Texas...again

[Beadalin]

Did he change the settings on his MySpace profile or something? I can’t see anything.

[Clothahump]

Guys, he’s just one cop, he’s not indicative of the entire state.

I can put myself in his place. Running a red light is not a safe thing to do under any circumstances. Suppose Moats ran the light, caused a wreck and killed three other people?

Having said that, though, once I found out what the circumstances were, I’d have taken his information and mailed him the ticket. Holding him like that was NOT a good thing to do.

[The_Tao_s_Revenge]

@Clothahump

Guys, he’s just one cop, he’s not indicative of the entire state.

I can put myself in his place. Running a red light is not a safe thing to do under any circumstances. Suppose Moats ran the light, caused a wreck and killed three other people?

Having said that, though, once I found out what the circumstances were, I’d have taken his information and mailed him the ticket. Holding him like that was NOT a good thing to do.

Actually he stopped and checked both ways for traffic before proceeding. According to the transcript anyway. Doesn’t really seem like much risk of wreck.

The cop deserves to be fired and shunned by society as the stupid ego maniacal sociopath he is.

[Beadalin]

@Clothahump

I can put myself in his place. Running a red light is not a safe thing to do under any circumstances. Suppose Moats ran the light, caused a wreck and killed three other people?

I was under the impression that Moats stopped, put on his hazard lights, and was waved through by someone else at the intersection. So it’s not like he blew through the red light willy-nilly. He made sure it was safe and proceeded.

[Projammer]

@Beadalin

Did he change the settings on his MySpace profile or something? I can’t see anything.

Yes. What I quoted above was what was visible without being a friend. I suspect he’ll disable it completely before too long.

[Evil_Captor]

We should not judge all of Texas on the basis of this story, it is true. We should take it as just one of many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many data points indicating that Texas is a fucked-up Third World country that has somehow sneaked into the US.

[Audrey_Levins]

@Evil_Captor

We should not judge all of Texas on the basis of this story, it is true. We should take it as just one of many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many data points indicating that Texas is a fucked-up Third World country that has somehow sneaked into the US.

:rolleyes:

[The_Tao_s_Revenge]

@Evil_Captor

We should not judge all of Texas on the basis of this story, it is true. We should take it as just one of many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many data points indicating that Texas is a fucked-up Third World country that has somehow sneaked into the US.

Hmm most of Texas seemed pretty pissed off about the injustice of this as well.

If you can judge whole regions based on the inexcusable actions of one horrible government official then I eagerly await to see what you have to say about the Bush/ Tony Blair dou.

[bdgr]

@Evil_Captor

Texas is a fucked-up Third World country that has somehow sneaked into the US.

Yeah…A third world country that invented the microprocessor, the silicon transistor, the transistor radio, the microcomputer, the hand held calculator, the laundramat…

we may have some screwed up people…but third world country doesn’t really fit.

[Turek]

Take it for what it’s worth (which is about zero), but the cop has issued a very well-written apology.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032809dnmetmoatsfolo.3d3c3e8.html

I wish to publicly and sincerely apologize to the Moats family, my colleagues in the Dallas Police Department, and to all those who have been rightfully angered by my actions on March 18, 2009. After stopping Mr. Moats’ vehicle, I showed poor judgment and insensitivity to Mr. Moats and his family by my words and actions. With great remorse I accept my responsibility for adding to their grief in an already difficult time.

I have attempted to reach Mr. Moats to express my personal condolences directly to his family and my regret about my actions. While these efforts have been unsuccessful so far, I hope we can talk soon.

Again, I am very sorry for what I did and ask for the forgiveness of all those touched by these unfortunate events.

Jeez, I hate, hate HATE! these “I got caught and gee! I’m so sorry!” apologies.

[Captain_Carrot]

@Turek

Take it for what it’s worth (which is about zero), but the cop has issued a very well-written apology.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032809dnmetmoatsfolo.3d3c3e8.html

Jeez, I hate, hate HATE! these “I got caught and gee! I’m so sorry!” apologies.

It’s worth less than zero, since, judging from his myspace page, he felt he did the right thing and is being persecuted. He’s saying this because he’s being forced.

[VinylTurnip]

And I’d like to sincerely apologize to anyone who may be upset or offended by my insincere apology…

[Little_Nemo]

It reminds me of that time I was driving in Colorado and I got stopped by a cop in some little suburb south of Denver. I remember he was a short fat guy riding some weird looking contraption. He had a real attitude and kept telling me I had to “repect his authori-tiii”.

[GIGObuster]

@bdgr

Yeah…A third world country that invented the microprocessor, the silicon transistor, the transistor radio, the microcomputer, the hand held calculator, the laundramat…

we may have some screwed up people…but third world country doesn’t really fit.

:sigh: I wish it was just **some **Texans.

I mostly agree with you, but there are many who vote for ignorant people over there.

I think that Evil Captor is not imagining some of his “many, many, many”

Texas on evolution: Needs further study

Dan McLeroy, the Texas State Board of Education chairman, a dentist and self-described creationist, led the charge to mandate teaching the “strengths and weaknesses” of the theory of evolution. After three days of high-pitched argument on both sides, the 15-member board, by a vote of 8-7, rejected the language, relieving textbook authors and publishers of the pressure to insert what opponents called “junk science” into their pages. But in a compromise that alarms and dismays many science education advocates, the board did adopt language that attempts to cast a shadow of doubt over the validity of the central evolutionary concepts of natural selection and common ancestry.

Proponents of the theory of intelligent design, and other brands of neo-creationism, argue that evolution is inadequate to the job of explaining the diversity and history of life on earth. If they can cast doubts about evolution’s validity, they have a chance to fill the authority vacuum with the tenets of creationism. But since late 2005, when a federal judge in Dover, Pa., ruled that intelligent design was a form of creationism, and that its introduction into public high school curricula was unconstitutional, advocates of teaching neo-creationism have been forced to seek other ways into public science classrooms. Enter the “strengths and weaknesses” strategy, crafted by the Seattle-based, pro-intelligent-design think thank, Discovery Institute.

“The theory of evolution has no weaknesses,” says Kenneth Miller, a biology professor at Brown University. There are many unanswered questions about how organisms evolve and diversify, and what drives them to do so, but Charles Darwin’s 150-year-old insights that all life on earth descended from one or a few simple common ancestors, and that natural selection explains how they did, remain solid foundations of modern biology. As the late, great biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky is famous for saying, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”

Not that science makes sense to a creationist like McLeroy. “Scientific consensus means nothing,” he tells Salon. “All it takes is one fact to overthrow consensus. Evolution has a status that it simply doesn’t deserve. People say it’s vital to understanding biology. But it’s genetics that’s the foundation for biology. A biologist once said that nothing in biology makes sense without evolution. Well, that’s not true. You go into the top biology labs, and it makes no difference if evolution is true or false to what they’re doing and studying. It makes no difference.”

It makes all the difference in the world, says Miller, who notes the irony of McLeroy quoting Dobzhansky, one of the fathers of the modern evolutionary synthesis. Adds Miller: McLeroy’s “fundamental misunderstanding of the way genetics and evolution have produced a unified science of biology is nothing short of breathtaking.”

Don McLeroy was elected to the chair of the Texas Board of Education…

[Terrifel]

How does this rate as a Texas-worthy incident? There wasn’t even any violence.

What a ripoff. This could have happened practically anywhere. Are you feeling unwell, Texas?

[The_Tao_s_Revenge]

Bah people save your Texas hate for whenever they send people to the federal government. Otherwise who cares? It’s not like you have to move there, and the people of Texas seem to be handling this with an appropriate amount of outrage. The only misshandling is the tyrant cop still has his job. Which is a horrible thing I admit.

[Little_Nemo]

The only misshandling is the tyrant cop still has his job. Which is a horrible thing I admit.

This incident happened a week ago. Now that Powell has been suspended he’s not out on the streets and isn’t going to harass anyone else. So there’s no emergency. Offhand, I think most decisions are better made if people stop and think about what they’re doing rather than snap at the first thing that passes through their mind. So it’s better to have the hearings progress at a normal pace rather than rush to an immediate judgement and punishment.

[Projammer]

@Captain_Carrot

It’s worth less than zero, since, judging from his myspace page, he felt he did the right thing and is being persecuted. He’s saying this because he’s being forced.

If you’ve got access to his Myspace, can we get a screenshot of the relevent part?

[JusDubn]

@Projammer

If you’ve got access to his Myspace, can we get a screenshot of the relevent part?

It looks as though he has removed his name and status from the limited view of his profile anyone could see…

[Siam_Sam]

Must … not … bitch … anymore … about … Texas … Must … not … bitch … anymore … about … Texas …