Soap Box – Page 5 – The Wacky World of Chris Knight

2008/08/02

New Zealand looks better every day.

WTF?

Has ‘entrapment’ become too big of a word for the new low-IQ-standard Police Officers they hire these days?

-Chris

The Raw Story | Md. mayor’s dogs killed by SWAT after cops deliver pot
Associated Press
Published: Thursday July 31, 2008

BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. — A SWAT team raided the home of a Washington, D.C.-area mayor, killing his two black Labrador retrievers and seizing an unopened package of marijuana delivered there.

Prince George's County Police said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo brought a 32-pound package of marijuana into his home that had been delivered by officers posing as delivery men. The Tuesday evening raid was conducted by county police narcotics officers and a sheriff's office SWAT Team.

The package was addressed to Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic. His mother-in-law had asked the supposed delivery men to leave the package outside. Calvo has not been charged, though police said he, his wife and his mother-in-law are "persons of interest" in an ongoing investigation.

"We never opened the box. We have nothing to do with this box," Calvo said.

Sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Mario Ellis says deputies "apparently felt threatened" when they shot the dogs.

Calvo said officers entered about 7:30 p.m., first shooting 7-year-old Payton. They then pursued 4-year-old Chase, who ran away and was shot by police from behind, he said.

Calvo said he doesn't have any idea how the package ended up at his house. He called the raid "the most traumatic experience" of his life.

Calvo, who called his town "Mayberry inside the Capital Beltway," gets a small stipend as mayor and works at the SEED Foundation, a nonprofit that runs public boarding schools for at-risk students. His wife works as a state finance officer.

"These were two beautiful black Labradors who were well-known in the community. We walked them twice a day; little kids knew their names and would come up to them and pet them," he said.

[ad#adsense-horizontal]

2008/08/01

More Stupid ‘Bread and Circus’ ideas…

Pardon me if I don’t jump for joy, but this is more of the same stupid ‘bread and circus’ politics that Bush has been feeding us for seven years. The only thing changing is who foots the bill, but if you think the oil companies won’t find a way to get their money back you are kidding yourself.

Obama already lost my vote, for reasons I haven’t had time to write about. With these kinds of solutions on his mind, I’m starting to think that moving to New Zealand is a good idea no matter who wins.

McBama, O’Cain, whatever.

-Chris

Obama proposes $1,000 emergency rebate checks
By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer
Friday, August 1, 2008
(08-01) 14:01 PDT ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) —

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday pushed for a windfall profits tax to fund $1,000 emergency rebate checks for consumers besieged by high energy costs, a counter to Republican rival John McCain's call for more offshore drilling in coastal states like Florida.

[ad#adsense-horizontal]

2008/07/312008/08/01

Party – This Saturday on Sergey Brin’s Front Lawn!

Google says “complete privacy does not exist” – Internet – iTnews Australia

By Iain Thomson

31 July 2008 07:57AM

In a submission to court Google is arguing that in the modern world there can be no expectation of privacy.

Google is being sued by a Pennsylvania couple after their home appeared on Google’s Street View pages. The couple’s house is on a private road clearly marked as private property.

“Today’s satellite image technology means that even in today’s desert, complete privacy does not exist,” says Google’s submission.

“In any event, the Plaintiffs live far away from the desert and are far from hermits.”

The couple are suing Google for US$25,000 in damages, saying that the value of their property has been damaged and say they have suffered “mental stress”.

This is not the first time Google’s Street View has got the company in to trouble. The EU is arguing that people’s faces should be blurred out of images displayed.

The Street View program aims to photograph every street in the world and place the photographs online. A team of specially converted cars with cameras mounted on the roof are in constant action around the world.

Google is taking a page out of George W Bush’s playbook by claiming that people shouldn’t expect privacy on their own property, and that we should just ‘trust’ Google to ‘do no evil’.

I say we run with their idea that privacy does not exist! Let’s throw a party on the front lawn of the Google founders! I am sure that they will agree that anything good for Google is good for us! This week Sergey’s place, next week at Larry’s. Who is game? Can someone create a meet-up, or a tribe, and post the info here as a comment?

View Larger Map

-Chris

[ad#adsense-horizontal]