Interesting Links

• Hillary Clinton visits Laos in an effort to strengthen ties between Washington and Vientiane during her tour of Southeast Asia and her visit to ASEAN.  The visit is part of the US Government's larger effort to combat America's waning influence and China's interest in the region.  
• Speaking of ASEAN, economic growth looks like it will be much more robust than in many parts of the rest of the world, partially due to some countries, including Thailand, growing more independent from the slowing American and Chinese economies.  However,  the boarder dispute between The Philippines and China over portions of the South China Sea will not be resolved during this year's meeting, which holds promise for oil and natural gas exploration. 
• Adrian Peterson is arrested in a Houston nightclub. I am torn between my dislike of the Minnesota Vikings and my distrust of police.  
• Anonymous proves it can be just as authoritarian and hypocritical as the governments it does not like.  
• A single drop of venom from the Russell's Viper can congeal a wine glass of human blood, which is both horrifying an fascinating.  

German Bosque, Police Unions, and What the Hell Opa Locka FL?

About a year and a half ago, Madison erupted in massive protests against Scott Walker's bill aimed at depriving most public employee unions of, among of other things, the right collectively bargain.  And like many people who lived in Madison, I joined in the protests, signed the recall petitions, and voted in the recall election.  While the legislation did not hurt me at the time, it may very well influence my future, since the UW-Madison's Teacher Assistant Union was affected by the bill, and voted to reject state certification rather abide by the new law.

In general, I support unions, but I won't go into the reasons why because that's not the point of this post.  One type of union that I am wary of, and I think should be either severely restricted or done away with completely are police unions, usually known as the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) .

And the Miami Herald has a perfect example of how FOP unions don't help the public, but positively fuck the tax payers like a dime-store fleshlight:

Opa-locka has the dubious distinction of employing the cop who can’t be fired. Though the city keeps on trying.

Sgt. German Bosque of the Opa-locka Police Department has been disciplined, suspended, fined and sent home with pay more than any officer in the state.

He has been accused of cracking the head of a handcuffed suspect, beating juveniles, hiding drugs in his police car, stealing from suspects, defying direct orders and lying and falsifying police reports. He once called in sick to take a vacation to Cancún and has engaged in a rash of unauthorized police chases, including one in which four people were killed.

Arrested and jailed three times, Bosque, 48, has been fired at least six times. Now under suspension pending yet another investigation into misconduct, Bosque stays home and collects his $60,000-a-year paycheck for doing nothing.

(Hat Tip to PoliceMisconduct.net for the original link)