I don't usually go on a big deal about internal workings of other countries but this story is too much not to talk about and mirrors the attitude of our local law enforcement officials. On July 5th, 2011 6 police officers from Fullerton, California came in contact with a mentally ill homeless man, now identified as Kelly Thomas. The Fullerton police department claim Kelly Thomas was stopped as the police suspected him of breaking into cars at a bus station parking lot and that Kelly Thomas "resisted" arrest. The following two videos show graphically what happened; be warned you WILL be disturbed and outraged.

This video was shot from the camera in a mobile phone of one of the people sitting at the bus station. You can hear the tazer being fired relentlessly as Kelly Thomas screams helplessly for his father.

In this video you can see more closely what the police are doing to Kelly Thomas. You can seem him motionless as police continue to pound on him and you see a Fullerton cop HIT the man videoing the scene in an attempt to get him to stop filming. They then threaten everyone with jail if they don't leave the scene and stop witnessing the event. Personally I would have chosen to stay, going to jail standing up for that guy is better to me than running away and leaving him for dead.

Kelly Thomas later died as a result of the horrific injuries he received that night from police. One look at the before and after shots below and it's not hard to imagine why he died. You have to keep in mind these injuries were dealt out by on duty police officers to a schizophrenic man whom they claim was "resisting arrest".

Now here is the kicker, out of the 6 police involved 5 not only are still on active duty, they didn't receive a single day off as a result. The 6th officer is off duty on leave unrelated to the case. In other words, none of the officers whom did the damage clearly shown have been penalised in any way. The investigative DA responsible for the internal investigation of this case is close friends with the police chief, they holiday together and hang out at each others houses. The major of Fullerton doesn't even understand what the big deal is! Listen to this local radio broadcast from the 28th of July with an anonymous friend of a Fullerton cop.

You can only imagine how horrific the video the caller is talking about is to watch. These cops have a lot to answer for, but the big question is will they? And will anything internally in the police department change as a result of this event? More than anything what I hope people take away from this event is to get involved because if more citizens had gotten involved in this incident & sooner, then there is a good chance this man would never have died. I'm pretty sure a night in the watch house is price well worth paying to save a life otherwise unjustly taken.

You could be forgiven for making the mistake that most developed western countries are trying to end global poverty; this simply isn't the case. If you think for a moment about the plethora of "famous" people whom have asked the "middle" and "lower" classes to folk over some money to help people in 3rd world countries you'll understand that with less than a 1/3 of each of said "famous" peoples combined incomes world poverty could end over night. Likewise "charity" organisations like world vision ask us to pay money every month to "support a child" in a 3rd world country. And yes of the $30 or so that we give without thinking less than a DOLLAR actually reaches the child it's supposedly for.

These are systems designed to make the average person living in a western society feel as though we're doing something to fix poverty, without actually ever doing anything constructive to fix the problem. It stops consumers from feeling so guilty about the abhorrent conditions the people whom make their goods live and work in. Sure you can point to programs digging wells for fresh water in some communities and the like, but these programs are slow, intended to be so and targeted towards future workforces.

Next time you buy clothes, stationary, sheets, towels or many other CHEAP consumer goods check out were the product is made. China, Taiwan (which is technically part of China), India and Africa these are the names you're likely to see. You're also likely to have noticed the price of consumer goods made in China have gone up slightly over the last 18 months; there is a very good reason for that and why China made goods will continue to rise in cost. Recently the mood of the workforce in China has changed, they're starting to demand better pay, more rights and so forth. With these demands comes a higher cost of manufacture which, long story short translates into a higher consumer price.

It's for this reason when you compare the same goods manufactured in a western country with those of China, India or Africa the product manufactured in a western country is always at least double the price. The consumer lifestyle you enjoy was built on the suffering and poverty of others, and requires that to continue in order to keep prices low. As the Chinese workforce continue to demand better working conditions we'll see a shift to more products being made in India and Africa were such demands don't exist...yet!

Without these impoverished nations and desperate people can you imagine how insane the cost of living would be? Really have a think about all the products you buy which are made in these countries and owe their cost to the near slave labour used during manufacture. Now double the price you paid for those items, add them all together and you're getting close to understanding how much higher your cost of living would be without the 3rd world.

Regular site readers will have noticed that comments have been turned off for a number of weeks now. This is a temporary measure in an attempt to stem the flood of spam this blog was starting to attract. Rest assured that comments will return shortly and as always I hope you continue to find this blog useful, interesting and entertaining.

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