Jungle Law Rules Supreme In Eurekaville

Democracy, as an instrument of government, is worthless when people become the law, and that, without any accountability. The Law of the Jungle becomes the defacto government. Those that rule are those with the POWER. Read for yourself who has the power in Humboldt County.

Judge tosses Douglas, Zanotti manslaughter charges
Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 08/27/2008 01:30:57 AM PDT

Judge throws out involuntary manslaughter case
By KAREN WILKINSON, The Eureka Reporter
Published: Aug 26 2008, 11:03 PM · Updated: Aug 27 2008, 12:06 AM

Everyone that sees "DISMISSED" knows in his or her heart that Humboldt County Superior Court Judge John Feeney legally granted every police officer in Humboldt County the licence to kill with impunity.

When "Feeney began Tuesday's hearing by saying he believed the grand jury indicted without sufficient probable cause to establish that the defendants had committed an illegal act or a lawful act in a criminally negligent manner" he superimposed his judgments over the findings of the people. He made the Grand Jury system a mockery. He also put this community on notice, you are all on your own when you can be gunned down on a mere "belief."

The most disgusting and disingenuous statement observed to date that defines the "police" attitude justifying this whole tragedy was a quote by "William Rapoport, who was representing Zanotti in the matter. '(This case has) destroyed a huge part of these men's lives for the last nine months, and it's time they go some relief. ... They've had a cloud hanging over their heads for no good reason other than someone's political aspirations.'" The report goes on to say: "Douglas and Zanotti were not immediately available for comment." I would guess not!

Not when this clown, Rapoport can dismiss life and law with such casual and calloused disregard.

ADDENDUM: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 :: Comments in The Eureka Reporter as reported by Karen Wilkinson. Note: "Attorney William Bragg, who along with William Rapaport and Greg Rael, represented Douglas and Zanotti, said he expected the dismissal, adding the case shouldn’t have been one in the first place. He cited overwhelming case evidence on the defense’s side and said Feeney made the decision based on the law." HOWEVER, Mr Greenson for The Times Standard quotes the Judge to say, "The court's sympathies are extended to the friends and family of Ms. Moore for her tragic death, but the court cannot find evidence of any criminal conduct by Chief Douglas or Lt. Zanotti." The Judge didn't quote "law." He acted on his opinion. Judges are NOT the law.

Karen Wilkenson continues: "The defense attorneys filed motions starting in June seeking to have the case dismissed. The motions stated Gallegos misrepresented the law to the grand jury and didn’t provide evidence that would have helped justify the men’s decisions in the standoff." Joe contends that if Mr. Gallegos "misrepresented the law to the grand jury and didn’t provide evidence" he did so deliberately; he's hardly that stupid, incompetent or politically motivated.

His concluding statement in The Eureka Reporter indicates that he has his priorities or legal responsibilities a bit sqewed. Note: "While he understands the support the former EPD leaders received from others in law enforcement, Gallegos said there’s also an obligation to Moore’s family. He hopes the judicial determination will bring closure to her family, the community and those involved." If his sworn Oath of Office means anything, his first priority is to the Law and then to the community. While it is a tragedy for the Moore family it is a bigger tragedy for the community. No "judicial determination" in and of itself "brings closure." JUSTICE brings closure!

--Joe

How The Stupid Rule

. . . and rule, and rule and rule -- regardless of whose in office.

I'm not sure if this makes my point, but on the lite-side . . .

The Wrecking Crew: Thomas Frank on How Conservatives Rule

Columnist and author Thomas Frank joins us (Democracy Now) to talk about his latest book, The Wrecking Crew. Frank writes, “Fantastic misgovernment of the kind we have seen is not an accident, nor is it the work of a few bad individuals. It is the consequence of triumph by a particular philosophy of government, by a movement that understands the liberal state as a perversion and considers the market the ideal nexus of human society. This movement is friendly to industry not just by force of campaign contributions but by conviction.” Read the interview to learn how Ronald Regan and GHW Bush dominated Bill Clinton's agenda and how G. Bush Jr. has setup the next President.

We're not just talking about Conservative Republicans either.

Obama, the prince of bait-and-switch
24 Jul 2008
In his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger describes the devaluing of civilian casualties in colonial wars, and the anointing of Barack Obama, as he tours the battlefields, sounding more and more like George W. Bush. Read on . . .

In the New York Times on 14 July, in an article spun to appear as if he is ending the war in Iraq, Obama demanded more war in Afghanistan and, in effect, an invasion of Pakistan. He wants more combat troops, more helicopters, more bombs. Bush may be on his way out, but the Republicans have built an ideological machine that transcends the loss of electoral power – because their collaborators are, as the American writer Mike Whitney put it succinctly, "bait-and-switch" Democrats, of whom Obama is the prince.

And continues . . .
Those who write of Obama that "when it comes to international affairs, he will be a huge improvement on Bush" demonstrate the same wilful naivety that backed the bait-and-switch of Bill Clinton – and Tony Blair. . . .

And concludes: Eleven years and five wars later, at least a million people lie dead. Barack Obama is the American Blair. That he is a smooth operator and a black man is irrelevant. He is of an enduring, rampant system whose drum majors and cheer squads never see, or want to see, the consequences of 500lb bombs dropped unerringly on mud, stone and straw houses.

Locally we find the same mentality in the Times-Standard, Friday, August 8, 2008, pg. A4:

"Mortgaging our children's future" -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be sliced, diced, and privatized. And, Change we should worry about. Rejection of the Republican Party today is not a rejection of limited government and traditional values. How do the stupid rule? They use "faith-based initiatives." She calls these "faith-based" ideas, opinions or beliefs "these great American principles" (limited government and traditional values) that have absolutely nothing to do with common sense or the facts. Some great smoke-blowing, or is it a slick bit of "bait and switch"?

And now if, you like to buy real local-grown food, this is a real casualty of the short-sighted and stupid: "Trouble in Paradise: Arcata farmer's market vendors need support." Time-Standard, My Word by Janet Sclar, Friday, August 8, 2008.

Read this article if you like to buy real tomatoes and then you'll know why people drive to Crescent City to shop at Home Depot and Walmart. With the gas prices the way they are, it's a bit of a stretch to believe it's because they're saving money. She concludes her Word by saying: "If sustainable decisions cannot be reached then the markets, and their vendors, will not survive and the next time you want to buy a real tomato, not caught up in some larger-than-life controversy over its origins, it won't be available here!"

--You reap what you sow according to Joe

The Lies Of Hiroshima Are The Lies Of Today

By John Pilger ---- On the anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, John Pilger describes the 'progression of lies' from the dust of that detonated city, to the wars of today - and the threatened attack on Iran.

When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open. At a quarter past eight on the morning of August 6, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite. I stared at the shadow for an hour or more, then walked down to the river and met a man called Yukio, whose chest was still etched with the pattern of the shirt he was wearing when the atomic bomb was dropped.

Read on if you've got the guts . . .

Addendum Thursday, August 7, 2008: South Korea Commission Probes Civilian Massacres by US in Korean War

Is this our legacy? The butchery of innocent women and children?

--Joe

Security Sickness

Read the Sunday, August 3, Editorial in The Eureka Reporter carefully and see if you can find the flim-flam. The title is: "Creeping Internet regulation." To the casual reader you might conclude that the recent ruling by the FCC against the big telecom company, Comcast, was a subtle infringement or posed a serious infringement on Net Neutrality. You might . . .

Notice: "Ostensibly, Comcast did this to customers who often transferred large files because it was concerned that the files might contain illegally copied music or films." Comcast actually assaulted Net Neutrality causing the ruling, because someone, a rare few big downloaders "might" infringe upon them.

Joe recently read on a local blog, SoHum Parlance, the following advice (legal apparently) about search warrants under "Tooby Raids Imminent. Duck and Cover": "Many people who were caught up in last month's raids were innocent of any crime, but a search is justified under the law simply on the basis that there is reason to believe your home contains evidence of a crime." "Reason to believe, he says. Innocent people are legally persecuted, harmed and in some cases killed on a "belief" that "illegally," what? Yeah! What justifies that kind of wanton, rubber-stamp conduct by those empowered to protect the innocent? The same kind of psychotic paranoia that subordinates common sense and makes everyone complicit, security sickness. The kind of common sense that protects the innocent rather than deal with them as mere casualties of war.

Today, all that's needed is for someone to "believe" that you are involved in a "suspicious activity." Something as simple as taking or trying to take a couple of pictures and you will find yourself infected with a current strain of "security sickness." You can read about real "creeping regulation" here. The kind of "creep" that hits all freedom-loving and law-abiding Americans right where they live.

Don't you just love The Eureka Reporter's great snake oil?

ADDENDUM Monday, August 04, 2008

One of the more obvious symptoms of “Security Sickness” is, “If you believe that what you say in good-faith is true then you are NOT a liar.” Why the news media has no credibility or why you can’t trust the Eureka Reporter to print the facts. Or the Eureka Reporter’s facts speak for themselves when they use a quote from a corrupt Republican Dark Age Crusader (John Boehner, R-Ohio, the House minority leader) to justify their worthless opinions.

“FCC Rules Against Comcast For Blocking Web Access”

Read for yourself where Craig Aaron (Communications Director for Free Press) says, in part: "Well, this ruling that happened on Friday, which is really a landmark, a historic precedent, was the result of an incredible grassroots movement to draw attention to these issues of an open internet. . . ." You can read the rest of the interview here.

ADDENDUM: Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Another symptom of the disease: Mcain suggests military-style invasion modeled on the surge to control inner city crime. You think, when the sickness is full blown, we'll get "Iraq inner city" crime with car bombs, suicide bombers and rampant executions?

--Joe

Guilty As Accused

Ever hear the expression, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? How about two pictures worth a million words?


Is Diane Batley responsible for plastering this guy's guilty mug all over the Eurek Reporter's front page as one of her first duties?





Court: Miller Trial <--------> Diane M. Batley, Editor

If so, good job. We wouldn't want to take a chance that any prospective juror that sees this picture could find this guy anything but guilty now would we? Otherwise, why is he presented before the public and prospective jurors in a prison-guilty monkey-suit all shakled up like some raving lunatic ready for his tar and feathering? He's guilty! End of story.

End of his story, but not that of Ms. Batley or The Eureka Reporter. I'm sure they will provide much grist for the mill.


ADDENDUM Wednesday, August 13, 2008: Innocent Until Proven Guilty.

This is the front page picture in the Time-Standard, "Gundersen's wife held for her safety, ..."

No monkey suit and chains here. Is that because the jury's already been selected?

-Joe