Archive for November, 2011

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Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

(Matthew 25:40)

Three senior officials at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, sacred ground for the military and the main entry point for the nation’s war dead, knew they had lost body parts of two service members killed in Afghanistan but did nothing to correct sloppy practices at the base mortuary, the Air Force said Tuesday.

Did you read that? They lost body parts.

(ETA: WP coverage.)

The investigation did not uncover what happened to the body parts, but held out the possibility that they fell out of plastic Ziploc bags while stored in a large refrigerator in the mortuary and ended up in tubs with the remains of another service member or perhaps cremated.

But hey! They manage to account for 99.5% of the body parts! Shouldn’t we give them a pass? After all, it isn’t like they work for Penn State…

Joe Paterno’s tenure as the coach of the Penn State football team will soon be over, perhaps within days or weeks, in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that has implicated university officials, according to two people briefed on conversations among the university’s top officials.

I haven’t had much to say about the story because….well, I haven’t had much to say about the story. I’ve always had a certain fondness for Penn State (my dad went there for a couple of years, and Penn State was his college football team, to the extent that he followed sports), but what can you say about this?

For once, I’m going to point to a FARK thread, which actually contains some good information and links (in addition to the usual FARK Internet Tough Guy BS).

And remember our friendly Orleans Parish prosecutor’s office? They got their butts handed to them by the Supreme Court in oral arguments.

“There have been serious accusations against the practices of your office, not yours in particular, but prior ones,” Justice Sotomayor said. “It is disconcerting to me that when I asked you the question directly, should this material have been turned over, you gave an absolute no.”

“That’s really troubling,” Justice Sotomayor added.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Law, Sports | Comments Closed

TMQ watch: November 8, 2011.

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Here is a partial list of movies that Gregg Easterbrook apparently thinks are better than “The Dark Knight”:

After the jump, we’ll dig a little deeper into Easterbrook as film critic in this week’s TMQ…
(more…)

Posted in Movies, Neuroscience, NFL, Sports, TMQ watch | 2 Comments »

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Convicted Spokane police officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. is out of custody, pending his sentencing on January 27th.

U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle reversed a Friday decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Hutton, who ordered Thompson detained until sentencing, which has been set for Jan. 27 at 9 a.m. In ruling for Thompson, Van Sickle went against a prior ruling made against officers convicted in the 1992 beating of Rodney King that they were not above the law that requires they remain in jail prior to sentencing except in “exceptional” cases.

“The court is very much mindful that the (Rodney King) case clearly states that there is no law enforcement exemption for law enforcement detention,” said Van Sickle, who presided over the four-week trial in which Thompson was convicted of using excessive force against Otto Zehm and lying to cover up his actions.

Except apparently there is.

Van Sickle cited Thompson’s lifelong service in law enforcement, his “exemplary” military service in the Vietnam War and complying with all conditions of his release prior to his four-week trial in Yakima.

Also worth noting: Thompson’s defense attorney has asked for a new trial, alleging that some of the jurors may have seen press coverage that they shouldn’t have been exposed to. The more coverage I see of these allegations by Thompson’s defense attorney, the less substance I see in them; the allegations are detailed in the linked article for anyone who’s interested.

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

Random notes: November 8, 2011.

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

Obit watch: Smokin’ Joe Frazier, 32-4-1. (And two of those losses were to Ali.) NYT obit.

Christo has obtained Federal approval for his latest project, “Over the River”.

…will include eight suspended panel segments totaling 5.9 miles along a 42-mile stretch of the river, about three hours southwest of Denver.

(Artists conception in the linked article.)

Attorney General Eric Holder says an investigation of arms traffickers called Operation Fast and Furious was flawed in concept as well as in execution, never should have happened and “it must never happen again.”

Yeah. At least, it must never happen again until the next time the NYT and the current administration want to drum up support for a ban on modern sporting rifles.

Posted in Art, Christo, Clippings, Guns | Comments Closed

Important safety tip (#8 in a series).

Monday, November 7th, 2011

If you dine out, in a sit-down restaurant, where someone actually brings food to your table, you should leave a reasonable tip.

I’m generally on the side of 15% as a base, though what I do in practice is double the sales tax. (Local sales tax around Austin is generally 8.25%, so that’s actually 16.5%.) I will tip 20% or 25% if I have a good reason to. I’m not as bothered by an 18% mandatory gratuity on large parties as I used to be; if the definition of a large party meets mine (five people is not large; seven+ is) and if they go above and beyond in some way (splitting the ticket six or seven ways for a party of seven, to me, justifies at least 18%).

In any case, I strongly recommend against a 200%+ tip, especially if you’re on an expense account.

Because if you’re on an expense account and turn in a receipt that shows you tipped the waitress at Hooter’s $24.52 for a mushroom cheeseburger that cost $7.48, somebody in the accounting department is going to ask questions. And eventually they’re going to find out that you tipped the waitress $24.52 to cover your bar tab, since your city expense account doesn’t cover alcohol.

(The heck of it is, I think the city policy is unreasonable. It doesn’t bother me that much for a couple of off-duty cops dining out of town to have a beer or two with their meals, and have the city pay for it. As long as they don’t get messed up and embarrass the city, say, by having the waitress pose with their patrol rifle, I don’t get hot and bothered by adults having a beer. But if they knew city policy was otherwise, and they lied about it because they were too cheap to pay their own bar tab, yeah, fire their butts.)

(If you’re not on an expense account, the above doesn’t apply to you. Feel free to tip the waitress 200%. Or 300%. Or 500%. But keep in mind; she’s not going to sleep with you, no matter how much you tip her.)

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Food, Law, Safety, Stupid | Comments Closed

Your rogue grand jury update.

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Previously on “As The Grand Jury Turns”, two prosecutors and two court reporters were summoned before a judge to answer contempt of court charges. Specifically, the two prosecutors are accused of obtaining transcripts of confidential proceedings from a grand jury that is investigating the DA’s office; the court reporters are (as far as we can tell) accused of being the ones who gave the prosecutors the transcripts.

Anyway, the hearing was today, and…the judge in the contempt case ended up having to recuse herself, as she may be called as a witness in the contempt case as well.

Chalk up another point for The Hon. Murray Newman.

Posted in Clippings, HCDA, Law | 2 Comments »

All your GPS are belong to the State.

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court takes up the case of United States vs. Jones. The key issue in Jones is: did the use of a vehicle-mounted GPS device, without a warrant, to track the movements of a suspected drug dealer, violate the 4th Amendment?

This may very well be one of the most significant 4th Amendment cases in years. The Ninth Circuit has already ruled, in a different case, that the subject

…couldn’t expect to have privacy in his driveway because it had no gate, no sign against trespassing and was regularly used by letter carriers, delivery services and visitors. Furthermore, the judge noted from an earlier 9th Circuit ruling, “a person traveling in an automobile on public thoroughfares has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements from one place to another.”

The LAT has an overview of the case, and the issues involved. We’re pretty biased in favor of Jones, and in favor of our hero Judge Alex “Big Al” Kozinski, who wrote:

“The needs of law enforcement, to which my colleagues seem inclined to refuse nothing, are quickly making personal privacy a distant memory.”

There is nothing about GPS tracking that rises to the level of “exigent circumstances” that would justify giving law enforcement a pass on the requirement for a search warrant. We hope that the Supreme Court feels the same way.

(Bonus points to Carol J. Williams for opening with the story of Katz vs. United States, which we have covered previously in this space.)

Posted in Clippings, IANAL, Law | 1 Comment »

Things that make you go “Hmmmmmm” (part N of a continuing series).

Sunday, November 6th, 2011

Or, what do you do with an apparently abandoned hospital that you can’t unload?

Today’s Statesman has an article about the hospital situation in Lakeway. (For those unfamiliar with Austin geography, Lakeway is a rapidly growing part of the greater Austin area, located west of Austin proper, out near Lake Travis.) I happen to be interested in this story for reasons I’m not sure I can talk about, but there’s some things in it that are worth blogging about.

Basically, there were plans for two hospitals. One is the Lakeway Regional Medical Center, which is going to be a pretty large complex (complete with labor and delivery facilities). The other was Lake Travis Transitional Medical Center, a smaller (46 beds) facility that started out as a “transitional facility”: “the hospital would be aimed at patients who were recovering from a traumatic injury or had some other serious medical problem and needed to be hospitalized 25 or more days.” At some point, though, plans changed and Lake Travis Transitional became a direct competitor of Lakeway Regional.

The 46-bed facility, which also has been called Lake Travis Specialty Hospital, was supposed to open earlier this year. The building has the necessary occupancy permits, but “there’s no furniture or equipment inside,” DeOme said.

The owners of the smaller Lake Travis hospital apparently have been trying to sell it; St. David’s HealthCare was approached, but it declined, a spokeswoman said. An official with the larger Seton Healthcare Family did not call back, and Scott & White Healthcare said it had no acquisition plans to announce.

Another twist:

The Lakeway Regional hospital received the biggest-ever loan guarantee that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had ever given to a for-profit hospital: $166.9 million. That guarantee “will save an estimated $91.2 million in interest expense over the life of the loan,” said HUD’s March 2010 news release.

Lake Travis Transitional asked HUD for information about the loan, but HUD wasn’t forthcoming. LTT sued HUD:

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin determined that HUD had to turn over most of the documents Lake Travis sought. In a Sept. 26 order, he said HUD had behaved unacceptably and should pay Lake Travis Transitional Medical Center $10,350 to cover its lawyer fees and $350 in litigation costs.

Nobody with Lake Travis seems to want to talk to the Statesman these days.

Two smaller hospitals are within 10 to 11 miles of Lakeway Regional: Seton Southwest Hospital and the Hospital at Westlake Medical Center. The full-service St. David’s South Austin Medical Center is 15½ miles away, according to Yahoo maps.

My personal opinion is that this is slightly misleading. The distances the Statesman gives are accurate, but to get to Seton Southwest you have to travel Texas 71; traffic frequently backs up, especially in Oak Hill, and there have been a lot of serious (fatal) accidents on that stretch of road. The Hospital at Westlake is, I think, a little better to get to. Bee Cave Road isn’t as bad as 71. But The Hospital at Westlake strikes me as being more of a boutique hospital than a general practice one. It seems like the kind of place that people go to for plastic surgery, not where you’d go when your left ventricle seizes up.

Posted in Clippings | Comments Closed

More about the 1%.

Sunday, November 6th, 2011

I previously noted the story of Stephen Kinzey, professor at Cal State San Bernardino, accused member of a biker gang and meth dealer.

Today’s LAT provides us with a longer background piece on Professor Kinzey and the charges against him. Interesting note:

Kinzey started two local motorcycle clubs in Southern California, but moved on or was forced out of both, before forming the mountain chapter of the Devils Diciples. It was a band of about six members from the San Bernardino Mountains and neighboring towns.

Also amusing:

I could call him at 3 a.m. with a question, and he’d get back to me,” said Nik Young, 25, a senior. “That’s why I’m so shocked. Just because it just doesn’t seem like that’d be a part of a guy who is as positive and caring as he is.”

Yeah, honey. Meth’s a heck of a drug.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 9, 2011.

Sunday, November 6th, 2011

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Indianapolis

Posted in Loser, NFL | Comments Closed

This is intended to enrage you some more.

Friday, November 4th, 2011

I wish I could explain why the Otto Zehm story makes me so angry. After all, The Agitator is on my blog roll; surely I get my fill of police abuse stories from there? Why is this one different from all the other ones?

I don’t know. Maybe what makes me so angry isn’t just that a police officer beat a defenseless unarmed man to death and tried to lie about it, but that his superiors – from the chief of police and the mayor on down – tried to cover for him, and are still in denial that he actually did anything wrong.

But surely there are other things going on in Spokane, Washington, right?

Yes. Yes, there are.

A jury on Friday awarded more than $700,000 to a Spokane police detective they say was wrongly fired and retaliated against by Chief Anne Kirkpatrick.

The gentleman in question, Detective Jay Mehring, was arrested in March of 2007 on charges that he’d threatened to kill his wife (apparently, they were divorcing, and the split was not friendly). At that time, he was placed in “unpaid layoff” status. That’s fair, right? You don’t want someone facing criminal charges working as a police officer.

Detective Mehring went to trial in October of 2008, and was acquitted of the charge. The Spokane city attorney recommended at that time that Detective Mehring be reinstated and given back pay.

He’s since been reinstated but is on paid administrative leave in what his lawyer, Bob Dunn, told jurors was retaliation for his lawsuit.

Here’s an additional tidbit for you:

Before deliberations began, [Judge Kathleen] O’Connor issued a partial verdict in Mehring’s favor, ruling that the City of Spokane committed a violation when it laid Mehring off pending the resolution of his felony charge. Jurors then ruled that the city violated Mehring’s rights to due process, and that the city of Spokane and Kirkpatrick intentionally or recklessly inflicted distress.

But here’s what really set me off:

Marlene Feist, spokeswoman for the City of Spokane, said the verdict likely will be appealed.

She said Kirkpatrick “is trying to hold her officers to high standards, so we’re supporting her in that effort.”

High standards? High standards?! Let me remind you what Chief Kirkpatrick said:

“Based on all the information and evidence I have reviewed, I have determined that Officer Karl Thompson acted consistent with the law.”

And this was after the release of the security video that contradicted Thompson’s story. Chief Kirkpatrick knew Thompson was a liar, and knew the Feds were investigating. But she continued to support Thompson, because beating an unarmed man to death apparently doesn’t violate her “high standards”.

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Law | Comments Closed

This is intended to enrage you.

Friday, November 4th, 2011

Some three dozen Spokane Police officers and other supporters stood when someone yelled “Present Arms” and saluted Thompson as he was led away by U.S. Marshals without being handcuffed.

(Previously.)

Posted in Clippings, Cops, Law | 3 Comments »

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