Fascist Bloomberg Subverts Democracy and Rides Again
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http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-29/columns/bloomberg-s-term-limits-coup-heroes-villains-and-wimps/
Type of Content: Article "29 self-inflated council members gut term-limits laws -- approved by voters in two separate referendums ." Michael Bloomberg's Velvet Coup Mike Bloomberg would never shut down newspapers or use brutal thugs against dissenters in order to hold onto power. He doesn't have to. He buys them. Welcome to Bloomville, where up is down and down up, where it's Charles Barron hoisting democracy's flag, while the Times connives with the Post and the News to provide cover for the coup. Where tycoons of business and real estate call the shots while the once-mighty unions fall meekly into line or merely whisper their opposition for fear of offending the once and future mayatollah. Where a cabal of thieves calling themselves council members leap aboard Bloomberg's ship as eagerly as Somalian pirates lurking for booty in the Indian Ocean. Yes, Bloomville. We may as well give him naming rights, too. He's bought and paid for everything else. We are inside Jimmy Stewart's unwonderful world where muddled old Bedford Falls has come under one-man rule and morphed into an antiseptic version of anything-goes Pottersville. more... and meanwhile... bloomberg cops stalk children. Bloomberg's Cops Illegally Cuffing Kids Under 16? New report shows New York police arresting schoolchildren for non-crimes On October 7, NYCLU Legal Director Arthur Eisenberg and ACLU Staff Attorney Catherine Kim wrote to Police Commissioner Kelly about "the unlawful practice of arresting schoolchildren younger than 16 in the New York public schools for non-criminal violations. Such arrests—which involve taking children out of schools in handcuffs and transporting them to the police precinct for booking are in violation of the Family Court Act and case law from the New York State Court of Appeals." Section 305.2 of the Family Court Act states that a police officer can—without a judicial warrant—take a child younger than 16 into custody only in cases where a person can be arrested "for a crime under Article 140 of the Criminal Procedure Law." Confirming this provision, last year the Court of Appeals specified that "the warrantless arrest of a juvenile"—as is often happening in our public schools—"is authorized only in cases where an adult could be arrested for a crime" (Victor M., 9 N.Y. 3d 84, 87). Mr. Mayor, your highness, that is the standard. So, what is a crime under New York Penal Law? Felonies, of course, and misdemeanors, but not violations such as loitering and trespassing. What follows are from the very records of the New York Police Department obtained by the NYCLU and the ACLU from a Freedom of Information Law request filed in October 2007. The request was for the numbers and types of arrests of children younger than 16 on public-school grounds. (The NYCLU and ACLU had been receiving reports that kids under 16 were being busted for behavior below a misdemeanor.) We now know, the NYCLU and the ACLU report, that "approximately 300 children younger than 16 were arrested by NYPD personnel for committing non-criminal violations in school or in school grounds"—for example, in one case, an 11-year-old was arrested at school and taken to the precinct with a trespassing violation, which is not a crime under this state's penal law. Most of these arrests take place in front of other students and teachers, as these kids begin what used to be called in tabloid journalism their "perp walk"—like they were members of the mob. As NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman says of forcibly taking the manacled children from the school, these unlawful arrests—which have not been criticized by Bloomberg or Joel Klein or even Al Sharpton—"stigmatize and humiliate them." ACLU attorney Kim adds: "New York law rests upon the sound public policy that children who commit relatively minor infractions should still be treated as children—not criminals. Children need guidance and support—not a trip to the police precinct." more... Read »
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