SFist: Obama Campaigner's Face Slashed in Downtown SF

RinconHillSF

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:51:31 -0800

The Republicans have done a good job turning Americans into spectators and convincing us all that "you're on your own," as Senator Obama has said. I wouldn't push anyone to do anything they don't feel relatively safe doing, but I do believe folks need to recognize that they can't always cop out, so-to-speak, and expect somebody to take care of a problem in front of them. Cop envy? Hardly ... My opinions are based more on the idea that people need to get more engaged in their communities and stop sitting on the sidelines ... Here's a good example of what happens when folks sit on the sidelines and pretend its not their problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HXHcBw_SiM

largo01

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:14:11 -0800

here here Mark2000. If a lawyer did that he would probably be brought up on disciplinary charges with the state bar for tumultuous behavior even if he wasn't convicted of the shoplifting. Not that there aren't lawyers who do stupid things, but... shoplifting isn't really your typical bad lawyer behavior.

Mark2000

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:45:33 -0800

I find Begonia Buzzkill's stabbing and shoplifter stories as believable as Ronald Reagan's "Welfare Mamas".

travin

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:35:47 -0800

Concrete wronged?

dantsea

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:08:12 -0800

They don't call them mean streets for nothin'.

Bushy Hyde

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:09:33 -0800

In later years of calling the SFPD: a responding officer turned a woman loose on the sidewalk who stabbed an older man/neighbor in our building that we all detained until the cops showed up. ---------- Wait, the sidewalk stabbed an older man?

davitydave

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:54:17 -0800

Please, come to my corner of 6th and Market where you can get delicious drugs, sadsack hookers and a barrage of requests for the change in your pockety pockets.

phlavor

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:36:49 -0800

You are all missing the big picture here: OMG! Where do I get that shirt?

periqueblend

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:20:58 -0800

Shoplifting certainly is illegal, but 5th and Market is not by any conceivable stretch *dangerous*. Maybe you had a bad experience with the guy who writes your name on a grain of rice?

Begonia Buzzkill

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:58:09 -0800

Big picture: markup on products in average retail store is based on the fact that paying customers fund the shoplifter's freebies. What morons think a "shoplifter is innocent until found guilty"? They're guilty the second they walk out of a store with products they didn't pay for. Geez, already. In retail tiny boutique years ago we busted a shoplifter, locked the door and waited for the cops (in Union Square). We were sued by the man we locked in our store who happened to be a LAWYER from Marin ... who wanted freebie French designer clothes for the cruise he and his wife were taking. That lawsuit cost the owner thousands defending against "false imprisonment" in civil court. In later years of calling the SFPD: a responding officer turned a woman loose on the sidewalk who stabbed an older man/neighbor in our building that we all detained until the cops showed up. When we threw a fit the officer told us: Don't call us unless it's a felony . . .while the 78 year old neighbor was being hauled off in an ambulance and the slasher and the cop waved good-bye to each other.

bluecanary

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:28:53 -0800

"I salute folks who refuse to be zombie spectators and step in, to the degree that its safe, to let criminals know we won't take their bullshit no 'mo." Chasing down someone who mugged a little old lady? OK, noble. Protecting Saks Fifth Avenue? Um, yeah, not putting my life on the line for that, I'll stick with zombie spectator status. Noble, maybe. Stupid, definitely.

sfperson2000

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:18:31 -0800

Periqueblend -- very, very offensive. You should feel ashamed. Nobody, including you, deserves that (My earlier statement was rhetorical). Regarding the guy at 5th and Market -- what was he campaigning for? 5th and Market really is a dangerous place -- brave of him to sit at a table -- it is best to keep moving (preferably fast) and not stop for anything.

bornandraised

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:17:32 -0800

manys...i dont know what past experiences you have had in your community to lead to such communal hostility, i also dont know what riconhill exactly witnessed, but as someone who worked retail and had a few instances when i caught people shop lifting (twice in the store that I worked at and once, with the help of another citizen, at a boutique i was shopping at) and held them until police showed, alerting the managers of the store. i call them criminals. sorry if i didn't wait for the trial or a conviction, i don't like to think of myself as someone who "brands" people with preconceived notions. BUT if i see you shoplift, you are a shoplifter, and therefore have committed a crime which == criminal.

sfperson2000

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:15:52 -0800

Starting with you Periqueblend!

periqueblend

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:55:09 -0800

no one should be knifed, period Actually, I can think of a lot of people who should be knifed.

manys

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:51:07 -0800

no one should be knifed, period. Does that make me not "progressive" enough for Daly and his crew at the Board? You say the BoS are pro-knife-attack? Genius. RHSF: Just a random shoplifter? I'd say someone's got a bit of cop envy. You too, since you're already branded her a criminal before trial. Maybe you're just not THAT much of a law-n-order type?

Ginger

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:27:54 -0800

I walk past that guy every day at work and he's always been really nice (not like the usual folks along Market who chase you down if you don't buy something). Such a shame he was injured just sitting there at his table. While I'm not sure if the money he's making is going back to the campaign, I think we can all agree taking your aggressions out on an opposing political party member for selling standard type promotional materials is just ridiculous.

RinconHillSF

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:26:16 -0800

Thank God there were police nearby that observed this crime and were able to take the attacker into custody (and drive the victim to the hospital for treatment). Here's a kinda cool story ... last Sunday, while sitting around Union Square listening to their weekly free music thing, I saw a young man grab a shoplifter coming out of Saks 5th Avenue with stolen merchandise. He held her until a cop on a bicycle was flagged down by another citizen to come give the criminal her due. I salute folks who refuse to be zombie spectators and step in, to the degree that its safe, to let criminals know we won't take their bullshit no 'mo.

Greg

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:21:45 -0800

wow that is scary. can we PLEASE prosecute crimes in this city for a change? no one should be knifed, period. Does that make me not "progressive" enough for Daly and his crew at the Board?

Generic

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:48:47 -0800

These Naderites are getting out of hand.