Darren Wilson is a murdering psycho cop

  "Can I shoot this guy? You know? Legally, can I?" I had no intention of reading or listening to anything Darren Wilson had to say. But, since the internet is my playground it was inevitable that I would run across something he said. I can't imagine having such a thought in my head. It isn't that I can't imagine being in a situation where I feel that my life is in jeopardy it's happened many times. My thoughts are never if I can do a thing and get away with it or not. My thoughts are to get out of the situation more or less intact and alive. Not can I get away with it. This is at the very least an admission of failing to protect and serve and at the very worst an admission of guilt.
  I  have heard other things through the grapevine and read several accounts of the altercation that led to Michael Brown's death in a hail of bullets. The claim that Michael Brown assaulted Darren Wilson is a dubious one to warrant the death penalty. His injuries are apparently on the right side of his face, a very odd place for them to be. It's almost as if someone else hit him in the face to make him look injured, but they were a buddy and didn't want to hurt him. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but if you read enough news stories you know people do crazy things. Like shoot kids for jaywalking. Or shoot someone in the head because they pulled into your driveway. Or shoot someone who is trick or treating, you can literally get away with this in Texas.
 I wish I could say I want to see all the evidence, but I really don't need to. I was strongly suspicious of this shooting from the get go. No police report was filed by Darren Wilson. The police openly did everything they could to obfusticate what happened that day. Michael Browns body lay in the hot sun for 4 hours, destroying much of the evidence. It seems no one that performed the autopsy actually tried to recreate any kind of a scenario, maybe they don't do that in real life, but it seems odd that they don't. Like hey shoot a dummy and see what kind of pattern it would make if the dummies hands were up or if they were down. I guess that's too difficult for a government paid coroner and the one the family paid.
  So Darren Wilson gets away with murder. And the death by cop rate goes up by one. And this week statistically 2 more young black males will be killed by a cop either justified or not, but statistically speaking probably not. It will be a kid who may have mental health issues, he may just be in the wrong place at the wrong time, it might be someone who is pulled over and given contradictory orders and fails to follow them.
  You would think after all I  have written that I blame Darren Wilson entirely. But, I don't. These things don't occur in a vacuum. Darren Wilson had the training from his police department, the blessings from the public, our laws that put police officers out of the reach of the law even with very serious allegations. We have a culture that condones this. We have institutions that allow it and in fact encourage this behavior. Darren Wilson might even be telling the truth about one thing, he feared for his life. He has been conditioned to fear black people, most white people have. So, even if Michael Brown was not in fact threatening Darren Wilson he may well have been interpreted as being threatening.
  We need to change the way law enforcement works. We should consider having police that are unarmed at the very least. It works in England though they aren't armed to the teeth. But, I think it can still work here. Police Officers can always call for back up. They rarely use their guns anyway so I have heard. If they are going to a domestic dispute or any other situation that requires a gun and ammo of course it's a well known that these situations are very dangerous. But, I doubt they need them all day everyday. Some officers could be armed for these kind of special calls. The fact that officers need to understand situations from the perspective of an average person on the street is a given. They need to know how they are perceived in communities. They need to understand what people think they are asking of them. They need a whole lot more education on how to deal with mentally ill people. And they need to know that if they are in a vehicle and a person is charging them from 30 feet away, that their vehicle does indeed go in reverse.

The gift of giving

    Yesterday was Halloween, was a good day to think about giving. I actually think about this quite a bit. On more than one occasion I have been told that giving isn't altruistic because the person giving gets something, in that it makes them happy. Personally I think the only reason to be generous is because it can make a person happy to give. Happiness is not a four letter word. It is also a great motivator.  I ran out of mini candy bars for my trick-or-treat bags, I didn't want to go get more. But, the thought of finishing up making the bags and being able to hand out treats got me out the door. I handed out some Tootsie Pops on the way to the store. It was fun. Everyday should be hand out Tootsie Pops day for some it is. I used to work with someone that frequently brought in candy to share. But, I digress. Giving isn't about taking something you have and transfering the ownership to someone else. It is a transaction of course, but it isn't about the material value of what you are giving. That of course is also important, but this is not the only thing that is happening.
    When you give someone a gift you are communicating something to that person. You are telling them they have intrinsic value. This usually makes people happy and they at least try to show that they are happy, they say nice things usually, they are grateful. They are communicating something to you as well that is beyond being happy they are saying you have intrinsic value too. They recognize the humanity in you that you opened up at the very least your wallet and gave them something that they either wanted or needed.
   I don't know of any studies that have been done on people who have had to rely on the kindness of strangers or in other words charity or social services. If long term receiving has negative mental reprecussions or not. I am going out on a limb and saying it probably does not. But, people in this position rarely have resources that they can share with other people. This might result in some issues if there are issues to be found. I have myself been so broke that I couldn't give people collecting money by the grocery store my spare change, I literally had been counting quarters for taking the bus to work and I literally had none to spare, I felt aweful. Should we think about this when we allow the minimum wage to be so low, when we deny COLAs for Social Security? What if the takers as some so callously lable people, would like to be givers? It isn't easy to give when you are on a fixed income and your expenses are calculated down to the quarter. Or should we concentrate on recruiting people to volunteer more? This usually a more cost effective way to give. Should giving be seen as something we require people to do even if they are not inclined? Can forced giving have an effect of making the giver happier or must it be voluntary for the benefit of happiness to occur? I don't know the answer to these questions, but somebody has to start asking. Is the true cost of poverty not having anything left over to give?