Mob Opinion Driven Justice Begats Injustice

I guess what keeps me shouting is that I don't hear anything but silence on important issues, except from the Mob. The Mob, it seems, even wants to run our courts. In this case, Ghailani, a terrorist, was convicted of conspiring in one or both of the two simultaneous 1998 American Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Nairobi, Africa. He was convicted in a Federal Court instead of a Military Commission. And, the Mob is upset, as this story, A Terrorist Gets What He Deserves - NYTimes.com, says.

The fact is that a Federal Court has more laws that it can try a person for, such as criminal laws like hijacking, murder to a number of degrees, espionage, subversion, kidnapping, etc., while a Military Commission can only apply laws related to military law, such as treason on the battle field, hostile insurgency, military action against civilians, torture of war prisoners, etc. As a general rule, both the civilian court and military court should conduct court procedures the same. In one case, a civilian jury will decide guilt or innocence and perhaps punishment, and in the other a panel of three, five or seven military officers will act as a jury. In both cases, the intent is to base the trial and innocence or guilt on fact and evidence, not opinion or gut feeling or hyped media noise. In both cases, evidence obtained by coercion, such as by torture, is usually thrown out because there is no valid way of determining whether the evidence is the truth or not. Read the article. It cites other Military Commission cases in which evidence was tossed out because of the non-traditional manner in the way it was obtained, i.e., coercion.

So, why is the Mob upset. It is upset because Ghailani didn't get "the max." The jury did not convict on 284 counts. The jury convicted on only one count; conspiracy. I am much more pleased and assured that justice was served when I hear that a jury used discretion in its convictions than I am when I hear that a jury convicted on everything thrown at it or that a jury agreed totally with all the hype in media venting by some politician, such as Senator McConnell. McConnell wasn't on the jury. He didn't hear the facts and evidence and testimony. He knows nothing. He also, apparently, doesn't trust our legal system. Have to wonder why he is a Senator, one of a hundred that passes our laws.

Everyday we hear of cases where public opinion convicted a suspect and later we hear of scientific evidence, based on updated scientific forensic methods, that proves innocence. Everyday we hear that public opinion, prosecutors, courts and governors who will not acknowledge the new forensic evidence because of some gut-feeling based opinion. I wrote about a Texas case before Governor Perry was reelected in which new, advanced scientific evidence gave every indication that the suspect, Todd Willingham, was innocent. But, the whole town, Willingham's wife, and Governor Perry said, "he's a bad man," so Texas executed him.

I'm also reminded of the California conviction and death sentence of Scott Peterson for murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn child. That case was plastered on every newscast for weeks and Nancy Grace prosecuted him on her show for no other reason than he was a liar. The trial was held in San Mateo, only twenty miles from my house, and I saw and heard every bit of evidence in the trial every day in minute detail with scurrilous convicting commentary. "He's a liar!" they yelled. "He's an adulterer!" they said. Well, he was all of that, and a foolish, hallucinating idiot to boot because he couldn't keep his mouth shut in spite of his attorney's advice and he concocted the tallest tales. But, a murderer? By the end of the trial, and after all of the evidence was paraded on every newscast, radio and television, the police admitted that there was not one iota of forensic evidence that actually showed that he murdered his wife. Not one drop of blood, not a sign of a fight, not a sign of dismembering his wife as she was found, not one timeline that indicated he might have done it. There was a lot of circumstantial "damning" evidence created by Scott himself, but the only forensic evidence was a single hair found on a pair of pliers in the family boat. His conviction was totally based on "theory." I have doubts to this day whether he really did it. After his trial, there was another pregnant woman found, dismembered as Laci was, in the Bay as Laci was. The second woman's murder never made the news like Laci's did. As far as I know, the second killer was never found, but it was eerily similar to Laci's murder.

I might have been able to justify in my mind that Scott Peterson killed his wife, but I'm not sure I could have been so convinced to vote to put him to death. I was really troubled by public display and mob behavior. Public opinion and Scott's behavior convicted him. But, in spite of Scott's behavior, it wouldn't surprise me if some day we learn through new evidence that he didn't do it.

When the Mob runs our courts, we can't trust our legal system. In fact, we can't trust anything.

Dave

When the Fox Persuade Us that Our Hen House is His

How many Foxes are headed toward our hen house? A legion. I am stunned that Republicans appear to be making a comeback after the destruction they've caused. Karl Rove, Dick Army, Fox News, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, the Koch Brothers, Rush Limbaugh, the Tea Party, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Rupert Murdoch, Goldman Sachs, all and more are headed our way and they are all slick, silky-tongued Foxes. They have all of the platitudes on the tip of their tongues in defiance of the historical proof on the error of their ways. The Foxes only tell you what they want you to hear. They only teach you want they want you to know. And, before you know it, your hen house is theirs.

A good example is Texas Governor Rick Perry. I'm stunned that Governor Rick Perry was still leading the polls over Houston Mayor Bill White at the end of September. You would think that a man who allowed an innocent man to be executed, because he was "bad man," according to Perry, would slink out of sight. Want to know why Perry called Todd Willingham a bad man? Because his last words cursed his ex-wife - not because Willingham was guilty. In fact, overwhelming scientific, forensic evidence discovered in the last few weeks before the execution proved that Willingham was an innocent man - he did NOT start the fire that killed his children. The fire was NOT arson. The fire was caused by an accidental electrical short. But, in those last few days his ex-wife changed her mind and her testimony and claimed, falsely, that Willingham confessed to her that he had set the fire. She lied - he did not confess to her. But, it was enough to for Governor Perry to ignore Willingham's request for a delay until the new evidence could be heard in court. Perry let Willingham die in the death chamber. Is it any wonder that Willingham's last words cursed his ex-wife when she came to the window to look at him strapped to the death chamber table? Here is the story, Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty : The New Yorker.

And, so, the word got out that Texas put an innocent man to death, again, and a stink arose and Perry's excuse was, "he was a bad man." All of the so-called conservatives and the Republican Party were on Perry's side and the so-called liberals were outraged. I say "so-called" because the conservatives and the GOP were really not very conservative and the liberals were the ones trying to conserve the institutions (real conservatives "conserve" institutions) of "innocent before proven guilty," emphasis on "proven," and the idea of "due process and protection against false charges" which had not happened for Willingham before he died. In reality, the ones raising the stink were the true conservatives. So, where were all of those who shout about freedom and Tea Party liberty and the Constitution? They were silent. Or they "knew" he was guilty - of something - and they gave Perry a pat on the back. "Good riddance," they said. There are apparently more so-called freedom and Tea Party lovers in Texas than those who really want freedom and liberty and Constitutional rights. All of the yelping Foxes have convinced Texans that Perry is the "chosen one," and Perry is still ahead in the polls. Mind boggling!

I'd say that the Foxes have taken over Texas' hen house, and its statehouse. I have no problem it if wants to secede from the union. Good riddance. But, the disease is spreading like wildfire. Big corporate spending is buying the United States' hen house, and we're going to regret it. We are going to follow Britain; tax cuts for the rich and corporations, deep budget cuts that jerk the rug out from under the poor and middle class, and in the end - a huge disastrous transfer of money, the last cent they have, from the middle class to the rich - the top twenty percent will own everything.

The fact is that history has proven, over and over again, that when so few people, 20% of the population, own 80% or more (currently 83% in the U.S.) of the economy, the economy falls into a depression. If we have learned from history, then we will have to tax the rich and reduce taxes for the middle class and the poor. That redistributes the wealth to the people who will buy something with it. If you don't believe that, then ask yourself a few questions. Who can buy more televisions? Twenty-percent of the population? Or 80% percent of the population? The answer is 80% can buy more. Who can buy more tubes of toothpaste? 20%? or 80%? The answer is 80%. The answer is ALWAYS 80%!

Would you rather listen to all of the cute sayings, those platitudes, of the GOP, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Fox and Friends? Or would you rather listen and learn from history? When are you going to speak up? When are you going to share the truth? When are you going to vote? If you don't, then we are done - we lose everything, from freedom, liberty and the Constitution to the last pennies in our pockets. We're sunk.

Dave