satan traded the essence of being, the reality, for the illusion of idols of his own creation. So he traded heaven for hell but felt it was better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. Seems like the Republicans, conservatives in general, have made this mistake, and that this mistake has been hastened by the profit-myopia of capitalism.

So now we have Gov. Pence signing that hateful discrimination law, and the guy in Kansas who wants to forbid people getting food stamps (SNAP) to purchase steak or seafood. I mean, think about it. These people seem to create their own reality based on hate, mistrust, anger and envy. The great Jimmy Carter said it all though, when he said, ""If you don't want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying that you want a country based on Christian values. Because you don't!"

Why the constant, unrelenting hatred? Why do these people have to oppose ANYTHING that can help everyday people? Because they've been doing it for centuries. Think about how adamantly opposed to the New Deal conservatives are. Why? The best times this nation ever had were when the New Deal and labor unions were strong. Now what do we have to show for 35 years of Neocon and Neolib policies? Not much, eh?