Body count

A couple of weeks ago, my family attended our local yearly Christmas parade.  While not even close to the scale of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, it does attract quite a few of the townfolk here, and as such, the local police officers help out by directing traffic around the event.  As we walked past them, it was hard not to think, in light of the recent incidents involving Michael Brown and Eric Garner, that any one of the men and women we passed could shoot and kill me or my wife or our son because they've been pissed off all day that their Raisin Bran got too soggy at that morning's breakfast, and thanks to local prosecutors gaming the system, walk away scot-free.

Now I know the odds of any one of us being killed by a police officer are roughly akin to being struck by a bolt of lightning, but what does it say about the state of our trust of the police when a white American male such as myself, living in Podunk, Michigan, looks askance every time he walks past one of the men and women in blue?

I'm not really sure who the hundreds of police officers that turned their backs on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio--a man who is dealing with the reality of police relations--while he spoke last week at a memorial for the two slain officers were trying to convince (maybe the Tea Party fringe approves, but frankly they all think police officers should be paid minimum wage and pay for their own damn life and medical insurance),  but it certainly wasn't their local African-American community.  If anything, it made them trust the police less.

And one can go from police officer to pariah in a heartbeat.

Peace,
emaycee

Fear of a mad black protester

And if they're not blaming President Obama for the deaths of two New York City police officers this past weekend, they're blaming people exercising their first amendment right to peacefully assemble,

New York Police Union President Pat Lynch said there was "blood on many hands tonight" including the protestors in his fair city.  (By the way, am I the only one who wonders if this overplaying of their hand by police union leaders makes unions as a whole look bad?)

Not to be outdone, Missouri Senator Roy Blunt said criticism of police tactics from his own constituents led to the deaths of the two police officers.  (Apparently Senator Blunt isn't happy with merely losing 95% of the African-American vote, he's shooting for 100%.)

The only action the protesters in Ferguson and New York City (and those across American who joined them) are guilty of is seeking justice.  The deaths of two men who did a job most of us want no part of and provide a service we all need is tragic--it is not a time to place blame where it doesn't belong.

But it's standard fare--think welfare queen.  Think driving while black.  Think stop and frisk.  Think black on black crime.  It's a whole hell of a lot easier to concoct bullshit about the messengers than it is to debunk their message.

Peace,
emaycee

The only thing we have to fear is their selling of fear

Never missing an opportunity to spew hate and stoke fear, Fox News and Rudy Giulani are doing their best to convince our more ignorant fellow Americans that the shooting deaths of two police officers in New York City this past weekend are the fault of President Obama.  Shocking, I know.

No, the murders are not the fault of the President--they were committed by a young man with a history of mental health problems.

But anybody want to guess the state of affairs in America if either of two tone deaf bozos named John McCain or Mitt Romney had been President when the grand jury decisions on Michael Brown and Eric Garner were handed down?  Or having Sarah Palin wax poetic on the state of race affairs in America?

The jackasses ought to get down on their hands and knees and thank God that we have Obama for our President--his steady hand and empathetic nature have been the only things keeping us from a maelstrom of anarchy from a people thirsting for justice.

Peace,
emaycee

How?

I know there are a lot of good and decent police men and women across the country, but after watching the events of the last few weeks, the decisions not to prosecute the killers of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, the lame ass defenses of murderers by local police unions and spokesmen, how the hell does anybody trust any police officer anywhere?

How?

Peace,
emaycee

It ain't no secret

Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, was killed by a police officer this weekend in Ferguson, MO.

An unarmed black man being killed in this country?

Man, that almost never happens in America...(sadly, there are more here).

Peace,
emaycee