Reid, after speaking with Obama, said that Obama wanted to give as much time as possible for compromise so Reid adjourned the Senate and postponed the vote until 1:00 pm tomorrow.
Daily Archives: July 30, 2011
Police inquiry reveals violations in arrest, beating of videographer
Mitchell Crooks
Photo shows injuries after beating by Officer Derek Colling
By Mike Blasky
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Posted: Jul. 29, 2011 | 8:08 p.m.
Updated: Jul. 30, 2011 | 7:18 a.m.
Updated: Jul. 30, 2011 | 7:18 a.m.
A Las Vegas police officer under investigation for the videotaped beating of a man in March violated several Metropolitan Police Department policies, an internal investigation found.
Mitchell Crooks’ complaint about officer Derek Colling’s excessive force was sustained, Deputy Chief Gary Schofield said Friday.
The specific policy violations will not be released until the case is finalized.
Crooks, 36, received a letter from the Internal Affairs Bureau notifying him of the findings earlier this week.
He said he was pleasantly surprised.
“It seems like they’re saying he was guilty, which is what I’ve been saying,” Crooks said. “I really hope he gets fired.”
Colling has been on paid suspension since April 1.
Multiple supervisors in Colling’s chain of command will review the internal affairs report and decide his punishment, if any, Schofield said.
That review could take several weeks.
If Colling’s supervisors recommend his firing, he will go before a pre-termination board for a final appeal. The harshest punishment short of firing is a 40-hour unpaid suspension.
Crooks’ lawyer, David Otto, intends to sue Colling and the Police Department.
Otto wrote a letter in April to Sheriff Douglas Gillespie demanding $500,000 to cover Crooks’ medical care, pain and suffering. The Police Department has not paid anything, he said.
He intends to send another letter to Gillespie.
“Mr. Sheriff, show us the difference between what the officers did to Mitchell Crooks that night and kidnapping, beating and robbery,” Otto said.
On the night of March 20, Crooks, 36, was in his driveway, near East Desert Inn Road and South Maryland Parkway, videotaping police as they investigated a burglary report across the street. Crooks said that when he refused to stop filming, Colling arrested and beat him, with much of the altercation recorded by the camera.
The video went viral on the Internet, and local activists and national “cop watch” blogs scrutiznized Colling’s actions.
Local American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Allen Lichtenstein reviewed the video and found clear policy violations.
“It raises serious questions about whether the officer used good judgment and whether he was properly trained,” Lichtenstein said. “Those questions require answers.”
Rank-and-file officers who spoke to the Review-Journal after the incident were as demoralized as the public was incensed.
“The majority of us think Colling made a mistake,” one patrol officer said. “All the officers I talked to understand that citizens will see this video, and yeah, we know it looks bad.”
Neither Crooks nor Colling was a stranger to controversy.
Colling has been involved in two fatal shootings in his 5½ years as a Las Vegas police officer.
In 2006, he and four other officers shot Shawn Jacob Collins after the 43-year-old man pulled a gun at an east valley gas station.
In 2009, Colling shot and killed Tanner Chamberlain, a mentally ill 15-year-old who was holding a knife at his mother’s neck and waving it at officers.
Both shootings were ruled justified by Clark County coroner’s juries.
Chamberlain’s mother, Evie Oquendo, sued Colling and the Police Department in May.
When the lawsuit was filed, Oquendo’s lawyer asked why Colling was still working as an officer.
“He’s killed two people in 5½ years and beaten one guy up that we know of,” Brent Bryson said.
Crooks made headlines in 2002 when he videotaped two Inglewood, Calif., police officers beating a 16-year-old boy.
Crooks first tried to sell that tape and refused to give it to prosecutors. He then was jailed on old warrants from drunken driving and petty theft charges. Civil rights advocates decried the jailing as retribution.
He has lived in Las Vegas since 2003 and worked as a freelance videographer.
Crooks, who still carries his camera, said he was stopped last month by a Las Vegas officer who recognized him .
He was issued a ticket for no proof of insurance that was later dismissed, Crooks said.
The National Debt Papers: China’s debt collection letters to U.S. (PARODY)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/20/the-national-debt-papers/
The Washington Times
4:51 p.m., Wednesday, July 20, 2011
(Illustration/The Washington Times)Editor’s note: The debt collection letters that follow are the first documents — or mockuments — from the National Debt Papers, a series of imaginary missives concerning the U.S. national debt. Some might say it’s frivolous, even sophomoric, to publish invented exchanges at a moment of financial peril darkened by the prospect of the United States Government maxing out our collective credit card on August 2, unless the debt ceiling is raised. Others will say that it is only by imaginatively modeling dangers — like the calling in of debts by nervous creditors — that appropriate responses to crisis can be devised. Here at The Washington Times we would have to agree with those who hold that these parodies, beginning with today’s dunning letters from the People’s Bank of China, are frivolous, even sophomoric. May you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed creating them.
For the best viewing experience, we recommend that you “view in fullscreen” by clicking the button on the far left at the bottom of the Scribd frame below.
The National Debt Papers: A letter from Greece (PARODY)
The National Debt Papers: A letter from Greece (PARODY)
(Illustration/The Washington Times)Editor’s note: This letter from Greece was found amid the National Debt Papers, an ongoing series of imaginary missives concerning the U.S. national debt.
For the best viewing experience, we recommend that you “view in fullscreen” by clicking the button on the far left at the bottom of the Scribd frame below.
The National Debt Papers: Greece
National Debt Papers: U.K. sympathy note on the loss of U.S. empire (PARODY)
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/29/editors-note-this-sympathy-letter-from-the-uk-comm/
The Washington Times
7:41 p.m., Friday, July 29, 2011
(Illustration/The Washington Times)Editor’s note: This sympathy letter from the U.K. commiserating with President Obama on the loss of the American empire was found among the National Debt Papers, an ongoing series of imaginary missives concerning the U.S. national debt.
For the best viewing experience, we recommend that you “view in fullscreen” by clicking the button on the far left at the bottom of the Scribd frame below.
Senator Rand Paul speech live on the debt limit vote
Sen. Rand Paul, on the Senate floor, just offered a compromised amendment to the Reid bill, that at least 10 Republican’s will vote for the Reid bill if the amendment that allows for raising the debt limit if a balanced budget goes along with it, it was objected to by Democrats. Paul said, see, we’ve offered to compromise but they won’t but yet they accuse us of not compromising. He started his speech by saying, I know the President wants to get back out campaigning so I want to make a motion that we vote on the Reid bill by 5 pm today. 
He also went on to talk about Reid filibustering his own bill.
Between Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, they’re tearing the Democrats a new one. Gotta Love these guys.
On the other side, a Dem. Senate female said that nobody likes the Reid plan but we can hold our noses and vote for it. Isn’t that what they all said about Obamacare bill?
http://interactive.foxnews.com/livestream/live.html?chanId=2
House Rejects Reid Debt Ceiling Proposal
As Marco Rubio said on the floor of the Senate today, the Democratic Senators have been sitting there doing nothing and Reid waits until the last minute to submit a plan. He also relayed some quotes about voting no to raise the debt limit, that today would be accredited to the Tea Party Extremist but in 2006 & 2007 were actually said by Obama, Biden and Reid.
There is so much fear mongering from the Democrats, Seniors won’t get paid, Vets won’t get paid, active military won’t get paid, I’d like to see how the active military will react to not getting paid. The reason they’re going after the Seniors is because Seniors won’t fight back. If they went after the entitlement crowd there would be a civil war in this country.
July 30, 2011, 3:17 pm
House Rejects Reid Debt Ceiling Proposal
By CARL HULSEThe Republican-controlled House on Saturday dismissed a new proposal by Senate Democrats to end the fiscal crisis before the Senate even voted on it, deepening the ongoing federal budget stalemate.
In an effort to send a message to Senate leaders of both parties, the House voted 173 to 246 against the proposal by Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, to show it had no future in the House
During a heated debate, Republicans and Democrats traded accusations over who would be responsible for a government default if no compromise was reached by next Tuesday, with Republicans defending the plan they sent to the Senate on Friday only to see it rejected almost immediately.
On Twitter, Speaker John A. Boehner called the Senate measure “DOA” and a “non-starter in the House.” Republicans also said the $2.5 trillion in savings in the measure were illusory.
“This Harry Reid bill is full of budget gimmicks that don’t get the job done,” said Representative Sean Duffy, a freshman from Wisconsin.
Democrats accused Republicans of a cynical move. Representative Sander M. Levin, Democrat of Michigan, said the symbolic vote was a “disgraceful moment” in the House.
“You are trying to throw a monkey wrench into the Reid bill before it even leaves the station,” Mr. Levin told Republicans.
Though the current Senate plan was in serious trouble, Democrats and the administration were exploring ways to adjust it to win some Republican backing and send it back to the House as a final offer to raise the debt limit and avert a default after Tuesday.
If a measure were able to win significant bipartisan endorsement in the Senate, the reception in the House could be different with the Treasury Department’s deadline for increasing the debt limit imminent.
But Mr. Reid on Saturday said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, was dragging his feet on beginning talks to find a compromise solution, and he called on Republicans to offer their plans to alter his measure.
“We have heard very little from the Republicans,” Mr. Reid said on the floor. “My friend the Republican leader must generate some more action on the part of his Republicans.”
Mr. Reid called for the Democratic plan to be set aside to let talks begin and urged the involvement of President Obama.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/house-rejects-reid-debt-ceiling-proposal/
