Saturday, June 19, 2010

Clearly The Answer Here Is To Cut Police Funds

Because after all when government fails to do its duty, we must then deregulate and cut money, correct?
Police in Lexington, Kentucky, are apologizing for mistakenly thinking a severely injured woman found at a crime scene eight days ago was dead, then failing to get her to a hospital until more than 3 1/2 hours after they found her.


According to a timeline of events from a Lexington Division of Police press release, officers responded to a call at 6:24 p.m. on June 9 and arrived at the house five minutes later. They didn't find the victim's body until 7:50 p.m. Then, they took another hour and 15 minutes to notify the coroner. A half-hour later, at 9:35 p.m., the coroner arrived. No one requested an emergency care unit until 11:07 p.m.

The woman died at the hospital the following day, Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said.

"We felt like we made a mistake in the way we handled the health assessment that night," said Roberts. "Because of the way she looked, appeared, officers thought she was deceased. Because of this incident, we have made a policy change.

"Anytime there is a case where a person is badly beaten, even if officers think they are dead, paramedics will always be called." said Roberts. She added that the Lexington Division of Police is performing an internal investigation.
It is a brutally tragic case.  But since cops are all overpaid, lazy, union thugs according to the wingers, we must make cuts in the Lexington Police Department, you see.  We have no choice.  Big Coal has to have those tax breaks in Kentucky, so there's just no funding to spare. It's tragic, I know.  Those are the breaks in a world run by the GOP.

Maybe Rand Paul can help those cops get jobs.

World Cupdate

We start off Saturday play with Netherlands vs Japan in Group E.  The Oranje opened up with a 1-3-2-4 set with striker Robin Van Persie at point, while the Samurai Blue went 1-2-3-4 with the front 2 midfielders wide and the deadly Keisuke Honda leading the attack.  The first half started out strong for both sides but then moved into an odd defensive battle as neither side had the power to cut through nine men in the middle and back, and it turned into a floating free-for-all at the hash line.  Japan clearly decided early that a draw versus Big Orange was a win, and collapsed on any Dutch ball on their side.  The second half saw the Dutch go on the assault, and it paid off with a cross to Wesley Sneijder who ripped it in past keeper Kawashima at 53'.  Japan suddenly had to go all out to equalize, but the Dutch then locked the ball down and Japan just couldn't convert despite a number of nerve-wracking chances.  The Oranje made it to the end of full time with the win here to lock up the group, and Japan can still advance with a point next week.

Match 2 was Ghana and Australia, and the Black Stars were in the driver's seat after the Serbs handed the Germans the loss yesterday.  Meanwhile, the Socceroos came in at the worst position in the Cup at a loss and minus 4 AND down Tim Cahill on a red card after Germany pummeled them last week.  They needed a huge win here just to stay alive.  Both teams were playing that popular 1-3-2-4 front to back that we've seen in this tourney, Asamoah Gyan the striker for Ghana and Harry Kewell the point man for the Socceroos.  But Australia finally shook off the horrific game last week as Brett Holman scored off of keeper Kingson's misplayed rebound off the free kick at 11'.  The victory was short-lived however as the Socceroos' luck turned black again as Kewell took a red card for a handball that blocked a goal in the penalty area for Ghana, and on the penalty kick Asamoah Gyan made them pay and equalized at 25'.  Australia, now a man down was on the edge of disaster.  The second half however saw the Socceroos play their game as Ghana got sloppy and couldn't push forward enough outside of Gyan to score.  If it wasn't for that red card, Australia would have won, but they will settle for the 1-1 draw and keep their chances alive.

Finally rounding out the other Group E match was Cameroon at Denmark, with the Indomitable Lions favored against the Danish Dynamite and both squads badly needing a win to try to catch Japan for the #2 slot.  The Lions ran a 2-4-4 formation with Samuel Eto'o and Webo up front, with the Danes running a familiar 1-3-2-4 setup with Nicklas Bendtner at point.  Cameroon's 2-front formation paid off instantly as Eto'o scored from 12 yards out at 10'.  Denmark however played tight and Bendtner equalized at 33'.  The second half was all Denmark as they adjusted to pick up Eto'o and it was Rommedahl who put in the back of the net at 61'.  Cameroon came on strong but it wasn't enough as Denmark win 2-1, and Cameroon are the first team eliminated in this World Cup.

'Nuff Respect Due

The Democrat's hope running against the Bachmanniac is Tarryl Clark, and she's not throwing softballs at America's Favorite Batshit Crazy Winger.  And damn, it's good to see her people on the ball like this.  She can beat Michele Bachmann.



On Friday, Democratic candidate Tarryl Clark said she will begin a television ad on Sunday that accuses Bachmann of siding with BP over taxpayers.

The congresswoman from Stillwater has altered her tone since BP voluntarily agreed to the White House's request, warning instead that the account should not become "a permanent ATM card" paid by BP.

The 30-second ad spot says that "Michele Bachmann calls making BP pay for the clean up 'extortion,'" and quotes Bachmann as saying, "If I was the head of BP, I would let the signal get out there, we're not going to be chumps." The ad closes by saying, "If Bachmann lets BP off the hook, guess who's paying? Us. Michele Bachmann: Standing up for BP. Not us."
As much mileage as I get on posts from One L, No Brains here, I'd much rather be calling her "Former Congresswoman".  Give a little to Tarryl Clark if you can.

Worst Public Relations Guys On Earth

Whoever is holding BP CEO Tony Hayward's PR leash needs to be fired even more than Hayward does.
BP chief executive Tony Hayward, often criticized for being tone-deaf to U.S. concerns about the worst oil spill in American history, took time off Saturday to attend a glitzy yacht race off England's Isle of Wight.
Spokeswoman Sheila Williams said Hayward took a break from overseeing BP efforts to stem the undersea gusher in Gulf of Mexico to watch his boat "Bob" participate in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.
The one-day yacht race is one of the world's largest, attracting hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors.
In a statement, BP described Hayward's day off as "a rare moment of private time" and said that "no matter where he is, he is always in touch with what is happening within BP" and can direct recovery operations if required.
That is likely to be a hard sell in Gulf states struggling to deal with the up to 120 million gallons of oil that have escaped from a blown-out undersea well.
The worst environmental disaster in US history, at the worst possible time for the US economy, and the guy responsible is at...a yacht race.  An actual.  Honest to goodness.  Yacht race. Not metaphorical in any way, but an actual race with yachts.

Hayward's done.  He may not survive the weekend.  Hey BP?  Fire his ass.  Then fire your PR firm.

Predator-Prey Cycle

An exhaustive study of the 2007-2009 foreclosure crisis (still ongoing, frankly) showed that even despite income levels,  African-Americans and Latinos were more likely to be foreclosed upon.
Recent African American and Latino home borrowers — regardless of their income — were much more likely to lose their homes to foreclosure than non-Hispanic whites during the ongoing housing crisis, according to a new study.


In fact, as their incomes climbed, minority borrowers saw their likelihood of foreclosure grow even larger in comparison to non-Hispanic white borrowers in the same income bracket.

That's the conclusion of "Foreclosures by Race and Ethnicity: The Demographics of a Crisis," a new report by the Center for Responsible Lending, which analyzed racial and ethnic data on more than 80 percent of the estimated 2.5 million home foreclosures completed between 2007 and 2009.

The study found non-Hispanic whites accounted for 56 percent of home foreclosures during this two-year period compared to just 16 percent for Hispanics and about 12 percent for African American homeowners.

But nearly 8 percent of blacks and Latinos who got home loans or refinanced between 2005 and 2008 ultimately lost their homes to foreclosure between 2007 and 2009, compared with just 4.5 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

That means that, overall, black and Hispanic homeowners were 76 percent and 71 percent more likely to go into foreclosure than non-Hispanic whites. And blacks and Latinos with the highest incomes were 81 percent and 94 percent more likely to face foreclosure than non-Hispanic whites with similar incomes, the study estimates.

"These disparities hold across all income lines," said Keith Ernst, the center's director of research, who co-authored the report.
That's vital information there and should put the nonsense about the Community Reinvestment Act causing the foreclosure crisis to bed for good.  Sadly, there are those who aren't paying attention to the bolded statements there once again saying this proves that Those Damn People wrecked the economy, but real wingers don't let facts get in the way.

The reality is that the mortgage industry was more than happy to victimize minorities to get money because housing prices were going up, and they only way to get more money was to get more homeowners borrowing.  That meant going to minority borrowers, a lot of them first-time homeowners, and giving them the slimiest deal possible because they could get away with it.

All that greed backfired eventually.  But it's nice to blame minorities when even the ones with high income were getting foreclosed on more than whites.

Specifically Not Feelin' Randy, Part 8

Rand Paul has the solution for Kentucky's long-term unemployed when the jobless rate is near 10%:  Get a job, you lazy bastards!
“In Europe, they give about a year of unemployment. We’re up to two years now in America,” Paul said on Sue Wylie’s WVLK-AM 590 radio program.

“As bad as it sounds, ultimately we do have to sometimes accept a wage that’s less than we had at our previous job in order to get back to work and allow the economy to get started again,” Paul said. “Nobody likes that, but it may be one of the tough love things that has to happen.”

Paul was responding to a question from Wylie about Thursday’s Senate Republican filibuster of a $120 billion package of additional jobless benefits and state aid. Tens of thousands of Americans will have exhausted their unemployment benefits this month without that extension.

Paul said he supports the filibuster. If the Senate thinks the bill is necessary, it needs to find the money to pay for it elsewhere in the federal budget rather than add to the $13 trillion national debt, he said.

“It’s all a matter of making priorities,” Paul said. “Some tough decisions will have to be made.”
Because when you've got a mortgage payment or rent, car payment, day care, groceries, and credit card bills to pay, taking a job at McDonald's for a fraction of what you were earning (and less that what unemployment was giving you) will solve all your problems.  That is if the McDonald's manager wants to actually hire somebody overqualified when they've got 6 applications for every open position.

America can't afford to help you any longer because we're too busy with tax cuts for the rich and for corporations.  The Senate Millionaires Club is just disgusted with how lazy you are.  If you were really a hard worker, Kentucky, then you'd be rich like they were.

The Rand-publican solution:  get a job, you hippie!  You know, even though there's more people than jobs now.  Why haven't you started your own successful small business yet?

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!