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Oh no, not Springfield!

Most musicians aren't signed. They self-produce and record, and like the signed artists, make most of their money from live performances and merchandice. Only a small percentage of musicians are with the major labels.

If you walk up and ask any musician playing in a small venue in your home town, chances are he or she will say they wouldn't touch a major label contract with a ten foot pole. Look here for a whole list of unsigned bands where I live, most as talented (or moreso) than anybody signed with a major label (ignore the kareoke; those are bars with cheapassed owners).

Well, Indians and Arabs seem to own most if not all of the convinience stores here, especially in the bad neighborhoods. Here are a couple of Springfield links for you...

Police Chief Ralph who?
The Mayor
The guy who runs the power company
Alderman Simpson
Springfield Kwik-E-Mart
Sadly, the convinience store Paul McCartney was photographed at in Springfield was not a Kwik-E-Mart

Well, Indians and Arabs seem to own most if not all of the convinience stores here, especially in the bad neighborhoods. Here are a couple of Springfield links for you...

Police Chief Ralph who?
The Mayor
The guy who runs the power company
Alderman Simpson
Springfield Kwik-E-Mart
Sadly, the convinience store Paul McCartney was photographed at in Springfield was not a Kwik-E-Mart

It's usually the cops who do the framing. An example is right here in Springfield, where two cops were caught planting cocaine. Details of that one from the Illinois Times:
Springfield's worst nightmare
Man who beat cocaine rap sues the city; whistleblower's case survives
City's legal bills for ex-cops' defense expected to soar
LEGAL BILLS MOUNTING

Our cartoon city is, of course, paying for the crooked cops' defense. The news that DNA evidence can be fabricated is frightening; they need to go back to fingerprints. Of course, if you want to frame someone, cocaine is a lot easier to plant than DNA.

It's usually the cops who do the framing. An example is right here in Springfield, where two cops were caught planting cocaine. Details of that one from the Illinois Times:
Springfield's worst nightmare
Man who beat cocaine rap sues the city; whistleblower's case survives
City's legal bills for ex-cops' defense expected to soar
LEGAL BILLS MOUNTING

Our cartoon city is, of course, paying for the crooked cops' defense. The news that DNA evidence can be fabricated is frightening; they need to go back to fingerprints. Of course, if you want to frame someone, cocaine is a lot easier to plant than DNA.

It's usually the cops who do the framing. An example is right here in Springfield, where two cops were caught planting cocaine. Details of that one from the Illinois Times:
Springfield's worst nightmare
Man who beat cocaine rap sues the city; whistleblower's case survives
City's legal bills for ex-cops' defense expected to soar
LEGAL BILLS MOUNTING

Our cartoon city is, of course, paying for the crooked cops' defense. The news that DNA evidence can be fabricated is frightening; they need to go back to fingerprints. Of course, if you want to frame someone, cocaine is a lot easier to plant than DNA.

It's usually the cops who do the framing. An example is right here in Springfield, where two cops were caught planting cocaine. Details of that one from the Illinois Times:
Springfield's worst nightmare
Man who beat cocaine rap sues the city; whistleblower's case survives
City's legal bills for ex-cops' defense expected to soar
LEGAL BILLS MOUNTING

Our cartoon city is, of course, paying for the crooked cops' defense. The news that DNA evidence can be fabricated is frightening; they need to go back to fingerprints. Of course, if you want to frame someone, cocaine is a lot easier to plant than DNA.

It's usually the cops who do the framing. An example is right here in Springfield, where two cops were caught planting cocaine. Details of that one from the Illinois Times:
Springfield's worst nightmare
Man who beat cocaine rap sues the city; whistleblower's case survives
City's legal bills for ex-cops' defense expected to soar
LEGAL BILLS MOUNTING

Our cartoon city is, of course, paying for the crooked cops' defense. The news that DNA evidence can be fabricated is frightening; they need to go back to fingerprints. Of course, if you want to frame someone, cocaine is a lot easier to plant than DNA.

Or simply lie to a judge to get a warrant. Man who beat cocaine rap sues the city; whistleblower's case survives

Vose, former head of the SPD narcotics unit, prepared a detailed memo in early 2005 that outlined problems with searches conducted by Carpenter and Graham, specifically the use of "trash rips," in which police sift through a suspect's garbage to find evidence of illegal (usually drug-related) activity and use that evidence to obtain a search warrant.

A few weeks after Vose submitted his memo, Graham and Carpenter performed a trash rip at Washington's residence at 1429 Guemes Court and found plastic bags that field-tested positive for cocaine residue, according to the affidavit Graham submitted to a judge.

However, when the Illinois State Police crime lab tested the plastic bags the detectives said they had found in Washington's trash, no drug residue was found. Without that evidence, the detectives had no right to search Washington's home [see "Springfield's worst nightmare," Feb. 15].

Washington's complaint contains four counts: conspiracy and false arrest allegations involving the search warrant, an additional count of false arrest against the now-retired Lt. Rickey Davis -- who, in May 2006, had Washington rearrested for "harassing" him at Gold's Gym -- and a claim against the city and the detectives' supervisors, Davis and Deputy Chief William Rouse, for maintaining a "practice and policy" that allowed certain detectives to "operate as rogue police officers." The suit was filed on behalf of Washington and Jennifer Jenkins, a woman who was living with Washington at the time of his arrest.

City's legal bills for ex-cops' defense expected to soar

Or simply lie to a judge to get a warrant. Man who beat cocaine rap sues the city; whistleblower's case survives

Vose, former head of the SPD narcotics unit, prepared a detailed memo in early 2005 that outlined problems with searches conducted by Carpenter and Graham, specifically the use of "trash rips," in which police sift through a suspect's garbage to find evidence of illegal (usually drug-related) activity and use that evidence to obtain a search warrant.

A few weeks after Vose submitted his memo, Graham and Carpenter performed a trash rip at Washington's residence at 1429 Guemes Court and found plastic bags that field-tested positive for cocaine residue, according to the affidavit Graham submitted to a judge.

However, when the Illinois State Police crime lab tested the plastic bags the detectives said they had found in Washington's trash, no drug residue was found. Without that evidence, the detectives had no right to search Washington's home [see "Springfield's worst nightmare," Feb. 15].

Washington's complaint contains four counts: conspiracy and false arrest allegations involving the search warrant, an additional count of false arrest against the now-retired Lt. Rickey Davis -- who, in May 2006, had Washington rearrested for "harassing" him at Gold's Gym -- and a claim against the city and the detectives' supervisors, Davis and Deputy Chief William Rouse, for maintaining a "practice and policy" that allowed certain detectives to "operate as rogue police officers." The suit was filed on behalf of Washington and Jennifer Jenkins, a woman who was living with Washington at the time of his arrest.

City's legal bills for ex-cops' defense expected to soar

Digital backslide

A friend who uses an indoor antenna bought a digital TV, and now only has four stations, two in analog, one of which is a Catholic religion station, and two in digital.

I fear this will happen to cable subscribers too after the loss of Channel 8 [see "Channel 8 goes blank for some WSEC viewers," by Amanda Robert, IT, April 23]. I can see channels going digital one by one until there are no analog signals left.

I was using an indoor antenna (before the digital switch). If I remember correctly, I had channels 12, 17, 19, 20, 28, 48 and 55. Now it seems that in the digital age, digital TV users have only two stations.

Welcome back to 1955 St. Louis!

My friend just bought a digital TV. I wrote a letter to a local weekly about it in response to their story about a local PBS station being dropped from basic cable and put on digital-only.

Digital backslide
A friend who uses an indoor antenna bought a digital TV, and now only has four stations, two in analog, one of which is a Catholic religion station, and two in digital.

I fear this will happen to cable subscribers too after the loss of Channel 8 [see "Channel 8 goes blank for some WSEC viewers," by Amanda Robert, IT, April 23]. I can see channels going digital one by one until there are no analog signals left.

I was using an indoor antenna (before the digital switch). If I remember correctly, I had channels 12, 17, 19, 20, 28, 48 and 55. Now it seems that in the digital age, digital TV users have only two stations.

Welcome back to 1955 St. Louis!

Too bad the facts don't meet your female chauvinist storyline:

Here's those "deadbeat dads". They account for 11% of those custodial mothers who do not receive child support. 11%. With all the ballyhoo, you would think that these make up the majority. Instead, the represent just slightly more than one-tenth of the total.
How about those fathers who run and hide? Well, they are part of that 11% figure. They make up almost 6% of those who do not pay child support. Not quite the exodus that we are led to believe occurs. If we look at the whole population of custodial mothers, we see that "deadbeat dads" account for only 7% of the population. Only 3.5% of fathers cannot be located (which are included in the 7% figure). These are not the figures we think about when we see "deadbeat dad" articles bannered across newspaper headlines.
It is time to stop making policies based on myths and distortions. It is time to recognize that single fathers are like any other group of people out there; the vast majority of them are good, loving people who will happily care for and love their children. Why have we been so willing to believe the worst of these dads? Why have we accepted the negative images without question?

Oh, and a higher percentage of mothers owing child support are "dead beats" than fathers.

And I put "dead beats" in quotes because these people aren't actually dead beats, but dead broke. The majority of those who don't pay, can't pay because they just don't have the money.

How about this - as soon as a majority of non-custodial dads start doing more in terms of child support than legally mandated by the courts, then we'll have sympathy for how "unfair" the family court system is.

No, how about THIS: have automatic consequences for interfering with visitation rights. If a non-custodial parent (usually the father) falls behind on his child support payments, he faces garnished wages, having his car towed or license suspended, or even arrest. And states are very serious about collecting child support as they get matching federal funds. Whereas the automatic penalties for interfering with visitation are: jack and shit, and Jack left town. A custodial parent has the state at his or back for collecting support. A non-custodial parent can look forward to endless court appearances and attorneys fees to enforce visitation.

You have the right to your own opinion "paul", but you don't have the right to your own set of facts. And the fact is that fatherhood is real long on responsibilities yet real short on rights. And that's bullshit, straight up.

The government could just take down the child porn sites. But instead they create filters and blacklists for those pages as well as other websites that might be against their ideals.

Here in Springfield, the cops take a dumpster, weld it shut, put a fake camera on top and place it near dope houses. It's a stupid idea, but we're all cartoon characters here anyway - what do you expect from Police Chief Ralph Wiggum?

The linked newspaper story mentions that the dumpster in question is on (no shit) Enterprise Street!

This is no different than the German "Black Lists". Just as they should take the illegal sites down, the cops here should just bust the dope house. Or better yet, put the gang banging dope dealers out of business by legalizing drugs and selling them from legitimate drug stores.

It's nice to know that other governments are as brain-dead as my own cartoon government.

The government could just take down the child porn sites. But instead they create filters and blacklists for those pages as well as other websites that might be against their ideals.

Here in Springfield, the cops take a dumpster, weld it shut, put a fake camera on top and place it near dope houses. It's a stupid idea, but we're all cartoon characters here anyway - what do you expect from Police Chief Ralph Wiggum?

The linked newspaper story mentions that the dumpster in question is on (no shit) Enterprise Street!

This is no different than the German "Black Lists". Just as they should take the illegal sites down, the cops here should just bust the dope house. Or better yet, put the gang banging dope dealers out of business by legalizing drugs and selling them from legitimate drug stores.

It's nice to know that other governments are as brain-dead as my own cartoon government.

The Illinois Times is free. You can get a copy almost anywhere in Central Illinois. It's completely ad-supported.

OK, now I'm going to make your head explode. Have a look at Mayor Quimb... I mean, Mayor Davlin.

Ward two alderman is Gail Simpson .

You're confusing "brave" with "stupid". I'm surprised the cop didn't arrest him on a drug charge; lots of cops aren't exactly honest. If a cop had an ounce of cocaine in his pocket, the poor fellow would be serving time in prison on a drug charge, even if he's never seen an illegal drug in his life. That's one more reson to be against victimless crime laws; they make police misconduct easier for crooked cops.

Or worse, the cop could have shot him with his service revolver and put a stolen gun in his cold, dead hand.

The cop had no authority, that's what "just doing my job" means. The reasonable thing to do would have been to complain loudly not to the cop, but to his elected officials and his newspapers.

Giving a cop a hard time is incredibly stupid.

You say that like we know which Springfield. Lisa Simpson, is that you?

No, but Gail Simpson is an alderman here. If she looks a bit cartoonish in that newspaper picture, you should see the mayor and the guy who runs the power plant here.

I refrain from a rant, but the more police I meet, the more I hate the police.

I don't. Refrain, I mean; here's my rant from January- Police State: In USSA, cops hassle YOU! The police ought to serve a good purpose, protecting us from robbers, thieves, rapists, murderers, etc. But all too often the police themselves are the villians. The last link is about a cop here in central Illinois who was charged with 49 felonies including one count of obstructing justice, three counts of criminal sexual abuse, seven counts of criminal sexual assault, seven counts of armed violence, 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and 21 counts of official misconduct. He plead guilty to TWO MISDEMEANORS and got off. Anybody else would have been behind bars for the rest of their lives.

People who live in glass countries shouldn't throw bricks. In the US you don't have to critize anybody to be arrested and hauled away by the cops.

"This is a big-time dealer for us," Davis said. "This guy is huge, probably the biggest we've pulled down. We hit him on a light day."

Facing a possible 100-year prison sentence, Washington was held on a bond of $1 million.

But what looked like a slam-dunk case didn't play out that way. The two detectives who instigated Washington's arrest -- Paul Carpenter and Jim Graham -- had just come under scrutiny at the time of the dawn raid. Over the following year and a half, as the investigation of the two cops intensified, the case against Washington fell apart. In October 2006, the SPD fired Carpenter and Graham for misconduct; last month, Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt dismissed charges against Washington, citing problems with the sworn affidavit used to obtain the search warrant executed at his home.

Now Schmidt's first assistant, Steve Weinhoeft, won't discuss the alleged crime.

The story goes on to explain that the drugs were most likely planted on Washington by the two dirty detectives.

On the other hand, if you ARE a cop you can be indicted for 49 felonies, plead guilty to two misdemeanors, and go scot free.

It wasn't until his arraignment, the next day, that he discovered the gravity of the charges: one count of obstructing justice, three counts of criminal sexual abuse, seven counts of criminal sexual assault, seven counts of armed violence, 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and 21 counts of official misconduct. Lewis' bond was set at $250,000, and he was placed in solitary confinement.

Seventeen of the charges were class X felonies with special penalties, each carrying the possibility of a 60-year prison term to be served consecutively with other terms. Calculating by the grimmest formula, Lewis faced a potential sentence of 1,200 years behind bars.

The charges sprang from complaints made by seven women, all of whom told authorities that Lewis had made sexual advances toward them while wearing his police uniform. One woman said Lewis approached her in a parking lot and showed her a picture of his penis next to a beer bottle. Another woman said he lured her to the police station to take a Breathalyzer test, then dropped his uniform trousers and had sex with her on the bathroom sink. Another said Lewis pulled her over as though making a traffic stop, then reached into her car and grabbed her crotch while forcing his tongue into her mouth.

The details of the charges varied from victim to victim, but the women had one thing in common: They all performed as strippers at a Belgium tavern called the Playpen.

People who live in glass countries shouldn't throw bricks. In the US you don't have to critize anybody to be arrested and hauled away by the cops.

"This is a big-time dealer for us," Davis said. "This guy is huge, probably the biggest we've pulled down. We hit him on a light day."

Facing a possible 100-year prison sentence, Washington was held on a bond of $1 million.

But what looked like a slam-dunk case didn't play out that way. The two detectives who instigated Washington's arrest -- Paul Carpenter and Jim Graham -- had just come under scrutiny at the time of the dawn raid. Over the following year and a half, as the investigation of the two cops intensified, the case against Washington fell apart. In October 2006, the SPD fired Carpenter and Graham for misconduct; last month, Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt dismissed charges against Washington, citing problems with the sworn affidavit used to obtain the search warrant executed at his home.

Now Schmidt's first assistant, Steve Weinhoeft, won't discuss the alleged crime.

The story goes on to explain that the drugs were most likely planted on Washington by the two dirty detectives.

On the other hand, if you ARE a cop you can be indicted for 49 felonies, plead guilty to two misdemeanors, and go scot free.

It wasn't until his arraignment, the next day, that he discovered the gravity of the charges: one count of obstructing justice, three counts of criminal sexual abuse, seven counts of criminal sexual assault, seven counts of armed violence, 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and 21 counts of official misconduct. Lewis' bond was set at $250,000, and he was placed in solitary confinement.

Seventeen of the charges were class X felonies with special penalties, each carrying the possibility of a 60-year prison term to be served consecutively with other terms. Calculating by the grimmest formula, Lewis faced a potential sentence of 1,200 years behind bars.

The charges sprang from complaints made by seven women, all of whom told authorities that Lewis had made sexual advances toward them while wearing his police uniform. One woman said Lewis approached her in a parking lot and showed her a picture of his penis next to a beer bottle. Another woman said he lured her to the police station to take a Breathalyzer test, then dropped his uniform trousers and had sex with her on the bathroom sink. Another said Lewis pulled her over as though making a traffic stop, then reached into her car and grabbed her crotch while forcing his tongue into her mouth.

The details of the charges varied from victim to victim, but the women had one thing in common: They all performed as strippers at a Belgium tavern called the Playpen.

This fellow needs to make sure that the local authorities are smacked down. HARD.

Yeah, and the next time he has a run-in with the authorities they'll find out he's a drug dealer. because you don't have to sell or aven posess drugs for the cops to find them on you.

When something you can plant is illegal, anybody can go to prison, no matter how innocent they are.

It's not Linus Torvalds, but Linus from the Peanuts cartoon! He probably lives here in Springdield with all the other cartoons.

If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to fear. If you've something to hide, you better hide it well.

I beg to differ. While at that site (a local weekly newspaper) search for "Paul Carpenter" for additional stories on the crooked cop who planted dope on innocent people.

Also see this articla about our (now incarcerated) former Governor; the linked portion explains why he declared a moratorium on capital punishment. Hint: they were executing innocent people, many who were on death row on trumped up charges.

I truly wish you were right.

Though most policemen are good people,

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=%22false+arrest%22

http://illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A7027

http://illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A6290

http://www.sj-r.com/news/x857675110/Former-police-officer-sues-for-drug-probe-information

I see you don't live in Illinois.

Though most policemen are good people,

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=%22false+arrest%22

http://illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A7027

http://illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A6290

http://www.sj-r.com/news/x857675110/Former-police-officer-sues-for-drug-probe-information

I see you don't live in Illinois.

Also about the gritty ex-cops that got fired for being a child molester or planting evidence or beating a petite woman bartender for not serving him.

Stellar employees, those ex-cops.

Also about the gritty ex-cops that got fired for being a child molester or planting evidence or beating a petite woman bartender for not serving him.

Stellar employees, those ex-cops.

Yeah, this place is full of cartoon characters. Gail Simpson is an alderman here. The bald guy on the right, in front of the giant check, in this picture runs the power plant. Looks familiar, doesn't he? Here is Springfield's Mayor, I'm sure you'll recognise him as well.

There are more links at the bottom of this barely SFW journal.

I've seen Betty Boop, Popeye, and a whole rash of non-Simpsons cartoon characters here. Betty Boop is a hooker I call "Bighead" in the linked journal.

Durbin is from one of the surrounding towns and ran for mayor quite a while back, befire he was elected Senator.

On a Thursday in mid-May, the U.S. Senate did something that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Led by Democrat Byron Dorgan, the senators -- Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives -- gave Rupert Murdoch and his fellow media moguls the sort of slap that masters of the universe don't expect from mere mortals on Capitol Hill. With a voice vote that confirmed the near-unanimous sentiment of senators who had heard from hundreds of thousands of Americans demanding that they act, the legislators moved to nullify an FCC attempt to permit a radical form of media consolidation: a rule change designed to permit one corporation to own daily and weekly newspapers as well as television and radio stations in the same local market.

this makes me cooperate with law enforcement. I can't afford to have some cop plant evidence of a felony.

When I was a teenager I worked at a drive-in theater (different town) where the owner had the cops paid off. I could do no wrong; I actually got chewed out by a police sergent for paying a speeding ticket from another town instead of having him take care of it! The cops would confiscate booze from underaged drinkers, then after work drink it with us and treat us to dinner.

So I do NOT under any circumstances trust any law enforcement personnel at all, ever, period. As long as there are victimless crimes, anyone can go to prison at any time.

I'm no hero.

Just because you want it to be legal to smoke yourself stupid and lazy to the detriment to society doesn't change the fact that your breaking the law and law breakers go to jail.

That's "You're" Mr. "I'm superior to the 'stupid' lawbreaking potsmoker." Contraction of "you are". You really should pay attention to your teachers, young lady.

Lawbreakers don't go to jail. Poor and middle class people geople getting caught breaking the law, or can be framed, easy with a "crime" like drugs that are easily planted on anyone, go to jail. Want to get rid of your wife without those pesky child support payments? Buy a pound of pot, put it in her trunk, and call crimestoppers while she's at work.

A rich powerful criminal only goes to prison when a richer, more powerful criminal wants him there.

I will not vote for XXX because he wont [sic]let me break the law!!!! Seriously, grow up.

No, I won't vote for someone who won't change an unjust law. That's what legislators do - make, modify, and repeal laws. Seriously, grow a BRAIN.

BTW, I've probably been smoking pot longer than you've been breathing. I've been a productive citizen all my adult (and part of my adolescent) life and am eligible to retire in 2012.

Your government lies to you.

I live in Springfield, where Alderman Gail Simpson (and likely her brother-in-law Homer) lives. The damaged house in the picture in the link is probably about the same worth, but it's in a more expensive neighborhood; th eghetto is a short walk from my home. It's a two bedroom house with full basement and separate garage. It would probably go for five million dollars if it was on the outskirts of LA or NYC.

Personally, I believe that you should be able to carry out any form of monitoring you like on your own property

I think Illinois law making it a felony to record a phone conversation that you are a party to should be called the "liar's law". It's easily gotten around; they do it at the McDonald's on 6th and South Grand here in Cartoon City. There's simply a sign saying that there are cameras and microphones. Presumably they turn the tapes in to the SPD. However-

I just think that what you do on your property should be more or less your business, with the caveat that you shouldn't be permitted to be deceptive about it

So if your mom comes to my house, It's ok to rape her? If something's illegal on the street corner it should be illegal everywhere.

I live in Springfield (Yes, an alderman here is Gail Simpson and our state is indeed run by cartoons), where the state's computer systems get "dumped". They are disposed of the same as state-owned automobiles: by auction. Once or twice a year they sell used computers at the fairgrounds by the palletload.

He should journal his thoughts on the matter. A statement like that without attribution or explanation is the mark of an unenlightened fool (and I am an unenlightened fool for saying so).

There are IMO 2 things wrong with the death penalty. First, it is final. "Oops, my bad, we just found out that the cops planted that evidence. Too bad you're dead." One of the founding fathers iirc (and I may not rc) is that it is better to let ten guilty men go free than to jail one innocent man.

Secondly, all of us are on death row, every one of the six billion inhabitants of this small muddy rock. The difference between us and murderers in the US is that our deaths mostly will be horrible, terrible, agonizing deaths. Cancer, heart disease, accident, fire, drowning, etc. while murderers are "put to sleep" painlessly and humanely as if they were a beloved pet dog. THAT is NOT justice. Let them rot in prison the rest of their lives and die horribly like I surely will when my time comes.

As in, had they found something illegal, they could not enter it into evidence

This is Springfield, they'd find a way.

you do not have the right to be free of the consequences of making a poor choice

Those consequences might be getting victimised, but if I am breaking no law I shouldn't have to worry about the police. But I do. And I'm a white man with a white goatee, a young black or Hispanic man would have it much worse.

But, I remind myself that I spent ten years of my life under the sea so jackasses like yourself can hold whatever silly beliefs they want.

And I spent four years of my life on an air force base to protect the Constitution that the legistature and police are trashing.

In Springfield (home of alderman Simpson) the city owns the power company and the water company, and we have the cheapest electricity in the midwest, and service is very reliable. I wish CWLP would provide cable, telephone, gas, and internet!

Note this drawing of Springfield's mayor Davlin, CWLP's general manager Todd Renfro, and some guy probably related in some way to alderman Simpson.

-mcgrew (yes, my town is a cartoon)

And you call that evidence.... we should make better schools.

Evidence? You want scary read this St Louis Post Dispatch story. Thirty people who had been arrested on drug charges were released after the arresting officer was shot and killed. Apparently the only "evidence" was the cop's word.

"Well" you say, "that's just one redneck state?" Well, I live next door to that state, here in Illinois they fired two detectives for perjury, planting evidence, and other bogus stunts - after the two were caught. The detectives weren't charged with their obviously criminal actions, and one man who had been arrested on charges of being a dope dealer, then released when it was clear the charges were bogus, is suing.

It's too bad that the law doesn't have the same definition for "evidence" as scientists. It's pretty easy to see how this "creationist" garbage gets started.

BTW, no where in the Bible does it say how old the universe (or the earth) is or how God went about making life. Like the two stories about dopers, they're just taking some asshat's word for it.

No, I live in THE Springfield. As in this political cartoon about the local power plant exploding. Note that the artist's depiction of Todd Renfrow (the bald guy on the right) and Mayor Davlin are well penned. And we have an alderman named Gail Simpson.

The real Springfield is Capital of Illinois. And our roads suck, too. Well, except for the one in front of the Capitol.

The reason your roads suck like ours and California's don't is the weather. Florida mostly has good roads too.

A 33-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence and marijuana possession after her van hit a utility pole early Saturday in the 800 block of East Stanford Avenue, police said.

Shannon M. Jackson of the 2200 block of South 12th Street was treated at Memorial Medical Center for a cut on her head before she was jailed.

The accident occurred about 1:30 a.m.

Jackson told police she was driving a 1998 Dodge Caravan west on Stanford when she "passed out and wrecked her vehicle," an accident report said.

Police said it appeared Jackson had crossed oncoming traffic in the eastbound lane before her van hit the pole on the northeast corner.

Jackson also was ticketed with failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, improper lane usage and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

A City Water, Light and Power line crew responded to repair the damaged pole.

Homer industries? Isn't Homer Gail's brother in law?

The detective, Scott Kincaid, outlined for the coroner's jury the police department's investigation into Strode's death, including statements from her boyfriend, who left the house about 3:20 that morning to meet another woman. He then got up about 10:45 a.m., downloaded some music from a computer and went to a hardware store to buy a furnace filter.

I may not be smart enough to go to college, but at least I can pretend to have a Harvard eduction. I don't think that will be enough to get a gig as a Simpsons writer.

You mean Springfield's Springfield Alderman Simpson?

Trolls are often on topic but are expressing unpopular opinions.

Just because a slashdot moderator mods a comment as "troll" doesn't mean it's a troll. The parent comment is a bit offtopic, as this duscusses trolls and flamers on the internet in general, and has nothing whatever to do with how slashdot comments are modded.

Make a few posts supporting copyrights or speaking out against illegal downloading and see how fast you get trolled or flamebaited

I've made comments that were supportive of P2P and argued that any nonncommercial use not be considered infringement and have been modded both "troll" and "flamebait", although they usually wind up being modded back up after all is said and done. So I guess some MAFIAA members have mod points sometimes.

Here in Springfield where Alderman Simpson serves on the city council, we do our trolling offline. Internet trolls are cowards, offline trolls are asking for a bottle upside the head.

-mcgrew

I decided to walk down to Duff's Pub and get one of their $3.00 pitchers of beer. Yeah, the place you saw in The Simpsons, this is Springfield. The real "one". Groening got a lot of stuff wrong- like, Duffy is fat, not skinny. And there is no "Capital City"- Springfield is the capital city. And only a few of the denizens are bugeyed. And a lot of other, non-Groening cartoon characters live here, too. Olive Oyle, for example, only the real Olive is flatter chested than Popeye's Olive. Popeye lives here too, but afik Olive isn't with Popeye, Bluto, OR Brutus (all of whom also live here). Betty Boop lives here, too, only the real Betty's head is bigger.

Now you all think I'm full of shit. But I'm not. No shit, this is a weird place full of weird people.

As I have, er, ahem, met some interesting people here in Springfield (although I haven't met Alderman Simpson), there's something I know about these "wanted" lists most people dont.

Many of these criminals are low level petty thugs, thieves, and especially dopers. I've mentioned my friend Tami in my slashdot journals, here's a true (AFAIK, I have no reason to doubt her) and I think hilarious story she told me.

Tami's been in jail before, but she's not what anyone would think of as a "hardened criminal" and in fact comes from a well to do family with political connections that has (sucks to be me) pretty much given up on her.

One time she'd had some sort of run-in with the law; "failure to appear" for a speeding ticket or pot or some such nonsense and didn't even know she was wanted. She got tickets to some shindig some friend of her father's was throwing and showed up. The affair had to do with these "top twenty wanted in Sangamon County" lists.

She showed up for the free food and alcohol (Tami's no beanpole and likes to drink) and of course most of the people there were from law enforcement. There was one of the top-20 wanted posters prominently displayed, and she was on it!

"Boy, I got the hell out of there real quick!" she told me.

Living in the future is so cool!

Then this might interest you.

-mcgrew

We have lots of people here in South Park (no, not a joke) that run solar

Is this a first, someone from one cartoon town responding to someone else on slashdot from another cartoon town? We have an alderman named Gail Simpson here in Springfield. The power plant blew up a month or so ago, look at This editorial cartoon about it. Now look at a photo of Todd Renfrow, AKA "Mr. Burns" (on the right, in front of the giant check) and a photo of Springfield's Mayor.

Its scary thinking what Canadians must look like where you live! I can't figure out if I live in Cool World or Toon Town. Anyone reading my journals most likely thinks I either make them up or...