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Monthly Archives: September 2012

Earworm Wednesday–09/26/2012

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Today’s a flashback day.  This one came out while I was a senior in high school.

Limp Bizkit – Take A Look Around

I’ve been on a Bizkit kick as of late, not really sure why.  Here was my original choice but I am trying to keep this blog SFW.  So your choice on hitting play. There’s nothing explicit or nudity, though highly suggestive.  Most note worthy is… high speed photography + bikini + bouncing = AWESOME! 

Seriously, if you’re at work, you might just want to save it for home.

Limp Bizkit – Golden Cobra

SSCC Honorable Mention–Washington State Patrol

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Via Ry comes this try out for the IMPD.

State patrol troopers got quite a shock Sunday when the reckless driver they were chasing turned out to be one of their own.

This wasn’t a simple case of weaving and getting pulled over though.

Investigators say Berthofl was driving near Tacoma on Sunday afternoon when he side-swiped a car that had slowed for a traffic jam.

Witnesses say Bertholf went around into the median. They followed him until troopers closed in. Despite the lights and sirens, troopers say Bertholf didn’t stop. When he finally did pull over, the troopers were shocked to learn he was a co-worker.

It gets worse because he an decorated officer specifically for his efforts in stopping drunk driving.  I was glad to see this:

But with Sunday’s arrest, WSP officials say it’s possible his law enforcement career is over.

"There’s a high likelihood," Huss said. "It’s very difficult for somebody, rightfully so, to fulfill a position in law enforcement when you have these types of serious allegations in place."

If he’s convicted and fired I’ll be more than willing to toss this into the accountabilibuddyable pile.  If he escapes firing I wouldn’t be surprised if he pays a call to the IMPD with his impressive service record against drunk driving.

State Sponsored Criminal Honorable Mention: David Bertholf

Because when you’re a cop who enforces drunk driving, you’re obviously special and an exemption to the rule

Bill Whittle On Envy

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Well said as always:

Here’s another good one:

If my tax rate went up, but everyone was guaranteed to pay the same exact rate, I would support it.  No more out’s, no more credits, no more deductions.  Just a simple equations, “Your Income” x “Tax Rate” = “What you owe” and the tax rate is the same no matter who you are or what you make.

I am more than willing because I know that tax rate won’t last for long as every last incumbent is voted out of office until the tax rates are finally lowered for everyone.  You’re much less willing to support a tax when it’s your money the government is taking.

There’s Monsters In the Hills…

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Pullman Police arrested a man for burglary on Sunday morning after he allegedly broke into an apartment on Oak Street and got into bed with one of the women who lived there.

No, this isn’t a case of a drunk guy getting confused about where his home is either.

Shortly thereafter, he was found hiding under a stairwell. He was arrested and taken to the Whitman County Jail. Police believe that Alhaidari intended to rape the victim. The case is still under investigation and police said that it’s possible that Alhaidari tried entering other apartments in the area earlier that night. 

I’m glad the woman is OK and relatively unscathed.  Now the article says they merely told him to leave, though I’m hoping they told him to leave using the Universal Hand Signal for leave me alone.  Though if they had I would have preferred his perforation and a guaranteed recidivism rate.  I’m afraid though the odds are most likely the women in this case got lucky and were unarmed.

Be careful out there folks, there are monsters and predators out here in the real world.  Some monsters will give up as easily as this one did, others however are much more determined and much more sinister.  This is under the It Can’t Happen Here category specifically because I hear people say how nice Pullman is so often and there is no reason I would ever need a firearm.  Yup, it’s so peaceful around here that the cops still carry guns too right?

Do not count on the kindness of your aggressor.  You may find out that the petty crime is just a ruse and what he is really after is you or your family’s life.  Be careful and carry your guns out there, you don’t know when the time will come when you finally need it.

SSCC Honorable Mention–Houston

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A Houston police officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair Saturday inside a group home after police say the double amputee threatened the officer and aggressively waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.

Like Tam said, I prefer to avoid Monday morning quarter backing, which actually is kind of hard at times with this series because one side tells a story and the other side usually refuses to say anything.  This case though has some serious red flags.  Flags that wave as prominently as this incident with the Seattle PD.

"It was close quarters in the area of the house," Silva said. "The officer was forced into an area where he had no way to get out."

In other words the officer was incompetent, placed himself in a position where he either closed the distance to an aggressor, or he let the aggressor place him in a position with no ability to withdraw.  Both of which are failures on the officers part.

This is merely an honorable mention because there is no indication that the officer was intending this outcome, then again there wasn’t with the Seattle PD incident.  This however was in a building instead of outside where the interaction was much more open and the Seattle officer had many more options at his disposal.

State Sponsored Criminal Honorable Mention: Officer Matthew Jacob Marin

Because when you’re responding to the scene of someone who has been known to get a little off kilter, by all means close distance with him and let him back you in a corner.  Sure it will be self-defense, but no one will second guess your negligence and how it contributed to the death of another.*

h/t Tam 

*There are times where the SHTF and it just goes south.  It is extremely difficult for me to believe that negligence wasn’t a factor in this case.  My suspicion is Officer Barney Fife here was complacent because “it’s a dude in a wheel chair” and just ditched the initiative.  His OODA loop response time was lacking because of it.

Yet Another Person Exposing Secrets

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*Updated* For some reason it embedded the wrong video.
Remember folks, this is all fake.  Washington looks nothing like this and all the animals you see are in the zoo.  You do not need to come to Washington to see this, you will be totally disappointed.

All you have to remember is it is cloudy in those “beautiful areas” 226 days out of the year.  Remember, that gloomy weather is linked to depression.  So if you do come, please just visit, we’ve already got an influx from California we’re dealing with.

That’s not fog…

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So lately around fort freedom the environment has been less hospital than usual.  So first, here’s a view I regularly see on my drive home:

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Lately however the view has been quite different.

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Since the picture off Google maps isn’t that great, here’s another set from in front of my house:

Cold Winter Day

That’s from winter 2010, here’s what it was when I got home Friday:

IMAG0380

Here’s the thing though folks.  That isn’t fog, it isn’t overcast, it’s smoke, and it smells like I’m sitting next to a BBQ smoker.  Seriously I went to CD’s Smoke pit Saturday for a Bacon Explosion Breakfast and there was no difference in smell there or when I got home. 

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I love that smell but it does get tiring.

689972main_UnitedStates.A2012263.2050.250m_full

Above is a snippet of an image via NASA, what you see is a fire hose of smoke pointed in my direction.  You can just make out the Idaho Washington border, find where the border meets the Snake River (where the border starts following the river) and that is just south of my AO.

Day to day the smoke varies too.  Here’s what it was like driving home from Moscow Saturday.

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What I should have seen:

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We need rain out here in the Pacific North West.  We need it bad.  Currently a lot of the regular stomping grounds for hunting will probably be shutdown specifically because of the fire danger.

SSCC #415&#416–Lincoln County WY

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Sorry, cuffs are not how you detain someone.  Unsurprisingly the department is defending their little tyrant.  This is a perfect example of a USC 18.232 violation.

Total the officer arrested him for 45 minutes without cause.  Unsurprisingly the dash cam footage from both officers has been “lost”.

Now as a side note, when asked if you have any weapons your response should be, “I have nothing illegal.”

State Sponsored Criminal #415: Corry Bassett

State Sponsored Criminal #416: Rob Andazola

Because handcuffing someone isn’t arrest unless you decide that it’s arrest.  Never mind the fact that force of restraint isn’t legal except in arrest and the argument for the officers safety falls flat unless he places anyone carrying a firearm in cuffs during a traffic stop.  Further once his information was run, there was no longer a need for detaining the individual and he should have been left to return on his way.