If You Read The Paper | March 31

Words
Thursday, March 31st, 2011 at 1:11 pm

It’s Not The Crime, It’s The Coverup

It seems like former Norfolk Police Chief Bruce Marquis may not have covered anything up after all. Does that really surprise anyone? For those unfamiliar with how the higher levels of government work, it goes something like this:

Something bad happens, staff prepares a report, sends it to the boss, who then makes a statement. If something gets left out of the report, the boss takes the fall. Nearly gone are the days when the department head does their own investigation and fact-finding missions. Most senior level positions depend on their staff for almost everything.

This appears to be exactly what happened with the death of Police Recruit John Kohn. Does that excuse what happened? No, but it does mean that we shouldn’t lay all the blame at the feet of someone who was just reporting the information as it was relayed to him. As with any story, there appears to be more here than meets they eye. I’ve been told by some Norfolk Police Officers that the instructor was only throwing fists in Kohn’s face as he was on the ground. After re-watching the video, this is certainly a possibility and it would explain why it wasn’t originally mentioned.

Is that the truth? I don’t know and I don’t think we ever will know what the whole truth is. City Manager Marcus Jones says Acting Chief Chamberlin won’t be fired, but since Councilman Riddick noted at a recent council meeting that there was a real possibility there would be no African Americans in the command structure and asked what could be done about it, I suspect she won’t last in that position for long. (This previously said Riddick said there must be an African American as Police Chief, until I find the audio quote from my recordings of the informal meetings, I have changed my statement to reflect when you can verify through the above clip)

Proposed Redistricting Maps Released

Judging from the posts on Facebook, I wasn’t the only one clicking refresh every 5 seconds on the Legislative Information Services Website on Tuesday. The maps were released a few hours late, then their server pretty much died, but luckily The Virginian Pilot was smart enough to get their own versions up via Google Maps.

I’ve done my own post analyzing the changes in Norfolk’s districts and it should be up later today. Until then, explore the new lines from the link above.

Report: Obama Gives Order For Covert Assistance to Libyan Rebels

The article pretty much speaks for itself, so I’m just going to run through a few things everyone needs to keep in mind. I know a lot of people think this is some kind of grand moral adventure to prevent a humanitarian crisis and stop the slaughter of innocent civilians, but that is absolutely not the case.

First of all, we have the word “civilian.” Sure, there are some legitimate civilians, but last I checked people rebelling against their government with AK-47′s and RPG’s don’t exactly qualify as civilians. Sure Gadaffi is horrible, no argument there, but he has just as many civilians in Tripoli (more actually) than the rebels have in Benghazi. So basically we prevented a “humanitarian” disaster in Benghazi so the rebels could cause one when they assault Tripoli. Hypocrisy in action.

Second, we have this convoluted notion that the US is giving up control to NATO, who is now the key player in the conflict. Hello people! Who do you think is the major player in NATO? Who do you think is the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe? Oh that’s right, it’s an American Admiral named James Stavridis. This is nothing more than a semantic trick to give President Obama political cover.

Lastly, Al-Qaeda (or as I like to call it, Al-CIA-Duh), is reportedly involved on the rebel’s side to oust Gadaffi. This is by the admission of both themselves and the rebel forces. There is an old adage, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” and I’ve had some limited success with that in politics, but in war it usually doesn’t work out to well. We tried that with dozens of militia movements and terrorist groups during the Cold War, including what eventually became the Taliban and Al-Qaeda (hence the CIA-Duh). Now most of those groups want to do us harm and are in many cases using the training and weapons we gave them against us. It’s not a stretch at all to say any weapons or covert support we give the Libyan rebels will at some point be used to kill Americans or our allies.

Wal-Mart CEO Warns Of Serious Inflation

I’ve been sounding the alarm on this one for years. You simply cannot print money to cover a budget deficit as large as ours and not expect serious inflation. I’m still working on an article explaining the mechanics of inflation and the flaws of our monetary system, so until then, enjoy this article and plan out your victory gardens; you’re going to need one when food prices skyrocket.

Also, give some thought to the idea of a local currency. The dollar won’t last forever; it might not even last till the end of 2012, at least not in a form that we recognize. We are going to need an alternative medium of exchange. But don’t panic, because I’ve got a plan to handle that one too. Take some time to Google C.H. Douglas and Social Credit or Thomas Greco and mutual credit clearing if you want a preview. Otherwise, just wait until I find away to cram 1000 pages of monetary theory into 1000 words or less.

70 Metal Books Found In Cave Could Change Biblical History

In perhaps the biggest find since the Dead Sea Scrolls, the media is reporting 70 metal books dated to the 1st century AD have been found in a cave in Jordan. Apparently this happened 5 years ago, but we are just now hearing about it. Images on the books indicate they contain information regarding the crucifixion and other important biblical events. Some are speculating that they are the fabled sealed texts spoken about in the Book of Revelations. Western media doesn’t seem to be covering this story, but hopefully the British will keep us up to date as more details are uncovered.

Name That Skate Spot

Following up on a promise I made last week, here’s a video of some kids skating around Norfolk. See if you can name all the spots. If you were wondering who filmed and edited it all, it’s yours truly. This video is at least two years old and if the people in it knew I was posting it, they would probably try and kill me. Given the song I used, there is a high probability the audio will be disabled soon, so hurry up and watch it!

COMMENTS

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Facebook comments:

  • Rodney | March 31, 11 @ 4:59 pm

    Personally, I don’t care what color the police chief is. It is interesting however what we “hear.” Max says that Riddick “went so far as to ask what the city could do to promote someone based on race if no qualified black candidates could be found.” What I heard Riddick ask was if there were any civic rights or justice department rulings to insure diversity in police leadership. I did not hear Riddick say that “Norfolk has to have a black Police Chief” or that someone unqualified should be promoted based on race.

  • Max Shapiro | March 31, 11 @ 5:42 pm

    Well I’m surprised that you can’t accept the absolutely blatantly obvious from what Riddick says.

    He said what can “we” AKA THE CITY, do to take someone who was not in the pool of qualified candidates AKA SOMEONE NOT QUALIFIED, and make sure they are in the hierarchy, AKA leadership, obviously insinuating the Police Chief had you been there and listened to the entire 2 hour discussion. Then you hear the City Attorney say that would be illegal to promote someone based on race and had you seen Riddick’s face you would have seen his immense displeasure at that statement.

    Race should never be an issue. I want the most qualified person for the job, if that means an all white staff or an all black or all Asian staff, so be it. Sure diversity is nice, but should be go out of our way to the extent where we consider an applicants race to ensure it? No way, that is racism plain and simple.

    Do you agree with the Justice Department forcing Police Departments to lower standards because not enough African Americans were passing the tests? Do you think the tests were racist?

    Sorry I have not yet found the audio clip where he mentions the police chief, that’s why I made the edit in the original article and stated as such. I’ve literally got dozens of hours worth of audio from meetings and while I have some notes, often times I didn’t write down the time index until after the entire conversation had ended which makes it harder to find, especially given the obviously shaky audio quality.

  • Rodney | March 31, 11 @ 6:37 pm

    Again, you are editorializing your own viewpoint. Riddick did not say take someone who was not in the pool of qualified candidates.

    I do not think the tests are racist, and I do not support lowering the standards.

    Do you support a seniority system or a best qualified system? In a seniority system, Blacks, women, and others tend to have less time because the system discriminated against QUALIFIED Blacks and others historically. During that time whites, typically males, did not have open competition.

    You are correct that race should not be an issue, but often it is. Don’t be selective about your perceived advantage that Blacks somehow have gained.

    In Norfolk’s recent history (past 50 years) only once has any of its “major” boards and commissions had a Black majority. Is that because there are no qualified Blacks? There has never been a woman superintendent of the school system. Is that because there’s never been a qualified woman. Before Norfolk returned to an elected mayor, no Black was ever selected to be mayor. Is that because none was ever qualified?

    • Max Shapiro | March 31, 11 @ 8:57 pm

      The point of these “If you read the paper” pieces is to editorialize. Trust me, I would love to just report straight up hard news, but AltDaily’s audience demands something more entertaining. I think my opinion is rather reasonable. Some may disagree and that is their right. Trust me when I say I will take your concerns into consideration next time I write a piece touching on race.

      Riddick said if there is not an African American in the top 5 candidates, what can we do? That is definitely saying someone outside the pool of most qualified candidates. Granted that could mean someone qualified, but someone who is less qualified than others.

      I definitely support a best qualified system. The seniority system is a big reason why our government the way it is. I totally sympathize with your points and I completely agree with them on this matter. The thing is, I don’t see how more racism is the answer. So long is race isn’t taken into account at all, I’m happy with whoever gets the job.

      I don’t think I’m being selective about a “perceived advantage.” I wasn’t around during the civil rights movement, but listening to Dr. King speak in recordings and him saying we shouldn’t judge people by the color of their skin has had a big impact on me. Had he been alive today, I think he would have abhorred this so called affirmative action and people wanting to make sure there are X number of African Americans in certain departments.

      It’s horrible what was done in the past, there are obviously current inequities based on past injustices and the solution is to rectify those at the lowest possible level, not to look at the top and see how we can even out the numbers.

      As for the political points, I agree with the points you are talking about. That’s the sad reality of politics and I’ve fought against it for as long as I’ve been involved. I ran the campaign for Jason Call, the Republican nominee in the 90th district which contains most of eastern Norfolk. They didn’t even want to nominate him because they thought it would increase African American turnout but I did everything I could to make sure the GOP realized that was the a stupid, racist point to make.

      We were in the public housing projects on a weekly basis. We hit every street, even those areas where McCain got only 4 votes. We knocked on every door, registered voter or not and I can tell you I experienced my fair share of racism because of the color of my skin. Many times I was told my kind doesn’t belong here. We had “whitey” written on the hood of our car. So trust me, I empathize with what you are talking about, but I totally disagree with the way I see Riddick going about solving the issue. Using the government to favor one race over another, no matter how horribly that race was treated in the past, is still racism.

Post a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

ABOUT THE WRITER
Instead of going to college, Max Shapiro took a full time job working in the office of one of the most connected lawyers in Republican politics. From there he was lucky enough to land a string of high level jobs on local, state, and federal campaigns. Just recently, however, Max managed to get himself banned from the Republican Party for three years, but he isn't losing any sleep over it. When he is not on the campaign trail, Max spends his time at the beach, skateboarding, or writing for AltDaily. He has been known to dabble with GIS and is rumored to own a small company providing mapping services to businesses and political campaigns.
Other posts by .