DAILY NEWS – JANUARY 10th, 2011

DAILY NEWS – JANUARY 10th, 2011

DATELINE: THE STATE OF NOT-SO-MUCH BROTHERLY LOVE – To be honest, it’s probably not fair to pick on just one State, but as an observer from outside the country, I have to ask ‘What the fuck is wrong with you??’ That question, however, is not directed at ‘the people’; it is for many (not all) politicians and the media, and it applies to the whole damned continent as the trend is embraced more every day up here in Canada. A woman, fulfilling what she truly believed was the altruistic role of serving the people, was shot in the head this weekend. Congresswoman Giffords was simply giving her electorate the opportunity to talk to her, and THAT was enough to cause the death of 6 people, the shooting of 13 others, and if the gunman had the opportunity, how many more? While horrific and unbelievable, perhaps it was just a matter of time before this had to happen somewhere – not necessarily in Arizona (and I am certainly not advocating it SHOULD have happened to anyone) but somewhere. Just turn on the damned television, listen to the bullshit being spewed every day by politicians screaming about what people should be afraid of and who they should blame for what is going wrong in their lives, or what might go wrong tomorrow? How many times have you heard a politician actually discussing a real plan to make things better? They argue and spew crap simply for the sake of being heard and the media gladly offers the platform on which they can do this shit. In North America, we are truly blessed with elected governments that are for the most part, for better or worse, honestly the result of the voting electorate’s decision. There is no politician in the world who can make decisions that please everyone all the time, there will always be people who disagree with the decisions made, and there are some self-serving corrupt politicians in the works, BUT we have the mechanism in place to deal with that… with a fucking ballot. If you don’t vote, then shut the fuck up and just live with what you have. If you don’t like the candidates you have to choose from, get off your ass and find someone you believe will be suitable. It’s about time we take responsibility for the clusterfuck we have created in both countries where politics are concerned. We are too damned self-centered, we are too protectionist about the ‘MY’ – My life, My home, My Town, My City, My State, My Country – and to hell with all the rest. We have not held politicians to account and we have let them spew hateful, over-the-top Palin-esque bullshit on a daily basis, and as a result a woman doing what she was elected to do in order to help create some peace within her constituency was shot in the head… along with eighteen innocent bystanders. Not to be overlooked, though, when the hell did it become alright for the media to have a political agenda? The media is there to inform the public in a non-partisan way. They are to keep their political opinions to themselves – they are free to have them, and to use editorial pages to emphasize the issues of a topic, but how is it acceptable that they actively advocate for one party or the other? How can we have television stations totally devoted to one party or the other and shamelessly voice vitriolic crap to discredit the other. How the hell can people watching NOT get fucked up with that? When a position is determined politically prior to even writing the news, it is no longer fucking news – it is propaganda. It cannot have credibility because it is not balanced. It does not allow the people to make up their own minds about what is happening. How the fuck did we let the media become so all-powerful in the running of our countries or setting political agendas for us? When did the theatrics of some politicians dressing in camouflage and taking a gun to ‘shoot’ down a governmental policy, or a politician using a website to position gun sites on opponents constituency offices, and telling her ‘fans’ to reload and not to retreat become morally or ethically acceptable? How can we really believe that this bullshit does NOT impact people, especially those down on their luck, the frustrated, the tired, or those who are confused or off-balance? Am I making excuses for the sick fuck who opened up fire in Arizona on the weekend? Hell no! Not for one minute. Am I suggesting that perhaps we need to seriously sit back and look at what the fuck we have become with the quest for power, the attitude of ‘my needs and ‘rights’ over everyone else’s ‘ and twenty-four-hour news cycles that have no choice but to fill the air with so much rehashing and twisting and agenda-dictated reporting? You are god damned right I am. Today when you turn on the news or download your newspaper, please take a minute to think about Christina Taylor-Green (9), John Roll, Gabe Zimmerman (30), Dorwin Stoddard (76), Dorothy Morris (76) and Phyllis Scheck (79), the 13 other people injured, and their friends and families. What a truly sad fucking day for a country that embraces, and in fact sends soldiers to die, in order to protect and promote democracy.

DATELINE: AND IN THIS CORNER – This weekend we were AGAIN offered an example of police brutality and total fucking incompetence. Thank you, Constable Geoff Mantler of the RCMP for giving us yet another reason to not trust you as a force, not respect you as a force, and not want you as a force here in beautiful fucking BC. Perhaps the RCMP should start teaching a course in Depot on learning to not do this shit where people are standing with cell phones and cameras? Or maybe we could look at a law that prevents us from having those things, so you can continue to run amok, refusing to attend break-ins, thefts, highway accidents (unless there is a death), burglar alarms or so many other things we are ridiculously under the impression you are paid to fucking do. Instead, you taser, beat, kick, abuse and shoot the people you have to deal with, and the statistics are staggering. Caught clearly on video this Friday in Kelowna, Constable Geoff Mantler was involved with pulling over pulled over a man as the result of a firearms complaint. Now, I can understand the need for caution, BUT the suspect, moving slowly, hands up and empty, knelt on the ground as he prepared to lie face down on the pavement. Mantler, however, felt the need to walk up to him as he was already on his knees, lowing himself, and applied one hell of a kick to the man’s face. For what?? He was doing what he was told. Ohhhhh, wait… its’ because the cops can. They can do anything here. They are powerful, and we better not fucking forget it. As it turns out, the suspect was involved in an accident last year and suffered a broken back and head injuries, so yeah, he might move slow. He has a permit for his gun, that he was using it at the golf course where he works, where his job is to shoot blanks to scare away the geese, which he was doing. So far, he has not broken any fucking laws, but let’s beat the crap out of him—because we can. In the same video footage, caught by a local member of the media, it is clear when they get the gun from the vehicle that it has the guard on it, that it is totally locked up and no threat. The even bigger crime in this, though, is the man has been held in custody all fucking weekend, and will appear in court this morning on their fucking trumped up firearms charges of careless use of a firearm – a charge which, if convicted summarily, which would be their ONLY option if they were stupid enough to actually proceed with this bullshit, carries a maximum penalty of two months incarceration OR a $5000 fine, certainly NOT an offence to keep him in custody all fucking weekend. The time has come…. as we go through the HUGE list of police abuses and misconduct in this province, for us to stand up and tell our politicians that we want a real fucking police force here, one that will work with the public and respect the public and our right to due process, and not a fucking bunch of chicken-shit playground bullies and thugs.