Frank Meager on violence here and in France:

All the recent comparisons to Viet Nam & Iraq, plus the recent police shootings around the USA struck a memory bank. Back in the early 70’s

I remember that the military was offering an “early out” to service personnel that agreed to join the police force of Los Angeles (and maybe other cities). Up to six months would be eliminated from active duty if you “changed uniforms”. This was especially attractive to those just returning from the combat zone with the paychecks they didn’t need to cash while doing jungle time. It was during this time that we began to see more and more incidents of excessive force, brutality, corruption and abuse of power in our police departments.

Flash forward to 2006— similar wartime situation, frustration at loosing against “inferior locals” on their turf with harsh controls with overkill at home.

In the NYC shooting, 50 rounds fired against an unarmed victim. In Paris, after a football game, one, maybe two rounds fired to stop the brutality of more than 50 racist hooligans. No heros and in each case, 1 dead. It’s true, the French haven’t fought too many wars in the last 50 years.

This time there are no flower children to shame us and place daisies in the barrels of our protectors.”

ARTISTS FOR A NEW SOUTH AFRICA APPEALS

” Please join Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA) in taking action to help stop the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. We ask you to contact your elected leaders and participate in World AIDS Day December 1 activities in your community.

The theme for World AIDS Day 2006 is ACCOUNTABILITY, which urges citizens across the globe to hold their political leaders accountable for the promises they have made on AIDS. We at ANSA are focused on working with our allies at PEPFAR WATCH to improve the policies and funding of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

To learn more visit www.pepfarwatch.org .

CROCS IN BROOKLYN?

AP: The legend lives: Another caiman captured in NYC

”See you later, alligator. After while, crocodile. What rhymes with caiman?

Well, nothing, really. But that doesn’t keep the scaly critters from turning up in New York City, far from their native habitats in the tropical Americas, and replenishing one of the city’s most enduring urban legends.

The last time it happened was in June, 2001, when a small caiman was discovered in the Harlem Meer, a lake in the northeast corner of Central Park. After it eluded capture for five days, a self-described alligator expert flew in from a Florida game park to save the city.

After some posturing, he used a canoe and a flashlight to retrieve the reptile in minutes. On Tuesday, police responding to a 911 call in Starrett City, a public housing complex in Brooklyn, found a two-foot caiman (Spanish for anything “crocodilian,” according to one Internet site) in a cardboard box, with a shoelace firmly tied around its jaw.

WAS IT BORAT’S FAULT?

In Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (the movie), Borat (the character), falls for Pamela Anderson, the “Baywatch” actress, and travels the U.S. on a quest to ask her to marry him.

In real life, Borat is now blamed for the break-up of Pamela Anderson’s new marriage. No mention of Michael “Kramer” Richards trying to out-do Borat ridicule verging on hate-speech as a cause for the stand-up stumbling.

http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/28/people/

AND FINALLY, THE NEWS WE RARELY SEE FROM HARPER’S.ORG

’ The dancing bears of India were in dire need of medical attention, and Rhesus macaque overpopulation in Delhi was causing extreme environmental stress. “The problem of man-monkey conflict,” said an environmentalist (who argued against building more monkey prisons) “is only going to increase.” A ninety-two-year-old woman was killed in a shootout with Atlanta police, a Houston teenager was sentenced to jail for sodomizing a Hispanic teenager with a patio umbrella while shouting “White Power!,” and a professional dominatrix testified that an officer in the Greenburgh, New York, police department had extracted sexual favors from her. “He wanted to go to a motel in the Bronx where I would defecate on him,” she said, “but I told him I was uncomfortable going to the Bronx.”

That’s my contribution for today. Comments to Dissector at Mediachannel.org.

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