All I can say I am so glad I don't work on Wall Street anymore and followed NASDAQ and FTSE anymore for a living!

Enjoy your day off Philip! I hope the weather is gorgeous.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09252008/news/regionalnews/cops_in_nude_taser_slay_130670.htm

Cops murder psychotic naked man

I would recommend Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine" to anyone interested in the real story behind free market economics and the human devastation it leaves in its wake for the vast majority of people while creating a tiny minority of hyper-rich individuals.

It is absolutely shocking -- pun intended.

Hopefully you can take some time to watch last nigth's daily show and colber repor

Enjoy the day off, the economy gives me anxiety that I refuse to medicate!

It's Clinton's fault! Of course.

WJC did some truly horrible shit while in the WH -- shredding the safety net under "right" to work welfare reform, abandoning Rwanda during the genocide, lying under oath about the bj, but he gave us 8 years of peace and prosperity and left the country with a balanced budget and federal surplus.

Our current meltdown is the logical result of unregulated capitalism, and the death knell of neocon perfidy, which will take decades to overcome, starting with 700 billion dollars of tax-funded corporate welfare. Heckuva job, wingnuts!

I am actually more directly disturbed by the NYT story of the man, ON MEDS, who was standing naked with some sort of light, on his fire escape and then was tasered by the NY cops, falling to his death. A lotta yadayada in the paper about the cops' training to deal with situations like these but, whoops, this one didn't go right. This was a perfectly intact human being prior to becoming psychotic probably because of the meds. How can life be viewed with such shallow regard, especially and I mean especially the life of someone who is obviously psychotic. This kind of episode was always my worst fear with my son, only it wasn't the cops that got him, it was Zyprexa...I wonder what idiots are giving police the "training" to deal with psychotic individuals?

Sorrowful,

Me bad. I saw that story on the evening news in NY last night, should have sent it along to Philip during the 10 o'clock news. The weird thing is the ten o'clock news channels here were not reporting the poor man was on meds until this morning when it was in the papers.

Right now, it's not more than a word or two on either of the big 3 in NY. It's all about tonight's debate and the economy. What ever happened to ":If it bleeds, it leads?"

I guess even that golden rule of journalists gets trumped by our wallets.

Take care Sorrowful. I do like reading what you post.

I saw that video last night at Pandagon. The police STEPPED BACK and let him fall to his death:

http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/ny_brooklyn_man_tased_falls_to_death_from_fire_escape/

Racquel McDonald was standing on Tompkins Avenue in Bedford Stuyvesant, unknowingly recording the last moments of Iam Morales’ life on her cell phone.

Dozens of people witnessed it, too. Some were taking photos of Morales as he jumped up and down on top of a 10-foot high roll-down gate, swinging a florescent light bulb around and poking officers standing on a nearby fire escape. An officer on the ground then raised his Taser gun and fired a 50,000-volt shock, immobilizing him.

“He wasn’t hurting anybody. They could have just grabbed him and bring him down but they Tasered him instead and he fell to his death and it was real wrong,” McDonald said.

Added a witness named “Kyle:” “The man was isolated for minute … and then he just fell to the floor. They had about eight cops that could’ve break the fall. They just moved back.”

Witnesses said police did nothing to break Morales’ fall, and his mother was standing just a few yards away. She was the one who called police, according to family friends, because 35-year-old Morales had a chemical imbalance and she believed he was suffering from a bad reaction to new medication. “The mother was screaming, ‘He’s gonna fall!’ And they said, ‘Step back.’ They wouldn’t allow the mother to talk to him,” witness Charlene Gayle-Gordon said.

City Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr., chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said in a telephone interview that the situation could have been handled better by the police.

“My first take is that while I’m sure there are no experts out there on how to handle a crazy naked man with a weapon on top of a ledge, I’m also sure this wasn’t the right way, “ Mr. Vallone said on Wednesday evening.

“A situation like that is never going to end in a good way,” Mr. Vallone said after watching the video. “The most important thing is that no innocent bystanders or police got hurt. But clearly, it could have been handled better.”

Mr. Vallone said a public hearing on the department’s use of Tasers might be needed to fine-tune its policy on using them.

The use of Tasers in New York has a troubled history. In the early 1980s, the police were condemned for using them to force drug suspects to confess. Mr. Kelly, then a deputy inspector, was assigned to reform the police practices.

...”His mother called 911,” said Sharonnie Perry, a community advocate who lives down the street. “She called for assistance and the assistance she got was her son being killed.”

UPDATE: This time, someone on the police force may actually be held accountable.

Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, New York City Police Department notes that none of the “officers on the scene were positioned to break his fall, nor did they devise a plan in advance to do so.”

“The order to employ the Taser under these circumstances appears to have violated guidelines, re-issued June 4, 2008, which specifically state that ‘when possible, the CED should not be used…in situations where the subject may fall from an elevated surface,’” the statement continues.

“The lieutenant who directed the use of the Taser has been placed on modified assignment,” Browne writes. “The officer has been assigned to administrative duties. The Brooklyn District Attorney has asked that neither officer be interviewed by the Police Department as the investigation into this incident continues.”

Flawedplan, I've said it before, but it is worth repeating.

You rock girl!
:-)

I miss your blogging.

This is absurd!
The use of taser is unacceptable.
Last year it was used against a student in an American university.
I'll search for the complete story and the video
Some people are advocating the use of taser by Brazilian police as if it was not dangerous.
This man's death is a crime.

No one sees the pattern. Banks cried to have the restrictions established from the great depression loosened. Then cried about bankruptcy laws needed to be changed and tightened, while they were doing all the bad loans. They knew these were risky property values and the people could afford the payments if something happened to their income. The knew what was coming and pushed protection in place for themselves. Or do you really believe no one(experts) in the business knew high risks loans could cause problems or that markets dip/crash... Now everyone gets screwed again to realize the restrictions were made the first time for a good damn reason. Deregulation has been bad almost every time for the people and good for the companies at the citizens' costs. The worst part? There is less protection for the people they are causing to go bankrupt by killing the economy. Great land grab.... Eventually they're going to have to admit we're in a recession. I just find it really hard to believe that experts and their is massive about of science on the economy and finances didn't know what they were doing and that like every other time it would crumble into itself. But then again I'm labeled "paranoid"....

I wonder how long it will be until Mexico starts returning truck loads of Americans who snuck in illegally for a better life....

Well, Mexico is warmer and cheaper, but has a lot of shoot outs at the OK Corral, depending on where you choose to go. I've been looking at the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia - the warmest place there, with lots of apple orchards, fresh fish from the sea, and friendly people who speak English. Though more of a hurdle to get it, it's do-able. I even found a great geodesic dome for sale cheap.But my first choice would be British Columbia.

This is an APPROVED comment from the NEW YORK POST website story about the slaying by police of the psychotic man with the light bulb stick...

This is it people, this is the hate speech that gets allowed in the mainstream, and there are many more calls in the comments for the genetic extermination of the psychiatrically labeled... I warn you, this comment that this guy posted is obscene......

"Since I have no plans to climb out on a ledge naked and go on a rant I don't feel threatened by New York's "Killer Cops", as some nut on here called them. Nor can I see any time in the future where I would do so. A ten foot fall is not usually a fatal one. The height at which a person will almost surely not survive a fall is 50 ft. I do not believe that the police thought they were using deadly force, after all, they have guns and they could have shot him if their aim was to kill him. The public was probably supporting this man through an SSI disability check and I as a memvber of the public am more disgusted with that than anything else. The people who are realy responsible for this man's death are the ones who decided that mentally ill people should be let out of the institutions to wreak havoc on society. If he was in a ward he'd still be alive today."

Now, that just says it all doesn't it.

Not to mention I find it utmost appalling that the man is named in the story, the man's bloody naked corpse is in full color, his fall is even photographed, its like some sick coliseum where the naked psychotic man is thrown to the wolves for friday night entertainment... people are literally laughing at him and the comments are being approved over there at the new york sun website....

his cousin is even there in the comments pleading for the abuse to stop. His full name and naked photo, undisguised face and everything is up there..... this is just the most horrendous breach of privacy ever.

Another plum comment from the newpaper sites, this one was also approved!

'No big loss. Morales was crazy and who knows what he would have done tomorrow.'

All I can say is thank GOD for cell phone cameras, and the general ubiquity of cameras.

In 2008, we've been helped by at least THREE high profile deaths caught on camera where authorities either killed or were complicit in the death a labeled one.

We can only hope, in a decade's time, when we a nice little montage of 20 cold blooded neglectful deaths to send to congress, something will be done.