Merca.

[pErvinalia]

Probably not far from the truth...

[laklak]

I always tell the truth and I'm never wrong. I thought I was once but I was mistaken.

[Hermit]

fwiw I assume rEv really does wonder how the US can hire such a cop, and that lots of you really do think this represents us generally. But I also know he's smart, and aware, and I've seen him acknowledge Australia's wackiness.

For what it's worth, I don't think that cop is representative of the US any more than our own examples of weird officials. In fact, Australia can be regarded as being worse than that, in so far as we have had one particularly loopy man, who had aspirations of becoming Queensland's small gauge version of Adolf Hitler, holding that state's Premiership for 19 years. To be fair, he only managed this with the help of some extreme gerrymandering, but even so his party never got less than 19% of the votes, and that is despite his undisguised contempt for democracy, his obvious nepotism and the rampant corruption of his administration. That made the entire state look like Hicktown.

That was decades ago. Turning to the present, New South Wales, Australia's most populous state (its capital, Sydney, has 5 million inhabitants) has elected this nutter as a member to the upper house of parliament in 1981, and not only do the state's voters keep re-electing him, but he has been appointed its Assistant President in 2007, a position he holds to this day. For those who don't care to look into his background, let me summarise: He makes Bill O'Reilly look like a liberal and a secularist.

The elected police chief of that tiny community somewhere in some backwoods of the USA is a lot less representative of that country than the two aforementioned arseholes can be said to be representative of Australia. Just the same, I wouldn't mind being able to post or read about others' critical remarks about the USA without having to endure Coito's hysterical outbursts that seem to occur every time one such has been made. His repeated tantrums are getting more than tedious.

[Robert_S]

fwiw I assume rEv really does wonder how the US can hire such a cop, and that lots of you really do think this represents us generally. But I also know he's smart, and aware, and I've seen him acknowledge Australia's wackiness.

For what it's worth, I don't think that cop is representative of the US any more than our own examples of weird officials. In fact, Australia can be regarded as being worse than that, in so far as we have had one particularly loopy man, who had aspirations of becoming Queensland's small gauge version of Adolf Hitler, holding that state's Premiership for 19 years. To be fair, he only managed this with the help of some extreme gerrymandering, but even so his party never got less than 19% of the votes, and that is despite his undisguised contempt for democracy, his obvious nepotism and the rampant corruption of his administration. That made the entire state look like Hicktown.

That was decades ago. Turning to the present, New South Wales, Australia's most populous state (its capital, Sydney, has 5 million inhabitants) has elected this nutter as a member to the upper house of parliament in 1981, and not only do the state's voters keep re-electing him, but he has been appointed its Assistant President in 2007, a position he holds to this day. For those who don't care to look into his background, let me summarise: He makes Bill O'Reilly look like a liberal and a secularist.

The elected police chief of that tiny community somewhere in some backwoods of the USA is a lot less representative of that country than the two aforementioned arseholes can be said to be representative of Australia. Just the same, I wouldn't mind being able to post or read about others' critical remarks about the USA without having to endure Coito's hysterical outbursts that seem to occur every time one such has been made. His repeated tantrums are getting more than tedious.

Just use spoilers and trigger warnings.

[Coito ergo sum]

fwiw I assume rEv really does wonder how the US can hire such a cop, and that lots of you really do think this represents us generally. But I also know he's smart, and aware, and I've seen him acknowledge Australia's wackiness.

The context is everything. I think most of us dumb Europeans know a guy like that wouldn't get very far as a cop in New England for example.

Would it be possible for a loony to achieve a position of power, say, in a town populated by a total of about 500 or so voting age adults, all living in a tiny 4 KM square, atop a mountain range in the middle of an unpopulated forest larger than England itself? Could it be that remote little villages, run by a few friends who happen decide to become Mayor, City Council and Police chief (probably representing 10% of the electorate that actually showed up to vote last election), have a possibility of once in a while having a nutbag get in the mix?

Regarding police, and Australia, no it couldn't happen, as the police are administered on a state level, not a local level. Yes, I know that's Stalinism, but there you go.

I haven't looked for Australian examples, but a guy by the name of Bill McCaughey was a cop in Northern Ireland and he was big into using guns and other munitions to murder people, and he wound up being convicted of same. He expressed "virulently anti-Catholic views" and carried out attacks on Catholics.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_McCaughey There was another cop, John Weir, also convicted of murdering a Catholic chemist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Weir_ ... rn_killing

That guy was far worse than anything "Police Chief Kessler" is accused of being. So, the "it can't happen here" does not apply to the UK, obviously.

Police Chief Kessler -- shoots a gun, and tells his critics to fuck off, and vocally supports the various amendments to the US constitution. Only in Merka could such a person become a police officer. In the UK, a gentleman becomes a cop and actively participates in hate crimes, murdering, kidnapping and assaulting Catholics in a religious war. Only in Merka, right?

Regarding people who are voted in like Mayors and Councillors, yes you do get nutbags. But they don't really have any power. They can't point guns at you and lock you up in jail. They can pretty much only be annoying and embarrassing.

The crazy ones in the UK kidnap and murder people based on their religion.

I mean -- we've thousands upon thousands of cities in the US. There are about 30,000 incorporated towns and cities in the US. But, it's supposedly indicative of who "they" allow have positions of authority in the US that this one guy, who is the whole police force of what amounts to a group of friends living on the same coal mountain in the middle of nowhere, is a cop?

He's nobody. He's a "police chief" that earns $24,000 a year and doesn't do anything besides drink in the pub and go hunting on the weekends. He lives in the woods.

The difference between the US and the civilised world ( ) is that our police are administered by bigger authorities with strict codes of conduct. A loon like this would never even make it into our police forces.

You live in a podunk, puny little country, population-wise. There are more people living within 20 miles of the Empire State Building in NYC than live in your whole piddling desert. You have 10% of the population of the US. If you think you have less than 10% of the nutbags, then you're just not looking at your own back yard.

[Hermit]

Just use spoilers and trigger warnings.

Did I somehow give the impression that I don't want to read any of Coito's post or is your reply the result of operating a keyboard while under the influence of alcohol?

[pErvinalia]

I mean -- we've thousands upon thousands of cities in the US. There are about 30,000 incorporated towns and cities in the US. But, it's supposedly indicative of who "they" allow have positions of authority in the US that this one guy, who is the whole police force of what amounts to a group of friends living on the same coal mountain in the middle of nowhere, is a cop?

He's nobody. He's a "police chief" that earns $24,000 a year and doesn't do anything besides drink in the pub and go hunting on the weekends. He lives in the woods.

The difference between the US and the civilised world ( ) is that our police are administered by bigger authorities with strict codes of conduct. A loon like this would never even make it into our police forces.

You live in a podunk, puny little country, population-wise. There are more people living within 20 miles of the Empire State Building in NYC than live in your whole piddling desert. You have 10% of the population of the US. If you think you have less than 10% of the nutbags, then you're just not looking at your own back yard.

How the would you know how many nutbags we have in Australia? I put it to you you wouldn't have fucking a clue.

[Coito ergo sum]

I mean -- we've thousands upon thousands of cities in the US. There are about 30,000 incorporated towns and cities in the US. But, it's supposedly indicative of who "they" allow have positions of authority in the US that this one guy, who is the whole police force of what amounts to a group of friends living on the same coal mountain in the middle of nowhere, is a cop?

He's nobody. He's a "police chief" that earns $24,000 a year and doesn't do anything besides drink in the pub and go hunting on the weekends. He lives in the woods.

The difference between the US and the civilised world ( ) is that our police are administered by bigger authorities with strict codes of conduct. A loon like this would never even make it into our police forces.

You live in a podunk, puny little country, population-wise. There are more people living within 20 miles of the Empire State Building in NYC than live in your whole piddling desert. You have 10% of the population of the US. If you think you have less than 10% of the nutbags, then you're just not looking at your own back yard.

How the would you know how many nutbags we have in Australia? I put it to you you wouldn't have fucking a clue.

I'm assuming that people are people, and that nutbags are roughly evenly disbursed around the world. I'm not one of the ones suggesting they are more prevalent on one piece of real estate as compared to another. And, you wouldn't know jack shit about the US, yet that doesn't stop you from commenting, that's for sure.

[Hermit]

How the would you know how many nutbags we have in Australia? I put it to you you wouldn't have fucking a clue.

I put it to you - as noted in my previous post - no matter how many or few few in number the nutbags in Australia, we have an unfortunate tradition of voting them into office on a grander scale than the Kessler case in Merca and keeping them there. Nothing can beat your state's insistence for 19 years that Bijelke-Petersen is the best man to be Queensland's Premier.

[pErvinalia]

@Coit... I know heaps about the US. We are swamped with US news here. I have USian friends. You, on the other hand, are relatively clueless about events outside the US.

You have a segment of your society that is horribly sick. It's undoubtedly based in a couple of things that are reasonably uniquely American. Your foundation myths and your adoption of rank capitalism (i.e. prevalent selfishness). Other parts of the civilised world just don't have that combination. We all have nutjobs, and we all have idiots. The US seems to have a higher proportion of them than the rest of us. But just because you've got a segment of your society that is sick and broken, doesn't mean the rest of you are like that. You got such a chip on your shoulder, man. Do you realise how much entertainment it provides us?

[pErvinalia]

How the would you know how many nutbags we have in Australia? I put it to you you wouldn't have fucking a clue.

I put it to you - as noted in my previous post - no matter how many or few few in number the nutbags in Australia, we have an unfortunate tradition of voting them into office on a grander scale than the Kessler case in Merca and keeping them there. Nothing can beat your state's insistence for 19 years that Bijelke-Petersen is the best man to be Queensland's Premier.

Yeah, Joh was a blight on our political landscape. But you can't seriously compare the political landscape here now with the US. Members of one of the two major parties in the US regularly make racist/sexist/homophobic/ and otherwise bigoted remarks in a political capacity, yet are tolerated by their party. In Aust/UK etc those people are very quickly given the boot from their parties. I know the system is different in the US, but a system that allows members to coalesce under an umbrella with seemingly little discrimination is unsophisticated and juvenile. The Repulbican party is full of Pauline Hansons. And it's reflected in the tone of debate in the MSM in the US.

That's all I really want to say on the matter about Merca vs the rest. I have absolutely no interest in bashing the US, other than to take the piss out of Coit. That's been done, so I don't see the need to continue. I stand by my feeling that this cop is a nutbag. Anything more than that, I really don't give a fig about.

[Coito ergo sum]

@Coit... I know heaps about the US.

That is belied by your posts. You know heaps about some bizzaro version of the US that you think exists, in your dreams.

We are swamped with US news here. I have USian friends. You, on the other hand, are relatively clueless about events outside the US.

Naturally, that is the position you take. It's another condescending, overcompensating, superior viewpoint, that you know so much more than the dopey Merkins. Keep talking, you prove my point.

I have Australian friends, by the way. Doesn't make me an expert on Australia.

You have a segment of your society that is horribly sick.

So do you.

It's undoubtedly based in a couple of things that are reasonably uniquely American. Your foundation myths and your adoption of rank capitalism (i.e. prevalent selfishness). Other parts of the civilised world just don't have that combination. We all have nutjobs, and we all have idiots. The US seems to have a higher proportion of them than the rest of us. But just because you've got a segment of your society that is sick and broken, doesn't mean the rest of you are like that. You got such a chip on your shoulder, man. Do you realise how much entertainment it provides us?

it only seems to have a higher proportion because you ignore or engage in apologetics for what goes on in your own back yard, and hyper-focus on the events in the US. That's why folks will view Police Chief Kessler, elected in a small village on top of a coal mountain in the middle of a vast forest, as somehow representative or indicative of who can be in law enforcement in the US.

I don't care how much entertainment it provides you. My chip, as you call it, is not anywhere close to the false superiority complex that is evinced time and time again by folks like you and others in thread after thread. How many threads have you seen turn into "only in Merka are people so stupid" discussions by different folks on this forum. The only reason I can point it out so much is because it happens so much. So, I have a chip on my shoulder for pointing it out? You're the folks claiming superiority, nearly constantly. Perhaps if you'd step back and actually learn something about what you're talking about before spewing buckets of bilge about whatever crosses your mind, you might make more sense.

[pErvinalia]

You have a segment of your society that is horribly sick.

So do you.

Actually we don't. We don't have a segment of our society that wants to overthrow the democratically elected government. We don't have a segment of our society that stockpiles huge amounts of weapons and ammunition. We don't have a segment of our society that forms militias because they fear the government/illegals/aliens. We don't have a segment of our society that believes the earth is only 6000 yrs old. We don't allow the teaching of creationism/ID in our schools science curriculum. etc.. etc... etc...

Listen, like I said, I have no desire to bash the US. Despite the nutjobs in your country, you have plenty of excellent, smart, and kind people. If you want to rub the chip on your shoulder, you're going to have to do it with someone else, I'm afraid. I'm happy to talk about this nutty cop, though.

[Coito ergo sum]

How the would you know how many nutbags we have in Australia? I put it to you you wouldn't have fucking a clue.

I put it to you - as noted in my previous post - no matter how many or few few in number the nutbags in Australia, we have an unfortunate tradition of voting them into office on a grander scale than the Kessler case in Merca and keeping them there. Nothing can beat your state's insistence for 19 years that Bijelke-Petersen is the best man to be Queensland's Premier.

Yeah, Joh was a blight on our political landscape. But you can't seriously compare the political landscape here now with the US. Members of one of the two major parties in the US regularly make racist/sexist/homophobic/ and otherwise bigoted remarks in a political capacity, yet are tolerated by their party. In Aust/UK etc those people are very quickly given the boot from their parties. I know the system is different in the US, but a system that allows members to coalesce under an umbrella with seemingly little discrimination is unsophisticated and juvenile. The Repulbican party is full of Pauline Hansons. And it's reflected in the tone of debate in the MSM in the US.

That's all I really want to say on the matter about Merca vs the rest. I have absolutely no interest in bashing the US, other than to take the piss out of Coit. That's been done, so I don't see the need to continue. I stand by my feeling that this cop is a nutbag. Anything more than that, I really don't give a fig about.

Australia's political heartland: hate, fear, prejudice http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-06/g ... sm/4734886

Racism, Australia Style -- http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2009 ... ly/comment

The first instinct of our authorities was to ask Indians to be less Indian: in February, a Melbourne police inspector advised aggrieved Indians to stop displaying their iPods and phones and avoid “talking loudly in their native language”.

Australia's toxic racist politics -- http://www.independentaustralia.net/201 ... -politics/

In his Australia Day speech, Tony Abbott urged minority leaders to “respect mainstream Australian values.” He stressed that “the great prize of Australian citizenship is insufficiently appreciated and given away too lightly”. The impression I had with the tone and content of Tony Abbott speech are as follows:

1) Australia is doing a favour to migrants by giving them the “Great Prize” of the citizenship lightly;

2) Minority Migrants are not appreciative of Australia citizenship;

3) Minority Migrants fail to respect “Mainstream Australian values”;

4) Minority Migrants has not done the right thing to Australia.

It puzzle me that throughout Tony Abbott speech, he failed to explain unambiguously the meaning of “mainstream Australians” and “Australian Values”.

http://indymedia.org.au/2010/02/02/poli ... ustralians

Australian political racism toward Indians and Aborigines -- http://creative.sulekha.com/australian- ... 85094_blog

[pErvinalia]