America continues to disgust me.

Digby has been writing about the use of tasers as torture devices for a long time, but this latest incident with a camera recording police torturing a suspect with tasers and batons doesn’t so much speak to me about tasers as it does about the cruelty inherent in our people.

Americans have fully embraced their inner lunatic, I think. Between the town hall screamers and the tea partiers and the remnants of the Republican party, along with the Dems who sell out anyone and everyone to Goldman Sachs, I think we’re seeing the very end of the American Empire as we eat ourselves alive.

Man it’s depressing.

Warning, the following video contains graphic violence and torture.

Of particular interest, note that after their torture has reduced this man to a quivering wreck, at 1:25 they put on the handcuffs. He’s now completely immobilized and crying uncontrollably.

So they try to break his legs with a baton, presumably to shut him up.

I hate it here.

So California has been having a bit of trouble, of late, with regard to its budget. A lot of people have written a lot of good stuff on the subject, which I won’t go into here (linky linky link), but it boils down to three things:

1) The real estate bubble burst, leaving the economy in smoldering ruins.
2) California’s government is completely and utterly dysfunctional, having strict caps on property taxation and almost no ability to raise funds, thanks to an amendment to their Constitution pushed by good old Ronnie Reagan
3) Current Governator Ahhnold Schwarzenegger would rather slash the budget to the bone, steal money from cities and muncipalities, destroy the social safety net and sell public land than raise taxes on the ultra rich, even a smidgeon, even if he could. That’s ok though, because nothing bothers the soulless monster, so long as he can go home and relax in his jacuzzi. He helped drive the state broke faster, of course, being elected on a promise to slash one of the few taxes California had to pay its bills.
4) Due to this history of abuse and a total lack of leadership from California Democrats, the state had to come up with a variety of gimmicks in addition to these severe cuts to the budget and basic social services.

Oh, right, one more detail: California has decided to stop paying its debts and instead make up its own Monopoly-style currency. I call them Californiabucks.

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