Mornin’, BT.

In other news, a horrific story.

Police: Gang rape outside school dance lasted over two hours

The last paragraph is a chilling snapshot of the society we live in.

“This just gets worse and worse the more you dig into it,” Gagan said. “It was like a horror movie after looking at the evidence. I can’t believe not one person felt compelled to help her.”

Reminds me of an incident in New York many years ago where a woman was stabbed to death as residents watched from their apartment windows and not one called the police.

BT, something tells me that whoever is the governor in Texas is going to dig the (maybe high) heels in and make sure the public gets zilch for its money.

Kitty Genovese

And last week the WWII vet that killed 13 people in 1949 died. In his last interview he said “If I had 1000 rounds I would have killed 1000 people”. This stuff is nothing new. . .

Speaking of TX, democracynow is covering another story about how Gov Goodhair is about to execute another innocent man.

Damn, you’re good. That incident has stuck in my mind ever since. I was horrified then and am amazed that I’m continually horrified by the violence we’re capable of.

The thing that blows my mind is that when one of these guys is shown to be innocent the prosecutors always, always stand by their prosecution and conviction. But then cops and prosecutors never make mistakes. *spit*

Yes, that bothers the shit out of me too. I guess they think that the whole system will fall apart if they admit a mistake. Kinda like W.

although there is good reason to be concerned about Opting Out, it’s not as bleek as we thought

read an article at Burnt Orange over the week end that pretty much says the same thing – will hunt it down

Mornin’ All

Do you remember that, iirc, the New York Daily News published the names of all the witnesses? Many received death threats and a number of them were fired by their employers after their names were published. Many more moved.

I’m way more concerned by the fact that the PO doesn’t even kick in until 2013. Notice that that’s after the next prez. election? And how is it a “Public” option if the only “public” that’s allowed to join is the “public” without insurance? It ain’t free market unless we’re free to join!

Sorry, but what utter freaking rot. Win what argument with what public? Solid majorities of Americans have been on record for years as wanting straight-up national health insurance and, more recently, at minimum, a choice of a Medicare-like public plan. Public option boosters have consistently, deliberately misled Americans into believing that the public plan in current legislation will be a choice for them.

The argument Schumer and other PO boosters will need to win with Americans is why an overwhelming majority of them should be locked out of choosing this “option” until at least 2015 and very likely well beyond.

Wow, I haven’t read all of khin’s diary at Seminal but that’s one major critique of the Orange Satan.

Yep. I also remember opening Bill and Walt’s Texaco early one morning and turning on the radio to hear the Richard Speck news from the night before.

Now there was one sick motherfucker!

Not to belabor this but

According to The New York Times, in an article dated December 28, 1974, ten years after the murder, 25-year-old Sandra Zahler was beaten to death early Christmas morning in an apartment of the building which overlooked the site of the Genovese attack. Neighbors again said they heard screams and “fierce struggles” but did nothi

Kitty’s killer:

Moseley remains in prison after being denied parole a thirteenth time on March 11, 2008. A previous parole hearing included his defense that “For a victim outside, it’s a one-time or one-hour or one-minute affair, but for the person who’s caught, it’s forever.”[

The Kitty Genovese murder in Queens, NY in the 60′s, the woman in the bar in New Bedford, MA who was gang raped on a pool table while the patrons cheered, now this.

It is all the same evil. Evil floats with us constantly and touches down like a tornado. Events like these are the result

I agree with that assessment. Another thing not mentioned in that post is a characteristic of almost every conservative I’ve known in a long life lived mostly in Texas. If there is a public assistance program of any sort, the conservatives are the first in line to make sure they get their share (or more). They rationlize by saying that they oppose it, but since it’s there, they feel righteous in elbowing others out of line. So, if it comes to that, it would be fun to watch Texas Republicans campaign to keep their constituents from obtaining what other states have.

Not getting much MSM coverage, but the Showdown in Chicago still going strong:

MORE THAN 5,000 TAXPAYERS TO CONVERGE ON AMERICAN BANKERS ASSOCIATION CONVENTION

March and Rally Launches Nationwide Campaign to Demand Banks Stop Lobbying Against Financial Reform

SEIU’s Anna Burger, AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka to Address Crowd

Chicago, IL–Today, in the largest taxpayer mobilization since the economic crisis began, more than 5,000 Americans from 20 cities will converge on the American Bankers Association (ABA) convention in Chicago. The march and rally concludes three days of demonstrations around the ABA convention and launches a nationwide campaign to demand big banks and Wall Street stop spending millions in taxpayer dollars to lobby against financial reform.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/10/seiu_rallying_outside_american.html

An Irak war veteran joined the State Department. Then he did something unusual. He quit because he disagreed with the Afghanistan (Oil) War.

A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.

But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.

“I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States’ presence in Afghanistan,” he wrote Sept. 10 in a four-page letter to the department’s head of personnel. “I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end.”

It is possible that the Obama Administration people trying to “manage” Afghanistan do not understand it any better than the Bushies did. Or perhaps the Bushies continue to badly manage it.

The people of Korengal didn’t want them; the insurgency appeared to have arrived in strength only after the Americans did, and the battle between the two forces had achieved only a bloody stalemate.

Korengal and other areas, he said, taught him “how localized the insurgency was. I didn’t realize that a group in this valley here has no connection with an insurgent group two kilometers away.” Hundreds, maybe thousands, of groups across Afghanistan, he decided, had few ideological ties to the Taliban but took its money to fight the foreign intruders and maintain their own local power bases.

“That’s really what kind of shook me,” he said. “I thought it was more nationalistic. But it’s localism. I would call it valley-ism.”

democracynow did a segment on it yesterday I think.

Cornyn was running ads fairly recently telling older folks he’ll protect their Medicare, bless his heart. Of course, no mention that Rethugs initially fought tooth and nail against it.

The U.S. will demonstrate it is making progress when it spares the innocent and executes war criminals.

Outstanding!

There’s a sit-in/protest scheduled at Cigna’s headquarters in FL this week.

Never. Give. Up.

Not understanding insurgencies is a prerequisite for being U.S. prez. I’m listening to Dallek’s Nixon & Kissinger. Because of the tapes, there is a pretty clear picture of how they thought about VN. By standards of what we know today, and what could have been knowable back then, they were completely out to lunch. W & O show similar symptoms.

This is ongoing. The 5000 are scheduled to be there today.

Bingo !

Bloody bastard. Dead is forever.

This is a good thing. Shaming & rubbing people’s noses in the consequences of their actions…

Scarecrow’s upstairs…

Had to turn on Scarborough this morning. The Republicans are beside themselves. Hatch is on with Ratigan now just whining away. They’re just going nuts.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

US KIA Irak: 4351

US KIA Afghanistan: 897

US MBS 2009: 37,076

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

Exactly. My #18 had been a response to your #8. Having to log-in again screwed me up. I’m starting to wonder if the log-in is a probationary thing, like having some of us turn in resignation letters which can be accepted at any time. :)

thanks, that is the ideal occurrence on those Unintended Consequences, dunno why it doesn’t work when the rest of the world is sailing along doing great with health care for all, and the right insists it just can’t happen.

Good Morning….not a long trip, is it?

That could be….I think mine finally righted itself. I had thought I was on probation after being offline for about a week…Probation period unpredictable, I guess.

Yes, on local radio we get updates every hour. hideous. In addition to the NYC story, there’s also the barroom assault (Jodie Foster played the victim in the movie account) in a very similar situation.

I remember that NYC story used as an example of bystander dynamics. When does a bystander step in and when don’t they? I believe the conclusion was that a bystander will assist when there is no other person around to be that rescuer.

What happens is the bystanders are thinking “should I step in? Maybe someone else is more qualified? Maybe I don’t have to, someone else will…” And if a person ISN’T twiddling their thumbs and does step in when others don’t, then it’s damned if you do because by taking action, you are shaming those who didn’t take action.

Another dark side of human nature.

.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I still move toward the sound of gunfire.