TAGONIST: Police beating of Las Vegas man caught on tape

Monday, April 25, 2011

http://www.lvrj.com/news/exclusive-police-beating-of-las-vegas-man-caught-on-tape-120509439.html

Police beating of Las Vegas man caught on tape
BY MIKE BLASKY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Posted: Apr. 22, 2011 | 1:43 p.m.

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When Mitchell Crooks checked out of the county jail last month and checked into a Las Vegas hospital, the 36-year-old videographer knew he had a fight on his hands.

His face was bloodied and bruised. His $3,500 camera had been impounded by police, and he faced criminal charges for battery on a police officer.

One month later, things have changed for Crooks.

The Clark County district attorney’s office has dropped all charges, and Crooks has retained an attorney of his own. The Metropolitan Police Department has opened an internal investigation into the Las Vegas police officer, Derek Colling, who Crooks says falsely arrested and beat him for filming police.

And his camera — which captured the entire March 20 altercation between Crooks and Colling — has been returned.

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“Officer Colling was aggravated that a citizen should have the audacity to video tape, him — a Las Vegas Metropolitan Patrol Officer,” Otto wrote. “Officer Colling decided to use the fear and terror of his physical ability to beat Mr. Crooks into submission — to teach Mr. Crooks and, by example, all citizens and residents of the Las Vegas Valley.”

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ANT-TAGONIST: The police, as well as any Gooferment “official”, must expect to be “supervised” by anyone. Citizen, Resident, Illegal Alien, or just PIA with a video. Politicians and bureaucrats view video the way Dracula saw Holy Water. BTW don’t the cops have dash cams in their cars to film the mundanes? Sorry, but there are bad cops. In some confused sense, when we allow this phantom illusion called the Gooferment some sort of right to use force, we set up failure. Who goes into “law enforcement”, those that want to use force on others. In a great example of the Peter Principle, the police hierarchy selects the dim witted. (OK what would you call a policy where you weed out all the smart applicants?) And, that hierarchy sets up Rule Of Engagement that allows the cops to get away with murder. Unless the killing is of one of the elite. Yes, we need some sort of security. But it should be based of the Zero Aggression Principle. No one is ever allowed to initiate force on another human being. Peace officers, yes. Police, no. And, along the way, maybe we can change the Gooferment’s “justice” system from “rehabilitation” to “restitution”. Rehabilitation is just code for recidivism. To quote Reagan, who got a few things correct, “Gooferment is the problem” and police behavior is just another symptom.

PRO-TAGONIST: The transcript indicates he told the police officer that he didn’t live there…and he said he even regrets lying to him. Lying is never good. The officer likely suspected foul play.

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MONEY: The golden dinar

Monday, April 25, 2011

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13024

The Weak Dollar Problem
by Steve H. Hanke

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For the countries — like the oil producers in the Persian Gulf — the U.S. dollar bloc and fixed exchange rates are a necessity. These countries are mono-product economies, and their “product,” oil, is invoiced in dollars. Accordingly, if a floating exchange-rate regime were adopted, their nominal exchange rates would fluctuate erratically as oil prices fluctuate. When the price of oil rises (falls), the local currencies would appreciate (depreciate). Without a currency link to the dollar and a nominal anchor for its price level, the oil producing countries would experience a wild roller-coaster ride — one distinguished by deflationary lows and inflationary highs.

Thanks to the Fed’s weak dollar policy, the U.S. faces an inflation problem and so does the rest of the world. The weak dollar and the lack of “flexibility” — properly understood — also threaten the free flow of capital and the stability of the international monetary system. It’s time for the Fed to start focusing on the value and stability of the U.S. dollar.

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As a fat old white guy injineer, it would seem that any thinking person would recognize “the dollar” has failed in one of the definitions of money.

“Money is a matter of functions four, a medium, a measure, a standard, a store.” He repeated that four times like poetry. “Six Characters in Money: Portable – Durable – Divisible – Uniformity – Limited Supply – Acceptability.” — CHURCH 10●19●62 (Vol 1) 978-0-557-08387-9 page 110

It’s no longer “uniform”. And, it no longer functions as “a measure”, “a standard” or “a store”.

Imagine baseball or football, where each year “a yard” got smaller? Or larger?

In the grocery store, packages stay the same or get larger, while the contents shrink. And, the makers pray the consumer doesn’t get wise.

(What was the name of that Olive maker that destroyed his business by saving one olive per bottle? The consumers disciplined that company out of business.)

We’re on the road to be like pre-WW2 Germany with raging hyper-inflation.

At least, when the golden dinar becomes the world’s standard, we’ll have honest money!

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Hanke, Steve H. (2011, April 15). The Weak Dollar Problem. Retrieved April 18, 2011, from The Cato Institute Web site: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=13024

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