Ready for your Closeup

Keep posting those crimes online

By Kelvin Wade | | April 09, 2008 16:17

You've probably seen the sickening video released by authorities in Polk County, Fla., of a group of teenage girls beating a girl so badly she had to be treated at a hospital for a concussion.

The girls were going to post the beating video to YouTube.com and MySpace.com I presume for other young sadists to enjoy. While the video is repulsive, I think we should encourage young thugs to continue to videotape their crimes and post them to the Internet.

We're no stranger to this phenomenon. It wasn't long ago that there was a bit of a stir locally over amateur rap videos shot in Fairfield posted to YouTube showing masked youth displaying Glocks and Uzi pistols. The Fairfield videos are still available online. It's not exactly how most residents would want the community represented.

I think parents who have junior predators for children should give their kids cell phones with video capability and encourage them to film their reckless criminal acts. If they feel the need to beat up a fellow kid, vandalize property, rob someone or the like, make sure they record the incident.

Post the video onto popular video sharing sites like YouTube or put it on your MySpace page so all of your friends can see it. Also, it'll ensure that we can get a copy of it into the authorities' hands so your media creation helps put your dumb butt away.

There was a time when criminals committed crimes and tried to actually cover their tracks so they wouldn't be apprehended. That was a breed of criminal who thought that incarceration was a bad thing. They believed that no amount of notoriety was worth bad food, a loss of freedom and unwelcome sexual advances.

But not this new breed. Somewhere along the way, infamy became confused with fame. In the twisted minds of far too many these days, the worst thing they could possibly be is ordinary and/or anonymous. So we have people willing to expose themselves to criminal prosecution for their fifteen minutes of . . . notoriety.

If you're like me (and heaven help you if you are), you can think back to some of the mischief you got into when you were a teen. There's no way I would've wanted a camera pointed at me while pulling some of the shenanigans I pulled. How stuck on stupid does one have to be to enjoy this kind of attention?

As a side note, in the Florida case, I like the fact that the alleged teenage assailants' faces have been shown on the news. If a minor commits a violent crime or planned to post their faces online, we shouldn't hide who they are. They want this publicity. Let's give it to them.

By the way, today's situation where criminals document their crimes is a situation where everybody wins. The criminal gets to record their crimes for posterity and share it with their twisted homies. If they're teens, then their clueless parents will get to see just what kind of malcontents they've raised.

And finally, the public, in the form of a prosecutor representing the people, get to hang said criminal with their own evidence.

So let's encourage our young psychopathic Spielberg wannabes to capture their exploits in high definition. And while they're at it, I'd like to show them a preview of coming attractions: a jail cell. Peace.

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NOTES: I want thugs to continue to videotape their dangerous, cruel and criminal behavior. There's something satisfying about people supplying the evidence that hangs them. Especially in a case like this where the teen attackers wanted to become famous by delivering such a heinous beating. You'd think that by now people would realize this isn't a good idea but whoever said criminals were smart?

Some of the parents of the girls in the Florida case need to be beat with a wet rope themselves. It's no wonder they have daughters who are willing to do something like this and laugh about it. The parents are busy making excuses for their behavior. The girls laughed after their arrests and the parents make excuses. Someone's in the market for a moral compass.

Okay....you might want to read about yet another complaint about the Solano County Jail on the DR's Other Side blog.


Finally, check out this news story.....

Man dies in SoCal wood chipper accident

Thursday, April 10, 2008

(04-10) 07:04 PDT Inglewood, CA (AP) --

A member of a city tree-trimming crew in south Los Angeles County is dead after being pulled into a wood chipper.

Authorities said Wednesday that the 46-year-old Inglewood city employee somehow got caught while feeding branches into the machine the previous afternoon and was dragged in behind them.

An Inglewood spokesman says the unidentified victim had worked for the city for eight years.

Police say no crime was involved in the accident.

A 24-year-old man died in a similar accident in November in Orange County.

Now is that gnarly or what? I almost yakked up my Grape Nuts reading that this morning. And of course, unfortunately, the movie "Fargo" crossed my mind. But at least in Fargo, the guy was already dead. This has got to be one of the most horrific deaths I can imagine. Good Lord. I gotta go. The bile is rising in my throat again. I can't leave on this note.

How about this little tidbit:

According to John Scott, PD of Clear Channel talk KKGN/San Francisco, suspended talker Randi Rhodes (pictured) and Air America network have parted company as of Wednesday (April 9). In a posting on the station Web site Scott says that on Monday (April 14), "it will be our pleasure to announce the return of Randi Rhodes to the Green 960 family."

Rhodes was suspended indefinitely last week by Air America following remarks she made at an appearance for KKGN where she called both Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro "f---cking bitches."

An official announcement is expected from Air America about Rhodes' departure on Thursday (April 10).

I like Randi Rhodes. She's entertaining. She's like a left wing Limbaugh but without as much pomposity. I'm tired of people being disciplined or repudiated or whatever for remarks they've made during this campaign. C'mon, the people who have made offensive remarks during this presidential campaign MEANT WHAT THEY SAID. I don't buy their apologies. People are going to talk crap during campaigns. And what they say is how they feel. Enough with the demotions and firings and getting candidates to rebuke people.