LAW ENFORCEMENT: WE’LL TASE YOU AND YOU’LL LIKE IT

ITEM [via nebris ]: A federal appeals court rules that three Seattle police officers were justified when they used a stun gun on a pregnant mother who refused to sign a traffic ticket.

Here’s why it’s okay to do that, according to the officers' lawyers, Ted Buck and Karen Cobb:

"Police officers have to have the ability to compel people to obey their lawful orders," Buck said. That's all the court recognized today. The 9th Circuit just applied the law instead of getting caught up in the otherwise unfortunate factual circumstances."

See what they did there?

I’d go on, but instead I’ll refer back to my previous post about the Peter Watts case, because the basic (and winning) reasoning of the prosecution in both cases is the same: the police have the legal right to beat you up, Tase you and arrest you regardless of the facts and whether the situation calls for it so long as you are technically in violation of a law – any law – and you do not comply with their orders immediately and without question.

In other words, even if you think the cop has overstepped his/her authority, you are expected to Obey and Go Quietly if you don’t want to get pounded or Tasered. And being pregnant, elderly, mentally ill or a minor is not going to make a difference in the eyes of the law. Because those are factual circumstances, and they don’t matter.

Under my thumb,

This is dF

DEFENDING THE UNIVERSE: SIZE MATTERS NOT

ITEM [via puffdoggydaddy ]: And now for something completely different: All the EPIC WIN of the Internet compacted into one photo of a kid in a Voltron suit.



Mega-thrusters are go,

This is dF

TERRORISM: YR DOING IT RIGHT

ITEM [via Fortean Times]: Harris has released a new poll asking Americans what they think about some of the things being said about Barack Obama by his critics.

About 14% think he’s the Antichrist. That’s around 44 million people.

More results:

•    32 percent say he is a Muslim.
•    29 percent think he wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government.
•    29 percent think he has done many things that are unconstitutional.
•    27 percent say he resents America's heritage.
•    27 percent say he does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do.
•    25 percent say he was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president.
•    23 percent say he wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers.
•    20 percent say he is doing many of the things that Hitler did.

No prizes for guessing how the results break down along party lines.

( You can see those here [recommended] )

Obviously, since this was an online poll – and since we all know that polls and statistics lie, especially when they don’t support our worldview – it’s fair to question the accuracy of the results.

On the other hand, given what we’ve seen at the Tea Party protests, the town hall “discussions” on healthcare and Glenn Beck’s ratings, the exact numbers arguably don’t matter. The sentiment is out there, and it’s not limited to a handful of paranoid militias. And the Big Fear Politics we’ve seen over the last decade has certainly played a contributing role.

To be fair, a third of Americans also think Junior Bush either planned the 9/11 attacks or deliberately did nothing to stop them, though I’m not sure how many of them are either liberals or the same people who think federal govt is evil and Obama is planning to turn America into Nazi Germany.

Like that’s supposed to make me feel better about the state of rational discourse in the country of my birth.

Either way, if I might indulge in a William Burroughs-style analogy, it’s fair to say that at least tens of millions of Americans are on a Fear habit they won’t kick as long as they get that Fear fix and get it regular. And they’re not getting it from Osama bin Laden any more than a junkie scores smack direct from Pablo Escobar.

Or, to put it country simple: Walt Kelly was right.

Which also suggests that just maybe this level of batshit paranoia has always been a part of American culture – it just has better media coverage now. You know things have gotten weird when you find comfort in such notions.

Blame it on the boogiemen,

This is dF

SEEING IN TONGUES

Wonderful things we can do with technology these days:

L/Cpl Craig Lundberg, 24, from Walton, Merseyside, can read words, identify shapes and walk unaided using the BrainPort device.
The machine converts visual images into a series of electrical pulses which are sent to his tongue.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) selected him to trial the pioneering device which is comprised of a tiny video camera attached to a pair of sunglasses linked to a plastic "lolly pop" which the user places on their tongue to read the electrical pulses.

L/Cpl Lundberg said it felt like "licking a nine volt battery or like popping candy".

"You get lines and shapes of things, it sees in black and white so you get a two dimensional image on your tongue, it's a bit like a pins and needles sensation," he said.

Lick it up,

This is dF