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- Go to Clevelander brutalized and arrested for postering "Bush Step Down"
My wife would say I'm always contrary. Same diff.
Oh, yeah. Utility guys I've talked with hate 'em. Now more and more, however, they use ladders and cherrypickers.
In southern California ("SoCal") I've seen "tagging" by gang wannabees or associates using printed sticky labels! Next step; spreading glue and sticking up posters..oh, wait, circular evolution!
posted by
majroj
on February 9, 2006 at 4:53 PM
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Maj, you always manage to present
an interesting viewpoint from the other side of the fence. I never thought about the hazards of staples onthe poles for utility workers...
posted by
Cynthia
on February 9, 2006 at 3:27 AM
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In the old days, business owners would charge for signs painted on stores.
If they didn't wqant you posting and caught you, they'd come out and punch you up.
Besides litter, the problem with posting are the staples. A utilities worker trying to climb a pole has enough trouble getting past slippery posterboard, but the staples can cause a climbing spike to pop out unexpectedly; massed staples can m ake it dicey if it will go in at all. Then sliding down past the rusting staples can be great fun.
How about kiosks on private property? Businesses creating dedicated posting space? Non-street side of bus benchs, or even private bus benches?
posted by
majroj
on February 8, 2006 at 6:48 AM
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benzinha, first it's good to hear from you again.
Here in Cambridge, (our fair city as the 'Car Talk' guys say) we can poster all we want. Telephone poles here are always like community bulletin boards. You have given me an idea for another post.
posted by
Cynthia
on February 8, 2006 at 3:50 AM
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cynthia, I mourn the passing of legal poster posting. Toulouse's work
would not exzist today, if not for that....I don't find them unsightly and I fear the silence which grows in their absence.
I always wait quite awhile before having an opinion about whatever story is going around, becasue, as maj said, it isn't always the full story nor an unbiased one.
However, that lady looks a lot like I did when I had my hair undyed and shoulder length and wore contacts....so, I was walking in her shoes as I read your post....
Patriotism is no longer shown at community meetings and shown with massive attendance at polling places, but rather with bumper stickers of empty flags and superficial words, put there by non-readers and non-voters. I fear and loathe that patriotism.
posted by
benzinha
on February 8, 2006 at 3:31 AM
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Blanche, like you, I've got my fingers crossed.
I saw Gonzales on the front page of the paper today. He got his ass hauled in before a senate committee. We'll see if they've got teeth or if it's just all for show.
posted by
Cynthia
on February 7, 2006 at 3:58 AM
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Let's hope the system works, Majroj,
and it's just a minor aberration, not a systemic problem.
posted by
Blanche.
on February 6, 2006 at 9:27 PM
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Then there's a cop or two who will be counting rivets on a pier somewhere.
And waiting for a subpoena.
posted by
majroj
on February 6, 2006 at 9:17 PM
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Maj- That was good advice
and a nice piece of history asa reminder. I should remember that. We have an anthropological film, a classic, called THE AX FIGHT, which shows a fight breakiing out in a village just as tha anthropologist and his cameraman arrive. They speculate about what caused the fight while they are filmming it. Later the root causes are revealed and their initial observations were proven wrong. A lesson learned.
But so far, this case in Cleveland seems to have been accurately reported.
posted by
Cynthia
on February 6, 2006 at 4:17 AM
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Blanche, those officers need to do some time behind bars themselves.
posted by
majroj
on February 5, 2006 at 9:07 PM
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Cynthia, it's your blog. No apologies!!
As my daughter's t-shirt says, those who are different create change, while those who fit in don't.
Basic rule is that the first reports are always wrong.
You probably don't know the names Leonard Detweiler or Marquette Frye. Detweiler was shot by a law officer during a traffic stop in Los Angeles's Watts-Willowbrook section. Not long after, Marquette Frye was arrested in a similar circumstance, and touched off the Watts Riots. In each instance the initial word out was that they were shot as perpetrators of what was later named "driving while black".
Review of the facts later established that Detweiller was driving erratically at high speeds with a near lethal blood alcohol level and tried to drive off when the officer attempted to reach into the stopped car for the keys while his gun was almost in contact with Dettweiler's head. His wife, whom he was allegedly driving to the hospital in labor but who was actually about seven months along, took to attendiong the court hearings in a wheelchair at times, and collapsing or swooning for reasons never established when she was seen medically.
Maruqette Frye was pulled over for erratic driving and would not cooperate with the officer; family members tried to intervene and get him away from the officer, they were arrested, and in the resultant week or so of chaos the rioters gutted the community of its businesses so thoroughly that the large chain grocery stores etc, still haven't come back entirely.
First reports are never right.
(Sidebar: "Launch on warning" nukes were not sent on 20FEB'71 when the wrong tape was put into the NORAD alert machine. Talk about a wrong first report...).
posted by
majroj
on February 5, 2006 at 9:05 PM
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If You Speak The Truth Then Please...
refrain from speculation. Injecting purely speculative sentences like this, "I think to myself, if I was Black, I would not have made it this far. I would probably be dead by now." Such speculation does nothing to gain my sympathy since I never base my endorsements on hypothetical situations. Hell, if I were a billionaire then I wouldn't give a crap what happened to you on the streets of Cleveland. Why would I care about your misfortune after you ignored the local laws and began polluting the neighborhoods with illegal posters? That however, is pure speculation on my part.
Here's some advice, next time make sure you planned activity isn't illegal.
Having said that, I will admit that the police reaction to your crime appears over the top. Unless the officer decided to cite you for your crime, he had no real authority to ask you for identification. I'd guess that the officer violated your IV Amendment guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure as you volunteered to remove your illegal posters.
I'll let your attorneys settle that battle before I express my outrage inspired by your story.
DM
posted by
Dennison..Mann
on February 5, 2006 at 5:18 AM
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Blanche, there is a hot case here in Boston
where a young woman in a crowd of rowdy sports enthusiasts was blinded by a rubber bullet shot randomly into the crowd by police. Not all police are trigger happy and eager to use brute force, but some are and they need to be weeded out.
posted by
Cynthia
on February 5, 2006 at 5:06 AM
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Katray - I know form your past writing
that you are politically aware. There will always be fascists in every society. We most be constantly vigilant as freedome will be taken from us in increments, not in one fell sweep, but in little bits and pieces around the edges of our lives. That is why the ACLU is so important. We have to want and tolerate freedom for ALL the people, not just those who believe in Jesus. That is why abortion rights are so important and Gay rights are so important. These are part of our civil rights. And the most important right of all to protest against our government is being subverted by this administration in ways that are unprecidented.
posted by
Cynthia
on February 5, 2006 at 5:02 AM
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MAJROJ, THANK YOU FOR THE UP DATES!
and sorry I got a little hot under the collar in my remarks.
posted by
Cynthia
on February 5, 2006 at 4:54 AM
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Getting some more reports 2
http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/18651.php
posted by
majroj
on February 4, 2006 at 8:39 PM
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Getting some more reports
http://cleveland.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/18653.php
posted by
majroj
on February 4, 2006 at 8:37 PM
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I posted a piece (yesterday and again this morning) about an activist from my hometown who has seen the reality of tyranny up close - John Blair was illegally harassed and arrested by local police because he was carrying a sign deemed to be unappealing to our esteemed v.p. Yes, oppression is alive and kicking. The only bright side to this story is the federal court decision to act in defense of our constitution and an individual's liberty. Can the courts be counted on to do this consistently?...And will enough cases like this (especially when they vindicate the violated) finally wake people up and just maybe send a message to the violaters of freedom??....
Cynthia, I am aware and every time this happens, the truth must be outed and stood by. I hope this poor woman finds redress also; I'm wondering if she should be notified about John's case or perhaps she has counsel already working in this direction. In any event, I will be following her situation with interest and concern.
Maureen Hayden of the Evansville Courier& Press reports here today that:
The city of Evansville has apparently reached a settlement with a local political activist who sued the city after he was arrested outside a 2002 political fundraiser featuring Vice President Dick Cheney. The financial agreement comes on the heels of federal court rulings that found city police violated protester John Blair's right to free speech when they arrested him after he entered a "no-protest zone." The zone was set up by Secret Service agents during Cheney's visit to Evansville to raise money for Republican Rep. John Hostettler. The rulings said Blair was entitled to monetary damages for his wrongful arrest.
posted by
Katray2
on February 4, 2006 at 5:36 PM
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Cynthia,
Oh, and I forgot to mention that the woman in the incident in the police waiting room was TASERED. The use of tasers was supposed to be an alternative to using deadly force, NOT in non-threatening cases.
posted by
Blanche.
on February 4, 2006 at 5:00 PM
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Maj- I could give a bloody F87%k
about your post. It is democracy and a real life in America that I care about based on MY life experience
as a political activist for 40 years.
posted by
Cynthia
on February 4, 2006 at 4:58 PM
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Maj- OF COURSE THE MAINSTREAM
Cleveland newspapers don't have this story. That is EXACTLY the point.
posted by
Cynthia
on February 4, 2006 at 4:56 PM
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All my friends who read my posts
and those who don't but just stumble on stuff, I beg you to stop for a moment, take a deep breath, and ask yourself what does this mean, this event with this 50+ woman, activist, cancer survivor, in Ohio? What does this mean to me? Nothing? I don't live in Ohio you say, I don't have a mother or grandmother who is stupid enough to believe that we still live in a country where FREE SPEACH IS POSSIBLE???**&%$
Give me a break!
Majroj - perhaps you and I will part ways on this.
posted by
Cynthia
on February 4, 2006 at 4:38 PM
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Majroj,
There are documented (as in videotape) of a 6 ft. plus police officer tackling a 50 plus woman who was sitting in a police waiting room, having turned herself in for a traffic violation. She'd been there for hours and wanted to tell her 80 yr. old father ,who was waiting in the car, that she was still waiting. When she tried to leave (not having been arrested), she was tackled and thrown the to the ground. It was excessive by anyone's standards.
In another case, shown on 60 Minutes, a 50 something woman, didn't pull over fast enough on a dark country road, she was afraid for her safety because the police car behind her was unmarked and she wanted to get to a safer, better lit area. She signaled that she was going to comply, but when she did pull over, she was pulled out of the car,. handcuffed and roughed up.
Is this not excessive force against someone who poses no visible physical threat?
posted by
Blanche.
on February 4, 2006 at 4:02 PM
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You're not going to like my post. Sorry in advance...
posted by
majroj
on February 4, 2006 at 3:36 PM
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I've written three versions of my comment here and deleted them.
posted by
majroj
on February 4, 2006 at 3:14 PM
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Cynthia,
Another reason why witnessses are so important to keep the police in check. If this woman didn't have supporters to come stand up for her in the ER, she probably would have ended up in a psych ward, if she continued to protest against her treatment, they would have put her in "Four-point restraint" (arms and legs shackled to a gurney) and probably shot her up with Haldol (or similar drug) to shut her up.
It's not only in the ex-Soviet Union and China that political dissidents are treated in psychiatric wards. Thank God for blogs to get the word out, although the cops are calling photographing them in public (as in the beating on the street in New Orleans) "Objstruction of Justice" Explain that one? They can go through our garbage or anything that is considered "plain view" (including your home if the blinds are oopen) but if a private citizen takes a picture of a cop committing police brutality, it's obstruction of justice? We need checks on police power for this very reason.
posted by
Blanche.
on February 4, 2006 at 11:48 AM
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That is outrageous!
posted by
Whacky
on February 4, 2006 at 11:39 AM
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Indeed frightening and shocking Cynthia
but not surprising, if that makes any sense. Thanks for posting it; hopefully a few eyes be opened.
posted by
Katray2
on February 4, 2006 at 11:07 AM
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Oddly, the Cleveland mainstream newspapers don't have this story.
Googling it twice in ten minutes is interesting though, as the number of direct references is noticeably increasing.
Anthropologists, take note.
posted by
majroj
on February 4, 2006 at 10:34 AM
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