Well I really don’t want to turn this into the “excessive force by police officers” blog, but this one is a national headline as I believe it should be.

Who are we really being terrorized by?  I’m starting to question.  What the hell is going on?

Is this kid going to be looking over his shoulder every time he walks down the street?  Will he ever trust police officers?  I’m just sickened by it.

Read the full storry at The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/24/jordan-miles-teen-violini_n_434772.html

Watch the video: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/13/police-brutality-cops-pun_n_203245.html

Is this happening more often or is the Internet just making us more aware of it?  This police officer didn’t know he was on video, obviously.  The kick in the head, then pushing the guys arm up way beyond where he needed to, then the high five…pretty disgusting.

I know the guy is a criminal and I know he’s a suspected gang member, but does this really help reform anyone?  I believe this kind of behavior does nothing more than send more young kids into gangs and helps to create distrust and hate toward police officers in general.

From what I’ve read this officer hasn’t been disciplined or suspended yet, but I’ll update when I find out more.

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here but something happened tonight that is just the kind of thing that gets me to blog.  I recently met a guy named Alex and tonight when we were talking I found out his story.  He’s 27, has lived in Colorado for 3 years and is from Peru.  He’s gay and is out here but is not at a point where he feels he can tell his family or anyone back home.  He’s living here illegally; he overstayed a work visa.

I used to be a right-wing crazy who would go nuts over this kind of stuff, then I became a very conflicted and confused “moderate” who didn’t know quite what to do about these things but still strongly felt “they” should all go back and do it legally.  Now I’m a bleeding heart liberal who wants us to throw open our arms and our borders and actually live by “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” 

Why does Alex want to live in America so badly?  He wants to fall in love and be able to live openly and without fear in a same sex relationship.  As we spoke tonight he sadly told me about a close friend of his that was arrested for his immigration status almost 3 months ago.  His friend is from Morocco and is desperate to stay here because he can be jailed for his sexuality if he is sent back home.  He applied for amnesty based on his sexual orientation and was denied.  He appealed and was in the middle of the detailed and exhaustive process when he was was picked up and taken to jail for his illegal status.  He was shipped to a jail near Colorado Springs and remains there almost three months later.

I know we must have immigration laws; I understand that reality, but this is not the answer.  This man is in jail and will likely be sent back to a very unfriendly country where he may be imprisoned for who he is and we don’t consider that important enough for him to stay.

This system is broken, but how do we fix it?

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24027845-2703,00.html

Click here to view the embedded video.

UPDATE 01/16/2009: Khadr likely to leave Gitmo soon after Obama inauguration.

Below, you will find a link to a disturbing video of 22-year-old Oscar Grant being shot in the back by a police officer as he lay pinned face down on the ground.  I am trying to avoid rushing to judgement out of anger, but I think these videos speak for themselves.  My thoughts are with his family; I hope justice is swift and sure.  I will continue to follow the case and post updates.

Watch the story and cell phone videos recorded on the scene.

UPDATE 01/16/2009: Former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, has been arrested for murder the shooting of Oscar Grant on New Years Day.  Mehserle has been charged with homicide and has pled not guilty.

From ky3.com:

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BRANSON, Mo. — A teenager from Branson who was hit with an electric stun gun 19 times by police has recovered enough to do an interview with a reporter.

Ozark police found Mace Hutchinson on July 19 underneath the Highway F overpass over U.S. 65. Mace’s family says he broke his back in a fall off the bridge. When he wouldn’t move, police repeatedly used an electric stun gun on him.

Mace says he doesn’t remember much about that night and there are still several unanswered questions about how Mace ended up under the bridge. But what he is able to say is he believes there was no good reason why anyone in his situation would be stunned 19 times. He hopes the police officers are held accountable.

“There’s no way that they had to Tase me that many times,” he said.

Mace spent his 17th birthday lying in a hospital bed.

“I had a broken back, broken foot.”

Nearly two weeks later, he’s out of the hospital but still lying in bed, hardly able to move.

“It should be a couple months before I’m able to walk on my own.”

His family says what made his situation worse is that his surgery had to be postponed because he had been stunned by Ozark police 19 times.

“At least I’m alive though.”

Mace says he still can’t remember how he ended up at the bottom of the bridge. He says he knows he didn’t willingly jump.

“I know I’m lucky to survive that far of a fall.”

Police records say Hutchinson was aggressive with them, and tried to get up and get into traffic. Mace points out that he doesn’t weigh much and wonders why an officer didn’t just restrain him.

Police also say he yelled threatening remarks about harming officers. Those things combined were why they used the electric stun gun on him.

“He was saying things like, ‘Kill cops, shoot cops,’” Ozark Police Capt. Thomas Rousset said on July 23.

Mace says he doesn’t remember that and certainly doesn’t know how it would have been possible, with his injuries, for him to move toward the highway.

“There’s no way I could stand up. I had a broken back and a broken foot,” he said.

“I definitely want them to get punished, I don’t want them to get away with it.”

After the incident, the Ozark police chief said he launched an internal investigation. A reporter called the Ozark Police Department multiple times on Thursday but no one returned a call to provide an update on that investigation.

Am I the only one getting increasingly frustrated and concerned over these Tasing stories?  This kid had a BROKEN BACK and his heel was detached from the rest of his foot.  If the facts are as they appear to be, he was not possibly a threat!  He could have been saying, “I’m going to murder every single one of you.” and Tasing him 19 times would still not be appropriate.

Leaving the extremely serious injuries out of the story, he’s a small kid up against multiple police officers.  They keep saying he didn’t comply, what exactly was he not complying with?  To get up?  To stop being incoherent?  If these officers were not completely and totally incompetent they would have at the very least checked for injury.

The Captain angers me most of all.  “Shoot Cops. Kill Cops.”  Sounds fabricated, but even if it’s completely true were they really threatened by the kid sprawled out on the pavement mumbling to shoot cops?

This is simply disgusting.  Am I overreacting?  What do you think?

MIAMI, June 26 (UPI) — A Washington woman said she filed a federal lawsuit accusing a Miami hospital of “anti-gay animus” after workers refused to let her see her dying partner.

Janice Langbehn and her partner Lisa Marie Pond, both aged 39, intended to enjoy a vacation cruise with three of their four children, marking the women’s 18 years as a couple in February 2007, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday.

The trip abruptly ended when Pond had a massive stroke as the ship was preparing to leave port, the newspaper said.

She was taken to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital, where Langbehn said workers would not let her see her ailing partner.

A social worker allegedly said the couple was in an “anti-gay city and state.”

Pond died about 18 hours after she arrived at Jackson’s Ryder Trauma Center.

Langbehn said she was permitted to see Pond for no more than about five minutes.

The suit, lodged in U.S. District Court in Miami, seeks at least $75,000 and accuses physicians Alois Zauner and Carlos Alberto Cruz and social worker Garnett Frederick of negligence and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Source: http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/156028

I am sorry that I voted for this President. I am sorry that I supported this Administration for as long as I did. I am sorry we robbed you of your youth and your joy of life. I am sorry that you weren’t allowed an attorney and that I wasn’t more vocal when I found out this was happening in Guantanamo. I am sorry. I am so very sorry.

I implore all of you to Google Murat Kurnaz.

Murat Kurnaz was picked up by Pakistani police under suspicion of being a terrorist. Turns out the U.S. was paying bounties of $3,000 for suspicious men. He happened to be a different color than the Pakistani people.

He was denied an attorney and held in prison for five years. He was innocent. There were documents in 2002 from several different U.S. agency’s stating that he was innocent. He was released in 2006. Somehow from 2002 when it was decided he was innocent until 2006, we, as the United States of America sat on this and let him rot in prison. I am disgusted. Google him to find out more. 60 Minutes did an excellent piece on this, it is available on their Web site.