Olbermann on Oakland police violence

Keith Olbermann’s special comment last night was, as usual, spot on point. The police violence against the peaceful Occupy Oakland demonstrators is inexcusable and the Mayor’s rationalizations make her complicit in enabling further violence. Ironically, the demonstrators are fighting for among other things that the likes of Oakland police officers be treated with dignity and respect, something they are not getting by budget-cutting governments looking first to downsizing it workforce and eliminating worker protections, i.e., police officers. And the cause of such downsizing? The financial crisis, and created by whom? It certainly wasn’t the demonstrators.

This is all the more heinous given that Oakland’s mayor herself was the victim of Oakland police brutality while a member of the city council. She commending the police action as a “generally peaceful resolution to a situation.” Are you fricken kidding me? Using tear gas on peaceful protest? And one tear gas canister hitting a demonstrator in the head, fracturing his skull and leaving him in critical condition? And when bystanders went to his aid as he lay fallen in the street, using a flash-bang grenade to disperse them? Keith rightfully rips her a new assholon, as this type of bullshit must cease if we are to continue to call this nation a democracy.