In 1977, Anthony Leroy Pierce killed the manager of a Houston fried chicken restaurant during an armed robbery. This worthless piece of shit has been roosting on Texas’ death row for 32 years. That’s right, 32 fucking years on death row. You think that’s ridiculous? Well, there are three other Texas death row inmates who have been roosting there even longer.
Endless appeals have kept Pierce, now 50, from getting his just deserves – death by execution. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear yet another appeal of his death sentence. The latest appeal questions the credibility of a psychologist who testified for the prosecution and also claims that his attorney failed to investigate and present mitigating evidence to the jurors that Pierce was mentally impaired, had been subjected to an abusive childhood, and suffered from an impoverished upbringing.
Abusive childhood? Impoverished upbringing? Oh my God! Give me a moment to wipe away my tears. No wonder poor Mr. Pierce was led to rob and kill. Heaven forbid that we execute this helpless victim of a heartless society in which some children are abused and/or forced to grow up in a life of poverty.
Come on, let’s get real! There are millions of people who grew up in poverty and who did not go on to steal, rob, rape and murder. Mitigating circumstances my ass!
And what to make of all that psycho-babble about an abusive childhood mitigating against the death penalty? That crap just doesn’t fly. Take my case. My father was a good man and a good father, but he was also a strict authoritarian-disciplinarian with a Teutonic temper. Upon the slightest provocation he would let loose with an “ohrfeige” (German for slap in the ear). From my erly childhood until I enlisted in the army on my seventeenth birthday, I was the recipient of many an ohrfeige. It’s a wonder I don’t have cauliflower ears.
By today’s standards, my father would have had his ass hauled away to jail on child abuse charges. Did my father turn me into a cold blooded killer? Of course not. Did I treat my kids the same way? No, I just made sure that when I spanked them it was never in a fit of temper. As a matter of fact, I know that my father’s harsh discipline turned me into a better person. And yesterday, I was discussing the Pierce case with a middle-aged lady. She told me that her father often whipped her with a belt. Did he turn her into a cold blooded killer? Of course not. She is a nurse who, together with her husband, has raised two lovely children. But like my father, by today’s standards her father would have been jailed for child abuse.
There are millions of people functioning as law abiding citizens in our society who, like the belt-whipped lady and myself, were subjected to harsh corporal punishment of one kind or another. If the psychiatrists and psychologists are right about the effects of child abuse, our society should be infested with millions of cold blooded killers.
Finally, Pierce claims that he received inadequate counsel during his trial. Since he was represented by a court appointed attorney, that claim is probably true. I have long advocated that indigent defendants be represented by a public defender’s offices, like those with the federal justice system and in California. Court appointed attorneys are notorious for their incompetence. But did that inadequate legal representation make Anthony Leroy Pierce any less guilty. Not at all. There was plenty of evidence against him.
32 fucking years on death row and still counting? That’s a crime against society in and of itself.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
THE NATURE OF THE BEAST: HARD DRINKING COPS
Why is there such a high rate of alcoholism among cops? Policing is a very stressful job. There is always the chance that a cop will be seriously injured, if not killed in the line of duty. And cops are constantly subjected to a lot of abuse not only by crooks, but also by the every day honest citizen during traffic stops and other on-duty contacts. At the end of a shift, a drink or two, or three is a great way to relieve oneself of that stress. Cops do drink and they drink hard. Unfortunately that can lead to some tragic consequences.
When I was a cop, I used to attend the monthly Southern California Burglary Investigators meetings where investigators from different law enforcement agencies would come together to exchange information, information which often led to the solving of burglaries and the arrest of the perpetrators. Those meetings were almost always held during the evening at either the LA police academy or at the San Diego police academy. Why? Because each academy had bars where they served drinks.
Many of those meetings turned out to be rather comical. Every agency wanted to be among the first to give their presentation because about half way through the meeting the speech started to get somewhat slurred and from then on it got worse and worse. Some of the presenters could barely stand up and it was hard to figure out what they were saying. And then, of course, there was the long drive back home.
The following tragic story was sent to me by a retired police official who asked, ”My question is: Will the city be prosecuted for selling/serving/delivering an alcoholic beverage to an intoxicated person?” Not if the Los Angeles Police and Fire Protective League still owns the LAPD academy, as it did when I used to attend those meetings. (In 1973, that organization split into two unions, one – the Los Angeles Police Protective League - representing the police, the other representing the firefighters.) The bartenders could face prosecution and lawsuits are likely to be filed.
REPORT: COP KILLED IN ACCIDENT WAS DRUNK
B y Dennis Lovelace
myFOXla.com
December 10, 2009
Los Angeles - An LAPD officer killed in a motorcycle accident last week had been drinking at the department's training academy campus the night he died and had a blood-alcohol level "well over" the legal limit, a police official said in remarks reported today.
After the early-morning crash Dec. 3, department officials launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Officer Kenneth Aragon's death to determine whether he was plied with too much alcohol by academy bartenders or got drunk at another location, Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. David Doan, who is overseeing the inquiry, told the Los Angeles Times.
Department officials are also taking a broader look at the long-running tradition of officers drinking at the academy. They have ordered bar staff to undergo retraining on laws on serving alcohol, and put them on notice that undercover officers would be performing compliance checks in the future, Doan told The Times.
Aragon, a 47-year-old, 19-year veteran of the department and father of five, spent several hours drinking and singing karaoke with other officers and guests in a banquet room outfitted with a bar on the upper floor of the academy's main building, Doan said.
They had gathered for `payday Wednesday,' an unofficial but regular event held every other week at the Elysian Park campus to celebrate their latest paycheck.
The officer left the academy about 12:30 a.m. About 90 minutes later, he crashed his motorcycle while driving north on Fletcher Drive, less than three miles from the academy.
When I was a cop, I used to attend the monthly Southern California Burglary Investigators meetings where investigators from different law enforcement agencies would come together to exchange information, information which often led to the solving of burglaries and the arrest of the perpetrators. Those meetings were almost always held during the evening at either the LA police academy or at the San Diego police academy. Why? Because each academy had bars where they served drinks.
Many of those meetings turned out to be rather comical. Every agency wanted to be among the first to give their presentation because about half way through the meeting the speech started to get somewhat slurred and from then on it got worse and worse. Some of the presenters could barely stand up and it was hard to figure out what they were saying. And then, of course, there was the long drive back home.
The following tragic story was sent to me by a retired police official who asked, ”My question is: Will the city be prosecuted for selling/serving/delivering an alcoholic beverage to an intoxicated person?” Not if the Los Angeles Police and Fire Protective League still owns the LAPD academy, as it did when I used to attend those meetings. (In 1973, that organization split into two unions, one – the Los Angeles Police Protective League - representing the police, the other representing the firefighters.) The bartenders could face prosecution and lawsuits are likely to be filed.
REPORT: COP KILLED IN ACCIDENT WAS DRUNK
B y Dennis Lovelace
myFOXla.com
December 10, 2009
Los Angeles - An LAPD officer killed in a motorcycle accident last week had been drinking at the department's training academy campus the night he died and had a blood-alcohol level "well over" the legal limit, a police official said in remarks reported today.
After the early-morning crash Dec. 3, department officials launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Officer Kenneth Aragon's death to determine whether he was plied with too much alcohol by academy bartenders or got drunk at another location, Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. David Doan, who is overseeing the inquiry, told the Los Angeles Times.
Department officials are also taking a broader look at the long-running tradition of officers drinking at the academy. They have ordered bar staff to undergo retraining on laws on serving alcohol, and put them on notice that undercover officers would be performing compliance checks in the future, Doan told The Times.
Aragon, a 47-year-old, 19-year veteran of the department and father of five, spent several hours drinking and singing karaoke with other officers and guests in a banquet room outfitted with a bar on the upper floor of the academy's main building, Doan said.
They had gathered for `payday Wednesday,' an unofficial but regular event held every other week at the Elysian Park campus to celebrate their latest paycheck.
The officer left the academy about 12:30 a.m. About 90 minutes later, he crashed his motorcycle while driving north on Fletcher Drive, less than three miles from the academy.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
NO HE CAN'T
One of my friends sent me a copy of an op-ed piece written in November 2008 by Anne Wortham, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Illinois State University and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Here is that op-ed piece which Dr. Wortham entitled “No He Can’t”:
Fellow Americans,
Please know: I am Black; I grew up in the segregated South. I did not vote for Barack Obama; I wrote in Ron Paul's name as my choice for president. Most importantly, I am not race conscious. I do not require a Black president to know that I am a person of worth, and that life is worth living. I do not require a Black president to love the ideal of America .
I cannot join you in your celebration. I feel no elation. There is no smile on my face. I am not jumping with joy. There are no tears of triumph in my eyes. For such emotions and behavior to come from me, I would have to deny all that I know about the requirements of human flourishing and survival - all that I know about the history of the United States of America , all that I know about American race relations, and all that I know about Barack Obama as a politician. I would have to deny the nature of the "change" that Obama asserts has come to America .
Most importantly, I would have to abnegate my certain understanding that you have chosen to sprint down the road to serfdom that we have been on for over a century. I would have to pretend that individual liberty has no value for the success of a human life. I would have to evade your rejection of the slender reed of capitalism on which your success and mine depend. I would have to think it somehow rational that 94 percent of the 12 million Blacks in this country voted for a man because he looks like them (that Blacks are permitted to play the race card), and that they were joined by self-declared "progressive" whites who voted for him because he doesn't look like them.
I would have to wipe my mind clean of all that I know about the kind of people who have advised and taught Barack Obama and will fill posts in his administration - political intellectuals like my former colleagues at the Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
I would have to believe that "fairness" is equivalent of justice. I would have to believe that a man who asks me to "go forward in a new spirit of service, in a new service of sacrifice" is speaking in my interest.. I would have to accept the premise of a man that economic prosperity comes from the "bottom up," and who arrogantly believes that he can will it into existence by the use of government force. I would have to admire a man who thinks the standard of living of the masses can be improved by destroying the most productive and the generators of wealth.
Finally, Americans, I would have to erase from my consciousness the scene of 125,000 screaming, crying, cheering people in Grant Park, Chicago irrationally chanting "Yes We Can!" Finally, I would have to wipe all memory of all the times I have heard politicians, pundits, journalists, editorialists, bloggers and intellectuals declare that capitalism is dead - and no one, including especially Alan Greenspan, objected to their assumption that the particular version of the anti-capitalistic mentality that they want to replace with their own version of anti-capitalism is anything remotely equivalent to capitalism.
So you have made history, Americans.. You and your children have elected a Black man to the office of the president of the United States, the wounded giant of the world. The battle between John Wayne and Jane Fonda is over - and that Fonda won. Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern must be very happy men. Jimmie Carter, too. And the Kennedys have at last gotten their Kennedy look-a-like. The self-righteous welfare statists in the suburbs can feel warm moments of satisfaction for having elected a Black person.
So, toast yourselves: 60s countercultural radicals, 80s yuppies and 90s bourgeois bohemians. Toast yourselves, BlackAmerica. Shout your glee Harvard, Princeton , Yale, Duke, Stanford, and Berkeley. You have elected not an individual who is qualified to be president, but a Black man who, like the pragmatist Franklin Roosevelt, promises to - Do Something! You now have someone who has picked up the baton of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. But you have also foolishly traded your freedom and mine - what little there is left - for the chance to feel good.
There is nothing in me that can share your happy obliviousness. God Help Us all...
Fellow Americans,
Please know: I am Black; I grew up in the segregated South. I did not vote for Barack Obama; I wrote in Ron Paul's name as my choice for president. Most importantly, I am not race conscious. I do not require a Black president to know that I am a person of worth, and that life is worth living. I do not require a Black president to love the ideal of America .
I cannot join you in your celebration. I feel no elation. There is no smile on my face. I am not jumping with joy. There are no tears of triumph in my eyes. For such emotions and behavior to come from me, I would have to deny all that I know about the requirements of human flourishing and survival - all that I know about the history of the United States of America , all that I know about American race relations, and all that I know about Barack Obama as a politician. I would have to deny the nature of the "change" that Obama asserts has come to America .
Most importantly, I would have to abnegate my certain understanding that you have chosen to sprint down the road to serfdom that we have been on for over a century. I would have to pretend that individual liberty has no value for the success of a human life. I would have to evade your rejection of the slender reed of capitalism on which your success and mine depend. I would have to think it somehow rational that 94 percent of the 12 million Blacks in this country voted for a man because he looks like them (that Blacks are permitted to play the race card), and that they were joined by self-declared "progressive" whites who voted for him because he doesn't look like them.
I would have to wipe my mind clean of all that I know about the kind of people who have advised and taught Barack Obama and will fill posts in his administration - political intellectuals like my former colleagues at the Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
I would have to believe that "fairness" is equivalent of justice. I would have to believe that a man who asks me to "go forward in a new spirit of service, in a new service of sacrifice" is speaking in my interest.. I would have to accept the premise of a man that economic prosperity comes from the "bottom up," and who arrogantly believes that he can will it into existence by the use of government force. I would have to admire a man who thinks the standard of living of the masses can be improved by destroying the most productive and the generators of wealth.
Finally, Americans, I would have to erase from my consciousness the scene of 125,000 screaming, crying, cheering people in Grant Park, Chicago irrationally chanting "Yes We Can!" Finally, I would have to wipe all memory of all the times I have heard politicians, pundits, journalists, editorialists, bloggers and intellectuals declare that capitalism is dead - and no one, including especially Alan Greenspan, objected to their assumption that the particular version of the anti-capitalistic mentality that they want to replace with their own version of anti-capitalism is anything remotely equivalent to capitalism.
So you have made history, Americans.. You and your children have elected a Black man to the office of the president of the United States, the wounded giant of the world. The battle between John Wayne and Jane Fonda is over - and that Fonda won. Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern must be very happy men. Jimmie Carter, too. And the Kennedys have at last gotten their Kennedy look-a-like. The self-righteous welfare statists in the suburbs can feel warm moments of satisfaction for having elected a Black person.
So, toast yourselves: 60s countercultural radicals, 80s yuppies and 90s bourgeois bohemians. Toast yourselves, BlackAmerica. Shout your glee Harvard, Princeton , Yale, Duke, Stanford, and Berkeley. You have elected not an individual who is qualified to be president, but a Black man who, like the pragmatist Franklin Roosevelt, promises to - Do Something! You now have someone who has picked up the baton of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. But you have also foolishly traded your freedom and mine - what little there is left - for the chance to feel good.
There is nothing in me that can share your happy obliviousness. God Help Us all...
WHY THERE WILL NEVER BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
A FLY IN THE COFFEE
What happens when a fly falls into a coffee cup?
The Italian - throws the cup and walks away in a fit of rage.
The Frenchman - takes out the fly, and drinks the coffee.
The Chinese - eats the fly and throws away the coffee.
The Russian - drinks the coffee with the fly, since it was extra, no charge.
The American - takes the coffee with the fly to a lawyer and they file a $10 million lawsuit against the coffee house.
The Israeli - sells the coffee to the Frenchman, the fly to the Chinese, buys himself a new cup of coffee and uses the extra money to invent a device that prevents flies from falling into coffee.
The Palestinian - blames the Israeli for the fly falling into his coffee, protests the act of aggression to the UN, takes a loan from the European Union to buy a new cup of coffee and uses the money to purchase explosives. And then he blows up the coffee house where the Italian, Frenchman, Chinese, Russian and American are all trying to get the Israeli to give away his cup of coffee to the Palestinian.
What happens when a fly falls into a coffee cup?
The Italian - throws the cup and walks away in a fit of rage.
The Frenchman - takes out the fly, and drinks the coffee.
The Chinese - eats the fly and throws away the coffee.
The Russian - drinks the coffee with the fly, since it was extra, no charge.
The American - takes the coffee with the fly to a lawyer and they file a $10 million lawsuit against the coffee house.
The Israeli - sells the coffee to the Frenchman, the fly to the Chinese, buys himself a new cup of coffee and uses the extra money to invent a device that prevents flies from falling into coffee.
The Palestinian - blames the Israeli for the fly falling into his coffee, protests the act of aggression to the UN, takes a loan from the European Union to buy a new cup of coffee and uses the money to purchase explosives. And then he blows up the coffee house where the Italian, Frenchman, Chinese, Russian and American are all trying to get the Israeli to give away his cup of coffee to the Palestinian.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
INCORRIGIBLE SOCIOPATHS (7)
Yet another example of why the Supreme Court should uphold ‘life without possibility of parole’ sentences for juveniles. And don't give me and the victim's family any of that crap about affording this poor child a chance to be rehabilitated.
MO. TEEN PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO KILLING NEIGHBOR, 9
KMBZ Newsradio 980
December 8, 2009
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A 15-year-old Missouri girl pleaded not guilty Tuesday to killing a 9-year-old neighbor girl whom authorities say was slain because the teen wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone.
Alyssa Bustamante sat silently as an attorney entered a not guilty plea on her behalf to first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Oct. 21 death of Elizabeth Olten. Bustamante often gazed down - her long bangs covering her eyes, her hands and feet shackled - during a Cole County court hearing that lasted less than a minute.
Authorities say Bustamante plotted Elizabeth's slaying - digging two holes several days in advance - then strangled her without provocation, cut the girl's throat and stabbed her. They say Bustamante led officers to Elizabeth's body in a wooded area near the girls' homes after hundreds of volunteers helped in a two-day search for the missing fourth-grader.
The girls lived several houses apart in St. Martins, a small town just west of Jefferson City.
During a court hearing last month, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice testified that Bustamante had confessed to the killing to
investigators. "Ultimately, she stated she wanted to know what it felt like," Rice said.
Bustamante was certified last month to stand trial as an adult. Her arraignment Tuesday was necessary because Bustamante did not have an attorney during her initial Nov. 18 hearing, when Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.
The hearing Tuesday also marked the first time that cameras and recorders were allowed in the courtroom for proceedings in the case.
Juvenile justice officials testified last month that Bustamante had been receiving mental health treatment because of a history of depression and had tried to kill herself about two years ago.
Her public defender, Jan King, asked the court to transfer her from jail to a state psychiatric hospital for a four-day evaluation because of depression. But the judge has not ruled on the request, and King said he did not want to take it up for consideration during Tuesday's court appearance.
The judge scheduled a Feb. 16 hearing for an update on Bustamante's case.
MO. TEEN PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO KILLING NEIGHBOR, 9
KMBZ Newsradio 980
December 8, 2009
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A 15-year-old Missouri girl pleaded not guilty Tuesday to killing a 9-year-old neighbor girl whom authorities say was slain because the teen wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone.
Alyssa Bustamante sat silently as an attorney entered a not guilty plea on her behalf to first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Oct. 21 death of Elizabeth Olten. Bustamante often gazed down - her long bangs covering her eyes, her hands and feet shackled - during a Cole County court hearing that lasted less than a minute.
Authorities say Bustamante plotted Elizabeth's slaying - digging two holes several days in advance - then strangled her without provocation, cut the girl's throat and stabbed her. They say Bustamante led officers to Elizabeth's body in a wooded area near the girls' homes after hundreds of volunteers helped in a two-day search for the missing fourth-grader.
The girls lived several houses apart in St. Martins, a small town just west of Jefferson City.
During a court hearing last month, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice testified that Bustamante had confessed to the killing to
investigators. "Ultimately, she stated she wanted to know what it felt like," Rice said.
Bustamante was certified last month to stand trial as an adult. Her arraignment Tuesday was necessary because Bustamante did not have an attorney during her initial Nov. 18 hearing, when Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.
The hearing Tuesday also marked the first time that cameras and recorders were allowed in the courtroom for proceedings in the case.
Juvenile justice officials testified last month that Bustamante had been receiving mental health treatment because of a history of depression and had tried to kill herself about two years ago.
Her public defender, Jan King, asked the court to transfer her from jail to a state psychiatric hospital for a four-day evaluation because of depression. But the judge has not ruled on the request, and King said he did not want to take it up for consideration during Tuesday's court appearance.
The judge scheduled a Feb. 16 hearing for an update on Bustamante's case.
EXECUTIONS SHOULD BE JUST A LITTLE BIT NASTY AND UNPLEASANT FOR THE CONDEMNED
Bob Walsh wants to hang them. That beats putting them to sleep like a beloved pet, but I'd rather fry them in "Old Sparky", the electric chair.
OHIO FINDS SUCCESS WITH SIMPLIFIED EXECUTION PROCEDURE
By Bob Walsh
PacoVilla’s Corrections blog
December 8, 2009
Kenneth Birios was scragged this morning by the State of Ohio using a single-drug system. This is a longer but theoretically less painful death than the three-drug system used earlier.
Brios was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of a woman. He was dead 45 minutes after entering the death chamber.
Maybe it's just me, but I have what may be a slightly radical notion about this whole thing. I don't think that the state killing a human, or even a quasi-human, should be equated with putting down a sick animal. I truly believe that executions SHOULD BE just a little bit nasty and unpleasant.
Besides, hanging is simple and cheap. It is quick if done properly. It does not involve the medical profession in the process except after the fact. Besides, rope is reusable.
OHIO FINDS SUCCESS WITH SIMPLIFIED EXECUTION PROCEDURE
By Bob Walsh
PacoVilla’s Corrections blog
December 8, 2009
Kenneth Birios was scragged this morning by the State of Ohio using a single-drug system. This is a longer but theoretically less painful death than the three-drug system used earlier.
Brios was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of a woman. He was dead 45 minutes after entering the death chamber.
Maybe it's just me, but I have what may be a slightly radical notion about this whole thing. I don't think that the state killing a human, or even a quasi-human, should be equated with putting down a sick animal. I truly believe that executions SHOULD BE just a little bit nasty and unpleasant.
Besides, hanging is simple and cheap. It is quick if done properly. It does not involve the medical profession in the process except after the fact. Besides, rope is reusable.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
WHY DID ADOLF HITLER HATE THE JEWS?
From Haaretz.com
December 7, 2009
Adolf Hitler's hatred of Jews may stem from his errant belief that his mother was poisoned to death by a Jewish doctor, the author of a new book about the Nazi dictator claims.
In "November 9: How World War One Led To The Holocaust," author Joachim Riecker writes that the death of his mother, Klara, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, left an indelible mark on the then-18-year-old Adolf.
Klara's doctor, Eduard Bloch, had administered iodoform, which was the standard treatment for breast cancer at the time. She would die from the treatment in 1907, when she was just 47 years old.
"Hitler never forgave the Jewish doctor," Riecker told the British newspaper The Telegraph. "In conversations with aides such as Josef Goebbels he referred to the Jews as being like TB and himself as a 'healer' who had to stamp it, and consequently them, out."
December 7, 2009
Adolf Hitler's hatred of Jews may stem from his errant belief that his mother was poisoned to death by a Jewish doctor, the author of a new book about the Nazi dictator claims.
In "November 9: How World War One Led To The Holocaust," author Joachim Riecker writes that the death of his mother, Klara, who was diagnosed with breast cancer, left an indelible mark on the then-18-year-old Adolf.
Klara's doctor, Eduard Bloch, had administered iodoform, which was the standard treatment for breast cancer at the time. She would die from the treatment in 1907, when she was just 47 years old.
"Hitler never forgave the Jewish doctor," Riecker told the British newspaper The Telegraph. "In conversations with aides such as Josef Goebbels he referred to the Jews as being like TB and himself as a 'healer' who had to stamp it, and consequently them, out."
STATE BUDGET CUTS AND FEDERAL COURT ORDERS JEOPARDIZE PUBLIC SAFETY (2)
Caroline Aguirre, a retired California parole agent, writes that the early release of prison inmates constitutes a threat to public safety. She also notes that by pressuring its agents not take any action that could result in the return of parole violators to prison, the California parole system “has become one big joke.”
When I was a California parole agent we sure as hell arrested a lot of parole violators and they were returned to prison if the parole violations were serious. We had minimum specs to meet with respect to the number of field visits and we sure as hell didn't phone up the parolee or his family to set up an appointment for those visits.
Because most states are reducing their prison populations as a result of state budget cuts and/or to comply with federal court orders to reduce prison overcrowding, what is happening in California is either already happening in other states or will surely happen in the near future.
Politicians and state officials claim that only non-violent offenders will be eligible for early release. That is simply not true! Some inmates, like kidnapper-rapist Phillip Garrido, have been misclassified as non-violent. Many more inmates actually committed violent crimes but had the charges against them reduced by plea bargaining for a lesser sentence.
Caroline Aguirre shows us that today's non-violent offender may very well be tomorrow's violent offender. Here are some excerpts from her article:
THREATS TO PUBLIC SAFETY
By Caroline Aguirre
OurLA.org
December 7, 2009
I'm a retired parole agent who knows first hand the threat to our safety posed by the early release from prison of more than 25,000 inmates classified as non-violent.
Crime fell sharply under the watch of Police Chief William Bratton as the LAPD became more proactive in combating crime and more involved in multi-law enforcement agencies task forces.
But even with the overall reduction of murders and violent crime, there has not been a passing day where we have not heard or read a story about an individual on active parole status involvement in the commission of a violent crime.
Parole and parole supervision has become one big joke.
Parole agents have been encouraged by their supervisors to make advance appointments when conducting home site visits. Reasoning behind this is so that the parole agents won't observe any signs of a parole violation. Remember parole agents are being instructed not to arrest parolees. State elected officials have openly stated that with the passage of SBX 3-18, the reduction and the amount of parolees being supervised by parole agents will be reduced and thus in the long run the parole agents will be supervising smaller case load.
SBX 3-18 is the California state legislation that deals with prison overcrowding, the return to custody of parolees for parole violations, placing parole holds on parolees when requested by various law enforcement agencies and changes in sentencing laws. The bottom line is that it will lead to the early release of thousands of supposedly non-violent, low-level criminal offenders from our state prisons. Most law enforcement agencies up and down the state of California opposed passage of SBX 3-18 and for good reason.
How can anybody forget or not know about the Phillip Garrido case and the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard? [Aguirre than goes on to list some noteworthy examples of violent crimes committed after the early release of parolees who had been classified as non-violent offenders.]
Just last Nov. 11, Flor Medrano was stabbed to death by a male suspect. The suspect who was shot and killed by police officers was subsequently identified as a ex felon who had spent time in California State prison for Domestic Violence. He was discharged from parole supervision after only one year because Domestic Violence convictions are classified as non-violent low level criminal offenses.
In another case, Scott Thomas, on parole for property related criminal offenses, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after he stabbed two individuals inside a bakery.
Carlos Velasquez on parole for resisting arrest and classified as a non-violent offender was arrested and charged with the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputy Abel Escalante
Howard Astorga on parole for possession of controlled substance for sales and classified as a non-violent offender was arrested and charged with the murder of 4-year-old Ricardo Lopez
Charles Samuel on parole for Petty Theft with Priors arrested and charged with the murder of 17-year-old Lily Burk
Salvador Solis on parole for Domestic Violence a non-violent offender was arrested and charged with Kidnapping ,Attempted Rape and Rape.
Two weeks ago, non-violent offender parolee Alberto Alvarez, on parole for Illegal Possession of a firearm, was found guilty of the 2006 murder of Palo Alto police officer Richard May.
The list of paroled non violent offenders committing new violent criminal behavior is endless.
When I was a California parole agent we sure as hell arrested a lot of parole violators and they were returned to prison if the parole violations were serious. We had minimum specs to meet with respect to the number of field visits and we sure as hell didn't phone up the parolee or his family to set up an appointment for those visits.
Because most states are reducing their prison populations as a result of state budget cuts and/or to comply with federal court orders to reduce prison overcrowding, what is happening in California is either already happening in other states or will surely happen in the near future.
Politicians and state officials claim that only non-violent offenders will be eligible for early release. That is simply not true! Some inmates, like kidnapper-rapist Phillip Garrido, have been misclassified as non-violent. Many more inmates actually committed violent crimes but had the charges against them reduced by plea bargaining for a lesser sentence.
Caroline Aguirre shows us that today's non-violent offender may very well be tomorrow's violent offender. Here are some excerpts from her article:
THREATS TO PUBLIC SAFETY
By Caroline Aguirre
OurLA.org
December 7, 2009
I'm a retired parole agent who knows first hand the threat to our safety posed by the early release from prison of more than 25,000 inmates classified as non-violent.
Crime fell sharply under the watch of Police Chief William Bratton as the LAPD became more proactive in combating crime and more involved in multi-law enforcement agencies task forces.
But even with the overall reduction of murders and violent crime, there has not been a passing day where we have not heard or read a story about an individual on active parole status involvement in the commission of a violent crime.
Parole and parole supervision has become one big joke.
Parole agents have been encouraged by their supervisors to make advance appointments when conducting home site visits. Reasoning behind this is so that the parole agents won't observe any signs of a parole violation. Remember parole agents are being instructed not to arrest parolees. State elected officials have openly stated that with the passage of SBX 3-18, the reduction and the amount of parolees being supervised by parole agents will be reduced and thus in the long run the parole agents will be supervising smaller case load.
SBX 3-18 is the California state legislation that deals with prison overcrowding, the return to custody of parolees for parole violations, placing parole holds on parolees when requested by various law enforcement agencies and changes in sentencing laws. The bottom line is that it will lead to the early release of thousands of supposedly non-violent, low-level criminal offenders from our state prisons. Most law enforcement agencies up and down the state of California opposed passage of SBX 3-18 and for good reason.
How can anybody forget or not know about the Phillip Garrido case and the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard? [Aguirre than goes on to list some noteworthy examples of violent crimes committed after the early release of parolees who had been classified as non-violent offenders.]
Just last Nov. 11, Flor Medrano was stabbed to death by a male suspect. The suspect who was shot and killed by police officers was subsequently identified as a ex felon who had spent time in California State prison for Domestic Violence. He was discharged from parole supervision after only one year because Domestic Violence convictions are classified as non-violent low level criminal offenses.
In another case, Scott Thomas, on parole for property related criminal offenses, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after he stabbed two individuals inside a bakery.
Carlos Velasquez on parole for resisting arrest and classified as a non-violent offender was arrested and charged with the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputy Abel Escalante
Howard Astorga on parole for possession of controlled substance for sales and classified as a non-violent offender was arrested and charged with the murder of 4-year-old Ricardo Lopez
Charles Samuel on parole for Petty Theft with Priors arrested and charged with the murder of 17-year-old Lily Burk
Salvador Solis on parole for Domestic Violence a non-violent offender was arrested and charged with Kidnapping ,Attempted Rape and Rape.
Two weeks ago, non-violent offender parolee Alberto Alvarez, on parole for Illegal Possession of a firearm, was found guilty of the 2006 murder of Palo Alto police officer Richard May.
The list of paroled non violent offenders committing new violent criminal behavior is endless.
ONE LAST FLING WHILE AWAITING THE GRIM REAPER
TWO OLD MEN DECIDE THEY ARE CLOSE TO THEIR FINAL DAYS AND DECIDE TO HAVE A LAST NIGHT ON THE TOWN.
AFTER A FEW DRINKS, THEY END UP AT THE LOCAL BROTHEL.
THE MADAM TAKES ONE LOOK AT THE TWO OLD GEEZERS AND WHISPERS TO HER MANAGER, 'GO UP TO THE FIRST TWO BEDROOMS AND PUT AN INFLATED DOLL IN EACH BED. THESE TWO ARE SO OLD AND DRUNK, I'M NOT WASTING TWO OF MY GIRLS ON THEM. THEY WON'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.'
THE MANAGER DOES AS HE IS TOLD AND THE TWO OLD MEN GO UPSTAIRS AND TAKE CARE OF THEIR BUSINESS.
AS THEY ARE WALKING HOME THE FIRST MAN SAYS, 'YOU KNOW, I THINK MY GIRL WAS DEAD!'
'DEAD?' SAYS HIS FRIEND, 'WHY DO YOU SAY THAT?'
'WELL, SHE NEVER MOVED OR MADE A SOUND ALL THE TIME I WAS LOVING HER.'
HIS FRIEND SAYS, 'COULD BE WORSE. I THINK MINE WAS A WITCH.'
'A WITCH?? WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU SAY THAT?'
'WELL, I WAS MAKING LOVE TO HER, KISSING HER ON THE NECK, AND I GAVE HER A LITTLE BITE, THEN SHE FARTED AND FLEW OUT THE WINDOW.....TOOK MY TEETH WITH HER TOO!'
AFTER A FEW DRINKS, THEY END UP AT THE LOCAL BROTHEL.
THE MADAM TAKES ONE LOOK AT THE TWO OLD GEEZERS AND WHISPERS TO HER MANAGER, 'GO UP TO THE FIRST TWO BEDROOMS AND PUT AN INFLATED DOLL IN EACH BED. THESE TWO ARE SO OLD AND DRUNK, I'M NOT WASTING TWO OF MY GIRLS ON THEM. THEY WON'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.'
THE MANAGER DOES AS HE IS TOLD AND THE TWO OLD MEN GO UPSTAIRS AND TAKE CARE OF THEIR BUSINESS.
AS THEY ARE WALKING HOME THE FIRST MAN SAYS, 'YOU KNOW, I THINK MY GIRL WAS DEAD!'
'DEAD?' SAYS HIS FRIEND, 'WHY DO YOU SAY THAT?'
'WELL, SHE NEVER MOVED OR MADE A SOUND ALL THE TIME I WAS LOVING HER.'
HIS FRIEND SAYS, 'COULD BE WORSE. I THINK MINE WAS A WITCH.'
'A WITCH?? WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU SAY THAT?'
'WELL, I WAS MAKING LOVE TO HER, KISSING HER ON THE NECK, AND I GAVE HER A LITTLE BITE, THEN SHE FARTED AND FLEW OUT THE WINDOW.....TOOK MY TEETH WITH HER TOO!'
Monday, December 07, 2009
MR. OBAMA, MRS. CLINTON, MR. MITCHELL, PLEASE TAKE NOTE!
Abbas and the Palestinians weren't interested in peace even after Olmert the Idiot offered to give away everything but the kitchen sink.
OLMERT: ABBAS DOESN’T WANT PEACE ANY MORE THAN ARAFAT DID
Israel Today
December 7, 2009
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week said that though he pushed hard for Israel to make painful concessions in return for peace with the Arabs, in hindsight he now realizes that Palestinian leaders have no interest in ending the conflict.
In an interview with The Australian, Olmert revealed that during the last months of his premiership in late 2008 he made a comprehensive peace proposal to the Palestinians that included dividing Jerusalem.
According to the proposal, Israel would pull out of nearly all Judea and Samaria, and compensate the Palestinians with land inside sovereign Israel for the large settlement blocs that would remain intact. Furthermore, the Palestinian Authority would be given full sovereignty over the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, while the Old City area of the city would be administered jointly by Israel, the Palestinians, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United States.
Olmert said he presented this proposal, together with a detailed map, to Abbas in late-2008. The Palestinians promised to respond the next day, but then said they forgot about a scheduled trip to neighboring Jordan and would have to get back to Olmert later. He never heard from them again.
"We should ask [Abbas] to respond to this plan. If they say no, there's no point negotiating," said Olmert.
Olmert's newfound skepticism regarding the intentions of his Palestinian "peace partners" mirrors the lesson current Defense Minister Ehud Barak learned when as prime minister in 2000 he offered Yasser Arafat nearly all the land he demanded, only to have the former Palestinian leader reject the offer and launch the "second intifada."
OLMERT: ABBAS DOESN’T WANT PEACE ANY MORE THAN ARAFAT DID
Israel Today
December 7, 2009
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week said that though he pushed hard for Israel to make painful concessions in return for peace with the Arabs, in hindsight he now realizes that Palestinian leaders have no interest in ending the conflict.
In an interview with The Australian, Olmert revealed that during the last months of his premiership in late 2008 he made a comprehensive peace proposal to the Palestinians that included dividing Jerusalem.
According to the proposal, Israel would pull out of nearly all Judea and Samaria, and compensate the Palestinians with land inside sovereign Israel for the large settlement blocs that would remain intact. Furthermore, the Palestinian Authority would be given full sovereignty over the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, while the Old City area of the city would be administered jointly by Israel, the Palestinians, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United States.
Olmert said he presented this proposal, together with a detailed map, to Abbas in late-2008. The Palestinians promised to respond the next day, but then said they forgot about a scheduled trip to neighboring Jordan and would have to get back to Olmert later. He never heard from them again.
"We should ask [Abbas] to respond to this plan. If they say no, there's no point negotiating," said Olmert.
Olmert's newfound skepticism regarding the intentions of his Palestinian "peace partners" mirrors the lesson current Defense Minister Ehud Barak learned when as prime minister in 2000 he offered Yasser Arafat nearly all the land he demanded, only to have the former Palestinian leader reject the offer and launch the "second intifada."
COPS SHOOT SELVES IN FOOT BY SOCIAL NETWORKING
Defense attorneys will search the internet for any entries that could discredit an officer's courtroom testimony.
From a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department newsletter:
IMPEACHMENT VIA SOCIAL NETWORK WEBSITES
Can what an officer posts on social network websites (such as Facebook and MySpace) be used to attack his credibility in a courtroom?
Recently, in a the New York State court, a NYPD officer was questioned by the defense regarding statements he had posted on his Facebook webpage that portrayed him as a rogue cop. At the conclusion of his testimony, what should have been a slam dunk “ex-con with a gun” case, resulted in an acquittal for the defendant. The verdict was a direct result of reasonable doubt that was created by the officer’s postings on Facebook and MySpace. In other words, his own statements were used to impeach him.
Convictions rest on the credibility of the officer(s). The defense strategy was to show the jury that what the officer writes about himself on social network websites is how he “really” conducts police work. The suspect in the case claimed that the officer used excessive force on him, which resulted in three broken ribs. The suspect went on to allege that when the police officer realized that he had to explain the broken ribs, he “planted” a stolen 9mm Beretta and charged him with it. The officer in the case claimed that his internet persona was simply bravado,similar to what might be said in a locker room. The major difference between jokingly “talkin’ trash” in person and posting it on the internet is that one of them ends up preserved on a digital server.
One of the notable comments introduced to the jury, was that he watched the movie “Training Day” (a motion picture that displayed corrupt police behavior and brutality) to brush up on “proper police procedure.” Another series of comments revolved around miscellaneous internet video clips of police arrests. One of his postings said, “If he wanted to tune him up some, he should have delayed cuffing him.” In another he added, “If you were going to hit a cuffed suspect, at least get your money’s worth ’cause now he’s going to get disciplined for a relatively light punch.”
In another example of poor judgement, an Indiana State Trooper posted comments on his Facebook page that were in direct conflict with the policies and procedures of his department. In one comment he shares his views of police work, referring to himself as not a state trooper, but as a "garbage man, because I pick up trash for a living." Another comment was, “These people should have died when they were young anyway, I'm just doing them a favor." An off-duty picture posted by the officer shows him holding a gun to a fellow officers head. Both officers had been drinking alcohol, which the officer personally validated when he posted that they were “drinking lots of beer” that day. Take a moment to ponder all of the possibilities as to how a skilled defense attorney would use this photograph to aid in the defense of their client(s).
In life, there are often second chances; in law enforcement, there are none when it comes to integrity. If a peace officer makes malicious statements, even in jest, they can be used against him. Officers should ontemplate the tactical significance of their comments before they hit the [enter] button and preserve them on a digital server for all of eternity.
From a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department newsletter:
IMPEACHMENT VIA SOCIAL NETWORK WEBSITES
Can what an officer posts on social network websites (such as Facebook and MySpace) be used to attack his credibility in a courtroom?
Recently, in a the New York State court, a NYPD officer was questioned by the defense regarding statements he had posted on his Facebook webpage that portrayed him as a rogue cop. At the conclusion of his testimony, what should have been a slam dunk “ex-con with a gun” case, resulted in an acquittal for the defendant. The verdict was a direct result of reasonable doubt that was created by the officer’s postings on Facebook and MySpace. In other words, his own statements were used to impeach him.
Convictions rest on the credibility of the officer(s). The defense strategy was to show the jury that what the officer writes about himself on social network websites is how he “really” conducts police work. The suspect in the case claimed that the officer used excessive force on him, which resulted in three broken ribs. The suspect went on to allege that when the police officer realized that he had to explain the broken ribs, he “planted” a stolen 9mm Beretta and charged him with it. The officer in the case claimed that his internet persona was simply bravado,similar to what might be said in a locker room. The major difference between jokingly “talkin’ trash” in person and posting it on the internet is that one of them ends up preserved on a digital server.
One of the notable comments introduced to the jury, was that he watched the movie “Training Day” (a motion picture that displayed corrupt police behavior and brutality) to brush up on “proper police procedure.” Another series of comments revolved around miscellaneous internet video clips of police arrests. One of his postings said, “If he wanted to tune him up some, he should have delayed cuffing him.” In another he added, “If you were going to hit a cuffed suspect, at least get your money’s worth ’cause now he’s going to get disciplined for a relatively light punch.”
In another example of poor judgement, an Indiana State Trooper posted comments on his Facebook page that were in direct conflict with the policies and procedures of his department. In one comment he shares his views of police work, referring to himself as not a state trooper, but as a "garbage man, because I pick up trash for a living." Another comment was, “These people should have died when they were young anyway, I'm just doing them a favor." An off-duty picture posted by the officer shows him holding a gun to a fellow officers head. Both officers had been drinking alcohol, which the officer personally validated when he posted that they were “drinking lots of beer” that day. Take a moment to ponder all of the possibilities as to how a skilled defense attorney would use this photograph to aid in the defense of their client(s).
In life, there are often second chances; in law enforcement, there are none when it comes to integrity. If a peace officer makes malicious statements, even in jest, they can be used against him. Officers should ontemplate the tactical significance of their comments before they hit the [enter] button and preserve them on a digital server for all of eternity.
Sunday, December 06, 2009
ROCKY MOUNTAIN MEDICAL MARIJUANA HIGH
Following in California’s footsteps, Colorado has legalized marijuana by allowing medical marijuana use for just about any kind of affliction - real, imagined or made up.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA MOCKS IDEA OF LAWFUL BEHAVIOR
By George F. Will
Houston Chronicle
November 29, 2009
DENVER — Inside the green neon sign, which is shaped like a marijuana leaf, is a red cross. The cross serves the fiction that most transactions in the store — which is what it really is — involve medicine.
The U.S. Justice Department recently announced that federal laws against marijuana would not be enforced for possession of marijuana that conforms to states' laws. In 2000, Colorado legalized medical marijuana. Since Justice's decision, the average age of the 400 persons a day seeking “prescriptions” at Colorado's multiplying medical marijuana dispensaries has fallen precipitously. Many new customers are college students.
Customers — this, not patients, is what most really are — tell doctors at the dispensaries that they suffer from insomnia, anxiety, headaches, premenstrual syndrome, “chronic pain,” whatever, and pay nominal fees for “prescriptions.” Most really just want to smoke pot.
So says Colorado's attorney general, John Suthers, an honest and thoughtful man trying to save his state from institutionalizing such hypocrisy. His dilemma is becoming commonplace: 13 states have, and 15 more are considering, laws permitting medical use of marijuana.
Realizing they could not pass legalization of marijuana, some people who favor that campaigned to amend Colorado's Constitution to legalize sales for medicinal purposes. Marijuana has medical uses — e.g., to control nausea caused by chemotherapy — but the helpful ingredients can be conveyed with other medicines. Medical marijuana was legalized but, Suthers says, no serious regime was then developed to regulate who could buy — or grow — it.
Today, Colorado communities can use zoning to restrict dispensaries, or can ban them because, even if federal policy regarding medical marijuana is passivity, selling marijuana remains against federal law. But Colorado's probable future has unfolded in California, which in 1996 legalized sales of marijuana to persons with doctors' “prescriptions.”
Fifty-six percent of Californians support legalization, and Roger Parloff reports (“How Marijuana Became Legal” in the Sept. 28 Fortune) that they essentially have this. He notes that many California “patients” arrive at dispensaries “on bicycles, roller skates or skateboards.” A Los Angeles city councilman estimates that there are about 600 dispensaries in the city. If so, they outnumber the Starbucks stores there.
Colorado's medical marijuana dispensaries have hired lobbyists to seek taxation and regulation, for the same reason Nevada's brothel industry wants to be taxed and regulated by the state: The Nevada Brothel Association regards taxation as legitimation and insurance against prohibition as the booming state's frontier mentality recedes.
State governments, misunderstanding markets and ravenous for revenues, exaggerate the potential windfall from taxing legalized marijuana. California thinks it might reap $1.4 billion. But Rosalie Pacula, a RAND Corporation economist, estimates that prohibition raises marijuana production costs at least 400 percent, so legalization would cause prices to fall much more than the 50 percent the $1.4 billion estimate assumes.
Suthers has multiple drug-related worries. Colorado ranks sixth in the nation in identity theft, two-thirds of which is driven by the state's $1.4 billion annual methamphetamine addiction. He is loath to see complete legalization of marijuana at a moment when new methods of cultivation are producing plants in which the active ingredient, THC, is “seven, eight times as concentrated” as it used to be. Furthermore, he was pleasantly surprised when a survey of nonusing young people revealed that health concerns did not explain nonuse. The main explanation was the law: “We underestimate the number of people who care that something is illegal.”
But they will care less as law itself loses its dignity. By mocking the idea of lawful behavior, legalization of medical marijuana may be more socially destructive than full legalization.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA MOCKS IDEA OF LAWFUL BEHAVIOR
By George F. Will
Houston Chronicle
November 29, 2009
DENVER — Inside the green neon sign, which is shaped like a marijuana leaf, is a red cross. The cross serves the fiction that most transactions in the store — which is what it really is — involve medicine.
The U.S. Justice Department recently announced that federal laws against marijuana would not be enforced for possession of marijuana that conforms to states' laws. In 2000, Colorado legalized medical marijuana. Since Justice's decision, the average age of the 400 persons a day seeking “prescriptions” at Colorado's multiplying medical marijuana dispensaries has fallen precipitously. Many new customers are college students.
Customers — this, not patients, is what most really are — tell doctors at the dispensaries that they suffer from insomnia, anxiety, headaches, premenstrual syndrome, “chronic pain,” whatever, and pay nominal fees for “prescriptions.” Most really just want to smoke pot.
So says Colorado's attorney general, John Suthers, an honest and thoughtful man trying to save his state from institutionalizing such hypocrisy. His dilemma is becoming commonplace: 13 states have, and 15 more are considering, laws permitting medical use of marijuana.
Realizing they could not pass legalization of marijuana, some people who favor that campaigned to amend Colorado's Constitution to legalize sales for medicinal purposes. Marijuana has medical uses — e.g., to control nausea caused by chemotherapy — but the helpful ingredients can be conveyed with other medicines. Medical marijuana was legalized but, Suthers says, no serious regime was then developed to regulate who could buy — or grow — it.
Today, Colorado communities can use zoning to restrict dispensaries, or can ban them because, even if federal policy regarding medical marijuana is passivity, selling marijuana remains against federal law. But Colorado's probable future has unfolded in California, which in 1996 legalized sales of marijuana to persons with doctors' “prescriptions.”
Fifty-six percent of Californians support legalization, and Roger Parloff reports (“How Marijuana Became Legal” in the Sept. 28 Fortune) that they essentially have this. He notes that many California “patients” arrive at dispensaries “on bicycles, roller skates or skateboards.” A Los Angeles city councilman estimates that there are about 600 dispensaries in the city. If so, they outnumber the Starbucks stores there.
Colorado's medical marijuana dispensaries have hired lobbyists to seek taxation and regulation, for the same reason Nevada's brothel industry wants to be taxed and regulated by the state: The Nevada Brothel Association regards taxation as legitimation and insurance against prohibition as the booming state's frontier mentality recedes.
State governments, misunderstanding markets and ravenous for revenues, exaggerate the potential windfall from taxing legalized marijuana. California thinks it might reap $1.4 billion. But Rosalie Pacula, a RAND Corporation economist, estimates that prohibition raises marijuana production costs at least 400 percent, so legalization would cause prices to fall much more than the 50 percent the $1.4 billion estimate assumes.
Suthers has multiple drug-related worries. Colorado ranks sixth in the nation in identity theft, two-thirds of which is driven by the state's $1.4 billion annual methamphetamine addiction. He is loath to see complete legalization of marijuana at a moment when new methods of cultivation are producing plants in which the active ingredient, THC, is “seven, eight times as concentrated” as it used to be. Furthermore, he was pleasantly surprised when a survey of nonusing young people revealed that health concerns did not explain nonuse. The main explanation was the law: “We underestimate the number of people who care that something is illegal.”
But they will care less as law itself loses its dignity. By mocking the idea of lawful behavior, legalization of medical marijuana may be more socially destructive than full legalization.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
A GOOFY IDEA WHOSE TIME SHOULD NEVER COME!
From the onset of the Houston mayoral campaign, all of the candidates promised not to raise taxes and to put more police officers on the street, an oxymoron since they can’t possibly put more officers out there without raising taxes. In the mayoral runoff campaign, both candidates promise not to raise taxes. One also promises to put more officers on the street. He is an out and out liar because he knows damn well that he cannot do so without raising taxes.
The other candidate has promised to overcome the shortage of officers with a novel idea whose time should never come! There are a number of different local law enforcement agencies operating within the city limits of Houston – the Houston Police Department, the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, eight different Constable departments (one from each precinct), the Metropolitan Transit Authority police, the Houston Independent School District police and several college and university police departments.
In place of adding more Houston police officers, this candidate would work out an arrangement by which the officers from any one of those other law enforcement agencies would answer calls if they were closer to the scene than the nearest Houston police unit. What a God awful idea!
If she were to somehow implement that goofy idea, I can foresee officers from the different agencies rushing to the same scene, especially the transit, school and college cops who rarely get to do what is commonly thought of as “real police work.” I can foresee shoving matches and even fisticuffs breaking out between officers from different agencies, each fighting to take charge of a crime scene, as has happened in the past between Houston police officers and deputy constables who took it upon themselves to answer HPD calls.
But the worst part of that goofy idea is the fact that the competence level of officers differs from agency to agency. Back in the ‘70s, I used to attend meetings of the Houston Area Council of Governments because my school, College of the Mainland, was the official designated regional law enforcement training center for the 13 counties served by HGAC. During a heated discussion about the proliferation of so many policing agencies within Harris County, Johnny Holmes the outspoken district attorney at the time, called attention to the competence levels of different law enforcement agencies.
Holmes, never one to worry about the political consequences of his remarks, got the Harris County sheriff and constables all riled up by exclaiming it had been the experience of the district attorney’s office that Houston police officers were far more competent in conducting investigations than the deputies of the sheriff and constable departments. While that gap has since been closed, I am sure that the Houston police officers are still more competent than most of the deputies, while trailing far behind are the transit, school and college cops.
There are good ideas whose time has come, but the idea that officers from the police agency closest to a call within the City of Houston will conduct the investigation is not one of them. God forbid if that should ever come to pass!
The other candidate has promised to overcome the shortage of officers with a novel idea whose time should never come! There are a number of different local law enforcement agencies operating within the city limits of Houston – the Houston Police Department, the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, eight different Constable departments (one from each precinct), the Metropolitan Transit Authority police, the Houston Independent School District police and several college and university police departments.
In place of adding more Houston police officers, this candidate would work out an arrangement by which the officers from any one of those other law enforcement agencies would answer calls if they were closer to the scene than the nearest Houston police unit. What a God awful idea!
If she were to somehow implement that goofy idea, I can foresee officers from the different agencies rushing to the same scene, especially the transit, school and college cops who rarely get to do what is commonly thought of as “real police work.” I can foresee shoving matches and even fisticuffs breaking out between officers from different agencies, each fighting to take charge of a crime scene, as has happened in the past between Houston police officers and deputy constables who took it upon themselves to answer HPD calls.
But the worst part of that goofy idea is the fact that the competence level of officers differs from agency to agency. Back in the ‘70s, I used to attend meetings of the Houston Area Council of Governments because my school, College of the Mainland, was the official designated regional law enforcement training center for the 13 counties served by HGAC. During a heated discussion about the proliferation of so many policing agencies within Harris County, Johnny Holmes the outspoken district attorney at the time, called attention to the competence levels of different law enforcement agencies.
Holmes, never one to worry about the political consequences of his remarks, got the Harris County sheriff and constables all riled up by exclaiming it had been the experience of the district attorney’s office that Houston police officers were far more competent in conducting investigations than the deputies of the sheriff and constable departments. While that gap has since been closed, I am sure that the Houston police officers are still more competent than most of the deputies, while trailing far behind are the transit, school and college cops.
There are good ideas whose time has come, but the idea that officers from the police agency closest to a call within the City of Houston will conduct the investigation is not one of them. God forbid if that should ever come to pass!
A VALUABLE LESSON FOR HIGH SCHOOLERS AND COLLEGE STUDENTS
The Amanda Knox murder case serves as a valuable lesson for high schoolers and college students: IRRESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR CAN HAVE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES!
An Italian court has just convicted the American college student who was studying in Italy of murder and some related charges, sentencing Knox to 26 years in prison. Whether you believe her family, friends and some American legal experts that Knox was convicted absent of any creditable evidence because the judges and jury did not have the courage to go against public opinion which had been poisoned by a demonizing media blitz, or if you agree with other American legal experts that there was enough scientific and circumstantial evidence to prove she was a murderer, the bottom line is that she set herself up for a hard fall.
The murder of her room mate appears to have been drug induced, in this case by Marijuana, that “innocuous” weed which its proponents claim is less harmful than alcohol. Knox’s alleged one-night sexual “hook-ups” with many different male partners also appeared to have played a part in this case.
Whether Knox actually committed the murder or not is really not the point here. High schoolers and college students apparently do not think about the unintended consequences that can arise from the use of illicit drugs and from the current practice of obtaining sexual gratification through frequent hook-ups, affairs that are absent of any romantic feelings. The Knox case should serve as a good example of why high schoolers and college students would be wise to put an end to irresponsible behavior.
An Italian court has just convicted the American college student who was studying in Italy of murder and some related charges, sentencing Knox to 26 years in prison. Whether you believe her family, friends and some American legal experts that Knox was convicted absent of any creditable evidence because the judges and jury did not have the courage to go against public opinion which had been poisoned by a demonizing media blitz, or if you agree with other American legal experts that there was enough scientific and circumstantial evidence to prove she was a murderer, the bottom line is that she set herself up for a hard fall.
The murder of her room mate appears to have been drug induced, in this case by Marijuana, that “innocuous” weed which its proponents claim is less harmful than alcohol. Knox’s alleged one-night sexual “hook-ups” with many different male partners also appeared to have played a part in this case.
Whether Knox actually committed the murder or not is really not the point here. High schoolers and college students apparently do not think about the unintended consequences that can arise from the use of illicit drugs and from the current practice of obtaining sexual gratification through frequent hook-ups, affairs that are absent of any romantic feelings. The Knox case should serve as a good example of why high schoolers and college students would be wise to put an end to irresponsible behavior.
Friday, December 04, 2009
AMBUSHES CRY OUT FOR KEEPING THE DEATH PENALTY (2)
THE WAR ON COPS
by Michelle Malkin
Townhall.com
December 4, 2009
The left's police-hating chickens are coming home to roost. While partisan liberals have gone out of their way to blame conservative media and the Tea Party movement for creating a "climate of hate," they are silent on the cultural and literal war on cops that has raged for decades -- and escalated tragically this year.
The total number of law enforcement officers shot and killed this year is up 19 percent over last year, according to the Christian Science Monitor. More officers have died in ambush incidents this year than in any other since 2000.
The Lakewood, Wash., massacre on Thanksgiving weekend claimed the lives of four dedicated officers getting ready for work at a coffee shop Sunday morning. Maurice Clemmons -- the violent career thug who received clemency from former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee and benefited from fatal systemic lapses in the criminal justice system -- had many other enablers.
Clemmons had told numerous friends and family members to "watch the TV" before the massacre because he was going to "kill a bunch of cops." The witnesses did worse than nothing. Several have been arrested for actively aiding and abetting Clemmons -- with shelter, food, money and medical aid -- before he was discovered in Seattle early Tuesday morning and shot after threatening a patrol officer investigating Clemmons' stolen vehicle.
A militant online group called the National Black Foot Soldier Network celebrated Clemmons as a "Crowned BOW (Black on White) Martyr" and dubbed the Lakewood ambush a "preemptive strike on terrorists." It wasn't the only chilling propaganda cheering black-on-white police murders in the Pacific Northwest this year.
Just three weeks before the Lakewood massacre, the region endured another police attack. Suspect Christopher Monfort was arrested last month in the targeted shooting death of Seattle Police Department Officer Timothy Brenton and the wounding of his partner Britt Sweeney. Monfort had written diatribes against law enforcement, harping against white policemen.
The leader of a Seattle hip-hop/punk band commemorated the assassination with a T-shirt depicting Monfort's face splattered with blood and overlaid with a Seattle Police Department badge under the slogan "Deliver Us From Evil." The other side of the shirt read, "Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamp."
From where does the deadened and deadly callousness toward the thin blue line come?
How about years of cop-bashing rap from N.W.A.'s "F**k tha Police" and Ice-T's "Cop Killer" to Dead Prez's "Police State" ("I throw a Molotov cocktail at the precinct") and The Game's "911 is a Joke" (I ought to shoot 51 officers for the 51 times that boy was shot in New York")?
Try the glamorization of poisonous anti-police domestic terrorist groups like the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers. Add in the mainstreaming of anti-police demagogues Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (whose ex-wife and daughter were arrested last week after verbally abusing a Harlem cop and resisting arrest after running a red light). And toss in the global glorification of Death Row cop-killers Stanley "Tookie" Williams and Mumia Abu-Jamal by the Hollywood elite.
It is, in my mind, no coincidence that another of 2009's bloodiest multiple-police shootings took place in Oakland -- a hotbed of black nationalism/Free Mumia radicalism that gave us the likes of Angela Davis, Huey Newton and Obama green jobs czar turned liberal think-tank fellow Van Jones (whose "creative" activism and "energy" in the Bay Area won senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett's heart). Four Oakland officers went down and one was injured when a convicted felon ambushed them during a routine traffic stop. Nearly 20,000 law enforcement officers and supporters from around the country filled a memorial event for the fallen.
President Obama -- Chicago pal of police-targeting Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers and the convener of the national beer summit to indulge his race-baiting, police-bashing Harvard professor friend Henry Louis Gates -- did not attend the service.
by Michelle Malkin
Townhall.com
December 4, 2009
The left's police-hating chickens are coming home to roost. While partisan liberals have gone out of their way to blame conservative media and the Tea Party movement for creating a "climate of hate," they are silent on the cultural and literal war on cops that has raged for decades -- and escalated tragically this year.
The total number of law enforcement officers shot and killed this year is up 19 percent over last year, according to the Christian Science Monitor. More officers have died in ambush incidents this year than in any other since 2000.
The Lakewood, Wash., massacre on Thanksgiving weekend claimed the lives of four dedicated officers getting ready for work at a coffee shop Sunday morning. Maurice Clemmons -- the violent career thug who received clemency from former Arkansas GOP Gov. Mike Huckabee and benefited from fatal systemic lapses in the criminal justice system -- had many other enablers.
Clemmons had told numerous friends and family members to "watch the TV" before the massacre because he was going to "kill a bunch of cops." The witnesses did worse than nothing. Several have been arrested for actively aiding and abetting Clemmons -- with shelter, food, money and medical aid -- before he was discovered in Seattle early Tuesday morning and shot after threatening a patrol officer investigating Clemmons' stolen vehicle.
A militant online group called the National Black Foot Soldier Network celebrated Clemmons as a "Crowned BOW (Black on White) Martyr" and dubbed the Lakewood ambush a "preemptive strike on terrorists." It wasn't the only chilling propaganda cheering black-on-white police murders in the Pacific Northwest this year.
Just three weeks before the Lakewood massacre, the region endured another police attack. Suspect Christopher Monfort was arrested last month in the targeted shooting death of Seattle Police Department Officer Timothy Brenton and the wounding of his partner Britt Sweeney. Monfort had written diatribes against law enforcement, harping against white policemen.
The leader of a Seattle hip-hop/punk band commemorated the assassination with a T-shirt depicting Monfort's face splattered with blood and overlaid with a Seattle Police Department badge under the slogan "Deliver Us From Evil." The other side of the shirt read, "Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamp."
From where does the deadened and deadly callousness toward the thin blue line come?
How about years of cop-bashing rap from N.W.A.'s "F**k tha Police" and Ice-T's "Cop Killer" to Dead Prez's "Police State" ("I throw a Molotov cocktail at the precinct") and The Game's "911 is a Joke" (I ought to shoot 51 officers for the 51 times that boy was shot in New York")?
Try the glamorization of poisonous anti-police domestic terrorist groups like the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers. Add in the mainstreaming of anti-police demagogues Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (whose ex-wife and daughter were arrested last week after verbally abusing a Harlem cop and resisting arrest after running a red light). And toss in the global glorification of Death Row cop-killers Stanley "Tookie" Williams and Mumia Abu-Jamal by the Hollywood elite.
It is, in my mind, no coincidence that another of 2009's bloodiest multiple-police shootings took place in Oakland -- a hotbed of black nationalism/Free Mumia radicalism that gave us the likes of Angela Davis, Huey Newton and Obama green jobs czar turned liberal think-tank fellow Van Jones (whose "creative" activism and "energy" in the Bay Area won senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett's heart). Four Oakland officers went down and one was injured when a convicted felon ambushed them during a routine traffic stop. Nearly 20,000 law enforcement officers and supporters from around the country filled a memorial event for the fallen.
President Obama -- Chicago pal of police-targeting Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers and the convener of the national beer summit to indulge his race-baiting, police-bashing Harvard professor friend Henry Louis Gates -- did not attend the service.
A GOOD FRIEND SPEAKS HIS MIND (2)
Here are some more words of wisdom from ‘Lee’, a former student of mine, who is a Houston police SWAT team sergeant and who recently served a tour of duty with the Army in Iraq.
To All:
As for Mr. Obama’s plan for Afghanistan, I saw a blog earlier today that said ‘no one who has ever won a war has ever announced in advance when they plan to stop fighting.’
Will someone please tell me why we still have troops in Germany, Japan, Korea, and the Balkans? Aren’t we way past 18 months in all of those venues? If Afghanistan is, as Mr. Obama so eloquently put it “the epicenter of radical terrorism,” why wouldn’t we have an open-ended commitment to ensure that once secured, it remains that way?
And let me be very clear on my statement regarding the situation in Iraq. The war is not won there. The country has not been stabilized, the Iraqis are not ready nor committed to their own security or even the rule of law. We are not their friends and though many pretend to be ours, they are not. But politicians are running the fight there and it has become one-sided – the insurgents against us and we can’t fight back. It is a sad day when a soldier is maimed or killed to make sure there are fresh Ding Dongs in the PX.
War is the ugliest of human endeavors. It should, without exception, be the absolute final course of action. By its very nature it is a thing to be sorely dreaded. We should never forget though, that it has never solved anything - except tyranny, slavery, Nazism, and genocide. And, because of that, when engaged in, it should be done, not half-heartedly or with temerity, but with nothing but victory as its goal.
Lee
To All:
As for Mr. Obama’s plan for Afghanistan, I saw a blog earlier today that said ‘no one who has ever won a war has ever announced in advance when they plan to stop fighting.’
Will someone please tell me why we still have troops in Germany, Japan, Korea, and the Balkans? Aren’t we way past 18 months in all of those venues? If Afghanistan is, as Mr. Obama so eloquently put it “the epicenter of radical terrorism,” why wouldn’t we have an open-ended commitment to ensure that once secured, it remains that way?
And let me be very clear on my statement regarding the situation in Iraq. The war is not won there. The country has not been stabilized, the Iraqis are not ready nor committed to their own security or even the rule of law. We are not their friends and though many pretend to be ours, they are not. But politicians are running the fight there and it has become one-sided – the insurgents against us and we can’t fight back. It is a sad day when a soldier is maimed or killed to make sure there are fresh Ding Dongs in the PX.
War is the ugliest of human endeavors. It should, without exception, be the absolute final course of action. By its very nature it is a thing to be sorely dreaded. We should never forget though, that it has never solved anything - except tyranny, slavery, Nazism, and genocide. And, because of that, when engaged in, it should be done, not half-heartedly or with temerity, but with nothing but victory as its goal.
Lee
Thursday, December 03, 2009
STEVEN SEAGAL LAWMAN
Steven Seagal has always been one of my favorite action stars. I watched his new show last night on A&E and was surprised at how many years he had been volunteering his services to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Department, and doing so without reaping any publicity. Although now somewhat pudgy, he’s the real deal. I enjoyed the show and was amazed as I watched his awesome shooting skills. If you like cop reality shows I recommend you watch it.
NEW REALITY SHOW STARS STEVEN SEAGAL AND LOUISIANA DEPUTIES
By Gary Strauss
USA Today
December 3, 2009
On the big screen, he has been Out for Justice, Under Siege and Above the Law. Now, the action star is the law on A&E channel's Steven Seagal Lawman.
Seagal has quietly served as an unpaid reserve deputy in Louisiana's Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office since the mid-'80s, when he befriended the late Sheriff Harry Lee. But Seagal's law enforcement career is no longer under the radar.
Seagal, who is juggling a resurgent film career and wrapping up his second blues album (he plays guitar and sings), agreed to have his sheriff's exploits documented to highlight the plight of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and support local law enforcement.
"I'm nervous about the way things may be interpreted; I don't want people to think I'm doing this for attention or to benefit me," says Seagal, who co-stars with Robert De Niro in the Robert Rodriguez film Machete next year. "I just hope this gives a shot to New Orleans and the police who need help. They need a voice for the fine work they're doing."
Seagal, 58, who has a second home in bayou country, is a fully commissioned deputy and spends several months a year in Louisiana. While on the force, he usually works five-day shifts.
Jefferson Parish Col. John Fortunato, who partners with Seagal on the 13-episode series, says Lawman captures deputies in a high-crime arena -- interrogating suspects, breaking up fights, chasing bad guys and making arrests.
"It just so happens that Steven Seagal is a movie star, but this is not made for TV, where there are second takes or things staged," Fortunato says. "He's out patrolling areas where there's a considerable amount of crime. This is for real."
Longtime fans are familiar with Seagal's martial-arts exploits, but Lawman demonstrates Seagal's marksmanship. In tonight's episode, while providing shooting tips, he nonchalantly clips the top off a Q-tip and a wooden match from a distance of about 15 feet. "Usually, I can make the match light," Seagal says. "But it was wet out that day."
Seagal also assists with martial-arts training and community outreach. But he says he prefers night patrols, riding shotgun in squad cars: "I love getting out on the streets and helping people."
Suspects and bystanders alike are often surprised to find Seagal along with similarly armed, bulletproof-vested deputies. "When we're in the middle of something, jumping people, I'll ignore that," Seagal says. "But the real bad guys don't give a (darn) who you are."
Still, some observers are starstruck. "We were at one home prevalent for drug activity, and we're in the process of arresting people," Fortunato says. "Some (bystanders) were more interested in autographs than they were in their loved ones getting carted off to jail."
Seagal's film career has been indelibly marked by a tough-guy, in-your-face persona. But real police work, Seagal says, involves more diplomacy that muscle. "You try to be a friend instead of an enforcer," he says. "On my team, I make sure there are good guys who don't want trouble, but are willing and able to deal with it if they have to."
A&E programming exec Robert Sharenow says Seagal's sheriff's role "screamed out to be documented."
"When we heard about his police work, it was a no-brainer," Sharenow says. "This is the real thing. He's patrolling one of the most dangerous areas of the country. But he isn't out there to kick butt, grandstand or show off. He's a peace officer, looking to protect people."
NEW REALITY SHOW STARS STEVEN SEAGAL AND LOUISIANA DEPUTIES
By Gary Strauss
USA Today
December 3, 2009
On the big screen, he has been Out for Justice, Under Siege and Above the Law. Now, the action star is the law on A&E channel's Steven Seagal Lawman.
Seagal has quietly served as an unpaid reserve deputy in Louisiana's Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office since the mid-'80s, when he befriended the late Sheriff Harry Lee. But Seagal's law enforcement career is no longer under the radar.
Seagal, who is juggling a resurgent film career and wrapping up his second blues album (he plays guitar and sings), agreed to have his sheriff's exploits documented to highlight the plight of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and support local law enforcement.
"I'm nervous about the way things may be interpreted; I don't want people to think I'm doing this for attention or to benefit me," says Seagal, who co-stars with Robert De Niro in the Robert Rodriguez film Machete next year. "I just hope this gives a shot to New Orleans and the police who need help. They need a voice for the fine work they're doing."
Seagal, 58, who has a second home in bayou country, is a fully commissioned deputy and spends several months a year in Louisiana. While on the force, he usually works five-day shifts.
Jefferson Parish Col. John Fortunato, who partners with Seagal on the 13-episode series, says Lawman captures deputies in a high-crime arena -- interrogating suspects, breaking up fights, chasing bad guys and making arrests.
"It just so happens that Steven Seagal is a movie star, but this is not made for TV, where there are second takes or things staged," Fortunato says. "He's out patrolling areas where there's a considerable amount of crime. This is for real."
Longtime fans are familiar with Seagal's martial-arts exploits, but Lawman demonstrates Seagal's marksmanship. In tonight's episode, while providing shooting tips, he nonchalantly clips the top off a Q-tip and a wooden match from a distance of about 15 feet. "Usually, I can make the match light," Seagal says. "But it was wet out that day."
Seagal also assists with martial-arts training and community outreach. But he says he prefers night patrols, riding shotgun in squad cars: "I love getting out on the streets and helping people."
Suspects and bystanders alike are often surprised to find Seagal along with similarly armed, bulletproof-vested deputies. "When we're in the middle of something, jumping people, I'll ignore that," Seagal says. "But the real bad guys don't give a (darn) who you are."
Still, some observers are starstruck. "We were at one home prevalent for drug activity, and we're in the process of arresting people," Fortunato says. "Some (bystanders) were more interested in autographs than they were in their loved ones getting carted off to jail."
Seagal's film career has been indelibly marked by a tough-guy, in-your-face persona. But real police work, Seagal says, involves more diplomacy that muscle. "You try to be a friend instead of an enforcer," he says. "On my team, I make sure there are good guys who don't want trouble, but are willing and able to deal with it if they have to."
A&E programming exec Robert Sharenow says Seagal's sheriff's role "screamed out to be documented."
"When we heard about his police work, it was a no-brainer," Sharenow says. "This is the real thing. He's patrolling one of the most dangerous areas of the country. But he isn't out there to kick butt, grandstand or show off. He's a peace officer, looking to protect people."
OBAMA'S FLAWED MIDEAST PEACE PLAN
Writing about the president's failed diplomacy with the Arab world, Fouad Ajami, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, had this to say about Obama’s Mideast peace plan:
Nor was he swayed by the fate of so many “peace plans” that have been floated over so many decades to resolve the fight between Arab and Jew over the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. Where George W. Bush offered the Palestinians the gift of clarity—statehood but only after the renunciation of terror and the break with maximalism—Mr. Obama signaled a return to the dead ways of the past: a peace process where America itself is broker and arbiter.
The Obama diplomacy had made a settlement freeze its starting point, when this was precisely the wrong place to begin. Israel has given up settlements before at the altar of peace—recall the historical accommodation with Egypt a quarter century ago. The right course would have set the question of settlements aside as it took up the broader challenge of radicalism in the region—the menace and swagger of Iran, the arsenal of Hamas and Hezbollah, the refusal of the Arab order of power to embrace in broad daylight the cause of peace with Israel.
Nor was he swayed by the fate of so many “peace plans” that have been floated over so many decades to resolve the fight between Arab and Jew over the land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean. Where George W. Bush offered the Palestinians the gift of clarity—statehood but only after the renunciation of terror and the break with maximalism—Mr. Obama signaled a return to the dead ways of the past: a peace process where America itself is broker and arbiter.
The Obama diplomacy had made a settlement freeze its starting point, when this was precisely the wrong place to begin. Israel has given up settlements before at the altar of peace—recall the historical accommodation with Egypt a quarter century ago. The right course would have set the question of settlements aside as it took up the broader challenge of radicalism in the region—the menace and swagger of Iran, the arsenal of Hamas and Hezbollah, the refusal of the Arab order of power to embrace in broad daylight the cause of peace with Israel.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
SCRATCH, WHACK, TAKE THAT YOU CHEATING .......... (2)
Reports have been circulating that Tiger Woods had his accident while trying to escape the wrath of his wife who had scratched up his face and went after him with a golf club during a fight over his alleged cheating ways. Despite his denials, it looks more and more as though Tiger has been playing around with several women when he was not playing golf.
Jaimee Grubbs, one of those women, has come forth claiming she has been intimately involved with Woods for three years. Grubbs, a Los Angeles cocktail waitress, released the following voicemail which she said Woods had sent her two nights before he had his accident:
"Hey, it's, uh, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favour. Um, can you please, uh, take your name off your phone. My wife went through my phone. And, uh, may be calling you. If you can, please take your name off that and, um, and what do you call it just have it as a number on the voicemail, just have it as your telephone number. That's it, OK. You gotta do this for me. Huge. Quickly. All right. Bye."
Grubbs has also released more than 300 text messages she received from Woods, one beginning “I will wear you out…” She told the press, “I loved how we got along. But I knew, in the back of my mind, there could never be just us. There would always be the wife, or somebody else.”
Woods has apologized for the hurt his "transgressions" have caused his family. To show that everything at home is now hunky-dory again, Tiger’s publicist released this photo:
Jaimee Grubbs, one of those women, has come forth claiming she has been intimately involved with Woods for three years. Grubbs, a Los Angeles cocktail waitress, released the following voicemail which she said Woods had sent her two nights before he had his accident:
"Hey, it's, uh, it's Tiger. I need you to do me a huge favour. Um, can you please, uh, take your name off your phone. My wife went through my phone. And, uh, may be calling you. If you can, please take your name off that and, um, and what do you call it just have it as a number on the voicemail, just have it as your telephone number. That's it, OK. You gotta do this for me. Huge. Quickly. All right. Bye."
Grubbs has also released more than 300 text messages she received from Woods, one beginning “I will wear you out…” She told the press, “I loved how we got along. But I knew, in the back of my mind, there could never be just us. There would always be the wife, or somebody else.”
Woods has apologized for the hurt his "transgressions" have caused his family. To show that everything at home is now hunky-dory again, Tiger’s publicist released this photo:
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