Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on July 1, 2010 at 8:48pm

Chudhury,
Thank you for posting. Is there an article that you can post a link to?
I didn't know this report was out, so did a search. Here is a news report of the article:

Permalink Reply by Chaudhury Skeptical Sextus on July 1, 2010 at 9:05pm

his lawyer and harvard colleague, charles ogletree was on democracy now last night. this is before the report came out today. neither gates nor ogletree have commented so far. this clip has the 911 call embedded in it. it is just astonishing.

Permalink Reply by Chaudhury Skeptical Sextus on July 1, 2010 at 9:06pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9fGNIeCSck

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on July 3, 2010 at 8:41am

So much for a 'post racial America"

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on July 24, 2010 at 1:33pm

It's a weird situation to be sure. On the one hand, asking for race in a description is logical because it's one of the most identifiable characteristics of a person you're trying to identify. On the other hand, that makes for a pretty good cover if you're just interested in "Let me guess, it's a black guy."

On the one hand, it's easy to say "If you're not guilty of anything, why get angry with the cop who's just doing his job?" On the other, I'd like to see an angry Teabagger get confronted in his home by a cop (particularly a cop of a different race), accused of breaking into his own home, and not get peeved.

I had my own run in with the cops recently in my 'home.' RV off the grid and the city, that has been looking the other way on their no-sleeping-in-your-vehicles-in-city-limits law, has stopped looking the other way. Yes, there are people who have been abusing the system (i.e.; parked in one spot for weeks or months on end), and the cops said they've gotten complaints of people dealing drugs out of parked RVs (which I doubt, but still). Yes, it's the law. Yes, the cops were being relatively nice about it. But still, it took some restraint on my part not to get really mad about being equated with drug dealers.

Plus the fact that it's only the older 'poor' looking RVers they ran out of town. If your rig is pretty and expensive-looking, any city parking lot is your welcoming home.

So yeah; it's easy to see both sides of the situation.

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on August 17, 2010 at 12:27pm

Here in Europe one is not safe camping in cars. There are gangs that specialize to break in to such.

There are plenty of places in the U.S. where that is true as well. The general rule: Smaller the city the better. For now, I'm in Flagstaff, AZ, which is a small-medium size college town. College-town is also generally a bit safer. But there are always exceptions to every rule.