Patrick Pogan Is a Moron and Deserves Hard Time

According to this New York Times article, FORMER NYPD rookie cop Patrick Pogan, Jr. testified a line of bullshit about why he cross-checked bicyclist Christopher Long during a Critical Mass roving bicycle advocacy rally on July 25th, 2008. The facts of this case aren't as subject to interpretation as Patrick Pogan Jr's defense would like because THE FACTS were recorded and posted to YouTube.

Allow me to clarify a couple of points here and add some facts that John Eligon, the author of the New York Times article, was either unaware of or decided not to include. The Pogan family has been a part of the NYPD for two generations before Patrick Jr. took a steaming dump on his family name. In fact, his father was not only a highly decorated NYPD cop, but he served on the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Patrick Sr. was recognized by federal law enforcement agencies for his work after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. You'd think that with that sort of legacy, Patrick Jr. would have known what to do. Christ, at the time he fucked up, Patrick Jr. was living with his father.

Patrick Jr. was only on his 11th day on the job (having graduated from the New York Police Academy on or about July 14th, 2008) when he bum rushed Christopher Long. Patrick Jr. was assigned to the Midtown South precinct, an area of New York City that is generally light in bona fide criminal threats. It is generally considered to be a cake walk. Patrick Jr's defense claimed that Mr. Long was on a direct collision course for him and that he was being abusive, screaming, and flipping both middle fingers to the him. Determining the exact extent of his claims isn't going to be too tough because there's video evidence. On top of that, Patrick Jr's partner (or at the least another cop) was standing further into traffic than Junior was, and he didn't flip out and fuck up a cyclist. Gee - maybe he wasn't a FUCKING MORON, Patty boy.

Mr. Eligon paints a rather distorted picture of both Patrick Pogan, Jr. and Christopher Long by presenting completely irrelevant facts about both parties. Yes, Christopher Long struck and killed an elderly pedestrian with his car in North Carolina. Was he driving a car when Patrick jr. beat him out of traffic in 2008? Nope. Was he even riding his bike recklessly? NOPE. Christopher Long also was discharged from the US Army for testing positive for marijuana. Was he stoned when Patty boy smacked him off his bike in 2008? NOPE. But hey, Patty boy was an emergency medical technician who saved the life of a 56 year old man from cardiac arrest. Guess what, Patty boy? THAT WAS YOUR FUCKING JOB. What the fuck - do you want a cookie and a pat on the back for doing your job as an EMT? Should I buy you a drink? Considering what a dumbass he was and how quickly he fucked up his career with the NYPD, I'm surprised he knows which end of a syringe to put in someone.

Mr. Eligon also stated that Patrick Jr. also was an altar boy. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. Wow. So there was a good chance that he could have been molested. I guess we should give him a cookie for that, right Mr. Eligon? In fact, at NO POINT WHATSOFUCKINGEVER does Mr. Eligon make any mention of the fact that Patrick Pogan Sr. is a legitimate New York Police Hero. How the fuck isn't this relevant? Maybe because people might wonder how could a hero cop have such a dumb fucking kid? He didn't mention that at the time, Christopher Long was a green grocer in New York City's Union Square and had long been regarded as quiet and mild mannered. Yeah, that's not relevant either. Mr. Eligon.

If convicted, Patrick Pogan, Jr. faces up to 4 years in prison. You might think there's no way a former NYPD cop is gonna do that length of time, but then again you might think there's no way even a rookie cop could be that fucking dumb. I hope he not only does time but gets ass raped, shanked, and ass raped some more . Fuck you Patrick Pogan, jr. And Patrick Sr? Fuck you twice for not pulling out and glazing your wife's face instead of giving birth to a disgrace of a cop.

Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body

As things were winding down to AIDS Walk New York this Sunday, I wanted to make sure I was up to snuff physically. I'm a fanatical inline skater, and Ive skated AIDS Walk New York 8 out of the 9 times I've done it. Here's the link to my donation page in case you can donate. Every now and then Mother Nature looks like she's gonna give New York the finger with rain, but she's been pretty good so far.

I just checked the weather report, and it still looks like rain. What are ya gonna do, eh? So I have to walk. That sucks. It sucks even more because one of the reasons I skate AIDS Walk New York is to blaze through the 10K route in order to help at the last checkpoint where all the refreshments are. There are at least 5 freight trucks there loaded with food, snacks, water, & supplies. That's a lot of stuff, but then again, there was something like 50,000 people at AIDS Walk New York last year. I like to start early and help out as long as I can.

I'm in fairly good shape, and while I've been training like a madman for this, I could always train harder. I'm not going to be in any shape to bust out a triathalon anytime soon, but I'd like to aim for that as opposed to ending up like a big fat slob. I've been going to the AIDS Walk New York office headquarters to volunteer as much time as I could lately. There were loads of envelopes to stuff, label, and mail out as well as prep work on a massive scale. They can always use more volunteers, and I was good to go. A little over a week ago, I must have blown out my right knee on the way to the office. As I was skating at the time, the adrenaline and endorphins must have masked the pain up until I was walking. Blessed Buddha it hurt. The weird thing was that it hurt walking and especially going up and down stairs, but it didn't hurt while skating.

A few days ago, I put some Phiten Titanium tape above and below my right kneecap.

That made it easier to cut down on the ibuprofen, and I have more flexibility, but it royally sucks to be immobile. Essentially Phiten products act as a heat sink regulating energy ionically. I've been wearing a Phiten necklace for years, and it allows me to train longer & harder with less pain and shortened recovery time.

It still sucks that my girlfriend and I will have to walk, but we're still going to bust our humps and volunteer as long as we can. I still have faith that Mother Nature will shine down on us.

Midtown Hot Mess o' Hair

I was walking with my girlfriend one morning to see her off to work while I went on to get groceries. We were right across the street from her office building, when I spotted this menopausal hot mess.



Drink it in, bitches.

I silently reached in my pocket for my camera, and I tried carefully so as not to draw attention by shouting "Holy FUCK! Check out that prune's mullet!" I could see my girlfriend's face tighten up as she tried desperately not to laugh. She kind of looked like when Harvey Korman tried to reign it in as he tried not to lose his shit during any random episode of "The Carol Burnett Show."

And if you think that's bad, you should have seen this taxidermy experiment from the front. Sweet Blessed Merciful Buddha, it took every ounce of restraint I had not to go get hammered off of some fortified wine.

Umm... Dude - You Should Change Your Light Bulbs

You gotta love being at the right spot at the right time to see crap like this happen.

Happy New Year, Whitey

This is my buddy Whitey's lil slice of the Big Apple, the Pond at Central Park. From this map, it doesn't look all that impressive, but it's a beautiful little quantum of solace, and that's probably one of the main reasons my girlfriend and I visit this part of Central Park so much. That and to hang out with Whitey. He doesn't ask for much, and we try and bring him some nice stuff to eat.

On Dec. 30th, we went to see Whitey with bags of birdseed for him and the rest of the ducks. Something looked odd about the Pond, but I didn't pay too much mind about a duck shortage, and a strange accumulation by the water's edge all along the perimiter of the Pond. Whitey has been missing before, and it's not for me to question the ways of Whitey. He was with some Mallards, and they were grooming themselves. On Dec. 31st, we saw him and a few ducks on the other side of the Pond in a spot where we could not get to him. I don't think he heard us or knew that we were there. I know he was kinda distracted, because he usually waddles, swims, and on occasion flies right for us, because he knows well have good food for him and his buddies. Still, we didn't see one duck in the Pond. Something DEFINITELY happened, and this is how we found Whitey on New Year's Day.



Ducks are NOT supposed to look like this. There's a gland that produces an oil used to clean themselves off and to make sure their feathers are waterproof. If they can't get whatever is out of their feathers, they're gonna die. Needless to say, my girlfriend and I were worried shitless. One of the people we regularly see at Central Park told us that he noticed an oily spillage in the Pond after Christmas, and it looked like it was coming from Wollman Rink, or a vendor there. It could have been some chemical spillage or oil, but no matter what it was, this was not right by a longshot.

After calling up the Central Park Conservancy and the Cenrtal Park Rangers' office, someone was sent out to investigate. I later found out that while precious little has been done short of putting up a boom to collect whatever had been leaking into the Pond, the going theory was that it was used cooking oil. The Central Park Conservancy did their best to flush the crap out of the water. They ran a hose, and it was running solid for at least a couple days. Still, while he lookd better the first week in January, he still looked spooked by the water. He was hardly swimming, and that broke our hearts. Just last week he began to swim for a lil bit, but he was doing his damnedest to get back to his old silly self. He'd carefully tread over icy bits to come to where we were. His feathers looked remarkably better, and I knew he was on the mend. Over the past couple of days, he'd swim for a lil bit, and he came to us easier. Just this part morning, he came waddling for us whe he heard the clicking sound, and he was swimming around after he had his fill. Whitey was practically all better, and while I should feel some degree of peace of mind, I want to know who thought it was ok to dump that much oil into the Pond. Even if that asshole doesnt understand that what they did will have an impact on the environment, I'm damn sure that this was illegal, and I want to know that this asshole is going to get punished. Since there's not a whole lot we can do about that, my girlfriend and I will continue to go to see Whitey, and feed him and his buddies.

Holiday Wishes & Some of My Favorite Stuff

I thought that now would be a good time to spread a lil good cheer, and some gentle nagging to do the right thing.

Santa Claus was especially nice to me. My girlfriend got me exactly what I wanted - she adopted a rescued animal at Farm Sanctuary. Of course I want a big friggin TV, a PS3, yadda yadda yadda, but if it came down to saving an animal or playing more video games, the lil buddies come first. ALWAYS. We're the proud "parents" of Harper, a duck rescued from the foie gras industry. He's a scrappy lil bugger, and we can't wait to go up to the Sanctuary to play with him.

We did our holiday shopping in a couple of the pavillions in NYC. One pavilion at Bryant Park had a little nook of a shop called Recycled Planet Store. While it's cool to see an increasing number of companies understand that recycling is a good thing (and from their perspective a growing demographic), Recycled Planet Store stands out because the husband and wife owners were dental surgeons who gave up their practices to not only recycle stuff like newspapers & magazines, inner tubes, & plastic bottle caps, but they work with impovershed communities in Brazil. There, artistans whip out gorgeous bowls, placemats, boxes, ornaments, and other nifty stuff. I have rarely been touched by individuals who have had such a strong devotion to giving back to those who need it while creating really cool stuff AND recycling. Take a look.

The holiday shopping pavillion at Grand Central Station has a lot of nifty shops, and one thing I noticed was that some of the merchants couldn't afford (YET) to establish a physical storefront. This doesn't detract from a really cool t-shirt or in the case of Engage Green loads of cool bags & some nifty home accents all made from recycled materials. I swear one of their bags felt like suede, but it was a combination of cork and organic hemp. Very playful design, good karma, and tips to help the environment.

While I'm on the topic of recycled materials, I've noticed that a couple of top tier outdoor gear manufacturers Mountainsmith and Osprey Packs are making a variety of backpags & bags from recycled materials like PET-based fabric. Mountainsmith is expanding its recycled line in 2008 to include camera bags & a wider range of day packs & backpacks. Osprey Packs has a bag recycling program where people can send in their used bags, and Osprey will distribute them worldwide to charities that need them.

One last thing about recycling (I promise) - Just about everytime I go out in NYC, I see the detritus of modern life. There's a trash can at every corner, and every so often, there will be recycling bins as well. In spite of these conveniences of urban life, assholes are going to dump their crap all over the city, because they're ignorant bastards, they're lazy, or they just don't care. I could either slap the shit out of the scumbag who's going to leave their garbage on the street, or I could pick up a little bit myself every now and then. I still get angry, and I'm waiting for some fucker to toss their lit cigarette or cigar butt out their car so I can pick it up and fling it back at them - or better yet - IN their vehicle. Everytime I leave the apartment, I try to remember to have a plastic grocery bag in my pocket to pick up water bottles, cans, etc. Eventually they'd end up in a landfill, but why not pick the stuff up and ensure that they get recycled, or at the very least thrown out properly? This is MY city, MY state, MY country, and MY planet. I am partially responsible for making sure that it doesn't stink to high heaven, and I'm going to practice both environmentalism and civic pride and duty. It doesn't take much time to do, and the end result is an overwhelming sense of good karma.

Now on to some lil notes about some of my favorite stuff.

MMAMania.com This site used to be UFCMania.com, but the focus is still on the UFC - the largest Mixed Martial Arts organization. If you have any love of a good asswhooping, take a look. On top of stout and earnest reporting, I'm especially impressed with the intelligence of most of the commenters of this blog.

Free Rice Where the HELL was this website when I was studying for the SAT? For every English vocabulary quiz answer you get right, Free Rice donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. Since the website went live in October 2007 Free Rice has donated over 11 BILLION grains of rice. The sponsors list is wide and very touching. Beef up your vocabulary, and end hunger. WOW.

DrunkCyclist You don't have to be a cyclist or a fitness enthusiast to love this blog, but it helps. Bug Jonny, the dude who runs this site, is passionate about purity in cycling and sports in general as well as finding some really bent and funny news stories. He also is Holy War dedicated to expose hypocrisy and political injustice.

2 Dinar I am a passionate American patriot, but I am nobody's stooge. There's no way in Hell I'd ever trust the current administration to tell me the truth, and I genuinely believe that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are criminally retarded, evil, and without souls. 2 Dinar is a great op-ed site that gives a clarity and a unique perspective on current events and foreign policy: from the perspective of armed forces veterans. If your bullshit meter is going off everytime you read or see a news story that involves the current tenants at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, then visit 2 Dinar.

Joe Rogan If all you know this mook from is shows like "NewsRadio" or "Fear Factor," or as the longtime color commentator for the UFC, you have to hear his comedy act. Yep, Joe is a comedian, and a damned funny one at that. He's had is run-ins with other comedians like Carlos Mencia, but his album Shiny Happy Jihad is one of the funniest things I've heard in ages. Joe is one of the few comedians I would go out of my way to see.

A Whitey Christmas

This is my buddy, Whitey. My girlfriend and I first met him in the summer at Central Park. He kinda sticks out at the Pond amidst a bunch of Mallard ducks. Some people know him as Wiggles, Quackers, or Willie, but to us, he's Whitey. Whitey is an Indian Runner Duck, and while related to Mallards, Runner Ducks are domesticated. Theoretically all the animals in Central Park are wild, but you might ask how did a Runner Duck make it to Central Park? The sad reality is that someone probably got him as a cute little chick, and he became too much to handle, and some asshole abandoned him in Central Park thinking he'd be ok with the other ducks.

Yeah, I know. It sucks, but Whitey is ok. He's got lots of buddies, and apparently he's got a couple of grown up children, so he's not doing so badly. My girlfriend and I started feeding the ducks crumbled up granola bars, and we moved to birdseed. After doing some research, we quickly learned that feeding any bird crackers, torn up bagels, pretzels, and bread is generally a bad idea, because birds cannot digest processed flour products. It leads to engorged fatty organs, heart conditions, and other debilitating ailments. Whole grains and wild bird seed mixes (non-medicated) are higher in protein and generally suitable to feed ducks. Still, be careful. Some park conservancy workers may not understand or appreciate why you'd want to feed the ducks, or worse -they may be able to fine you.

Virtually every argument for NOT feeding wild birds does not apply to Whitey. Runner Ducks cannot migrate because they generally can't fly for great distances. He is not a wild bird. He is a domesticated duck that was abandoned. He is sharp as a tack, although my girlfriend and I sometimes think he's dumber than a sack of hammers. We love him dearly. It didn't take long for him to recognize us, and he knows we'll always have treats for him. He'll waddle up to the fence or tentatively come to us directly and eat from our hands. I remember when I first started doing the research about what to feed Whitey, a nice person at The Audubon Society said that the important thing is to regularly feed the animals. You can't just feed them once or twice and then go on to something else. That would be just as bad as the bastard who abandoned Whitey when he was a little chick.

My girlfriend and I get up extra early 4 times a week to walk over to Central Park with our breakfast and a couple ziploc bags full of bird seed. We'll pick up big bags of wild bird seed regularly, and I found a hardware store in Ithaca, NY that regularly makes trips to Manhattan to take care of things like the Mounted Police, Circuses, etc. We're gonna get waterfowl pellets, food specifically made for ducks, geese, swans, etc. It's a slight pain in the ass, but Whitey may be hungry, lonely, or maybe he's just bored with the same old diet. Why wouldn't he and the other ducks like good nutritious treats? Why shouldn't they be spoiled rotten? We're never gonna give up on Whitey and his buddies. Recently they all started to come up to us and eat from our hands. I'd like to think it's because they understood that we're not gonna hurt them, and that we love them, but I know it's because they're hungry as Hell.

Still, we love them, and especially now during the Holidays when we are flooded with messages of warmth, friends, family, and good karma, how could we not want to make sure that at the very least they have more to eat?