The Right of Self-Defence, The American Way

This copy is reposted here specifically for the police and people of Humboldt County. Make your own comparisons, draw your own conclusions. Impunity is its own sin and brings its own sanctions. The empirical value of life or lack thereof speaks to the decadent moral character and to the truth of our dying society.

WEEKEND EDITION DECEMBER 26-28, 2014

An Unaccountable Army

Police Violence and Violence Against the Police

by RON URIE

On March 31, 2004, one year after the launch of the U.S. war against Iraq, four U.S. military contractors, mercenaries, were ambushed and killed in the Iraqi city of Fallujah and their charred corpses were hung from a bridge. The indignation expressed by the American political leadership and senior military officials was that their imperial privilege had been challenged— how dare the people whose country they had illegally invaded and substantially destroyed and whose relatives, neighbors and friends they had murdered fight back? The city of Fallujah was surrounded; women and small children were told to leave and then the slaughter began. White phosphorus and depleted uranium shells were dropped until thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of Iraqi boys and men in Fallujah had been murdered.

Left unsaid at the time was that most Americans subjected to an illegal war, invasion and occupation would respond largely as the citizens of Fallujah had done. Self-defense against invading hordes is as close to a natural right as the term could convey. The real crimes committed in / on Iraq were the war and occupation launched by the Americans and Brits. And the collective punishment visited upon the male citizens of Fallujah very closely resembled the acts that led to collective punishment being designated a war crime in the first place— the group slaughters regularly meted out by the Nazis in WWII for acts committed by unrelated individuals or groups. Today the Americans and Israelis (against Palestinians) are the main global keepers of the war crime tradition of collective punishment.

Picture (1) above: An NYPD motorcycle cop gratuitously rides his motorcycle over the leg of an NLG (National Lawyers Guild) legal observer at an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. The role of the police as armed thugs protecting the privilege of connected kleptocrats on Wall Street is framed in the language of the radical right as protecting ‘the public’ from over-privileged, elitist kids disrupting the public order. When former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who made his early career prosecuting Wall Street criminals, says that the police are concentrated in ‘high crime’ areas he fails to mention that any concentration of police in the financial districts of major U.S. cities is to protect financial criminals from being held accountable for their crimes. Source: Washington’s blog.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made explicit the military role of the police when he bragged that he had ‘the seventh biggest army in the world,’ the NYPD. Mr. Bloomberg claimed the NYPD to be ‘his’ army in 2011 as he was violently repressing the Occupy Wall Street movement. A short time after the comments were made the NYPD participated in a coordinated national assault against lawfully assembled protestors that included the total destruction of the Occupy library, kitchen and associated infrastructure. Through an ongoing campaign of violence, infiltration, disinformation, ‘pre-emptive’ kidnappings and legally dubious arrests the Occupy movement was effectively destroyed. Mr. Bloomberg made his fortune from Wall Street and he used ‘his’ army to prevent it from being held legally and socially accountable for its crimes.

When Ismaaiyl Brinsley murdered NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos in self-proclaimed revenge killings for the murders of Mike Brown and Eric Garner spokespersons for the NYPD and the PBA (Police Benevolent Association) were quick to personalize the victims while using the language of belligerent militarism to politicize the broader context of growing public resistance to police violence. What wasn’t expressed by NYPD spokespersons was any regret for the unjustifiable murder of Eric Garner or any number of other black and brown youth, for participation in systematic racial repression like stop-question-and-frisk or for the acting as an occupying army in poor neighborhoods of color. What was affirmed through the words of spokespersons for the police was that black lives don’t matter but that cop lives do.

Picture (2) above: The NYPD applies an illegal choke hold in the murder of Eric Garner. The allegation against Mr. Garner was that he was selling ‘loosey’ cigarettes, individual cigarettes on which applicable taxes were not paid. In the run-up to the Great Recession Wall Street made dubious, in many cases fraudulent, mortgage loans of over one-trillion dollars. The economic calamity that resulted cost millions of families their homes and millions more their jobs and life savings. The everyday business of U.S. corporations is avoiding hundreds of billions per year in tax liabilities through sham transactions. Eric Garner could in theory have sold loosey cigarettes for the next 500,000 years and not neared the annual tax avoidance of Apple Computer or General Electric had the police not murdered him. Source: ABC News.

The loss of any life through violence is tragic, which makes the police practice of casual, consequence-free, assault, murder and harassment so worthy of public condemnation. The contention put forward by PBA spokesperson Patrick Lynch that those protesting police violence have ‘blood on their hands’ leaves unaddressed the reasons why protestors are protesting— around the country heavily armed, militarized police routinely assault and murder people, largely black and brown youth, with impunity and largely without conscience. Seventy-six unarmed black and brown youth have been murdered by the police since 1999 and it is only the murder of two cops that raises the moral outrage of the police. And here lies irony— the protestors by-and-large have great sympathy for the families of the slain cops whereas, as best can be determined by the words and actions of the police, courts and political leadership, the imperial privilege of police to murder with impunity remains intact.

Picture (3) above: it has been nearly fifteen years since unarmed Amadou Diallo was murdered by the NYPD in a hail of bullets. In the intervening years the police across the country have murdered seventy-six unarmed people of color (link above), have been increasingly militarized, given the right to rob people of their possessions at will, made immune from prosecution for crimes committed and dedicated to systematic race-based repression like stop-and-frisk. The failure of the political leadership and the judiciary to hold the police accountable at any level demonstrates the political role that the police fill— that of an army of the rich existing to protect the ruling class from social accountability. Source: Life Magazine.

The existence of a heavily armed, highly militarized, wholly unaccountable army to protect a class and race based social order is totalitarian by degree— those on the side being repressed bear the brunt leaving the illusion of justice for those not paying attention. The one-sided response of the political leadership and police spokespersons to the tragic murder of Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos is evidence of the social order being protected. Left entirely unaddressed is the historical role of the police in maintaining an unjust race and class based social order from slave patrols to convict leasing to mass incarceration and for-profit prisons to class and race-based enforcement of selectively repressive laws. And to be clear, it is the political leadership that has designated and so-armed the police to be the quasi-military force they now are.

The mainstream press is claiming that the murders of Messrs. Liu and Ramos have reframed the protests against police violence to be against violence. Without disarming the police and changing their role from militarized guardians of ruling class interests to servants of all of the public it is difficult to see how opposing violence without opposing the existing role of the police is politically coherent? And reduction of the idea of justice to the will of the police is to accept the role they have been given in protecting class and race interests by a political leadership that straightforwardly answers to economic interests. Put differently, if fealty to the law had anything to do with the current role of the police then areas with high levels of criminal activity could be found in the financial towers of lower Manhattan and on Park and Madison Avenues just north of Forty-Second Street. As of a few days ago the NYPD was nowhere to be found enforcing the law in these locations.

Rob Urie is an artist and political economist. His book Zen Economics is forthcoming.

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--Joe

Vote-A-Joke

Vote Your Heart Out – Fool

Tomorrow, if not already, all patriotic, community-minded, citizens will be voting in the misguided belief that they are having their say in running this country, thus proving to everyone how valuable they are as Americans and as individuals. They honestly believe that their vote makes a difference; that they make a difference. Yet, year after year, millions of American voters deliberately vote directly against their own self interests. They consistently vote in and retain the most corrupt, amoral, gangster thugs, liars, mass murderers, psychotic, insane, deluded, morons in this country. And I am not just talking about Republicans.

The question, is that a difference or a choice between the offered and predetermined Democrat, Republican, Independent or some other? Did the voter have any say in the selection of these “offered” people or are they just selecting between one corrupt politician and another that's been given them by the real people in power?

Then there is the large battery of laws or propositions offered, everything from A-Z, and One to ... Q, Z or P! Pick your number or letter, for what it's worth. Like LAW means something in this town or this country anymore? Just look at the Eureka Police Department and its new police chief, what's changed for the better? Then there is a new District Attorney - "Fleming spent 25 years as a Deputy District Attorney and has served as the Deputy County Counsel the last two years." What's that tell you? Hear anything from her lately on the police killing of Tommy McClain? No. I didn't think so.

For over six weeks I've looked to see if anyone had the courage to post something, anything, on the local blogs about the killing of Tommy McClain and the total lack of any accountability. I've looked for comment from those running for local office or reelection – Nothing. I've looked for comments or questions from anyone – Nothing. I've looked in the local papers for any outrage that no one has enforced an independent, neutral legal accounting – Nothing. Fact is, there is never anything about LAW – What's the big deal? All those cops did was make a justifiable “mistake.” Just a little boo boo is all. What's the big deal? So, some kid got shot down like a dog for nothing - so what? Can't have the LAW get in the way of or interfere with all the bullshit election propaganda.

I almost forgot, there is the Facebook page “Justice for Tommy McClain.” There are comments by the page author that make my ass ache, e.g., “On October 30: “Mystakes are made but not lies! Tommy is not the person officer mills claimed him to sound like. He did ...” And that is just one example. Plus in this day of built-in spell checkers and online dictionaries, typing this is inexcusable: “Mystakes” and tends to reduce the overall value and importance of the person killed, the page's message and intent as reflected in the nearly 2,500 “Likes.”

Just when time was about to run out before the elections the North Coast Journal posts this letter in their paper, where I also found it online: “Public Safety Funding?” This benign piece of milk toast is better than nothing, but shows the writers first priority - the election. Nothing about lack of or intent to enforce the law or to hold any elected official accountable. At least someone, one person, had the courage to write something about Tommy McClain - points well taken.

Then there is this:

"In 2011, he (Kansas Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach) began promoting a digital name-matching program used to scan electoral records and flag anyone whose name appears on the voter rolls in more than one state. It’s called Crosscheck. And across the country, 27 states are using it to investigate possible voter fraud. Among them, 22 have an election board controlled by Republicans." Jim Crow Returns: Interstate "Crosscheck" Program Could Strip Millions of the Right to Vote - on Democracy Now.

So, there you are Voter. Your vote is about as worthless as you are.

--Joe

Where Is the OUTRAGE?

[UPDATE :: EIGHT DAYS NOW & STILL NOTHING!] 
What's the matter with the people in Eureka? Do you not see what you are doing to this community by cowing to this idea that the police have the right, no questions asked? What about the new District Attorney?

I was always proud to be born and raised in Eureka and Humboldt County - Now I'm just ashamed.

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[UPDATE II : Thursday, September 25]
Another blasé statement from the Tuluwa Examiner surfaced this morning. Mostly a political whitewash of the boy's murder. Of interest, among other things, is their suggesting the "need" for a citizen's review board. No suggestion as to how to get one, though. No mention of any concerns for a criminal indictment or anything relevant from the District Attorney's office or why not. Still, worth a read. And don't forget to read the comments. They'll give you a hint why the people of Eureka are not outraged at the threat we are all subjected to if these killers are treated with impunity. It isn't just the wanton killing of the boy that is the crime. As bad as that is, it is the in-your-face threat we are all facing. When some scared shitless paranoid cop sticks a gun in your face the time for talking is over.

By the way, after posting the above Update, I read the North Coast Journal article: "Officer Involved - Inside EPD's Protocol" by Thadeus Greenson. Greenson's articles in the past, as observed here multiple times, were often contradictory and conflicting and always biased for the police. The Tuluwa posting is, either way, pretty much a knockoff of what the Journal said. This idea that these so-called community blogs keep pumping out that we need to be patient for justice is a betrayal of their trust. Justice demands transparency and urgent and timely truth-telling by everyone involved. In a Democracy, the people have legal right to know the truth. Anything else is a coverup and a whitewash. Enforce the law.

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Here it is, four days after the Eureka Police shot and killed 22 year old Thomas McClain, and absolutely NOTHING!

Did Thomas McClain need to be black before anyone gets angry? Are black people the only ones in this country that have a decent heart? Are black people the only ones with any kind of moral clarity? Are black people the only ones with any kind of integrity, and love for the law?

I checked the Times-Standard newspaper and its Letter to the Editors, nothing but nominal bullshit. I checked the local blogs, starting with the wannabe community leader in all things moral and ethical in Eureka, the Tuluwaa Waa Crybaby. Their first blog was a total capitulation. Then today they posted this, MILLS: “THERE WAS A GUN RECOVERED. I DON’T WANT TO GET INTO WHERE……”(TILL WE GET OUR STORY STRAIGHT)

This is how they start the post:

On Wednesday, we urged readers to be cautious before jumping to conclusions regarding the young man who was shot to death by a Eureka Police Officer.  In trying to be fair and objective, we asked readers to wait for more facts before making judgements about the tragedy.  At that time, all we had was a press release which was very short on details.  The release basically stated that the police had been looking for warrant suspects in the area, saw two people arguing, one of which “appeared” to have a gun.  Officers supposedly gave commands, and the victim reached for the apparent gun and was shot to death by an officer.

"All they had was the police press release" which is to say all they had is the POLICE VERSION. This is how they end their article posted today, Saturday, September 20, 2012, four days since the incident:

The fact that a young man was gunned down by police while standing in his own front yard, and that there was no call for the police to be there is nothing less than completely heartbreaking.

While this article: MILLS: “THERE WAS A GUN RECOVERED. I DON’T WANT TO GET INTO WHERE……”(TILL WE GET OUR STORY STRAIGHT) raises some valid points and is well worth reading and our graciously linking it to our blog, there is not a hint of outrage. "Completely heartbreaking" they say? Do they know that considering the points they make that the people of Eureka CANNOT tolerate such a police department! These people are a cancer that physically threatens every living citizen in this town and every other person that comes here to visit.

One more point regarding the Tuluwat Examiner commentary:

The fact that Mills hasn’t disputed the claims about whether the victim was holding a cell phone or a gun is very telling about his leadership, which harkens back to the bad old days of EPD.

Very telling about his "leadership"? What it is telling about" is his capacity to tell the TRUTH. The "bad old days of EPD" has to do with mealy-mouthed, lying and thug bullying by Merl Harpham. That's what Andrew Mills is exposing.

Then there is the Lost Coast Outpost: The Death of Tommy McClain: What Happened in Wednesday's Officer-Involved Shooting by Kym Kemp - NOTHING! No outrage from her. Absolutely PATHETIC. From an informational point of view, well worth reading, though except for this:

A neighbor who wishes to remain anonymous disagreed. In an interview today the individual said, “I did see an object in his hand.” The individual did not want to describe the situation further except to say, “I feel that the level of force used was justified. It was a clear threat to the officer’s life. I feel it was unfortunate. But it was fortunate that no others were injured.”

This person is sick. First, the "anonymous" person's opinion is totally worthless and should NEVER be included as if it has some validity. Second "an object in a person's hand does NOT constitute a "clear threat to the officers (apparently four (4) officers) lives. That person's statement is totally ludicrous and demonstrates Kym Kemp's propensity as an avid apologist; a bigoted and biased supporter of all things police.

All other blogs, not even a mention. Check out the comments section of the different blogs and you won't find any outrage there either.

The lives of the people of Eureka, Kym Kemp lives on Salmon Creek Road in Southern Humboldt, hang on the good wishes of scared shitless paranoid police officer feelings of personal threat. As far as I am concerned every last one of them deserves what they get.

YOUR LIVES ARE IN MORTAL DANGER EVERY DAY AND YOU ARE WAY TO STUPID TO KNOW IT!

---

[UPDATE Wednesday, 24, 2014]

Here's a Facebook link I found: Justice For Tommy McClain - A good place for expressing yourself. Unfortunately, their About Page says:

On 9/17/14 at 12:30am a precious life was taken due to a Eureka Police Officer making the wrong call. EPD needs to know they did wrong. RIP Tommy ♥

The emphasis is mine to point out the subtly of buying into the brainwashed propaganda that is a lie. Those officers did NOT make a "wrong call." They did not just do a "wrong," they committed a crime - they shot that boy down like a dog. He was dead no matter what he did. In their minds he was armed with a gun, a gun they say was only verified when they confronted him at the point of a gun and that's all they need to justify their violent confrontation. They made NO "wrong call." Such a confrontation could happen to anyone of us in this town. Time to accept the reality of our situation in this town. Then you can start talking about justice.

--Joe

Pounding Sand - Kym Kemp Style

This is the Kym Kemp of the Redheaded Blackbelt blog - a co-conspirator of and with Hank Sims of the Lost Coast Outpost blog. This post is NOT about Kym Kemp per se, some personal vendetta, blog or comment censorship as much as it is about what it means to be a responsible ADULT.

You can find the definition of what it means to "pound sand" here or as defined here the second variation: "A variant meaning is to suffer or to act in a pointless manner" – the titled meaning used for this posting.

I recently had an interesting and sort of profitable email conversation with Kym. (Probably more profitable for me than her, but what the heck?) I figured she'd be, or at least the incentive would be there for her to be more honest in our efforts to communicate. We were talking about “after-the-fact” blog censorship – arbitrary blocking and deleting comments in the public comments section based upon individual ignorance, bias and personal prejudice – a form of racism*. I thought about what she said in that conversation and about what she did NOT say. I tried to answer her concerns about talking to her like a "small child." That and while she said I usually talk over everyone's head, my comments somehow become nothing more than unacceptable "negative," "ugly taunts. Apparently, according to her, I was unable speak to her like a mature adult. There is a time to be a whinny little baby and then there is the time to grow up and become an adult. Adults understand that most children live in the moment where life's realities are defined by how everything affects and profits them. Adults, on the other hand, know that life encompasses much, much more than living an animal existence. In the process I happened to read her comments posted on her affiliate blog. Also posted below. (A place I never make comments just to avoid this kind of a double-edged trap.)

Then it occurred to me, when she had accused me of treating her like a small child, why. What she said and what she wanted me to give her the right to do, was exactly the same conversation I'd had with my own daughter when she was moving out of adolescence. She wanted to be an adult and wanted her mother and me to treat her like an adult, but without any responsibility or accountability. She naively believed that being an adult meant that she had the right to come and go, do and say whatever she felt like WITHOUT any personal accountability. Of course, we all know that the world does not work like that, even though they all believe it does. Being an adult meant that you were free from any rules or laws. Enforcement of any rules or laws amounted to nothing more than a wannabe adult making "ugly taunts." That's when our relationship got dicey – for awhile. Even so, during this time she had a protected environment to grow and become a more mature person – her stated goal. So, what does that say about Kym? 

Kym's problem, the one she refuses to accept, is that she is exactly what she still is, an adolescent. I say that, because just like my daughter, she refuses to accept responsibility for her stipulated lifestyle beliefs. She believes that 50 years of an ingrained criminal culture involving large amounts of tax-free easy money, lying, stealing, money laundering, corruption and murder has or had NO morally detrimental or harmful effects on the social structure or the integrity of the individual, family and community, including the business community. Not only does Kym believe this nonsense, but she's constantly trying to justify and legitimize why the individual has the moral, ethical and legal right to trash social and societal rules, norms and laws at will - at the individuals sole discretion. (I posted the above referenced relevant comments below.) Notice her comment: “Just because people are willing to break stupid laws doesn't mean they are willing to be immoral.” This judgmental statement, in and of itself, "stupid laws," defines the morality, or rather, amorality of the speaker. It is that judgement repudiating the majority right to define and enforce rules of the road; LAW, that is "immoral." Here the mantra is the defacto enforcement of the Rule of Men replacing the Rule of Law. I believe, therefore I am truth, right and justice – LAW.

To me, her statement is morally repugnant and highly offensive. Why? Because of the untold numbers of the murdered dead, rotting in those hills who scream out something altogether different. These people,  so-called innocent "plant growers" – pot growers et al. and business community alike, whether they intended to become or ever wanted to become, are all part and party to the deaths of these “innocent plant growers.” Growing that “plant” and “breaking stupid laws,” as she so naively puts it, is not only immoral, but is the self-centered, self-righteous arrogance of the “corrupt to the gut” amoral.

a·mor·al [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/amoral ] 

  1. Not admitting of moral distinctions or judgments; neither moral nor immoral.
  2. Lacking moral sensibility; not caring about right and wrong.

There is an easy way to illustrate and bring home what and how these people, not only the growers, but all the local businesses and untold numbers of non-grower "growers" that have exploited this corrupt, immoral and depraved criminal enterprise, enforce their personal, opinion based beliefs and judgments on a day to day basis. Notice that on her blog and that of Hank Sims you will NOT find any rules or guidelines for making comments on their blog. Here is an example of what I mean along with MY Comment Guidelines, located first paragraph top left. Again, reinforced under Pages: Comment Etiquette below. They simply expect you to divine or submit like a little puppy to their unspoken demands and personal prejudices. Since I'm not a mind reader that created a bit of problem when being judged by bigotry, bias and racist prejudices – not to mention childish ignorance and bullying stupidity. They, and others, divine the right to judge everyone as you go. They post NO rules of the road so that everyone knows without doubt what is and is not expected. They not only want to be judge, jury and executioner, they expect everyone commenting on their blog to give them that right. How this corrupt way bleeds over into society was graphically demonstrated when the Fortuna police asserted this right by killing Jacob Newmaker March 16, 2012. I've written fairly extensively how this police killing is the result of enforcing the Rule of Men. See below Self Defense Is a Bitch and Resist AND Die - Why?

Then there is the OTHER SIDE – The Dark Side. Where the totally innocent person or family that wants absolutely nothing to do with the corruption and it's handmaidens, the criminal elite that get drawn into a serious life and death struggle to survive. Two good examples of this are the Saturday, March 24, 2012 Times-Standard account of "Victim recounts harrowing home invasion, torture" and the Arcata Police home invasion by deception of a 64 year old Barbara Sage by "about a dozen officers with guns drawn." You can read about that in today's Times-Standard here: Arcata woman sues city, police over potless pot search; suit alleges unlawful search, rough treatment hastened husband's death.

Synonymous to the Rule of Men is its root cause: CORRUPTION. What does one rotten apple have in common with a barrel of good apples? A whole barrel full of rotten apples, that's what. Kym's moralizing and devaluing law is symptomatic of much more than an adolescent attitude and understanding. It is the sand pounding of her constant justification that, in view of the corrupt and depraved consequences, where rot is the norm, that is reprehensible and intolerable. It is the dead in these hills that do the judging. No matter how much sand pounding Kym does in support of this corruption and these criminals, the dead are still dead. You can't censor them.

--Joe

The LRC Blog

July 5, 2011

Ha Ha Ha

Posted by Lew Rockwell on July 5, 2011 05:27 PM

How great to see the prosecutor-media hysteria complex go down to defeat, in the Casey Anthony and DSK cases. Tragically, Anderson was found guilty, like Martha Stewart, of the non-crime of fibbing to the cops. How can your enemies be entitled to what they want to hear, as they seek to destroy you, and when they have the power to lie to you legally? (Thanks to Greg Privette)

UPDATE I wonder: even if this woman were guilty, what is to be gained by turning her over to the greatest killing, torturing, and looting machine on earth, government, as if it were some moral authority? We need private judicial proceedings, restitution and not retribution, and not exaltation of the dullards and thugs who compose government. It is never right for them to judge anybody on anything.

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I copied this from Lew Rockwell. I hope he doesn't mind. Ditto my sentiments.

--Joe

How To Justify Legal Murder

[UPDATE to "Resisting Arrest - Sitting Down" :: Thursday, September 9, 2010 - Actually, they do have the right.]

The Courts have now affirmed it:
"Obama wins the right to invoke "State Secrets" to protect Bush crimes." Glenn Greenwald's reveals how Bush and Obama have taken the U.S. government obove and beyond the law.

What does it take to write and establish criminal laws? Not much, it seems. Here's a good example by Robert Knight of the kind of logic needed:

Washington Times:
KNIGHT: ACLU says 'Right to life . . . most fundamental of all rights'
"But only if you're a terrorist, not a baby"

Local police do have the defacto right:

"U.S. citizens have a right to know what conduct may subject them to execution at the hands of their own government," Mr. Spitzer (ACLU lawyer Arthur Spitzer) wrote. "Due process requires, at a minimum, that citizens be put on notice of what may cause them to be put to death by the state. ... Both the Constitution and international law prohibit targeted killing except as a last resort to protect against concrete, specific, and imminent threats."

Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement, "The U.S. is careful to ensure that all its operations used to prosecute the armed conflict against those forces, including lethal operations, comply with all applicable laws, including the laws of war." [Emphasis added]

The Law is there to protect and defend against the corrupt and perverse. Their depths of deprivation know no bounds: Report: Abu Ghraib photos Obama is censoring "show rape" and sexual torture of men, women, and children.

Major General Antonio Taguba, the former army officer who conducted the Abu Ghraib inquiry, confirms ...

And the last straw comes from The Atlantic: The Untamed Prince - "What Tyranny is This"?

And, most tragic of all, those who say they care about liberty above all - the tea-partiers who invoke the founders - seem only too willing to surrender every liberty for the prize of a security against a threat we cannot even measure, and to bow down before a new king (and probably warrior-queen) rather than elect a new president. ***  [T]his is so plainly not a nation under the rule of law anymore. And there are very few political issues more important than that.

When "concrete, specific, and imminent threats" are lies inspired by fear and conjured up in the paranoid minds of liars, they, the paranoid liars, become the Law - The Absolute Ruler.
[Source]

--Joe

Taser Torture or Monster Bash?

More is definitely better. This is the Taser X3. "On Friday, Taser International held a demo day at the Alameda Sheriff's Office Regional Training Center in Dublin, Calif., to show off some of the latest in electronic control devices." So says ZDNet Photo Galleries.

Upgrade to semi-automatic!

The Taser X3, the newest device with multishot technology, goes beyond the single-shot capabilities of first-generation tasers and provides the ability to deploy a second and third cartridge immediately. Also, it can simultaneously zap three bad guys at once.

If you click the link above this is what you will read:

TASER X3

The X3 is a revolutionary new multi-shot ECD that can engage multiple targets, display Warning Arcs™ while loaded, and deliver a calibrated Neuro Muscular Incapacitation (NMI) pulse that results in improved safety characteristics. While the X3 offers enhanced firepower over existing ECDs, it also represents a quantum leap in sensor and computation power – making it by far the most intelligent hand-held force option ever developed.

Doesn't that just stop your heart? NO? Well what do you think about this long-range solution called the XREP? That means, Extended Range Electronic Projectile.  How would you like to get shot with a 12 gauge shotgun and then get electrocuted. If that doesn't stop you heart I don't what will.

Taser International says its XREP (Extended Range Electronic Projectile) is the most technologically advanced projectile ever deployed from a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. The self-contained, wireless electronic control device fires accurately up to 100 feet and attaches itself to the target before deploying its charge.

This is nifty!

 The energy from the impact of an XREP breaks a series of fracture pins, which release the main chassis of the XREP projectile. After impact, the casing falls away and six Cholla electrodes automatically deploy to deliver Neuromuscular Incapacitation over a greater area of the body.

 How about The Taser Shockwave system that utilizes the frightening-sounding Taser X26 Neuromuscular Incapacitation technology?

Now this get our attention! According to these people "Shockwave is the first generation of a technology called Remote Area Denial (TRAD). The Shockwave unit seen here can be locked together, forming an even larger bank for stand-off capability. It's triggered via a 100-meter firing wire, so you can set it up and wait in the bushes for your target."

"Sit in the bushes"? Are they hunting deer or pigeons? How would you like to get hammered by a couple or three Taser X26 right out of the blue?

Make you think about wandering around in the bushes where they're growing pot doesn't it? Or how about what's involved joining in on some worthwhile demonstration that's protected by the US Constitution?

--Joe

As It Stands with the Times-Standard Newspaper

Again today the Times-Standard newspaper here in Eureka, CA pumps out Dave Stancliff's “As It Stands” column in their Sunday newspaper. Is this a marriage made in heaven or a marriage made in hell?

Dave Stancliff continues to use the web and it's blogosphere to personally assault and libel anyone he wants, anyone he thinks is fair game, and the staff at the Times-Standard, in particular Dave Kuta, Kimberly Wear and James Faulk, continue to support and endorse his kind of abysmal and reprehensible conduct. By continuing to publish his “As It Stands” column they, directly and tacitly endorse his demagogue and libelous hate-mongering personal assaults. Whether any or either of these individuals understands it or not, what he publicly says and does directly reflects upon the integrity, honesty and character of the Times-Standard newspaper as well as each of these individuals. More than that, however, it also reflects upon each and every person or business that supports that paper.

This Report endeavors to maintain its objectivity through the process of observations. Report commentary regarding Dave Stancliff and his “As It Stands” web and newspaper column has refrained from sinking into the mire of contending or even refuting his bane attacks. He says and does what he wants, no matter how foul and obscene, then thinks he can just walk away – no harm, no foul. To put it simply, we're just a bunch of “anonymous” extremists with a paranoid outlook on life, pumping out our “hate-filled blog” picking on poor, little “simpleminded” Dave. While that was tempting, people like him, proven time and again by his own hand, establish the basis for a far worse crime than personally attacking the observations of this blog writer. Those people responsible at the Times-Standard turn a blind eye at one of their own kind and refuse to hold him accountable for his public behavior while he represents them. This kind of conduct sets the precedent that allows for every sort of lawbreaker to walk free or at a minimum get a bit of a slap on the wrist for murder, torture, indefinite detention, and god only knows what else. Those kinds of criminal behavior are not limited to just national problems, but bleed right down to our community.

Recent example, the apparent libel spawned on the local blog, “Above The Law” reported here, “Employee of EPD files suit against coworkers,” by Allison White/The Times-Standard, Posted on: 07/01/2009. Here the suit alleges that a blog, its articles and blog commentary by visitors caused, “libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress has damaged her reputation and caused “mental anguish and emotional distress, including anxiety, anger, depression, irritability and loss of sleep.'” Worth noting is that the suit includes “anonymous” blog commentators that posted defamatory messages that caused the above malicious, intentional actions. Noteworthy is the fact that Dave Stancliff has a record of making defamatory comments on other peoples blogs.

The same newspaper article says, according to a law professor at U.C. Berkeley, “If messages are sent out over the Internet, it doesn't protect them from making defamatory statements.” He also said that just because “the comments were made by anonymous users shouldn't matter legally.” The Report contends that the same is true when made against so-called “anonymous” bloggers. -- Something this lawsuit should give everyone pause to consider.

Locally, and more importantly we assert, the problem is that the Times-Standard newspaper represents this community. Supporting the legitimacy of a Dave Stancliff says more about the people that run that newspaper and their respect and service for and to this community than anything else. We deserve better.

--Joe

Anarchy in Humbug County – WHY?

The reason is, the people have spoken!

This was never more illustrated today than by this latest sick maneuver by some CHP officer and our illustrious District Attorney to legitimize murder. Or is the word a "killing"? It amounts to the same thing. Someone died at the hands of another. But, what else could they do?

We're talking about the latest in the saga of Allen Bear's “accused hitting and killing a cyclist last summer.” His name was Gregory Jennings. Read the article and NOTE: First, it's “Hoopa driver,” then is “Hoopa man,” and next it's “accused,” and “a cyclist.” To continue it is “reporting officer,” and “officer's opinion,” and we finally find out who the “cyclist” is half way through the article. This is the “Thought Police” at their best. Dehumanize, depersonalize and neuter the issue to abstract object entities and worthless opinions that devalues life.

Everyone can blame the California Highway Patrol and Paul Gallegos the District Attorney. God knows, the share responsibility. My question is, will any of them stand accountable? Doesn't seem likely, but the answer is – they and their families are already paying that price right along with everyone else that 'takes their lives in their hands' and ventures out on any city street, county road or state highway. These lawless anarchist assault us all.

The laws governing how we conduct ourselves when driving a motor vehicle are worthless. Not because the police DON'T enforce them. Well, mostly don't enforce them – apparently only when convenient. The laws are worthless because MOST drivers refuse to comply. The DEFACTO reality determines the law. When 90% of drivers treat stop signs as if they are non-existent the majority voter has redefined the law governing stop signs either non-existent or something else. THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN!

How then does the courts, the District Attorney or any police officer hold anyone accountable for failure to stop, let alone resulting deaths? They can't and they don't.

Allison White reports in the Times-Standard that: “Gross negligence, as defined in California statute, is an act done with such careless disregard for the safety of others' lives that it is likely to cause foreseeable injury.” The problem is with anarchy, when the majority vote, in this instance that stop signs don't mean stop and drive, or vote them as something ornamental, THEY MEET THIS STANDARD. What about the driver that consistently runs the Safety Corridor between Eureka and Arcata at 60 plus MPH? When one or two cars race by at that speed other drivers speedup to follow. By the time you get to the 65 MPH sign approaching Arcata everyone one of them is going 70 plus MPH. Every driver that deliberately and purposely drives this way or drives 35 MPH or better in a 25 MPH speed zone, rolls through a stop sign without even slowing down or only noticeably reduces speed because the turn requires it, is GROSSLY NEGLIGENT!

The sad truth is many of these lawless people I observe, driving without regard for life or property, have vehicles full of young children. What do they think they are teaching their children? To be safe on the streets and watch out for people like themselves? Hardly! And those that don't have children in their cars racing around like lunatics, how many of their children are playing Russian Roulette with people just like them?

Is it because life has no value? These people are more important than everyone else? Laws are only for the old and the stupid? These drivers are basically right-wing bullies? Left-wing socialist, pinko commies? Illegal aliens and foreigners that are ignorant of the law? Or American Indians that are citizens of sovereign nations and are exempt? Regardless! Anarchy or people that drive like Allan Bear are a loaded gun or a bomb, ready to explode.

Every driver that races through a stop sign is a driver trying to hurt or kill some innocent person. It's a no man's land out there and everyone is on his own. When the elected and appointed authorities don't do what decent, law-abiding people that believe in our system justice and civil order put them their to do, people do what people do – they live! That means when they see someone deliberately run a red light or a stop sign or any other gross negligent act and kill an innocent pedestrian, bike rider or mother and small children on their way to school, they take matters into their own hands and make that person accountable – the ultimate expression of ANARCHY.

[Image Source]

--Joe

Shock and Awe Law

Updated Below - Update II

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I picked up my Saturday, April 18, 2009, Times-Standard Newspaper this morning and was greeted with this brilliant piece of news: Eureka discussing implementation of citywide rental home inspection. "Citizen task force aims to target crime"

Where do they plan on targeting crime? "Rental home inspections" that's where! It seems some person by the name of Lisa Ollivier wants to ratchet up the police powers in Eureka. Donna Tam of the Times-Standard says about Ollivier:

After years of neighborhood watch, putting pressure on overcrowded houses riddled with drug abuse and cockroaches, and being a part of a citizens' task force to target slum housing and crime in their neighborhoods, Ollivier is looking forward to presenting an ordinance to the Eureka City Council on Tuesday that will help to address those problems one rental property at a time.

This is the commentary of some simple self-serving do-gooder's knee-jerk reaction to problems either not being taken care of by the Eureka Police Department and other responsible agencies or deliberately allowed to exist and fester so as to produce this response for a community that was too gutless to personally deal with their own problems.

First, it's extra judicial police roadblocks to check for drunk drivers, random stops and searches on the highways, then its random stops to check and identify people just walking down the street, now it's "overcrowded houses"! What's next? Our guns? One house at a time? Why not? Constitutional legal protection doesn't mean anything when problems are allowed to fester and grow until we need a "Shock and Awe" solution.

Ollivier says:

When Lisa Ollivier was pregnant with her son three years ago, the late-night activities of neighbors in her Clark District home kept her from getting much sleep.

"There were times when I would be on the living room floor because of gunfire going on," she said.

This it pure NONSENSE! This statement, if factual, is an indictment of the police. Which doesn't surprise me one bit. When my wife and I moved into our new home here in Eureka we had one outlaw neighbor that, when they refused to stop constantly harassing us, I was forced to call the Eureka Police Department for help. All we got for our effort was royally shined on. The police officer politely listened to us, could see we were really upset, but did nothing. All the police did was make the problem worse than before. The neighbor figured they had a green light now that the police couldn't even be bothered to speak to them. In the end I took the problem to the Police Chief to help descalate the situation, for all that was worth; a total waste of time. After exhausting considerable resources in life, health, time and money I was forced to deal with the matter personally. It was either that or move. Dealing with me and my solution was not something either the police nor the neighbor wanted, so the problem abated, but not after considerable unnecessary rancor and visceral anger at everyone involved.

Well, I didn't get this posted Saturday, and Sunday I was greeted with "Growing violence: Marijuana gardens are robbery targets throughout Humboldt County" - frontpage, Times-Standard:

Home-invasion robberies at houses with pot gardens occur with disconcerting regularity in Humboldt County, law enforcement officials say. And the potential for violence in any robbery is high. Within the past six months, at least three people have been shot during suspected grow house robberies in Humboldt County.

"I can't think of a home invasion robbery in the last two years in Humboldt County that hasn't had a drug connection to it," said Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen. In every case, "it's almost exclusively marijuana."

What do you expect when a major portion of society believes everyone should have the right to grow and sell marijuana regardless the law or harm and threat to their community? Criminals breed crime and crime breeds violence!

So, what's the solution? Punish (Nuke the innocent women and children.) the people that are the victims of both the criminals and the complicit community?

UPDATE :: Thursday, April 23, 2009
Glass pulls rental home ordinance off the agenda

"Glass said he believes in maximum public input, so he hopes to meet with the task force next week to decide what to do next. He thinks they may set up a public meeting in the future."

That "maximum public input" is the City of Eureka's new public representative, Lisa Ollivier (task force), speaking for the majority? Talk about a classic example of political whoring!

UPDATE II :: Friday, April 24, 2009

His latest bull run on law was published today Friday, April 24, 2009, Times-Standard

Eureka suspends cell tower construction, arranges Verizon hearing

Now Larry Glass has teamed-up with Linda Atkins to push their political "BS" agendas to circumvent the law when not politically expedient. Classic! Atkins says:

Councilwoman Linda Atkins reiterated her opinion that Verizon acted in bad faith when it started construction before obtaining all its permits.

”It's the city's conditional use permit,” she said, adding that the council has the jurisdiction to say whether the cell phone company violated it.

According to Atkins, Verizon acted on bad faith, but apparently the permits aren't worth the paper their written on when the city "council has the jurisdiction to say whether the cell phone company violated it" after the fact. As bad as that is, this statement tells the whole story about these two worthless representatives.

Atkins and Glass both stated that it is important for the council to represent its citizens and listen to their concerns, even if the matter goes to court.

Since when has the "council" listened to the concerns of the people they are supposed to represent? If they had there never would have been a problem to start with. I wouldn't want a cell tower near my home either, but at some point this slap-stick comedy needs some serious truth-telling. Property owner's deep pockets are finite and it's about time these ideological knot heads come to terms with that reality. Frank Jager, the lone dissenting councilman, who by the way received on a fraction of consideration in this lopsided report, was the only one to show some sense of propriety.

Councilman Frank Jager said that while he, too, wants to ensure that the council protects the residents of Henderson Center, he reminded them that in order to fight a lawsuit for them, the council would be putting the other residents of the city at risk.

”We're also required to protect all the residents in this city,” he said.

The concerned people of Henderson Center and others, like yours truly, were sold out, plain and simple. We can either get used to it or take those responsible to task. Maybe next time they'll think about the people they represent when dealing with the Planning Commission before trying to make all land and property owners pay for their sins.

[Source]

--Joe

Tasers and Excessive Force

The Report has discussed Taser use in the past. We firmly believe that Eureka City Police use of Tasers does NOT serve to protect the best interest of the community or its citizens. When will the EPD arm and certify use of the new Taser gun -- called the Shockwave -- a powerful crowd-control weapon?

"With the push of a button at a stand-off distance of up to 100 meters, the Shockwave unit deploys multiple standard TASER® cartridges that are oriented across an area arc. Full area coverage is provided to instantaneously incapacitate multiple personnel within that region."

Tasers Are the New Killers: Watch Their Popularity Surge!

As Taser use proliferates and deaths grow, lack of police accountability becomes a serious problem. Continuing to argue that Taser's are safe is:

... allowing Tasers to occupy a gray area -- not lethal except when they are -- will make it that much harder for police to be held accountable for excessive force and homicide. Cops already get away with shooting suspects dead with little to no consequences. Arming them with Tasers under the pretense that they are safe will only perpetuate this trend as inevitable deaths occur.

Like "pre-emptive" arrests, the 50,000-volt Tasers that London police are carrying as they stand off with G20 protesters this week may be seen as a necessary precaution. But the past several years have shown the slippery slope governments create in the name of security.

This issue seems most appropriate for Humboldt County with its sordid history of impunity and lack of accoutability as Taser use emphasizes police safety rather than that public safety. Because Taser's are proven lethal, this community needs to know every time a Taser is used by the Eureka Police Department or any other agency and why. That report needs to be published by the local news media.

Since Taser use is about intimidation and forced submission, actually torturing "suspects" into agreeing that the police have the right to arrest them, police safety and simple logic suggests people just might be a little more cooperative with police officers:

- "while also suggesting that suspects are less likely to resist police officers for fear of being tasered to death. "People now recognize that the Taser is painful and that Taser -- maybe they're thinking -- may kill me, and they're co-operating too"

If city, county and state governments are putting public safety first, then put out Taser usage so that we know what we're dealing with the next time a police officer decides to have a talk with one us.

You can read the complete discussion here.

Addendum :: Why torture is legal in America today:

America, due to Bush/Cheney policy, has added torture to our standard operating procedure, even if it is now held in abeyance by the Obama administration. That morally reprehensible act, while now out of favor, is essentially legal and Constitutional because no Congressional objection has been made and no one has been held accountable.

[Source of quote]

--Joe

Follow Up to the Follow Up Question about Pot

Update :: Thursday, April 2, 2009 --

The success of drug decriminalization in Portugal - by Glenn Greenwald

The article includes a link to the just published article in the Time's by Joe Klien advocating marijuana legalization. Greenwald also details why President Obama is not releasing the "torture memos" as ordered. That's of interest to the Report because of Taser use and torture.

Citing Failed War on Drugs, Former Seattle Police Chief Calls for Legalization of Marijuana and All Drugs

Here is an interesting interview on Democracy Now with Norm Stamper about why drugs, specially marijuana, should be legal in America. Norm Stamper is a thirty-four-year police officer who retired as Seattle’s chief of police in 2000. He is an advisory board member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. He is the author of Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing."

Here's an excerpt relating to his common sense efforts to reform marijuana laws:

NORM STAMPER: I actually support the legalization of all drugs. And in fact, the more dangerous or sinister or sensationally reported the experience of certain drugs, the greater the justification for the government, as opposed to drug cartels and street traffickers, to regulate that commerce. There’s been more harm done by the drug war than good. We have spent a trillion dollars prosecuting that war since Richard Nixon proclaimed drugs public enemy number one and declared all-out war on them.

And what do we have to show for it? While rates can fluctuate, drugs are more readily available today at lower prices and higher levels of potency than ever before. So it’s a colossal failure. And the only way to put these cartels out of business and to restore health and safety to our neighborhoods is to regulate that commerce as opposed to prohibiting it.

*****

NORM STAMPER: Last week in Minnesota, before a state house committee, a committee that is considering medical marijuana, I was accused of disrespecting police officers. I quickly corrected that police chief, who was wearing a yellow tie with the language “police lines, do not cross." I apologized if I gave the impression, because I have the deepest respect for frontline police officers. They didn’t make these laws. They are victims of the tension and the hostility that is associated with enforcing or prosecuting the drug war. So it’s not our frontline cops that we need to be concerned about.

The vast majority of police officers, I believe, would legalize marijuana today. They have varying views on the other drugs. Many officers, including police chiefs and sheriffs, have whispered their support to me. When I say, “Well, may I quote you?” the response is, “What have you been smoking? No, you cannot do that.”

You know, some have suggested that President Obama’s dismissal of the marijuana issue last week in the online town hall meeting was done because it’s the third rail. Well, we’ve made it that. Americans have, in fact, bought the propaganda of the drug war. We can’t conceive of it as a public health issue, this whole issue of drug use and drug abuse and prevention and education and treatment, as well as enforcement. We need to rethink it. We need to have the courage, the will and sort of the analytical take on the systemic implications that are associated with the drug war and recognize that there is a much better alternative out there. And I think a whole lot of cops understand it. Certainly, the 10,000 members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition get it.

Read the complete interview here.

Any government truly sensitive to the spoken needs of the people would certainly understand that the father-knows-best approach to government imposed by the conservative elite went out with the Dark Ages. The Democratic principles embodied in a "representative" form of government requires responsible, enlightened (certainly informed) maturity in the majority of those doing the picking. That is, if the system of government is to work as Constitutionally designed. The electorate certainly do not need some wet nurse telling them when, where and how much in between diaper changes. The change in thinking observed in a few courageous people in this country is hopeful. Unfortunately, it's 40 to 50 years too late when you see the legacy we've all inherited.

--Joe

The Creeping Crud

A police state with doilies and lace curtains

Humboldt County (Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Branch) and local retail merchants are currently conducting classes in how to breed a Police State mentality in the innocent, our children. You militarize their environment and then criminalize them with knee-jerk laws ostensibly* for their protection and benefit. In other word, you make unauthorized and in some cases illegal conduct, common place.

[Some examples that come to mind were the universal 55 mph, mandatory helmet laws, seat belt and recently cell-phone laws, no smoking, growing or selling marijuana laws and lets not forget underage sex laws.]

Case in point however, starting with the Wednesday, March 11, 2009, Times-Standard Editorial: Show you care, show your ID is a classic example of do-gooder knee-jerk mentality that's really a pretense to inure** people to more loss of freedom and rights.

This fine group of people, this "editorial board made up of recovered, recovering and current smokers" says, in part:

It can actually be quantified -- the war against smoking is making headway. Fewer people are smoking, and fewer will be dying, as a result, from smoking-related diseases.

But the war is not over. Each and every time a minor starts puffing, it's the wrong start to a person's life. Immediately they set themselves up for a health disadvantage, and will have to dedicate years, if not decades, to recover, if and when they quit.

Did you notice that this is a "war"? How do they say we should fight this war? By getting "people to show their IDs when buying cigarettes, without being asked." -Make showing IDs common place.

Why?

"The logic is that if clerks start seeing people always showing their IDs when buying cigarettes, they'll begin to expect it. Thus, when a minor can't produce one, or produces one that looks fraudulent, the clerk will be on guard and thereby prevent the youth from buying the tobacco.

The campaign also aims to send a message to kids: You're outlawed from buying tobacco -- take the hint." (Emphasis add)

That editorial was followed up with the article, "County campaign reduces minors' access to tobacco" by Donna Tam where she explains the criminal rewards for selling cigarettes to minors. She identifies a do-gooder organization, Tobacco Free Humboldt and its Project Director Jay McCubbrey. This organization has enlisted use of 15 - 16 year old kids to see who will sell them tobacco and to "get the anti-smoking message out." One of these brilliant 15-year old kids says, "It's telling kids, 'Yes, people are looking for this so you shouldn't try to do it.'"

This is not about "telling kids" anything. This is pure indoctrination of children and adults alike! And it has absolutely nothing to do with anti-smoking. But, if it does, it's only peripheral, if not, incidental.

These teenagers see elder adults showing their ID "just to send a message" and they'll laugh the old fools right out of the store. And that IS the message sent. Certainly NOT what some adolescent teenager's take on life is.

The real crime done to these children, who are surrounded by smokers of every age and size is this statement,

The campaign also aims to send a message to kids: You're outlawed from buying tobacco -- take the hint."

with this nonsense,

We as a community have a responsibility to do the best we can by the next generation, and doing so in this case means making it hard, if not impossible, for a kid to get cigarettes. Let's set the example.

This is how you TALK to kids? By making them criminals? Penalizing everyone that smokes and forcing "store clerks" that have no say in the sale of tobacco to police our children? It was this kind of activity that produced these people, "Hitler-Jugend" 89 years ago, commonly known as "Hitler Youth." (Emphasis add)

This is what you quietly get today, Friday, March 13, 2009:

Updating the Militarization and Annexation of North America

- by Steve Lendman - Here's an excerpt:

... In other words, homeland militarization and occupation are planned using troops trained to kill.

The pretext is national security. In fact, they'll be on-call against another major terrorist attack, real or contrived, as well as civil unrest given the gravity of the economic crisis, its affect on millions, and likelihood that sooner or later they'll react. Armed combat troops will supplement militarized local police in case security crackdowns are ordered or martial law declared.

"Catastrophic Emergency" procedures are in place to react to situations, "natural or manmade," according to DHS/FEMA's March 2008 "Preparedness for the Next Catastrophic Disaster" policy paper. Should conditions warrant, initiatives to suspend the Constitution and declare martial law are in place, but militarizing America for business is also at issue.

It all started somewhere. So, lets set a real example.

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Joe Blow, just to be clear, is for reasonable laws and law enforcement. Legislating morality, using laws, the police and juries to send messages and educating our youth with a club is out. Children learn the truth by observing who and what we are and comparing what we do by what we say. If you don't want your kids smoking tobacco then teach them what self-respect and personal responsibility means. Then give them the tools they need to be able to use that self-respect and be responsible. Problem is, you can't teach what don't have or don't know.

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Creeping Crud : Malaise:
1. a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.
2. a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.

* Ostensibly:
1. Outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended: an ostensible cheerfulness concealing sadness.
2. Apparent, evident, or conspicuous: the ostensible truth of their theories.
** Inure:
To habituate to something undesirable, especially by prolonged subjection; accustom

--Joe