Friday, October 12, 2007

A Life Lesson

Nine years ago, as I was waiting at a traffic light in morning rush hour traffic, my car was rear-ended. The force was so great that it knocked my car into the one in front of me, locking our bumpers. It also caused a severe jolt to my neck that left me dazed for several seconds.

As I sat there, dazed, I saw a woman get out of the car in front of me. At the same time, the woman who had hit me got out of her car and in a thick Mexican accent asked the other woman, “Is he okay?”

“I don't know,” said the woman, bending down to look through my window.

I opened the door.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. I got out of the car.

At that moment, the woman who had hit me jumped in her car and sped away. It happened so fast we could not get her license plate.

“Can you believe that?” said the woman.

I looked at our bumpers. Yes, they were locked. “Maybe we should try to get our cars apart so we can move them out of the way,” I said, concerned about the honking traffic behind us.

“No,” said the woman, “not if you’re injured.”

We went around to the back of my car and surveyed the damage there. It was bad.

“Wow,” said the woman. “She sure hit you hard.” Then she said, “You stay here. I’ll go find a phone.”

She left. I stood there, leaning on my car, unsteady on my legs.

Because our cars were blocking the lane, the other lane was now carrying the burden of both lanes. As the cars passed me, a great many drivers honked at me and angrily motioned for me to move the cars, which of course I could not do in my injured state. Even had I not been injured, I could not have done it by myself. I know this because later it took two cops to get the cars apart.

As the people passed, motioning angrily, sometimes their lips moved in the familiar way that indicated a word was being said that started with the letter “f.” One man gave me the finger.

It was horrible. Here I was, in my hour of difficulty, unable to do what these people wanted of me, not responsible for the wreck in the first place, more the victim of the situation than they, and yet I was being held accountable by everyone for slowing down the already-slow rush-hour traffic. The faces that streamed past, snarling and vicious, began to blend into one face. It was as if, for the first time in my life, I was seeing the real face of humanity in all its foulness, savagery, and stupidity.

It was too ugly to look at, too hard to believe that all this hatred was directed at me. Therefore, I retreated from the snarling faces. I got back into my car and kept my head down. I wanted to curl up in a fetal position.

The woman returned. I rolled down my window. “They’re on the way,” she said. “They’re sending an ambulance.”

This woman was a great comfort to me. After having been injured in a hit-and-run by one person, and honked at, cursed, and viciously reviled by everyone else for inconveniencing them with my injury, here at least was one person who knew what had happened, who did not blame me, and who was in fact concerned for my well being. We were in this together, and it forged a bond between us. I knew I could count on her, and it was this knowledge that restored my faith in humanity.

Imagine my surprise, then, when a few weeks later my insurance company sent me a copy of a letter it had sent her. It seems that, despite the police report and her own eyewitness account of what had happened, she had attempted to blame me for the accident in order to collect from my insurance company. The letter was advising her to contact her own insurance company, as it was a hit-and-run accident that had been caused by a third party.

I thought about this woman during the months of physical therapy it took to repair my injury. I thought, too, about the other woman who—for lack of a drivers license, or insurance, or a green card, or all three—had injured me and left me for dead, for all she knew. I thought, too, about the vicious snarling faces, the curses, and the obscene gesture, and thought, "Thank God for the brotherhood of man. Where would we be without it?"

CNBC Admits Deleting Poll Because Paul Was Winning

Allen Wastler, managing editor of CNBC.com, admitted today he deleted an after-debate poll that favored Ron Paul because he didn’t like the results. The results, he says, were due to “organized” flooding of the poll by Paul supporters. He offers no evidence for such a conspiracy, of course. It’s just his impression based on Paul not having previously received similar results in what he calls “legit” polls, his poll not being one. Yeah, that’s right, he doesn’t consider his own poll legit. I’ll bet he would consider it legit if he had liked the results. If Paul had come in last, it would have been headline news. We would still be hearing about it. But no, Paul came in first, so now the poll isn't legit. It was unscientific, he tells us. Its only purpose was to “take a quick temperature reading” of the audience. Which begs the question, what use is a temperature reading that’s not based on some scientific principle or other? Here’s a tip, Mr. Wastler, and it’s scientific: Next time you want a temperature reading, get a thermometer and stick it up your ass.

The Praiseworthy Career of the Prostitution Decoy

Update: Florida cop Andrea Eichhorn has dropped her lawsuit against the family of a brain-damaged boy. This came after the police chief placed her on leave and filed a formal complaint against her, setting up an internal investigation. In an official statement, the police department stated it had told her her medical expenses would be fully covered by workers compensation, therefore had advised her against filing the lawsuit. In addition, the department released more of Eichhorn’s personnel records, revealing that her career as a police officer (working as a prostitution decoy, among other things) has not been as “praiseworthy” as first claimed. Nine years ago she was disciplined for using false names to work off-duty jobs, apparently as a tax dodge in order to hide income. It appears, then, that she is no novice when it comes to lying for the sake of a quick buck.

So ends the praiseworthy career of Sgt. Andrea Eichhorn, Prostitution Decoy, and so ends her lawsuit. And what will become of her lawyer David Heil who described her as the victim of the family of the brain-damaged boy? Don’t worry about him. No doubt he has already heard the wail of a distant ambulance and is off to the chase ...

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Oh the inhumanity ...

A cop who broke a knee during a rescue call is suing the family who called 911 when their one-year-old boy nearly drowned after falling into a swimming pool. The boy suffered severe brain damage in the incident and now lives in a nursing home where he can neither eat nor breathe on his own.

This tragedy, however, pales in comparison to what the cop, Sgt. Andrea Eichhorn, is suffering. Her knee still hurts. Yes, it still hurts. A lot. Also, she might develop arthritis some day. And she needs help with the medical bills. True, her bills are not as large as the family’s medical bills, but they are large enough to cause her a great deal of aggravation.

What a terrible fate to befall a law enforcement officer whose career has been distinguished by, among other things, working as a prostitution decoy. We understand that, in the entire history of the police force, no officer had a more alluring cleavage, dressed more provocatively, or moved her posterior more invitingly when she walked than Sgt. Eichhorn. Who will replace her now that she has fallen? Who? Who? Who? No one, that's who.

Sgt. Eichhorn's tragedy is more than human mind can comprehend. Her knee is damaged—and all because the boy’s mother carelessly left a puddle of water lying around when she pulled him out of the pool. A puddle of water that caused Sgt. Eichhorn, in one horrifying and life-changing moment, to slip and fall and break her knee. Oh the inhumanity of it all, oh the injustice. The horror, the horror …

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

LIVE TONIGHT: PsiOp Radio 10/9/07 Edition

In one hour, SMiles Lewis and I will start broadcasting this week's LIVE edition of PsiOp Radio. We are now carried on two networks, Revere Radio and Anomaly Radio. To listen on Revere, CLICK HERE. To listen on Anomaly, CLICK HERE. The one-hour show starts at 8 pm EDT / 7 pm CDT / 0100 UTC ...

More on the Police Brutality Pandemic

In Old America, a single police officer at best would confront this woman and seek to have her sit down and talk to her about her situation and emotional response to it. Only if the woman lashed out against the police officer in a physical manner or otherwise proved herself to be a threat to public safety and/or the well being to others would the police officer place her under arrest. He would normally contain and control the situation by himself and only call for back up if needed. In this case, a police officer in Old America would be embarrassed to call for back up.

However, in post 9-11 America, where the Constitution has been cast aside and police state laws have been implemented, police in an airport respond to any call against the behavior of a citizen as they would respond against an enemy of the state: excessive use of force with zero tolerance against anyone failing to immediately bow to and comply to any direct command. The truly sad and silly reality to the police response in the Gotbaum death is that this police state type of attitude would have no bearing at all on any genuine terrorist action against the USA and only proves itself as serving to undermine the rights and welfare of those it arose to seemingly protect: the American citizen
... Read More: Carol Gotbaum's Message To America

Nevertheless, all of these stories are connected by a common thread: Law enforcement in the United States, whose duty it is to "protect and serve" have now become not just part of the problem but in fact, predatory devourers of those they are sworn to keep safe.

Deepening collapse will be attended by manifestations of the unraveling of all institutions, one of the most frightening examples being law enforcement's hysterical repression of citizens.

Although we are seeing more media attention given to private security companies such as Blackwater, we should not assume that the power and funding granted to these firms will dissipate anytime soon. They are an integral part of the Shock Doctrine brilliantly analyzed by Naomi Klein in her new book of the same title. The greater the extent of the empire's collapse, the greater the intensity of the shock applied to those who reside within the belly of the beast. From those shocks flow not only increased terror and social control, but flourishing profits for private security companies
... Read More: American Lockdown: Law Enforcement Out of Control and Beyond the Pale