horrible crime

The following video is from KOMO News in Seattle.

So what started all this? Well the officer was citing them for jaywalking. Yup - the extremely horrible crime of crossing a street where you shouldn't. It looks like the officers superiors have a "number of concerns" over what happened also:

Seattle police officials said Tuesday that their officers are trained to throw a punch in certain situations, but said they have a "number of concerns" regarding the tactics an officer used in dealing with a 17-year-old girl he punched in the face while trying to cite a group of women for jaywalking.

"The issue we have to investigate is whether the force he used is reasonable given the combative resistance he was facing... and we're not going to pass judgment on that until the matter has been thoroughly investigated," said Assistant Seattle Police Chief Nick Metz.

To me both parties are at fault here. The officer should have used more restraint and had backup there. The girls should have listened to law enforcement, but I am going to give them some wiggle room here.

We have too many incidents of police violence in this country and a big requirement for being a police officer is having the trust of the public. That's something that is really amiss in today's America, and rightfully so. Add to that the very minor infraction that they were being cited for, jaywalking, and I'm sure that they felt this had to do with race. Who wouldn't?

So what is the big deal? Why is the chairman of the RNC out there working the Sunday talk show circuit in order to defend Karl Rove? They keep maintaining that even if it was a leak, Valerie Plame was not protected by the covert status, there for no crime has been committed.

Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, is the protégé of Karl Rove. If it was not for Karl, Ken would not be where he is at today. I guess Karl figures this gave him a little more “clout” to go out there and do whatever he damn well felt without any consequence. This is something that is starting to appear further from the truth.

Now the leaking of Valerie Plames identity is an issue that is more than it appears. Yes it is a horrible crime to identify a covert operative in the CIA. It not only puts their career at risk, but also their lives, the lives of the people they have worked with and the lives of sources they have contacted in other countries. It is, to say the least, something that needs punished severely.

There is more to this leak than just that though. While that grand jury is listening to testimony and arguments by both the defense and prosecution, we have already seen proof given on a far more serious issue. The Downing Street Memo, which celebrates its two year anniversary next Saturday, has been a heated debate amongst opponents of the Iraq war. While we went through the last two years hearing reports hear and there discrediting every reason we were sent to war, this memo’s revelation in May provided what seems to be the absolute truth.