Where's the Dirt?

I'm kind of wondering just who is dirtier - politicians or commercial media.  I'm thinking it depends on the day and the players.

Consider that Representative Monique D. Davis (D) 27th District recently made an inflammatory comment on AM radio that is being taken as far out of context as liability lawsuits will allow, and maybe a little further if the alleged perpetrator in question is one of the numerous non-profit organizations catering to a protected category of people.

But before I get started I'm going to set the stage, and I'd like you, the reader, to indulge me a minute and read this next paragraph carefully.

Imagine you're in Chicago.  The notorious Big Windy.  Imagine you have a nice, big feather pillow.  Go to the very top of the Willis Tower (AKA Sears Tower) first thing in the morning on a day with a nice breeze blowing.  Stand on the roof, lean over the railing and rip the pillow open.  Shake all the feathers out of the pillow and watch the wind distribute those feathers all over Chicago.

That's how a rumor starts.

Now what I'd like you to do is go collect up the feathers, every last one, and put them back into the pillow.

That's what it takes to quash a rumor.

Keep reading for an informative, well-written rant about police, commercial media and several sterling examples of just what is wrong with commercial media and government today.

IL STATE REP: 'MAYBE THE POLICE ARE KILLING SOME OF THESE KIDS'
From the article:

Illinois State Representative Monique Davis is blaming the Chicago Police Department for the high number of killings in the Windy City. She is not just blaming the CPD for bad policing, though. She wonders if the police are doing some of the killing.

Davis, a House member from a district on Chicago’s South Side, uttered the accusation in a “some say so” manner on Detroit’s WCHB-AM radio on July 16.

Nice, huh?  The real quote taken in full context can't be found easily, but here's one site that carried it.

IL State Rep. Monique Davis Blames Police For “Killing Some of These Kids” In Chicago
From the article:

Illinois State Representative Monique Davis is blaming the Chicago Police Department for the high number of killings in the Windy City. She is not just blaming the CPD for bad policing, though. She wonders if the police are doing some of the killing.

Davis, a House member from Chicago’s South Side district, uttered the accusation on Detroit’s WCHB-AM radio on July 16. “I’m going to tell you what some suspicions have been, and people have whispered to me: they’re not sure that black people are shooting all of these children,” Davis told the Detroit radio audience.

She continued saying, “There’s some suspicion — and I don’t want to spread this, but I’m just going to tell you what I’ve been hearing — they suspect maybe the police are killing some of these kids.” [emphasis mine - MJ]

Get that?  On AM talk radio, with every single tinfoil hat wearing, conspiracy theorist whack job listening carefully so as not to miss some brand new theory, this incredibly asinine baby kisser has to go and run her fat mouth about a rumor she claims she's been hearing from her constituents about Chicago police committing discriminate, premeditated murder.  And the talking head didn't call her on it, so now it's gospel.

Several other pseudo news sites picked it up and ran with it, carefully editing the comment to fit the agenda - namely that the fire's going out, so more gasoline is needed.  Here's another example:

Ill. State Rep Davis: ‘Maybe The Police Are Killing Some Of These Kids’
From the article:

She’s not just blaming the CPD for bad policing, though. She wonders if it is the police themselves doing some of the killing.

Note that this is not what Davis actually said, but that hardly matters at this point.  Emphasize that it's really the Chicago police in spite of a decided lack of evidence.  Davis has since tried to back pedal a little, but the feathers are already out of the pillow and spreading all over the place.  What does Davis expect?  That she can make an inflammatory statement like that and not have it taken out of context?  Is the woman brain damaged or just naturally stupid?

State Rep. Davis defends comments about constituents’ suspicions of police
From the article:

But Davis was adamant that she does not believe police are committing murders.

“I don’t believe that. I don’t accept that,” Davis said. “I said that’s what the community people are saying because there are so many unsolved murders.”

Again, it isn't me at fault here, it's the community people.  I just ran my mouth and now I wish I hadn't, so if you'd all just let this fade away into obscurity I can get along with my Re-Elect Monique Davis to the State Hog Trough campaign and we can just forget this ever happened.  'kay?

No fuckin' way.  One, it sells papers.  Two, if you were stupid enough to repeat an inflammatory comment like that in public, just how many good decisions are you going to make while you're at the hog trough?  I'm thinking none, if Chicago is lucky.

What Davis did was asinine.  What the commercial media did was worse.  They could have held Davis up just as soon as she made the statement, and they didn't. But I kind of think the worst of this is yet to come.

As pointed out by Fred Reed, the Average Man is doing good to find his way home every night.  When he hears something like this crap, there will be the usual beer fueled speculation, the usual jokes and as usual the talk will turn to something else.  But the Average Man will may well continue thinking about this one and will feel a little uneasy.  Because, see, there was that business about Chicago police beating confessions out of people a while back.  It was in all the papers and a few guys went to jail over it.

He's thinking about the Chicago police torture scandal.  Read about it in great detail here -  Police Torture in Chicago - An archive of articles by John Conroy on police torture, Jon Burge, and related issues, here, Chicago's Dark Legacy of Police Torture, and here, The Police Torture Scandal: A Who's Who.

The short version is that beginning in the early 1970s, Chicago police tortured people in their custody,  ostensibly to extract confessions but likely for recreational purposes.  No, I'm not kidding.  The
ringleader, Jon Burge developed his skills in Vietnam and brought them back to Chicago.  The scandal went all the way to the Mayor's office, which you can read about here - Richard M. Daley: A Central Figure in the Chicago Police Torture Scandal.

Commercial media should be all over this like stink on shit, and it isn't.  Daley should have TV talking heads camped in front of his home every single day, and the New Black Panthers should put a price on his head.  Instead, what isn't the Royal Baby is George Zimmerman, justice for Trayvon and the Florida stand your ground law.  The Brady Bunch is having a field day and the Moonbats are barking up a storm and talking to their dead ancestors.

Of course Daley is a Moonbat of the first order, but I don't suppose that would have anything to do with a commercial media brown out, would it?

The blogger SECOND CITY COP (who is a Chicago cop) wrote about the first event here - SECOND CITY COP: Have You Killed a Minority Child Today?, but I don't know if he wrote about the Chicago torture scandal.  I'd be interested to see if he did.

I'm not in Chicago.  I'm in Sylvania Township, Ohio.  I am served by the Sylvania Township Police Department, who do an excellent job.  I don't believe for one second that anything even faintly resembling the Chicago torture scandal will ever happen with the Sylvania Township Police Department, the City of Sylvania Police Department or the Toledo Police Department.  But a groundless accusation like Davis made?  Absolutely.  I'm just surprised it hasn't happened already.  When it does, I'll write about it and I'll decry the actions of the silly libelous baby kisser spreading the rumor.