Trying to research a project I stumbled on this. Here’s the quotation that has raised my blood pressure, with links:

Or perhaps we could consult Mrs. Hope Steffey of Salem, Ohio, who had the cops called to assist her after being beaten by a cousin and ended up being the victim of a perfectly “legal” sexual assault by Sheriff’s deputies at the Stark County jail. They threw her to the ground and forcibly removed all of her clothes while she screamed in blood curdling terror. This gang of thugs with badges included male officers as well. This happened to her after being beaten by the cop called to the scene and then arrested on a bogus “disorderly conduct” charge meant to cover up the arresting officer’s crime. Of course the brave, strong Sheriff of Stark County, a piece of worthless garbage named Timothy Swanson, has defended the conduct of his officers. He claims it was done for Steffey’s own protection because she was suicidal! Because we all know that suicidal people don’t need gooey, “liberal”-sounding things like care and compassion, but ruthless violence. Knowing that a lawsuit would be filed, Swanson invited the politically-embattled now former-Attorney General of Ohio, Mark Dann, to investigate, and, surprise, surprise, no wrongdoing was found! (Who you gonna believe, the Government or your own lyin’ eyes?)

June 12, 2008

Deafening Silence

By David Warren

The pen is reputed to be mightier than the sword — and probably is, over the longer stretches of history. Over the shorter stretches, the sword is definitive; or, as that great Leftist sage, Mao Tse-Tung, expressed it: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” With its monopoly on power, the State is equipped to suppress the truth. And yet the truth will not die, no matter how many people are punished for expressing it. They may die — or be imprisoned, fined, compelled to publicly recant, or otherwise silenced and humiliated — but the truth will survive.

Yes, this is a statement of my Catholic faith. But it is also a candid reflection on all of the history I have read: that political power passes away, that truths about God and man resurface, that human freedom is never fully extinguished. Much of the history we know may itself be false, owing to the disappearance of evidence over time; and justice in this world may not be availing. Yet in broad outline, a time always comes when we may review the past, freed from the shackles of the past. The chains of history always rust away.

This is a point worth recalling, as we head into a period in Canada when, owing to malice from an ideological camp, to cowardice on the part of our elected representatives, and to indifference on the part of the people, free speech and freedom of the press will disappear in Canada. Those who deviate from the officially-sanctioned lies of “political correctness” will emigrate, perhaps mostly to USA, or experience that peculiar form of internal exile — of enforced silence — that good men have shared in many times and places.

CONTINUE READING

New reminder of how criminality comes from a badge:

So far, Chesapeake police have given no indication that they did any investigation to corroborate the tip from their informant. There’s no mention in the search warrant of an undercover drug buy from Frederick or of any extensive surveillance of Frederick’s home.

More disturbingly, the search warrant says the confidential informant was inside Frederick’s house three days before the raid—about the same time Frederick says someone broke into his home. Frederick’s supporters have told me that Frederick and his attorney now know the identity of the informant, and that it was the police informant who broke into Frederick’s home.

Chesapeake’s police department isn’t commenting. But if true, all of this raises some very troubling questions about the raid, and about Frederick’s continued incarceration.

Special prosecutor Paul Ebert said at a recent bond hearing for Frederick that Shivers, the detective who was killed, was in Frederick’s yard when he was shot, and that Frederick fired through his door, knowing he was firing at police.

Frederick’s attorney disputes this. Ebert also said Frederick should have known the intruders were police because there were a dozen or more officers at the scene. But some of Frederick’s neighbors dispute this, too. One neighbor told me she saw only two officers immediately after the raid; she said the others showed up only after Shivers went down.

What’s clear, though, is that Chesepeake police conducted a raid on a man with no prior criminal record. Even if their informant had been correct, Frederick was at worst suspected of growing marijuana plants in his garage. There was no indication he was a violent man—that it was necessary to take down his door after nightfall.

The raid in Chesapeake bears a striking resemblance to another that ended in a fatality. Last week, New Hanover County, N.C., agreed to pay $4.25 million to the parents of college student Peyton Strickland, who was killed when a deputy participating in a raid mistook the sound of a SWAT battering ram for a gunshot, and fired through the door as Strickland came to answer it.

In the case where a citizen mistakenly (and allegedly) shot through his door at a raiding police officer, the citizen is facing a murder charge; in the case where a raiding police officer mistakenly shot through a door and killed a citizen, there were no criminal charges.

Over the last quarter century, we’ve seen an astonishing rise in paramilitary police tactics by police departments across America. Peter Kraksa, professor of criminology at the University of Eastern Kentucky, ran a 20-year survey of SWAT team deployments and determined that they have increased 1,500 percent since the early 1980s—mostly to serve nonviolent drug warrants.

This is dangerous, senseless overkill. The margin of error is too thin, and the potential for tragedy too high to use these tactics unless they are in response to an already violent situation (think bank robberies, school shootings or hostage-takings). Breaking down doors to bust drug offenders creates violent situations; it doesn’t defuse them.

Another example of how the state of nature is actually a political creation in real life.

More examples here and here.

Hat Tip: Chris

After treating patients for 15 years, Kathy Adams Morgan hung up her stethoscope to educate her daughter full time at their Point Loma home.Eight years later, Morgan has no regrets. It’s easy to see why.

At 13, Jenny scores high on standardized tests and balances academics with organized sports, Girl Scouts, dance – and the ever-important teenage social life.

But according to a recent state appellate court ruling, it is illegal for Morgan – and the thousands of California parents who home-school their children – to teach without credentials.

“Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children,” wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey in a Feb. 28 opinion signed by the two other members of the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

The ruling has rattled home-school families in San Diego County and throughout California. It is the subject of much speculation on the blogs, Web sites and networks that link thousands of home-schoolers statewide.

[read the rest]

High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don’t start school until age 7.

Yet by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world. They earned some of the top scores by 15-year-old students who were tested in 57 countries. American teens finished among the world’s C students even as U.S. educators piled on more homework, standards and rules. Finnish youth, like their U.S. counterparts, also waste hours online. They dye their hair, love sarcasm and listen to rap and heavy metal. But by ninth grade they’re way ahead in math, science and reading — on track to keeping Finns among the world’s most productive workers.

READ THE REST

Hat Tip: Odonnellweb.com