LAPD: We treat you like a King

Another black motorist got the shit beaten out of him in LA after holding his hands in the air and not resisting arrest. And it was videotaped…

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn said today that after viewing the televised beating of a suspected car thief, it appeared to him that police used “excessive force” and he reiterated his demand for a full inquiry.

Update: From Steve Lopez in the LA Times

Here’s a tip to cops:

It’s always best to conduct beatings indoors, particularly if you hear a helicopter, notice a bright light, and see a shadow of yourself poised to strike again. Sure, that’s your own team up there in a police chopper. But it’s likely there are TV news crews nearby.

Although this thing looked bad, <LAPD Police Chief> Bratton said from 3,000 miles away, “There should be no rush to judgment before the investigations are completed.”

Guess what, Chief. My investigation is complete.

Any cop who’d whack a captured suspect 11 times, on live TV no less, is too dumb to keep past lunch.

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Fahrenheit 9/11

Today is the opening of the much-awaited Fahrenheit 9/11. I have a ticket for the first show at a nearby theatre and will blog immediately upon return!

Update:

I’ve just returned from the movie. It’s outrageous, funny, poignant, and is aimed at toppling Dubya from power. While there’s nothing here activists don’t already know, Moore’s well-documented attacks on Bush family ties to the bin Laden family and the Saudi royal family may shock many. In addition, he focuses on the endless lies Bush used to justify invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq showing that the real reason was oil, as well as a desire for unchallenged American empire with the invasions not so coincidentally also being a financial windfall for the Bush Family and allies.

Most of all, this is a great movie. It’s fast-paced, fun to watch, informative - and depicts Dubya and the neocons as greedy manipulative liars. Expect the Right to attack Moore with everything they can. Expect also, I think, that this movie will have a huge opening weekend.

Everything progressives have been saying about Bush for years, often howling in the wilderness back then, is now in a movie getting major media attention. This in and of itself, is huge progress and shows how the Bushies are losing it.

 US Poll: 54% of Americans say Iraq War a mistake

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Ministry of Silly Logic

Dibgy, a progressive Democrats, is utterly befuddled as to why Greens aren’t Democrats. Surely, he shrieks, Greens must see what the neocons are doing, yet these foolish children STILL refuse to return to the Democratic Party.

Therefore, for electoral purposes, they <Greens> must be considered part of the realm of non-voters who don’t participate. And because, for political reasons, they have consciously decided to stay outside the system as it exists, they are actually less persuadable than the apathetic many.

What a heap of hooey! Nader is actively running a Presidential campaign and the Green Party is meeting now in Minnesota to vote on a candidate. So how could this possibly be “outside the system” with Greens being “non-voters?”

Oddly, it’s progressive Democrats who foam at the mouth the most at Nader. They oppose the war, agree with much of Nader’s platform, yet attack him for having the effrontery, the unmitigated gall, to run against a candidate, Kerry, who they disagree with on many issues yet support anyway!

Most illogical. I think they’re conflicted.

It’s the war, stupid! Many American now oppose it, but Kerry and Bush sure don’t. We need candidates who actively oppose the war and work for genuine progressive change. Sure, Kerry tilts leftward on social issues, and that’s good, but on foreign policy he’s as hawkish as Bush. He wants 40,000 more troops in the Army, wants to send them everywhere, and  believes in American Exceptionalism, that White Man’s Burden delusion that the US can and should “intervene” anywhere and anytime it chooses and screw you if you don’t like it. This is not a recipe for peace. Nor is it working.

Doug Henwood, radical economist and author says in his latest Left Business Observer newsletter, “The best we can do is hope for a Kerry victory, and that disillusionment will rapidly set it… Some similar disillusionment with Clinton probably helped spark Seattle. It could happen again. Let’s hope it does.”

Yes, if it’s close in California (which it won’t be), I’ll vote for Kerry - but in the meantime, progressives need to hold his feet to the fire on the Iraq war and also to bring progressive ideas into the campaign. Nader and Camejo can do just that.

If Democrats want those votes, all they need to do is bring those ideas into their campaigns too…

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U.S. soldiers to be charged in Iraqi general’s death

The U.S. Army plans to file charges against two military intelligence officers in the suffocation death of an Iraqi general during questioning in Iraq

The newspaper said negligent homicide and manslaughter charges were being brought against two warrant officers over the death of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush.

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Moonie leader ‘crowned’ in Senate

Republicans and Democrats attend cult blessing ceremony

The US Senate was used for a bizarre ritual in which the Rev Sun Myung Moon  the head of the Unification church, was “crowned” and declared himself the messiah in the presence of more than a dozen Republican and Democratic members of Congress.

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Computer pioneer Bob Bemer

ASCII is the alphabetic character set used used by virtually all computers, including PCs. Bob Bemer spearheaded its development, and passed away today at age 84.

“Mr.
Bemer’s accomplishments resonate so deeply one almost assumes they have
been with us always, snatched out of the ether by a collective
consciousness, instead of having been the creation of one man. A short
list includes:

• Helped create the 8-bit per byte standard
• Helped create and standardize the ASCII character set (as in “Father of”)
• Helped create COBOL (as in “Grandfather of”)
• Invented the ESCape sequence
• Put the backslash into the ASCII set
• Created the PICTURE clause

For
you non-geeks out there, the above list may appear incomprehensible.
However, let me assure you, these are amazing accomplishments, and puts
him up there with the legendary Grace Hopper
(AKA Grandma COBOL) who pioneered COBOL, invented the compiler, and had
the outlandish idea in the late 40’s that computers could be used for
business purposes. (She also inspired countless women to enter the
computer world.)

She’s
also credited with coining the term bug when she traced an error in the
Mark II to a moth trapped in a relay. The bug was carefully removed and
taped to a daily log book. Since then, whenever a computer has a
problem, it’s referred to as a bug.

If
the computer world now speaks many languages eloquently and fluently,
it’s because pioneers like Bemer and Hopper invented the alphabet, then
words, then sentences…

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