Chuck Harmon, St. Petersburg, FL. Chief of Police, interviewed on Tampa's Channel 8 TV, said he took responsibility for his officers slashing the tents of a group of homeless folks last week.
Did the Chief offer to replace the personal property his officers vandalized?
You guess.
Arjay
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Cops as vandals
Over in St. Petersburg, about 35 miles from here, a group of homeless, living in tents, thought they had an agreement with the city to live, at least for a while, under an Interstate overpass.
Wrong.
The cops showed up today (Friday) armed with box cutters which they used to slash the tents into ribbons. Said ribbons were then carted away as trash.
The point here is that those tents actually belonged to people. Granted, the people were homeless and poor, but it was still their property. The tents may well have been their only property. And the TV showed the cops gleefully using their box cutters to cut them into shreds.
It is indeed sad that our "Land of the Free" has come to the point that cops with box cutters can destroy private property just because a city's administration doesn't like where they're pitched.
You might want to think about that next time you see a cop car with the motto, "To Protect and to Serve." You might want to think about that next time you see a cop eyeing your property. Check out his box cutter.
Uh, did I say the St. Pete cops did their vandalism with impunity. Maybe not, there is a homeless advocate group that's threatening to sue.
Arjay
Wrong.
The cops showed up today (Friday) armed with box cutters which they used to slash the tents into ribbons. Said ribbons were then carted away as trash.
The point here is that those tents actually belonged to people. Granted, the people were homeless and poor, but it was still their property. The tents may well have been their only property. And the TV showed the cops gleefully using their box cutters to cut them into shreds.
It is indeed sad that our "Land of the Free" has come to the point that cops with box cutters can destroy private property just because a city's administration doesn't like where they're pitched.
You might want to think about that next time you see a cop car with the motto, "To Protect and to Serve." You might want to think about that next time you see a cop eyeing your property. Check out his box cutter.
Uh, did I say the St. Pete cops did their vandalism with impunity. Maybe not, there is a homeless advocate group that's threatening to sue.
Arjay
A Little Ebay Tale
There seems to be less and less honesty in business (we won't mention government), and here's a little example.
Ebay says shill bidding, which is simply a matter of using a third party or a fake party to enter fraudulent bids in an effort to raise the selling price, is just not permitted. Here's what it would look like if it were permitted:
Did you notice the five bids, all from the same person, rufus19285ci? What that means is that he was bidding against himself. Is that reasonable behavior? Of course not, and what you are looking at is some really obvious shill bidding.
Ebay on its website publicly decries such shenanagens and urges its customers to report bad behavior. Of course, finding the method of doing the reporting isn't easy, and if you do find it you'll notice Ebay insists on identifying you as well. And, no, they don't have a Witness Protection Program.
If/when you spot such goings-on you have a few choices: don't play the game and don't bid; try to report it to Ebay; use it as blog material.
Arjay
Ebay says shill bidding, which is simply a matter of using a third party or a fake party to enter fraudulent bids in an effort to raise the selling price, is just not permitted. Here's what it would look like if it were permitted:
 | Bidder | Bid Amount | Date of bid | |
| ||||
| heppard123( 4 ) | US $16.50 | Jan-18-07 23:22:57 PST | |
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| shalene1971( 15 ) | US $16.00 | Jan-18-07 17:01:56 PST | |
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| niagaradeals( 44) | US $16.00 | Jan-18-07 19:31:43 PST | |
| ||||
| ||||
| rufus192854ci( 0 ) | US $15.00 | Jan-18-07 19:23:51 PST | |
| ||||
| ||||
| rufus192854ci( 0 ) | US $13.49 | Jan-18-07 19:19:34 PST | |
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| rufus192854ci( 0 ) | US $12.49 | Jan-18-07 19:18:45 PST | |
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| rufus192854ci( 0 ) | US $11.49 | Jan-18-07 19:17:46 PST | |
| ||||
| ||||
| rufus192854ci( 0 ) | US $10.49 | Jan-18-07 19:15:48 PST | |
| ||||
Did you notice the five bids, all from the same person, rufus19285ci? What that means is that he was bidding against himself. Is that reasonable behavior? Of course not, and what you are looking at is some really obvious shill bidding.
Ebay on its website publicly decries such shenanagens and urges its customers to report bad behavior. Of course, finding the method of doing the reporting isn't easy, and if you do find it you'll notice Ebay insists on identifying you as well. And, no, they don't have a Witness Protection Program.
If/when you spot such goings-on you have a few choices: don't play the game and don't bid; try to report it to Ebay; use it as blog material.
Arjay
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