The poster boy for unprofessional police commanders is still at it

Lt. Angelo Andriani, the disgraced Hoboken, New Jersey Police Department SWAT commander who is currently serving a two-year paid suspension from his duties (where do we sign up for that kind of severe sanction?) as "punishment" for the wild, unprofessional and unsafe antics he and his team were involved in while on an official out-of-town trip awhile back, is now back in the news (and not in a good way, shockingly enough):

"According to a Tampa police log, two TIA police officers responded to a disturbance call at 9:15 a.m. when Andriani, 56, who was in line for a flight to New Jersey, became irate when airline flight crew members were permitted to pass him in line at a Transportation Security Administration  checkpoint. He took pictures of TSA agents' badges, police said. 

Ann Davis, TSA spokeswoman, said the passenger yelled at TSA officers, complained about the screening process, displayed a badge and said he was a police officer."

Maybe that guy shouldn't ever leave that state, seeing as how he just can't seem to behave himself when he travels.

Let us get this straight - he's still allowed to carry a badge (and presumably a service weapon) while on his officially imposed (but well-compensated) vacation from his job?  That doesn't sound like much of a suspension to us.

"It has been previously reported that Andriani is paid $11,000 a month while on suspension. Andriani’s suspension is the longest in the history of the Hoboken Police Department."

Stunning.

Here's how we summed up the reason for his already occupying the well-paid time-out chair:

2.) The Hoboken, New Jersey SWAT team that was caught on video drinking and partying in official gear, and allowing Hooters waitresses to handle their duty weapons in an unsafe manner, has been officially disbanded, and their fearless leader, Lt. Angelo Andriani, has been placed on desk duty, at least until the Federal lawsuit filed against the city by five Hispanic officers accusing him of racism runs its course. He sounds like a charming fellow, doesn't he?

We wonder to whom Andriani is related in the local government there, or how many dirty pictures he possesses of his employers.  Those two scenarios are the only reasons we can think of to explain why he currently still has a job as a cop.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Despite setbacks, Obama's aims unchanged"

He really hasn't learned one single thing from the many failures he's experienced to date, not the mention the three electoral drubbings his party's taken recently. 

"Obama did not yield his aims, he restated them, demanding action in the Senate, where the special election loss of a Democratic seat gave Republicans the vote they need to block bills by filibuster."

If he doesn't change this clueless attitude right quick, November's election night is really going to be fun to watch.

A snapshot of life

Saturday, January 30, 2010
Chompie's Restaurant and Deli, Scottsdale, Arizona
1:15 p.m.

As we entered this local eatery for lunch today we passed an elderly gentleman, standing on the sidewalk directly outside the establishment's front door, who was enthusiastically clearing his nose and sinuses using the tried-and-true "farmer blow" technique.

Keep on bein' classy, sir.

Breaking news

We have been informed by a reliable source that all Mexican national (i.e. illegal immigrant) prisoners held by the Arizona Department of Corrections have been moved to a single housing unit in preparation for them to be relocated en masse to a prison in Mexico.  The state would presumably be providing the funds to operate this facility, a plan that appears to be quite similar to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's own much-mocked proposal for California he made a couple of days back.

Our source is "95%" sure that this is why the prisoner move has taken place, and further states that inmate trustees are currently in the process of sprucing up the prison grounds to make the place look good when the hordes of media flock there once they learn of this action.

We are attempting right now to confirm this rumour with DOC officials.  More when we get it.

UPDATE:  We spoke on the phone with DOC Public Information Officer Barrett Marson, who states that this rumor is "not true".  What he informed us is going on is that 51 illegal alien non-violent criminal offenders with 90 days or less left on their sentences have been bused to a facility in order to be turned over to ICE for deportation, a process that is "permitted under the law" (and one with which we frankly agree).  Marson also points out that there are approximately 6300 "criminal aliens" in the system and that there is no one facility in Arizona large enough to hold them all at one time.

We're not sure if this process has never before been done or if it just hasn't taken place for some time, hence the confusion over the issue.  Either way, the move is sure to generate quite a bit of controversy and protest from the local illegal-immigrant "rights" crowd.

Why I carry a handgun for protection, Vol. 28

Today's reason is a twofer:

1.  So that if I am assaulted outside of a suburban drugstore by four baseball bat-wielding thugs, just like this innocent Goodyear, Arizona man was last Tuesday evening in the town of Buckeye, I will also be able to successfully defend myself from such a brutal attack by criminals with the advantages of superior numbers as well as improvised weapons :

"The victim, a concealed-weapons permit holder, shot one of the suspects, wounding him in the arm or shoulder, [Buckeye Police Lt. Jared] Griffith said."

The genius muggers happened to single out a motorcyclist, who was wearing padded riding gear and a helmet, to be the target of their attempted little pinata party.  Not too bright, are they?

All humor aside, the man's lawfully carried-and-used handgun was the only factor that served to even up the odds somewhat and allowed him to escape serious injury or worse. 

Cases such as this, which happen everywhere on a regular basis, only continue to prove (to the eternal consternation of the hysterical likes of the Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center) that random violent crime can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any given moment.  Be ready and able to defend yourself and your loved ones at all times, as robberies, rapes and assaults occur everywhere, not just in areas traditionally viewed as crime-ridden.  This concept is even more important these days, as we now learn that


2.  The Phoenix, Arizona Police Department (the major city nearest to our home) plans to issue layoff notices to even more of its officers in response to the city's drastic budget cuts:

"Phoenix is already operating with nearly 383 vacant sworn-officer positions. After retirements and other attrition, the largest municipal police department in Arizona expects to have more than 425 vacancies by mid-year."  (Emphasis mine)

This sort of chronic under-staffing of law-enforcement agencies isn't limited to this area; metro departments all across the country find themselves in similar straits. 

Severe police shortages such as these will no doubt lead to reduced routine patrol coverage for neighborhoods and increased wait times for victimized residents waiting for a response to their emergency 911 calls. 

Please plan your lives accordingly.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

Obama:  I didn't sign off on those shady health care deals.

Sure, you didn't.  You staked your presidency on this naked centralized power grab, but somehow expect us to believe you weren't on top of every aspect of the negotiations? 

"Reid and Schumer kept up the "shuttle negotiation" between the leader's conference room and his top aide's office, Boxer said. Keenly aware how tense the talks were, the White House dispatched two aides who together have decades of experience in the Senate -- Jim Messina and Peter Rouse -- to work with Nelson. They relayed their intelligence to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who monitored the talks from a dinner in Georgetown."

What a shameless liar.

We wonder which Obama we're going to get in tonight's State of the Union Address - a chastened, humbled president who's now willing to provide the centrist philosophy and spirit of compromise he promised us on so many occasions during his campaign for office, or a cornered, wounded chief executive who's going to double down on his arrogant mistakes and come out "fighting", as so many pundits from both parties are predicting?

We're with the pundits on this one.  He's most likely going to concede nothing, continue on with his radical agenda and cost his party big time in November.  Maybe at that time the liberal Democrats will finally stop marching right off the political cliff with him.

They saw the legal freight train bearing down on them

The Glenn County, California School Board has overturned the expulsion of 18-year-old Gary Tudesko, the high-school student who was summarily kicked out of school for legally parking his truck, which happened to contain two unloaded shotguns from his early-morning duck hunting trip that day, on a public street near the campus because he was running late for school and didn't want to take the time to swing by his house to drop off his firearms:

"The county board ruled the district had 'acted in excess of its jurisdiction' because the act 'did not occur on school grounds or at a school activity.'"

Definitely.

"Furthermore, the county board stated that Tudesko did not have an opportunity for a 'fair hearing' before the district board, because he "was not provided timely written notice of all evidence....'"

You mean students have due-process rights too?  Well, Sha-zam.

"The board also found 'prejudicial abuse of discretion by the district' because it failed to show how other discipline choices were not feasible, or that Tudesko was a 'continuing danger to the physical safety of the student and others.'"

That finding pretty much sums up all school "zero-tolerance" policies, as far as we're concerned.

Naturally, Principal Mort Geivett, who had previously asserted that he somehow enjoyed complete jurisdiction over nearby public streets (to an unknown distance from the school) and that he could do whatever he wanted within that bubble of authority (including using private sniffer dogs to snoop around legally-parked vehicles on those roads without probable cause or a search warrant), and the other martinets who run the Willow Unified School District are sniveling about having their hands slapped:

"Willows High Principal Mort Geivett's reaction to the reversal was disappointment.

'I'm disappointed, but not surprised, due to the political climate we have here and the fact we have school board members who are going up for re-election and a superintendent who might be running for re-election,' he said."

Pretty weak argument, sir.

"Willows Unified Superintending Steve Olmos' response was one of confusion.

The decision 'has left me dumbfounded, almost speechless,' he said."

Darn.  We were so close to not having to listen to you.

"The county board 'is undermining our authority. They are definitely saying we don't have jurisdiction off campus,' he complained."

You don't.

The article reports that the matter seems to be settled.  The Glenn County School Board deserves credit for stepping in and correcting Tudesko's railroading at the hands of the Willow administration.  We suspect they realized that they had no legal leg to stand on and decided to sensibly end things in a peaceable manner before being beaten silly in court.

The Jack-Booted Thug(s) of the Week...

... are the three plainclothes Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania police officers who took it upon themselves to assault an 18-year-old honors student and violist at a local performing-arts high school for doing nothing more than walking down the street while minding his own business:

"Police charged Jordan Miles, 18, with assault and resisting arrest Jan. 11 because, they said, he fought with the officers who thought a "heavy object" in his coat was a gun. It turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew."
 
It's illegal to walk down the street with a heavy object stashed in one's coat?  That's news to us.  What possibly made them think that the object was a firearm - the fact that the student happens to be black and sports dreadlocks?   We sure hope the fact that the three cops were all white had nothing to do with their "mistake", and that they were merely blindly stupid instead of racist and stupid.  In any event, it seems that these particular cops certainly need to be educated about the propriety of violating peoples' civil rights based on what they "think" is going on, versus having objective evidence of an actual crime.

Miles steadfastly maintains that the officers never identified themselves as police officers.  We'd fight back hard as well should three goons in street clothes all of a sudden were to start getting grabby with us for no good reason.  How could we possibly be expected to know what their intentions were?

"Reportedly the officers identified themselves as police."

Says who?  Somehow, after reviewing the details of this incident, we have a hard time believing that assertion.

"According to officials, the officers have been moved from plain clothes detail to uniformed duty."

That's sure teaching them a lesson.  At least now the other pedestrians in Pittsburgh will be able to clearly see these fellows coming, should they decide to approach someone else in order to "investigate" their legitimate behavior.

One less tweaker on the streets

There is yet more positive news concerning the saga of our vehicle burglary case.

We were contacted by Detective Watson of the Scottsdale Police Department the other week.  He was seeking to find out if any items other than our laptop had been in the computer bag stolen from our car, as he had identified a "person of interest" and wished to obtain a search warrant for the man's residence based on the evidence in our particular case.  We gave Watson a specific list of what else had been present in the bag.

Detective Watson then served the warrant and found evidence of a serial vehicle burglar, including upwards of thirty empty computer bags as well as other items (such as women's clothing) that obviously didn't belong to him.  The suspect, who seems to be a methamphetamine addict, apparently admitted to breaking into cars all over Scottsdale.

That's one particular low-level (but nonetheless very annoying) criminal who won't be stealing from our community for a good while.

Fantastic work, Detective.  Your efforts are very much appreciated.

Illuminating

An email colleague of ours, Doug Hutton, points out the very interesting fact that the Massachusetts 13th Precinct - which includes Hyannisport and the infamous Kennedy compound, so that was Teddy's home base - went for Scott Brown yesterday.

Let's see if that little nugget gets disclosed by the mainstream press.  We're guessing not.

Reality has yet to set in for him

The people of Massachusetts, of all places, have thankfully seen fit to derail, hopefully for good, President Obama's ham-handed government takeover of one-sixth of our nation's economy by handing the Senate seat held by liberal Democrat (and socialized medicine advocate, at least for other people) Ted Kennedy for over four decades to a center-right Republican.  Good for them.  What a stunning rebuke of health-care "reform" from citizens who already chafe under a failing similar scheme in their state.

We should also note that one year ago Friday the President decreed that the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba would be permanently closed by this date.  That's not going to happen anytime soon, either, to the eternal consternation of Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen, who were no doubt eagerly looking forward to reuniting with a few more of their terrorist leaders.

Happy anniversary, Mr. President.  Boy, this socialist agenda stuff is proving mighty hard to implement, isn't it?  Maybe you should have acquired just a smidgen of leadership and real-world management experience before seeking your position.  That might have helped a bit.

Mr. Obama is undauntedly soldiering on, however, apparently not learning a single lesson from any of his many failures to date.  We find out today that he is pushing to nationalize yet another large sector of our economy, this time the student loan industry:

"The plan’s fate, however, is determined largely by Obama’s other major initiative – health care reform. Because reconciliation may only be used on one bill per year, Democrats must wait to see if it is needed to pass health care reform. If it is, they will have to combine both the student loan and health care proposals into one bill before using reconciliation to bypass an inevitable Republican filibuster."

Oh, we dare you.  In fact, we double-dog dare you to go ahead and do that, Congress.  That course of action would instantly seal your political deaths come November and you know it.  Keep on robotically enacting Mr. Obama's radical agenda and quite a few more of you will no doubt soon be joining Ms. Coakley on the street.

Are the President's plans and reputation worth the Democrats paying that heavy of a political price?  We'll soon find out, that's for sure.

With what?

"'If you don't kill the criminals, they will all come back!' a Haitian police officer shouts over a loudspeaker in the country's most notorious slum, imploring citizens to take justice into their own hands."

That's all well and good to ask those residents to do, except for the conveniently overlooked fact that Haiti typifies the majority of the world's countries in denying the ownership and carry of firearms by law-abiding inhabitants.

Just what are those sitting duck targets of opportunity supposed to use in order to "kill" those armed attackers - their bare hands? 

The officer's request seems especially ludicrous given that he and the other supposed protectors of those residents are unable to control the complete anarchy in those neighborhoods, even though they themselves happen to be well-armed.  They sure are managing to provide cover for their fearless leaders, though:

"'Even as we are digging bodies out of buildings, they are trying to attack our officers,' Cite Soleil police Inspector Aristide Rosemond said, surrounded by officers wielding automatic weapons."

So how are those earthquake victims supposed to fare any better?

(By the way, we once again see that gun-control measures only serve to disarm solely the people who tend to obey the law in the first place; street criminals, even in slum neighborhoods in Third World countries like Haiti, are able to easily arm themselves despite the strict bans in place. Funny how that always seems to be the case.)

Just as with Hurricane Katrina in 2005, we see how thin the veneer of civilization really is, how quickly things go all cock-eyed in a disaster and how it always ultimately falls to the individual citizens to take responsibility for defending themselves and their loved ones in such a crisis.

That task is sure made easier when one possesses the proper tools for the job.

Notice how desperate the liberals are getting

Apparently any means would be justified, even straight up election fraud,  if the result ensured that Democrat Martha Coakley would win tomorrow's special Senate election in Massachusetts, according to liberal radio talk-show host Ed Schultz:





And the American peasantry is constantly lectured by our betters in the mainstream press that a major problem in our society is right-wing "hate radio"?

Well, we've certainly never heard the likes of Limbaugh or Hannity on their programs advocate committing serious, society-destroying felonies in order to allow their cohorts to remain in power, especially in such a blatant manner.

Schultz should be immediately censured by his bosses for even suggesting that voting multiple times in an election can ever be somehow excused. 

He works for MSDNCNBC, however, so his reprehensible comment will not doubt be celebrated, not punished.

Why I carry a handgun for protection, Vol. 27

So that if I ever have an 11-year old child just like the one in Palmview, Texas who along with his mother were the recent victims of a violent home invasion, my son will also be able to successfully defend himself and his mom in the event of my absence from the house. 

The brave preteen in question managed to fight off three armed intruders even though he had been shot in the hip by the men:

"Three men are being held for a Palmview home invasion where an 11-year-old boy was shot defending his mother.
 
Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office deputies told Action 4 News that it happened off Minnesota Road and 8 Mile Line between Palmview and Mission around 12:30 a.m. Friday.

The homeowner said she and her 11-year-old son were in bed when she heard banging coming from the front door.

She got up to check and she saw two Hispanic males men wearing masks and armed with handguns walking towards her.

She quickly closed the bedroom door but one of the men allegedly tried to force it open.

The masked man kept telling her to open the door and she would not open the door.

The woman told deputies that the home invaders shot through the door and hit her son on the left hip area.

Her son had a 22 cal. Rifle and shot back at the alleged robbers.

The woman waited, opened the door, saw that the suspects were gone and called 911.

Deputies found blood all over the floor and noted that the front door had been knocked down."


At least one of the assailants later coincidentally turned up at the same local hospital where the brave kid was taken for treatment, and that particular invader apparently isn't doing very well at all:


"Criminal charges are expected to be filed against him, if he survives."

Two other suspects in the case have been detained - by ICE, since they appear to be illegal aliens from Mexico:

"U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials told Action 4 News that they have filed immigration detainers against the two men."

Just more of those innocent people that just want to get here in order to have a better life for themselves, eh, President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano?

That young man deserves a heap of praise for keeping his head in what must have been a truly scary and overwhelming situation, and for most likely saving the lives of both himself and his mother that night.

Anything you'd like to add, Sarah Brady?  After all, this is precisely the kind of scenario that you argue just never happens in America, which is why you continually bleat that there is no reason whatsoever for our nation's precious little snowflakes to receive quality firearms training or to even be allowed to so much as view a gun, much less responsibly handle one.

Well, this child seemed to do just fine, ma'am.  We're sure millions of others would do just as well, if you'd only go away and quit trying to indoctrinate them into a lifetime of victimhood.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

Joe Biden update: he meets today on transparency today. But the meeting is closed.

"Here is the vice president's official schedule for today. Boldface was added in the interests of emphasis. Note especially that the vice president's meeting with the chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board is closed, meaning non-transparent."

Naturally. Who would expect a non-classified meeting between public officials to be open to the public? George Orwell actually underestimated the ability of these clowns to make such announcements with a straight face.

Yet another broken promise from those who vowed to implement "change". It's hoped that the millions of duped supporters who voted for these people are taking notice.


UPDATE: Here's a bonus headline on the same subject:

PROMISES, PROMISES: Many Obama pledges unkept

You don't say?

"Promises that have proven difficult include pledges not to raise taxes, to curb earmarks and to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba by the end of his first year."

Those sorts of pledges wouldn't be difficult to keep at all, if the President had ever seriously meant to follow through on them in the first place. Which we doubt. Especially the ones about taxes and earmarks.

Today's TASER Travesty

Kankakee, Illinois police officer Lonnie Netzel apparently thought it would be a capital idea to TASER some junior high students who were part of a special-needs class as some kind of twisted "demonstration", as the microcephalic cop is accused of actually doing this very act on Tuesday.

Netzel has now (thankfully) been put on administrative leave (with pay, no doubt), and the parents of two of the students have today (naturally, and in this case quite rightly) filed a federal lawsuit against him, the school district and the city of Kankakee, as well as the two teachers who apparently stood by and watched Netzel perform his little experiment on their charges.

"The Netzel [sic] allegedly Tased a few students in the finger a week earlier, and allegedly has a history of intimidation."

What a "shocker". Another bully with a badge who probably should have been bounced years ago, but most likely thanks to his union and his fellow officers who overlooked his claimed "intimidating" behavior for 19 years is still around to do breathtakingly stupid stuff such as this. That's just the sort of valued "professional" who should be working as a school-resource officer, isn't it?

"In one of the more gruesome incidents detailed in the lawsuit, Netzel allegedly laid out sheets of newspaper and asked a boy to sit on it before being Tased, in case he defecated or urinated."

Oh, what a lovely spectacle. We're ill just imagining such a scene.

It's absolutely unbelievable that a two-decade veteran cop actually thought that this was a good idea, and imagined that his decision to low-level electrocute some vulnerable kids would somehow end well.

Hopefully the people of Kankakee, after having to pay out what will almost certainly be a multi-million dollar judgment against their city, police department and school district, will insist that "Officer" Netzel never again wear a badge.

Fletcher's Follies redux

Ramsey County, Minnesota Sheriff Bob Fletcher, whom we've already documented seemingly thinks that he can do pretty much whatever he wishes regarding handgun carry permit applicants who reside in his jurisdiction (regardless of what the law in that state actually allows him to do), is apparently once again up to his old tricks, this time as part of a craven attempt to suck up to the very people he's spent so much time and public money antagonizing for no justified reason:

"In early December, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher sent a fund-raising letter to Ramsey County carry permit holders... The letter invited carry permit holders in Ramsey County to a shoot in a private outing at the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office indoor firearms range."

Even if one believes that Fletcher is just extending a heartfelt olive branch to the carry community out of the goodness of his heart (and we don't), the use of permit holder data for any purpose other than issuing or denying permits (much less a blatant money-raising attempt) is specifically illegal:

"Subd. 14. Records. (a) A sheriff must not maintain records or data collected, made, or held under this section concerning any applicant or permit holder that are not necessary under this section to support a permit that is outstanding or eligible for renewal under subdivision 7"

We submit that an appeal for charitable contributions in exchange for access to law-enforcement facilities, no matter how noble the stated causes may be, most definitely falls under the category of "not necessary to support" the issuing of carry permits by county sheriffs such as Fletcher.

Not surprisingly, local gun-rights groups such as GOCRA, the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (the ones who put out this press release) and MADFI, the premier organization that certifies carry permit instructors in Minnesota, are hopping mad over the situation. GOCRA has gone so far as to file a criminal complaint about Fletcher’s activities with the St. Paul Police Department, and urges any county resident who received such an illegal letter to also file their own addendum to the complaint. The relevant case number is CN 09273/732.

We fervently hope that this latest naked disregard for the law on the part of Sheriff Fletcher is the event that finally brings his autocratic reign in Ramsey County to its deserved ignoble end.

"Borderline Bigots"

Vice magazine has a terrific online photo essay that documents the bald-faced hypocrisy of Mexico when it comes to immigration.

It seems that the neighbors to our immediate south, who just love to complain mightily about the U.S.'s quite reasonable policy of enforcing its sovereign borders, are themselves guilty of treating illegal migrants from Central America caught crossing their own southern border (while just "passing through" to the U.S., to boot) in a brutal, inhumane manner. As a matter of fact, the treatment meted out by the Mexican "authorities" to people from countries such as Honduras, Ecuador and Guatemala who are found to be there illegally is far worse than what any undocumented Mexican immigrant caught in America ever receives:

"Each year hundreds of thousands of optimistic South and Central Americans travel north to see whether things might be less crappy for them in the United States. The problem is they have to cross Mexico to get there. And Mexico is riddled with inhospitable local authorities and migrants who are as eager as they are possessive of the American passage."

The pictures are quite well done and are worth viewing, particularly the first one, which documents the ironic fact that Mexico has a southern border fence of its own, even as they decry the one our country is erecting.

We remind everyone that it remains a felony to be in Mexico illegally as well.

Now, who has the worse record on immigration again?

Let them eat cake. Now, where's my hairdresser?

Queen First Lady Michelle Obama, while our country is right smack in the middle of the worst economic climate in decades (just ask her husband, who's on TV daily telling everyone within earshot how hard he's been spending working to fix up the mess), has seen fit to employ a record-breaking number of aides to help her in, well, whatever it is she supposedly does for us. (Wastefully spending our money, it seems, is a top priority of hers.)

Here, courtesy of the Canada Free Press (because our mainstream media is apparently too busy covering the latest celebrity dust-up), are the names and salaries of most of the twenty-six personal servants assigned to Ms. Obama:

1. $172,2000 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)
2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)
3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary)
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady)
5. $102,000 - Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
6. $90,000 - Medina, David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady)
8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady)
9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady)
10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
11. $65,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)
12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady)
13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady)
14. $60,000 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady)
15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary To The First Lady)
16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide To The First Lady)
17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady)
18. $45,000 - Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)
19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)
20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)
21. $36,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)
22. $36,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady)

We didn't realize that the "stimulus" package that helped empty our collective pockets was going to all be spent on the Office of the First Lady. We exaggerate, of course, but you get the point. So much for leading by example.

Famous or not, one is truly defenseless when in England, even in one's own house

British TV star Myleene Klass was at home alone with her young daughter when she was startled by a group of teenagers who had entered her garden and were peering in her kitchen window. Ms. Klass instinctively grabbed a kitchen knife and tapped on the window glass with it, which had the intended effect of scaring the intruders away.

Naturally, this being England and all, it's Ms. Klass who is in trouble, as opposed to the trespassers:

"Hertfordshire Police officers warned Klass she should not have used a knife to scare off the teens because carrying an "offensive weapon" - even in her own home - was illegal."

One could argue that the knife was in fact used as a defensive weapon against the intruders on her property, who for all Klass knew were armed assailants bent on causing harm to her and her child, but the point is moot since that quite reasonable interpretation of the situation currently happens to also be illegal in that insane asylum.

"[Klass's spokesman] told the Sunday Telegraph: 'Myleene was aghast when she was told that the law did not allow her to defend herself at home.'"

Aghast indeed.

Yet another coddled famous person who finds out the hard way what the common British peasant already painfully knows - that the criminals in their country enjoy far more in the way of rights and protections than does the law-abiding citizenry, whom the government has left utterly defenseless.

This won't end well

The Chicago Police Department, an organization whose leadership isn't exactly known worldwide for their professionalism and stellar reputation, is apparently considering dropping its entrance exam after complaints that not enough minorities are making the force.

"Dropping the exam would bolster minority hiring and avert legal battles, according to one source, while others confirm that the exam could be scrapped to open the process to as many people as possible.

However, the lack of an exam would make Chicago the lone major city without one, and experts contend that the exam is integral to eliminating unqualified applicants." (emphasis mine)

Uh, yeah, that would seem to be an obvious point. The requirements and demands of the job pretty much rule out hiring anyone with two arms and two legs who walks through the door. You probably don't want to become known as the only burg in the country that doesn't do a certain step in the hiring process.

If we were qualified officers on that force, whether minority or not, we would be taking great offense at this right about now, to say nothing of starting to get real nervous about who was going to end up being our future partners.

It's his park too

Keene, New Hampshire performance artist Jonathan Doyle has filed a formal complaint with that state's attorney general after he was bounced from a state park for frolicking around, along with several others, in a Bigfoot costume on a mostly-unused trail, apparently not offending anyone but the martinet park ranger who did said bouncing.

It's admittedly not behavior in which we would participate, but Doyle seems harmless enough, and no one is claiming that he was doing anything dangerous, threatening or obscene. So what's with the heavy-handed treatment, besides the stroking of Ranger Friendly's ego?

A novel defense of the indefensible

Remember the story out of England last spring, when it was revealed that up to 400 current and former members of Parliament had been brazenly using large amounts of public dollars for such unallowed personal expenses as upkeep on their lavish country manors? Some of those esteemed politicians even went so far as to maintain "phantom" employees and offices, which led to the shameful resignations of quite a few in that body.

Well, the indictments are beginning to roll in, and at least three of the cookie-jar bandits (liberals, of course) have come up with a novel defense - we can't be prosecuted for our crimes because a 1689 law protects us from such action:

"Their lawyers are understood to maintain that the Bill of Rights of 1689 makes them immune to prosecution."

From anything? How about murder? Would sexual assault go unpunished as well?

Here's but a sampling of the alleged deeds of the members in question, which clearly illustrates that the charges they face aren't the sort of free-speech political witchhunt that the Bill would seem to offer politicians protection from:

"Mr [Elliot] Morley and Mr [David] Chaytor both claimed thousands of pounds for "phantom" mortgages they had paid off. Mr [Jim] Devine submitted invoices for electrical work worth £2,157 from a company with an allegedly false address and an invalid VAT number."

Here's the relevant line from the Bill itself that the good barristers seem to be referencing when attempting to prevent their clients from getting what's rightly coming to them:

"That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament"

We sure don't see anything there about blanket immunity from prosecution from any crimes whatsoever.

Being a liberal British MP apparently means never having to apologize for one's transgressions, much less face the same sort of sanctions for blatant fraud they hypocritically require ordinary British peasants to endure.

Once again, the rules are different for the ones in charge. How nice for them.

Literally giving the finger to socialized medicine

John Docherty of Ayr, Scotland slipped and fell on some ice the other day. Unfortunately for him, while trying to stop his fall his wedding ring caught on a fence, ripping off the finger.

Docherty immediately presented at his local NHS hospital, which promptly passed the buck by referring the poor grandfather to a facility in Glasgow, three hours away by taxi.

As a result of the extended (and unnecessary) travel time, Docherty's finger was unable to be saved.

"Last night NHS Ayrshire and Arran director Liz Moore said they would probe the taxi incident, adding: 'We agree that it is not acceptable.'"

One would certainly hope.

Still waiting with bated breath for Big Government to magically solve all of the health care issues in this country?

Today's TASER Travesty

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, despite their reputation as one of the most-overruled appellate bodies in the nation, has nonetheless gotten one right, shockingly enough (pun intended), and has ruled that police officers must indeed have a valid defensive reason to deploy a TASER on a person, and that merely enforcing compliance with the cops' barked orders (whether valid or not) doesn't quite fit that criteria:

"'The objective facts must indicate that the suspect poses an immediate threat to the officer or a member of the public,' Judge Kim Wardlaw said in the 3-0 ruling."

Yep, that's pretty much what we've been shouting around here for quite some time.

"Bryan [Carl Bryan, a Coronado, California resident whose arrest precipitated the lawsuit in question] was clearly unarmed and did not challenge [Coronado police officer Brian] McPherson verbally or make any menacing gestures, Wardlaw said. She said McPherson's claim that Bryan had ignored an order to stay in the car - an order that Bryan denied hearing - would not justify a Taser shooting, nor would the officer's concern that Bryan might be mentally disturbed."

One would think that this concept would be fairly obvious and that it shouldn't take a federal court ruling to codify it, yet we unfortunately still regularly note cases such as the one involving LaGrange Park, Illinois Police Officer Darren Pedota, who saw fit to TASER a person in a diabetic coma 11 times, totaling one minute of shock, solely because the patient, who was inconveniently in the middle of having his seizure, unintentionally made contact with one of the responding officers.

(Pedota apparently saw fit to choose this execrable course of action despite the fact that the victim's roommate specifically reported his medical condition when calling 911 for assistance.)

Officers Pedota and McPherson are both now being sued personally for their poor decision-making. Maybe seeing a bunch of moolah being taken directly from the pockets of a few of their brethren will finally convince police officers as a group that the TASER is indeed a "less-than-lethal" defensive weapon, and that it isn't merely provided to them to be routinely used as a compliance tool in order to make their jobs easier.

...and we're back

We appreciate our loyal readers' indulgence in tolerating our time off from posting, but that step was unfortunately very necessary as we have recently been dealing with some overwhelming (and very sad) personal crises, mainly the fact that our life partner and best friend has decided that they no longer want us to be present in their life.

Our daily existence seem to be approaching some measure of stability, however, and we now eagerly look forward to redoubling our efforts in 2010 to provide people who visit this blog with our best work yet.

Thanks for being here. All of you are appreciated more than you will ever know.

Happy New Year.