Comey Interview

60 Minutes interviewed the Director of the FBI tonight, James Comey.   For those who've forgotten or never knew, Comey was Deputy Attorney General under Ashcroft in the Bush 43 administration and got semi-famous in the "Ashcroft Hospital Drama".

Perhaps the biggest bombshell of the interview was his mention of Khorasan, aka al-Nusra, aka Core Al Qaeda, suggesting an attack might be coming.   Which means the US didn't bomb them away a few weeks ago.  What he didn't say was the precise method of attack, probably through the air and possibly involving toothpaste if other reporting can be believed.  It's funny watching the administration scaring folks in this area while at the same time suggesting the threat from Ebola-infected fliers is zero. 

Anyway, the funniest moment was when he was discussing domestic "lone wolf" jihadists.  Comey said "lone wolf" was too good a description for them, preferring "lone rat".  Nice--especially to see the look on Scott Pelley's face.

Acting Stupidly

That pretty much describes most of the loud-mouths on social media and the real media on the Mike Brown mess in St. Louis, along with the so-called witness (otherwise known as a co-conspirator), city spokesmen, governor of Missouri and PD officials, not to mention the solider wannabes who harrassed the media.

And of course the president, who has no business saying much other than 'everyone please let justice take its course and refrain from violence'.  But he just couldn't stop at that, he had to plow forward and lecture everyone on both sides, per usual. He did everything but tell Bill O'Reilly whether there were any smidgens of corruption involved.

In the midst of all the chaos, Jack Cashill provides some badly needed context.

MORE  8/17/14

This is the kind of 'never let a crisis go to waste' piece that can transcend the Ferguson facts, be they for or against the police officer.   Against a backdrop of Obama redistribution initiatives, it may work pretty well as a Democrat theme for the mid-terms to get out the needed vote.  

Success for Holder Already?

Did Eric Holder's new domestic terrorist task force, just announced in the press Tuesday (as his boss was defending his swapping of five terrorists for a US soldier) already score a victory?

Chamberlain was being trailed by a sizeable task force, made up of FBI agents and local cops. He was wanted for allegedly possessing explosive materials, and when FBI spokesman Peter Lee announced the bureau’s call for public assistance in the manhunt, he said Chamberlain should be considered armed and dangerous.

Hmm. Of course the media account of the task force formation contained the following verbiage, so there's a question..

"We must also concern ourselves with the continued danger we face from individuals within our own borders who may be motivated by a variety of other causes from anti-government animus to racial prejudice," Holder said.

It's quite possible Mr. Holder wasn't 'targeting' the Ryan Chamberlains of the world when he revived this squad started up by his old boss Janet Reno after the left blamed Rush Limbaugh for the Oklahoma City bombing.  But it's comforting to know the ACLU has the backs of the Tea Party terrorists undoubtedly in the 'crosshairs' here.

Say What?

Did the new Director of the Department of Homeland Security really just say that illegal aliens, just by being in America, have earned the right to become citizens? Sounds like it...

“It is also, frankly, in my judgment, a matter of who we are as Americans,” he said, “to offer the opportunity to those who want to be citizens, who’ve earned the right to be citizens, who are present in this country--many of whom came here as children--to have the opportunity that we all have to try to become American citizens.”

Any fair reading would suggest he was talking about those 'in the shadows', ie, illegal aliens--those his department has a responsibility to apprehend.  Said another way, people who have repeatedly ignored our laws have earned a perk. He's basically calling people who go through the legal naturalization process chumps.  Maybe Bob Schieffer or someone in the real media can get to the bottom of this. 

Oh well, in a non-Orwell world Mr. Johnson would have already been asked for his resignation. In our newspeak reality laws are merely suggestions, upheld only if the Supreme Rulers deem them worthy.

Actually, one has to wonder what's going on at the White House. Here's a tweet they sent out today. Notice the typo..

Hmm.  Queso is muy bueno, especially with Tostitos.  Maybe the First Lady will be endorsing it soon.  

Indicting the Critics

News is breaking that Dinesh D'Souza, the "controversial" (the term will be used by every MSM outlet reporting on this) conservative writer who penned "The Roots of Obama's Rage" and the huge-grossing documentary "2016: Obama's America" that aired during the 2012 campaign season has been indicted by SDNY US Attorney Preet Bharara on a campaign finance charge.

They didn't name the candidate, but speculation points to his long-time friend Wendy Long, who was blown out by Democrat Senator Kristen Gillibrand in 2012.

As to the why/how, the WaPo had this comment, sourced to the SDNY, saying:

The indictment was the result of a routine review by the FBI of campaign filings with the FEC by various candidates after the 2012 election, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

But the NY Times explained it this way:

It is not clear from the court documents what led investigators to Mr. D’Souza in a fund-raising case involving relatively small donations, in a race that ended in a blowout win for Ms. Gillibrand. Ms. Long raised about $785,000 in the race.

So where lies the truth? How did they come upon this? Were they searching through the backlog of Hillary's Chinese bundlers looking for something and stumbled across it? 

D'Souza might be as guilty as sin--we'll see--but does the Obama administration not understand how utterly partisan and utterly Stasi this looks, considering his previous work and the upcoming debate scheduled with Bill Ayers along with the pending release of his new movie "America"?   Not to mention that India is still ticked off about the strip-search of their diplomat.     

Of course Carney will probably tell us tomorrow that Obama found out about it by reading a blog.

LAX shooting follow-up

The murdered TSA agent has been identified, a Mr. Gerardo Hernandez aged 39. What a terrible waste. This man was not evil, he was just doing his job and supporting his family.

As to the TSA agents not being armed at the checkpoints, of course not.  Putting guns in holsters on people doing pat-downs and frisks would not be a very good idea.   Another report this morning says they are trained to 'save themselves' when gunfire rings out.   Another duh.  What could an unarmed TSA agent do to stop someone with a gun or bomb?   That's why they have law enforcement.

Another story details the decision of LAX officials to remove armed police from checkpoints and put them on roving patrols, a move made just recently.  That begs the question as to whether the suspect had been to the airport during the weeks prior for surveillance purposes.  Unless somehow this information had made it into the press beforehand.

As to the confusion of witnesses, there are possible explanations.  Some reported the shooter as wearing camo pants or clothes.  That appears to be correct based on the bloody clothes seen lying on the floor of the airport where he was shot.  Others said he had blond hair, which appears to be erroneous since the ambulance picture seems to show his natural dark hair.  At the same time others claimed he wore all blue or something similar to a TSA official's uniform, both of which could explain why initial reports said he was an off-duty officer.  People may have been seeing an agent with a gun drawn moving to confront the shooter.

As to the note discussing TSA and 'pigs' and 'pissed off patriots', this information has been leaked to the media despite it being evidence in a criminal case against a suspect, who at last report is still alive.  Unless the suspect dies in hospital it's unlikely the full note will be released, unlike what happened with the 'manifesto' written by the guy who flew a light aircraft into the IRS building in Austin, TX a few years ago.  So the leaker is only leaking what authorities want to leak right now.  

Finally, this picture in the Daily Mail needs an explanation.  Who is this person and why was he in handcuffs?

The most reasonable speculation is because he was in a restricted area during the melee.  But according to live feeds this event occurred after the shooter himself was 'down'.   Also, some witnesses claimed the shooter was wearing dark or blue clothes that appeared bulky, which appears to the case with this person.  None of which means there is a conspiracy afoot, only that witnesses are sometimes dismissed for seeing things that weren't there, when in fact sometimes their reports are accurate but they didn't see what they thought they saw.  This information can then be relayed instantaneously by security officials in the 'fog of war' and result in innocent people being scooped up or detained.

ENTER THE SPLC  11/2/13

NBC News goes to the go-to source on right wing terrorism, Mark Potok's SPLC, and doesn't come away disappointed:

But a blog post by Mark Potok, an expert on U.S. hate groups with the Southern Poverty Law Center, added new details about what he described as a one-page “manifesto” that included references to the Federal Reserve and “fiat currency.”

Citing a knowledgeable source with ranking law enforcement contacts, Potok said Ciancia also had a note containing derogatory comments about former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

So who is this knowledgeable source? Obviously someone in a high position of government who would have access to the 'one page manifesto' (that hasn't been fully released to the general public) and would benefit by giving Potok a look-see so he could get the word out to NBC, et al.   

It's true the Patriot Movement includes some people who aren't really patriots, regardless of what nutballs like this guy say (who tried to defend these guys).  But when describing such things to the public it's beneficial for Potok and others to leave some fuzziness between the philosophies of fringe groups and people like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Tea Party members in general.  So they will.  Ciancia appears the be the 'terrorist' they've been waiting for.   After all, the mid-terms are coming and Obama is having a spot of trouble with the website. 

A Green Mystery

A woman was arrested today for allegedly splashing green paint on the National Cathedral in Washington DC, specifically a pipe organ in the "Bethlehem Chapel" area of the cathedral.

The bigger question is whether she's connected to other recent green paint defacings at the Lincoln Memorial or on a statue outside the Smithsonian Institution, and possibly an event at a statue of Martin Luther in northwest Washington's Thomas Circle.

Initially police would not release her identity.  In early reportage the AP mentioned a problem: (emphasis added):

The woman was arrested in the area of the cathedral shortly after the paint was found, Assistant D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said. Investigators were hoping to question her about the vandalism on the Mall, including at the Lincoln Memorial, but a language barrier delayed the interrogation, Newsham said.

A name was finally released, perhaps explaining the language barrier:

D.C. police said Monday evening that they had charged Tian Jiamel, 58, whom they believe to be homeless, with one count of defacing property.

It's strange to think that a homeless Asian woman, who can't speak English very well, would be traipsing all over the city slashing green paint on national monuments and statues.  Stranger things have surely happened but there may also other possibilities, such as her not really being homeless; acting as a patsy for others; or having accomplices.  Nothing has been permanently ruined so obviously it was about symbolism, assuming this wasn't the actions of someone who simply flipped their wig. 

If symbolism was involved there has to be a motive, including whether the color green was used to signify something and/or whether the targets were chosen randomly or had significance.  Since there were perhaps two Christian religious targets it's tempting to find some meaning there but for now it's better to wait and see where this goes.  

Obama Sends Message on Zimmerman

The national outrage over the justice system and the white racists who run it was egged on today by the president, who sauntered into the White House propaganda room and weighed in.

Taking no questions, he hinted that while there might not be a Justice Department persecution, some of us out here in flyover country have some soul-searching to do.  On something (he was rather vague on who and what, but left some clues).


In doing so the prez put himself in his son's shoes and talked about his own travails as a scary black man in America, not quite pinning down a time or location of these experiences.  Were they in Hawaii?  Indonesia? Chicago?  Columbia?  Harvard?   He also didn't give any examples of other races experiencing the same thing, such as Hispanic or East Asians being targeted or profiled or made fun of (Wee Tu Low) but since nobody in the post-verdict universe is mentioning anyone but white people presumably he wasn't talking about them.  Not all whites mind you--white liberals helped elect him twice it's safe to assume he wasn't referring to them either.  They are cool.   That leaves what, the Tea Party?  

Meanwhile here in reality world, Zimmerman is 50 percent Latino on his mother's side, who appears to have some black ancestry as well.  Obama is 50 percent white on his mother's side.  They are both mixed race.  The Martins have implicitly stated all along that race was not a factor in the case.   Apparently the president hasn't been listening.  

It's hard to say whether the Hispanic "community" even considers Zimmerman authentic.  They certainly seem to be silent on the whole thing.   No word from LaRaza or Juan Gonzales or the like.

Over at Huffpo some kind of Latino answer man had a response--it's because Zimmerman "murdered" Martin.   Guilty until proven innocent, then still guilty.

But the more likely reason we are not getting a hue and cry is because the major Latino organizations are no different than the NAACP or NOW--they are first and foremost liberal advocacy groups.  Race is just their tool.  There is no win in defending a half-white Jewish Latino because it means taking on the half-white president who is fighting for amnesty. So like the media they simply pretend Zimmerman is a white guy. 

Speaking of the fawning media, including Chris Wallace at Fox, they will no doubt continue to applaud the post-racial president for stepping up and adding his important two cents to the never-ending national conversation on GOP white racism, er, race.  The first opinionator will remain in his holding pattern high over Mount Teflon, looking down on the sinners and rubes, smiling as the plan comes together. 

WHODUNIT?   7/20/13

The Daily Mail has a tattletale from a WSJ reporter who claims she was at a snazzy book launch party in 2003 in Tina Brown's home that Obama was also attending when some "established author" (presumably white but she didn't say) mistook Barry for a waiter and asked him to go "fetch a drink".   Since the party was held for former Clintonite Sidney Blumenthal we must ask, who was it?   We already know that Bill Clinton himself admitted that Obama was at the level of fetching coffee just a few years before he rose to power. 

Unleash the Lone Wolves

Yep, that's what they are starting to say about the Texas prosecutor murders.

Law enforcement officials have been exploring the possibility that the three killings — of Mr. McLelland, 63, and his wife, Cynthia, 65, as well as the assistant district attorney, Mark E. Hasse, 57 — were the work of a local person seeking to avenge some case or investigation and to make a dramatic statement by attacking those at the center of the Kaufman County criminal justice system.

Investigators have been cooling to the notion that the shootings were the work of a prison gang, the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, or of Mexican drug cartels, and focusing more on what officials described as “lone wolf” figures — defendants and those even closer to the victims, including current or former county employees who work or used to work within the local courts.

Since a lone wolf is always possible--especially some nut who might feel these law enforcement officers were out to get him/her, it must always be considered.  But in this case the precedent seems fairly small as to high level officers of the court being murdered in such a short period of time, especially when the Colorado case is considered.

Add to the above a mysterious package addressed to Sheriff Joe Arpaio found by an alert postal employee.  First reports said it was definitely an explosive device that could have killed whoever opened it; later reports are not only downplaying the threat (just one of many, ho hum) but questioning whether it was even an explosive.  Arpaio's office claimed it received a threat from a specific drug cartel just days ago.

If these are really a cover stories they certainly meet the kind of time frame used in the past to morph what initially seem like conspiracies into nothing to see, move alongs.  Consider the Oklahoma City bombing; for weeks after the attack the FBI was looking for John Doe Number Two, then suddenly he was disappeared. The two suspects eventually tried were unique in that both were called lone wolves, which sort of defies common sense.  In this case one has to wonder if the Mexican connection was either too scary or perhaps too politically inconvenient with a huge immigration bill looming. 

On Sheriff Joe's Presser

It's really quite amazing.  As someone who thinks Obama was born in Hawaii Sheriff Joe's presser about Obama's long form birth cert was bizarre for a number of reasons.  Yes, like almost all other right leaning sites there is some hesitation to even mention it due to the immediate labeling as a cwazy birther,  but since this site is no stranger to cwazy conspiracies, what's to lose?!

The overarching takeaway from the event was the notion of the presser itself--a county sheriff speaking to the media about the eligibility of the president of the United States.  That itself is cwazy.  The White House sorta played it that way in its limited pushback.

The next glaring takeaway was the press, who according to reports, well, reports from World Net Daily, were attacking Arpaio and his "cold case posse" investigator Zullo instead of asking questions about their purported evidence.  Imagine the same thing occurring if some county sheriff said he had evidence that Bush was lying about--anything. They would be salivating over the data.

Third, the idea that someone can obtain a birth certificate from Hawaii without being born in Hawaii is something that should be investigated, Obama or not.  If nothing else the press could have jumped on that one to see if it was true.    

As to Arpaio, he sounds a just a tad uptight and of course has his own problems, but those problems could have been inflamed by his black and white stance on illegals to which the White House objects.  In other words, he was an easy target.  As to the purported evidence, I'd like to see the interview with the 95 year old records clerk they mentioned in support of explaining the numbers in pencil on the cert, which seem important.

But even if there were blank entries on the original submission, flagged by the number 9, they might not be dismissive of Obama being born in Honolulu.  Those are the kind of questions the press should be pursuing.  Of course that would require them to ask the basic question that IF they were not originally filled out, who filled them out later and why?  Answering such a question might surely lead to "the Obama campaign", which is a place none of them want to go.

But imagine it.  "African" as a race was not used when the state of Hawaii filed the certificate.  So how did it get there?  Did someone make a special exception for the first Kenyan to come to the University of Hawaii?  It's possible.  Maybe the 95 year old clerk would know.  The press should be curious enough to ask since it doesn't necessarily say anything towards ineligibility.

According to the investigators nobody from the Hawaii records office would swear that the document released on the internet was the exact same one they had in their vault, which is a little surprising since they sold the document to the Obama campaign.  That seems a ridiculous gap to leave--either the document is the same or it isn't.  If it isn't the explanation might be as innocent as a Chicago politician altering a document to be made public (the original short form) to change a blank entry, or the more standard "Negro" to "African" in support of their boss, who was basing his entire narrative on Dreams from his African father.

But perhaps the greater import is the politics.  With the right sitting on this story, deathly afraid of touching it for fear of triggering the lefty truther jackals, the only way it gets any traction is via Trump.  And the Donald is back at it, demanding Obama release his school records and other stuff in response to the Obama campaign against Bain.  Romney seems to trust Trump and even recently said they would begin "vetting the president", ala Breitbart.  Hopefully Mitt knows what he's doing but it has the aroma of a trap.

White vs Indian

It's been pointed out on the web already.. now we learn that certain fine educational establishments once celebrated diversity by considering Elizabeth Warren a "person of color".  The same intelligensia probably believes George Zimmerman is whiter.  Does anyone really need to point out the preposterousness?

Yet here we go again--in a story MSNBC is heralding about Martin being shot at "an intermediate range" (they don't define intermediate) the writer actually penned the following:

But after questions about possible racial motivation for the slaying – Martin was black; Zimmerman is a white man of Hispanic heritage – a special prosecutor took over the case and, on April 11, Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder. He was released on April 23 on a $150,000 bond and has been out of the public eye since then.

Bold to back up what Tom Maguire points out--some lefty memes never die.  Even now Warren is saying she's still proud of her "Native American" (not American Indian, as they prefer) heritage.

MORE  5/17/12

The New York Times is out with information sure to run tingles up a few legs in the higher educational warrens of America:

After years of speculation, estimates and projections, the Census Bureau has made it official: White births are no longer a majority in the United States. Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in the 12-month period that ended last July, according to Census Bureau data made public on Thursday, while minorities — including Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race — reached 50.4 percent, representing a majority for the first time in the country’s history.

So the Census folks don't count White Hispanics as white, preferring to count them as minorities. The media will of course make a big deal out of this 'tipping point' without realizing the irony.

KENYAN?   5/17/12

Breitbart has the scoop, of course the answer is that it was a mistake.  The person who edited the circular says it was a "fact checking error".  That will probably satisfy the elite media and who knows, maybe it was an error. But perhaps the question should be asked, "where did the initial facts come from"? In her statement Goderich says Obama had nothing to do with his own bio, the remainder of which looks legit. So where did the erroneous info originate? Of course anyone who asks will be labeled a birther, so there ya go. Oddly enough the Breitbart piece anticipated this response and mentioned Goderich:

According to the booklet itself, the text was edited by Miriam Goderich, who has since become Dystel's partner at Dystel & Goderich, an agency founded in 1994. Breitbart News attempted to reach Goderich by telephone several times over several days. Her calls are screened by an automated service that requires callers to state their name and company, which we did. She never answered

Ms. Dystel remains dummied up, and why not--probably a big payoff coming for her one day.  But since this is a blog we can simply be dummies by WAGing aimlessly, so here goes.  The evidence O was born in Hawaii is sufficient sans pure fraud, which is something Hillary would have exploited had it been there.  But the lockdown on grades, transcripts and other literary accomplishments has always been strange, especially for a man who prides himself on such accomplishments.  Did those people in Minnesota Iowa get prosecuted for sneaking a peak at Obama's student loan records because it was illegal, or because they looked at the wrong person?  The woman in Ohio who went after personal records on Joe the Plumber got off much easier--and is now back working for the state again, of course that wasn't a federal matter.     

Maybe if there's any there there it's more about academic exaggerations with the birth cert being a convenient red herring.   Or maybe this is just another attempt to feed the conservative press information to change the narrative off the economy.  Romney was out today insisting that Rev Wright is a non-story.

Glad his Faith is Restored

So Jonathan Capehart of the WaPo had his faith restored by the Murder Two charge laid on Zimmerman. Thank heavens. But what about our faith in the mainstream media?

For example here's Capehart, in the column on restored faith, repeating an already debunked ABC News distortion:

Zimmerman would be arrested and released because of his assertion of self-defense and Florida’s insane “Stand Your Ground” law. But nothing about his story made sense. Least of all his claim of having a broken nose or having his head repeatedly basehed into the sidewalk after a video was released of his arrival at the Sanford Police Department just 35 minutes after he killed Trayvon. It would reveal a relatively unscathed Zimmerman, not the man who said he was fighting for his life.

No doubt this has been an emotional issue for people of color but Capehart is a journalist working for a major influential paper, not an MSNBC host. He should at least try to keep up with the latest facts so as not to appear a hack. Just yesterday his own paper was heralding a tale told by Zimmerman's un-hired pro-bono spokeslawyers about being abandoned by George, who was on the run in another state. Title: "where is George Zimmerman"? Sounds dramatic and unhinged--the unstable killer is fleeing!

But again debunked--this time by the same prosecutor who just 'restored faith' in the system. Zimmerman turned himself in--in Florida--and hired a real legal team. The man had death threats and even the POTUS coming down on him. The Attorney General just congratulated one of the guys stirring the racial pot. Maybe Mr. Capehart doesn't actually read newspapers.

Not to say things were initially done correctly in this case, maybe they weren't. Cronyism exists, but cronyism isn't always a racial problem. Take for example the Martha Moxley murder case in Connecticut where the Kennedy's were involved. Pressing for justice in the American way, but becoming an advocate to the point of distorting facts, smearing people or deliberately misleading the public in pursuit of such a thing is not. Maybe now that Mr. Capehart's faith is restored in the justice system he can work to start restoring our faith in the fourth estate.

DOE, Freeze!

The net is buzzing over another no-knock raid on a homeowner, this time from a Department of Education paramilitary team looking for someone regarding a problem with student loans:

The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife's defaulted student loans.

"They busted down my door for this," Wright said. "It wasn't even me."

According to the Department of Education's Office of the Inspector General, the case can't be discussed publicly until it is closed, but a spokesperson did confirm that the department did issue the search warrant at Wright's home.

They've since clarified to say it wasn't just some poor schmuck in arrears on their college loan but something more, but they can't discuss details. Hell with that--the story here is that the Department of Education has what amounts to a SWAT unit. From this story (last year) there's a DOE fact sheet that lists all the busts related to education fraud [digress] a few involving employees accessing Obama's student loan records [/digress]. Looking back most of the incidents seem to be fraud not late or no payments.

Their mission statement talks about stopping "waste, fraud and abuse involving Federal education funds, programs and operations", which is fine, but it seems like a job for actual law enforcement agencies. Most of those are white collar crimes that don't involve public safety. So why again do they need a police force? And now that the student loan program has been entirely federalized, any need to worry? Sounds like the DOE Public Affairs officer has his/her work cut out.

Idle chatter

Gotta love this story. Who among us hasn't let the old jalopy idle more than 3 minutes when it's 10 degrees outside? Well, if you live in the city of Minneapolis you're now a criminal of sorts:

The ordinance limits most vehicle idling to three minutes, except in traffic.

Notice how the reporter seemed to support, no, advocate the action in her column. No word on whether it applies to diesels or commercial vehicles (it probably doesn't) but can barbecue grills be far behind?

Really, a public awareness campaign would have been more appropriate. Criminalizing such behavior is akin to the old 'no spitting' laws and just as unenforceable. But it certainly appears the council members care...after all, pollution from idling is bad for children. Of course, so is a Sunday drive to look at the leaves or a trip downtown to watch a ballgame.

Taser troubles

Well, we have another tasing incident, this time in Utah during a traffic stop. In case you haven't seen it (?):



Story.

Anybody who's been stopped in a speed trap, whether real or imagined, knows the frustration. In a way this video is a tutorial of what not to say when pulled over--and why--but at the same time it's exactly what many of us want to do (but know better)--a fantasy come to life.

Seems clear the officer's "taser train" left the station too soon, but let's for a second consider his perspective. A traffic stop isn't a debate. Not very many officers would react well to a driver ordering them around and this guy was demanding they drive back to the speed sign and investigate before he would consider signing the ticket. That's normally not a good strategy. Ever. The cop never knows whether the person arguing has just robbed a convenience store and killed the clerk.

That said, the man's naive belligerence doesn't excuse this officer's behavior. You Tube is littered with taser dash cam videos, mostly from situations where a person was under the influence and hard to manage or dangerous/hostile. This man was none of the above and clearly didn't deserve a zap with thousands of volts. Heck, his wife was pregnant--if that's not one of the ultimate mitigating circumstances, what is?

And while I'd be quick to agree that many of our nation's law enforcement officers are unsung heroes, they're also human. The perception is that some drift into an "us versus them" mindset where everyone is an enemy combatant until proven innocent, ie, the above example of the convenience store. Surely that comes from dealing with bad people all day long, so it's nothing sinister, but it can certainly foster the silly notion that America is hurtling towards a police state when events like this one come to light.

Something else to be considered here is a kind of generational psychology. Some of the younger folks today have a "challenge everything" mindset, probably a result of growing up in the information age. It's a replay world. Such a mindset can be good but it can also lead to pursuits like 9/11 trutherism or the desire to lob pies at speakers they don't agree with.

It's almost as if the driver thought of himself as an NFL coach challenging a penalty flag in the big game and he simply couldn't understand why the ref (the officer) wouldn't go over and take another look. Most of us know from personal experience that any encounter with the police is no comparison even if it's just a minor incident.

Anyhow, here's a way the driver could have handled the situation:

"Sir, I don't believe I was speeding back there. I understand you're just doing your job so I am going to sign the ticket but after you release me I'm going to return back to the scene and take pictures so I can challenge this in court". Quite possibly the officer would have said, "fine, have a nice day". The cop was correct when he said the side of the road is not the place to litigate things. Once you're cited, you're basically screwed until a judge throws it out.

MORE 11/23/07

From a forum populated by law enforcement..

I guess times have changed. We had a ton of people who refused to sign their citation, but I can't remember ever tasing one. Normally we could convince them that if they didn't sign the citation we had no choice but to arrest them. The majority of the time they would sign without any physical force. I didn't see where this guy even tried to convince the motorist to sign. In my opinion he tasered him pretty quick.

That sounds reasonable. Browse some of the other comments for a full perspective.

MORE 11/23/07

Utah Highway Patrol statement. Did the motorist actually have a "question authority" bumper sticker?