Who Killed The Electric Car?

Opening in NY and LA on June 28th.

Because even though it's just a car, that doesn't make it any less of a crime.

The Case

Q&A

Tickets:

The Angelica

Lincoln Plaza

In LA:

Arclight Cinemas

Link to the NOW segment with the Director of Who Killed The Electric Car

[You Tube, in three parts]

[Sony Pictures Classics/Who Killed The Electric Car.]

How Many Policemen Does It Take...

to retrieve a football?

Ray Markham found out when he decided to make a stand against rogue footballs and refused to return one after it smashed a window:

The 68-year-old, who lives next to a policeman in Cubbington, said he was then arrested by four Warwickshire Police officers for theft of the ball... Mr Markham said: "If it hadn't been a policeman next door let's be honest, I wouldn't have had four policeman on my doorstep, I wouldn't have seen a policeman. They can't come out to burglaries, do you think they would've come out, four policeman to collect a ball?"

With the current World Cup fever gripping the UK and our brave boys doing their bit overseas it's surprising that Markham didn't find himself crucified in his front garden as a warning for others to be more reverent of out national sport. Or is that cricket? I forget.

BBC: Man arrested over ball in garden

How Do You Put A Corporation In Jail?

You don't. You can't. It's only a piece of paper that exists, most likely, in some back room of a drab looking state building in Delaware. A small white piece of paper, with more rights than a person, yet without the unfortunate application of responsibilty and accountability that we ourselves have to be saddled with.

I want to be a corporation.

"Drugmaker Merck & Co.'s research facility in West Point dumped a chemical compound that included cyanide into the sewer system, killing more than 1,000 fish in Wissahickon Creek, federal authorities said Thursday."

"It's hard to believe that a huge company like Merck would take this long to get to the bottom of such a serious problem," said Tracy Carluccio of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, a nonprofit environmental group.

Um, actually, no. It's not.

And than, as if on cue from the devil himself, "A week after a contaminant was released into the Wissahickon Creek, killing more than 1,000 fish, malfunctions at the Ambler sewage treatment plant Monday night sent 55,000 gallons of raw sewage into the waterway."

Philadelphia Inquirer

Merck & Company Inc.
West Point Facility
P.O. Box 4
770 Sumneytown Pike
WP20-208
West Point, PA 19486
Montgomery County

Contact:
Steven C. Wittmer
Director, Site Environmental Management
Merck & Co. Inc. - West Point
215-652-6427
215-652-3931 (fax)
steven_wittmer@merck.com

Arson. It's What All The Kids Are Doing

Awoke to the sun shining thru my blindless windows at 5am-ish. Heard the familiar sounds of heavy trucks backing up and moving around sluggishly. I made a mental note about this, as I used to hear this every morning when the garbage trucks would come slumbering down the street. I no longer hear these sounds though, as garbage trucks are no longer allowed to do pick-ups before 7am due to the unfortunate noise they produce.

Then I smelt the smoke. That unmistakable smoke smell.

Looked out the window, and this is what I saw.

Put on my pants, grabbed the camera, woke the roommate, and went outside.

And I took photos.

I took photos of a house burning down to the ground, a target of a succesful arson attempt. Only a few short weeks after a similar attempt in March.

At approx. 2 am this morning, someone walked up to the back porch, poured gasoline all over it, and set it ablaze. Six people lived in that house, and all six made it out safely.

Video of the firefighting effort, and of the subsequent demolition, here.

Spread 'em asshole! I'm taking you in. I hope you brought your toothbrush!*

Italian prosecutors have called for a US soldier to stand trial for the killing of an Italian intelligence officer in Baghdad in 2005.

Three US soldiers have been charged over the deaths of three male Iraqi prisoners, the US military has said.

Police in Northern Ireland today arrested 10 people in a major anti-terrorist operation targeting alleged dissident republicans.

A couple have gone on trial in Spain accused of a murder which marked a turning point in popular attitudes to the Basque separatist group Eta.

Egyptian police have arrested 31 members of the banned opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, in the Mediterranean city of Marsa Matruh.

Bollywood star Salman Khan has been charged in a poaching case by a court in the Indian state of Rajasthan.

The mayor of Jersey City was arrested Saturday morning on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in a clash with the police outside a bar on the Jersey Shore, the authorities said.

*What I once heard an officer say to someone he was arresting. We laughed about it for days, and surmised that some police must have a mental list of cool things they are gonna say to people they arrest. Because you know that this cop was just waiting to use that one.

Bang Bang.

CSI: Underwater

June 13, 2006 - By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press

ASHLAND, Ore. - When death strikes a coral reef, whether from an oil spill off Mexico or sediment unleashed by a dam bursting in Hawaii, marine biologists know what to look for, but not how to document and preserve their findings so they will hold up in court.

Now biologists and criminalists from around the world are joining forces to develop crime-scene investigation techniques that work under water.

The "CSI"-type standards will govern such things as how to take notes under the sea, how to mark off the crime scene, how to photograph it, and how to preserve the "chain of custody" so that defense attorneys cannot argue that evidence was tampered with.

Full Story

One of these days, hopefully while I am still alive, whales and other marine life will evolve into humans, and punish us for our transgressions against their habitats.

If that does happen, I'll save them the hassle and just shoot myself.

Like a Samurai.

If The Glove Doesn't Fit, You Must Acquit..

...True dat Johnny, true dat.

But what if the glove does fit, you were walking a mile in his shoes, both hands were in the cookie jar, and the pot was calling the kettle black?

Talk about things that make you go hmmm....


Drugs in officer's car lead to internal probe
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
By PETER GOONAN
pgoonan@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD, MA - Law enforcement officials chose not to pursue any criminal action against a city police officer after discovering brass knuckles and a small amount of drugs in his private car in October, according to records obtained by The Republican in a first-ever public look at an internal police investigation.

The officer, James F. Kervick III, said he found some of the items while on duty and the others he couldn't explain, according to the report...

...While conducting an inventory, police discovered a vial of marijuana and a pair of brass knuckles in the car's center console as well as an unlocked briefcase containing two packets of marijuana and half a tablet of methamphetamine...

...Kervick did acknowledge ownership of other items in the briefcase, including leather gloves with weighted knuckles and a pocket scale, according to the report. Police also found police equipment in Kervick's [personal]car, including rounds of ammunition, police jackets, handcuffs, batons and a gas mask...

...Neither the Wilbraham police nor the Hampden County District Attorney's office was interested in pursuing a criminal complaint because it could not be proved that Kervick ever possessed the contraband found in his car or had criminal intent, according to statements filed by Wilbraham police...

"The investigation did not conclude who criminally controlled the substance prior to its surrender to us by a third party," Wilbraham Police Chief Allen M. Stratton said yesterday. "At this point, our investigation is closed and no charges have been filed."

It's really appropriate that no charges were filed in this case. As the DA and Wilbraham police stated, "it could not be proved that Kervick ever possessed the contraband found in his car or had criminal intent, according to statements filed by Wilbraham police..."The investigation did not conclude who criminally controlled the substance prior to its surrender to us by a third party," Wilbraham Police Chief Allen M. Stratton said yesterday. "At this point, our investigation is closed and no charges have been filed." [Springfield Republican]

hmm....

HOLYOKE - Police arrested a 25-year-old city man yesterday and charged him with cocaine trafficking after finding more than 200 grams of cocaine in his car.

EASTHAMPTON - Five people were arrested on drug charges Saturday...With the help of Holyoke police, officers pulled over a car on East Street and discovered 12 grams of cocaine in it, as well as drug dealing materials, police said. Four people in the car were arrested: Christine A. Slabinski, 44, of 67 Emerald Place, Easthampton; Michael Roper, 18, of 524 Richmond Hill Road, Augusta, Ga.; Benjamin Smith, 63 Emerald Place, Easthampton, and a 16-year-old boy.

"...Neither the Wilbraham police nor the Hampden County District Attorney's office was interested in pursuing a criminal complaint because it could not be proved that Kervick ever possessed the contraband found in his car or had criminal intent, according to statements filed by Wilbraham police..."

I Hate You So Much. I Hope You Die.

Homeless Man Goes on Trial in Hate-Crime Murder.
"WHITE PLAINS, June 12 — The petite blond woman was found lying in a pool of blood in broad daylight near a popular mall. A homeless black man with a history of violent rapes was quickly arrested a block away, shirtless and soaked in blood. He later told the police that he had hidden in a stairwell with a knife for hours that day, waiting to kill a white person."
[nytimes. June 13, 2006]

Fourth Man Is Arrested After Attack on a Dance Recording Artist in the East Village.
"A fourth man was arrested yesterday in connection with the beating of a Manhattan singer who the police said was attacked by a gang of young men who kicked him, screamed anti-gay slurs at him and broke his jaw as the singer walked through the East Village early Saturday." [nytimes. June 12, 2006]

Batsman Convicted of Howard Beach Hate Crimes.
"A white man who uttered a racial epithet while using a baseball bat to attack a black man in Queens last summer was found guilty of hate crimes yesterday in a case that carried echoes of an infamous racial beating in the same neighborhood two decades earlier." [nytimes. June 10, 2006]

Brooklyn: Teenagers Charged in Hate Crime.
"Four teenagers were charged with assaulting and robbing a 16-year-old boy yesterday in what the police said was a hate crime. Around 3 p.m., at East 15th Street and Avenue T in Brooklyn, the four teenagers, who are black, began punching the victim, who is white, in his face while using racial slurs, the police said." [nytimes. June 7, 2006]

"RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Police arrested 28 people suspected of operating an illegal logging ring in Brazil's Amazon rain forest and were looking for 46 more, officials said..."

"The rain forest lost 7,300 square miles, an area more than half the size of Belgium - between July 2004 and August 2005, down from 10,500 square miles the year before, according to the environment ministry...Brazil's rain forest is the size of Western Europe and covers 60 percent of the country's territory. Experts say as much as 20 percent of its 1.6 million square miles has already been destroyed by development, logging and farming..."

Honey, BTW, when you're at Wal-Mart picking up my new Fendi, would you do see if they have any more of that tropical flooring we used in the kitchen? I would just love to do the great room over in the same style.

Thanks, kisses.

and p.s.
on the way home, stop at McDonald's and grab me some burgers. I'm starving.

Love you.

I'm going to Wal-Mart. Do you want me to pick you up anything?

Yes honey, will you get me the new shoulder bag from Fendi? Thanks.

"Luxury goods firm LVMH has sued Wal-Mart, claiming the world's largest retailer is selling illegal copies of its Fendi-brand products in some shops. LVMH complained that the Fendi goods were being sold as "genuine" at prices that were discounted as much as 70%."

In the battle over good vs. bad...

...as measured by Google Trends, it seems that good is leading a charge for moral superiority. Good had a noticeable spike in the new year of 2003. That makes sense to me, as the Department of Homeland Security had officially begun operations in the month of January of 2003, hence more good.

Let the music play...