Politics Plus

Although she has been a daily participant here for many months, this is Joanne’s very first Big Mouth Award.  A denizen of Care2, she came to us from there.  She’s super-smart, witty a political junky and an activist for all kinds of human rights.  I have no doubt that many more such awards shall follow.  I have had occasion to correspond with her, and she faces some major issues in her life with exceptional dignity and grace. 

If I had to make one criticism, I would say she needs to express more concern for voter turnout. 😉

Please join in burying her in the praise and kudos she deserves.  This place is better, because she is here.

Here are the results of our Police Murder Poll.  Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories.   Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population.  Nevertheless, our polls are often both accurate and indicative of the nation’s view.

And here are your comments:

Showing comments 1–18 of 18.

Posted by Rixar13  August 28, 2014 at 1:23 pm.  

 

I hope so but, we shall see.

 

Posted by Edie  August 27, 2014 at 5:09 pm.  

 

Based on what I have seen about Ferguson, they will never find a jury to convict a white cop for killing a black man.

 

Posted by Jim Phillips  August 27, 2014 at 4:33 pm.  

 

Remember the subway shooting in Oakland, CA of Oscar Grant? Former transit cop convicted in California subway shooting. Yes, Darren Wilson will do prison time for either murder, manslaughter or violating Brown’s civil rights.

 

Posted by Lynn Squance  August 26, 2014 at 1:16 pm.  

 

Well isn`t it interesting that Wilson was part of a police force known for racism, so much so that the entire force was fired. That in his rookie year when he would normally be so “impressionable“. No wonder he found another home in Ferguson. The plot thickens.

 

Posted by Alex P.  August 22, 2014 at 8:36 am.  

 

In a fair and just world, of course he would. However… in THIS one, the answer is almost certainly "Haha, no. Of course he won’t."

 

Posted by mamabear  August 21, 2014 at 2:52 am.  

 

He will not even stand up in court and tell how he murdered a man because he was not white. Justice is a joke sometimes.

 

Posted by Patty  August 20, 2014 at 6:12 am.  

 

Of course he won’t serve time. I’m sure if he is even arrested and charged, he will claim PTSD and nightmares about Black men coming after him and get off with just probation IF convicted.

 

Posted by Steve  August 20, 2014 at 5:28 am.  

 

Since there are not even charges of murder against the officer yet much less a conviction your question is premature.

 

Posted by SoINeedAName  August 17, 2014 at 2:24 pm.  

 

Darren (chuckle-chuckle) Wilson (tee-hee) do PRISON (chortle-chortle) TIIME (guffaw-guffaw) for murdering a black man (bwaaa-haaaaa … snort … cough … gasp … No, really – I’m OK now …

?

 

DAMN – w/e you’re toking, I WANT SOME OF IT!

 

Posted by Yvonne White  August 16, 2014 at 5:29 pm.  

 

I believe the "award-winning" cop will not be charged – but will probably resign & move to another country very soon…

 

Posted by Lynn Squance  August 16, 2014 at 11:16 am.  

 

I said ‘no’. I have lost faith in the American justice system. Look back at Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman shot the kid and walked away from it. And I am sure that there have been others. Now Michael Brown. It seems "SSDD".

 

I have experienced racism twice — once as a pre teen and second as a teen. The first was my maternal grandfather who grabbed me by the scruff as we walked to the corner store in a Buffalo, NY neighbourhood. "Get over here girl or the "n …rs" are going to get you." That left such an indelible mark on me that I will never forget it. I was apalled at my grandfather and never forgave him for that hateful remark. The second came when I was going out with a black student about 1970. He was from Jamaica and the cousin of my best friend. One day at school I heard a group of his "friends" (with friends like that, who needs enemies?

talking and saying "he’s trying to see how far he can get with a little white girl". I was angry. There can be racism onall sides, however, historical evidence going back into the 1600’s, and probably before, shows that racism was and is alive and well. That should not be!

 

If there is any repercussion towards Wilson, I don’t think it will be more than a slap on the wrist, not even termination of employment. I hope I am wrong because racism is a cancer that too easily metastacises affecting all of society.

 

Posted by Lynn Squance in reply to Lynn Squance  August 16, 2014 at 11:17 am. 

 

That ‘smiley’ should be a bracket. Don’t know how it got there.

 

Posted by Joanne D  August 16, 2014 at 4:34 am.  

 

Seeing as the chief prosecutor of the county is one of the most livid that Nixon even brought the Highway Patrol in, and seeing as they won’t even interview eyewitnesses, even if it got to trial there would be no evidence presented to convict.

 

Posted by jla  August 16, 2014 at 2:12 am.  

 

There will be grounds for a mistrial due to prosecutor bias

 

Posted by Dandelion  August 16, 2014 at 1:13 am.  

 

If they have Stand Your Ground law he will most certainly get off. All someone has to do is look at you wrong and say your life felt threatened.

They have circled the wagons around their own. They "might" sacrifice him to get the spotlight off of the rest of them if the heat and attention stay on it.

But I lean more to the he’ll get away with it. Sadly in our Country the scales of justice are rigged.

 

Posted by gene jacobson  August 16, 2014 at 12:57 am.  

 

Probably not. Now that they are throwing around allegations that Michael "may" have been a suspect in a minor shoplifting incident, though Wilson did NOT know that, and muddying the waters, sadly, the most that will likely happen is they may fire one racist cop – eventually.

 

Posted by Lona Goudswaard  August 15, 2014 at 8:54 pm.  

 

Too many other cases like this in the past to make me think that this time common sense or justice will prevail. However, I can hope for a different outcome, can’t I?

 

Posted by Edie  August 15, 2014 at 4:06 pm.  

 

Very few police officers ever serve time for murders they commit while on the job. In view of the racism apparent in that area, I doubt any jury would convict if he were even indicted.

The poll results are no surprise, but I ant5icipated a lively discussion in the comment section.  You did not disappoint. I  voted No, of course.

The new poll is a bit of humor for a time when everyone is busy with the end of summer and the beginning of school.  It has s special feature you have requested for months.

Here are the results of our Which Wing Worst Poll.  Politics Plus Polls are not scientific, because those who respond are not balanced according to demographic categories.   Therefore, we do not accurately reflect the makeup of the US population.  Nevertheless, our polls are often both accurate and indicative of the nation’s view.

And here are your comments.

Showing comments 1–13 of 13.

Posted by Lynn Squance  July 28, 2014 at 9:10 pm.  

 

It was a toss up between corporacon and plutocon, so I went with plutocon. When I think of the Koch brothers, I think plutocon then corporacon. But they are also feeding the insantiTea and theocons . . . I believe it is called leveraging their options. And the neocons will ante up to do the plutocon’s dirty work as long as they can make money, the greedy war mongering ba*tards they are.

 

But no matter, they all will end the American empire, one way or another. Have a look at this Alternet article about the American empire that I posted on Care2.

http://www.care2.com/news/member/775377582/3791607

 

Posted by Jerry Critter  July 28, 2014 at 9:46 am.  

 

That’s a tough choice. They are all bad. Combined together, the Republican party is the worst.

 

Posted by mamabear  July 23, 2014 at 11:38 am.  

 

All of the above. But one seems worse In sane TEA wing (Why) they are the racist. That seems the hardest to fight Because most racist do no even know they are(right they know but pretending to be a Palin on getting a ticket for speeding."’I Wasn’t Speeding, I Was Qualifying’ They are just plain nuts and they like it

 

Posted by Patty  July 21, 2014 at 6:23 am.  

 

I agree with most that "

I agree with the others that "All the above" would be my answer if it was available. Since I had to choose, Corporacon is my choice. All the biggies encompassed therein feed the rest of them and they in turn feed off the smaller groups.

They are all evil.

 

Posted by Arielle  July 20, 2014 at 3:06 am.  

 

Sorry, I can’t pick just one – they are all crazy, dangerous, deranged, and despicable.

 

Posted by Terrie C. Williams  July 19, 2014 at 5:01 am.  

 

Actually….ALL of the above….but I especially loathe Fascists…and they come in all of the above colors. Theocratic Fascists are the worst and that is the Tea Baggers in a nutshell.

 

Posted by gene jacobson  July 18, 2014 at 7:40 am.  

 

They’re all bad but I went with Theocon because there is nothing more difficult, in my opinion, to deal with than someone who thinks God told him to do whatever the H it is he/she is doing. Reason does not work with people who believe their way is the only moral option available. All of the others you can bargain with at least, not easily but you can. Not religious extremists though. No give in their positions at all.

 

Posted by Edie  July 16, 2014 at 5:12 pm.  

 

I agree with others that all of the above would have been good. I voted for Insanitea because they work so hard to make the rest of us conform to their ideas.

 

Posted by Yvonne White  July 16, 2014 at 9:34 am.  

 

There was no "All the Above". So I went with Corporacon because the Corporate Pirates fund all the Insanitea & Religious Reich’s craziness, the Corporations are run by Plutocons & turn out NeoCons..it’s the Circle of DEATH (not Life!

that IS the GOP!

 

Posted by John Dasef  July 16, 2014 at 5:42 am.  

 

"All of the above" would be most appropriate. None of them have any redeeming qualities.

 

Posted by Joanne D  July 16, 2014 at 4:49 am.  

 

I agree it should be all of the above. I also agree with Phil and Lona the Corporacon wing is served by all the others. But the Theocons are giving a kind of halo of legitimacy to the other wings, and I think if we could get rid of that, we could get through to more ordinary people. The thing is, the whole "prosperity gospel" thing is the normal human mindset. It goes back past Calvin and the divine right of kings to prehistoric humans trying to figure out which gods or spirits to appease. Even Jesus’ disciples, when he said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, said, "Well, dang! If the rich can’t, there’s NO hope for anyone else!"

 

Posted by Lona  July 16, 2014 at 12:11 am.  

 

We have a terrible household joke in the Netherlands that came to mind:

"How can you tell a bird is dead? Because it’s one leg is just as long".

Yes, that’s it, but it sort of summarises my predicament with this poll: what’s the bloody difference? So I went along with Phil, I think Corporacon outflanks the others and in fact uses the others to its own advantage.

 

Posted by Phil  July 15, 2014 at 7:51 am. 

 

"All of the above" would be the most accurate answer, but lacking that choice I voted for the Corporacon wing, because that wing is the only wing served by all the others.

I was not surprised that only one other person voted for Plutocons.  The vote does reflect commonly held thinking, but in my opinion, the commonly held thinking is wrong.  Here’s why.   Neocons, the party warmongers like ChickenHawk Cheney, have little influence at present, because America is sick of their failed wars.  Theocons are the Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians.  The party caters to them, because they get out the vote, but they are stupid enough to think what they are told to think, as long as they get to force their dogma on others.  The InsaniTEA wing is dangerous, because they are frequently the tail that wags the dawg.  But they are just the storm troopers, like Hitler’s SA.  If the party achieves their goal of dictatorial control, the Tea Baggers will be victims of a Republican night of the long knives, just like the SA.  The Corporacons are powerful, but they are unable to control the party, because another group controls too many of them.  That leaves the Plutocons.  They are the super-rich, like the Koch Brothers and the Waltons, the 0.1%  They bankroll and dictate policy to Neocon groups.  they support the Theocons and the InsaniTEA wing financially and tell them what to think.  They control the Corporacons, because they fill the key executive positions.  In short, they are the ones that the Republican Party truly represents.  That makes them worst for the US.