The Reports of My Death......

It’s ben a while since I posted anything here. Much has happened, and I will attempt to discuss as much as I can here. Sadly, much of it is political, so, I will be breaking my self-imposed ban on political discussion here.

First - the Jena 6. The entire situation is FUBAR. If you don’t know what it means, just remember that it’s German, then go watch Saving Private Ryan. You’ll get it then. Anyway, Louisiana is becoming the laughing stock of the world, again. It started out with a tree on school grounds that was a prominent white student hang out. Two things happened: 1) a black student asked if it was O.K. for blacks to sit under the tree; 2) a pep rally was held wherein effigies of the opposing team were hanged from the tree by nooses (this part is not being covered by, as Rush would say, the Drive-By Media). Shortly after this, the nooses remained, sans the effigies, and the black students were taunted by the white students. Then, six black students beat a white student severely. Here is the problem: they were charged as adults with attempted murder, among other things, the white students were just suspended from school. The first trial was held, and an all white jury, with a white DA, and a white judge, convicted the student, who was tried as an adult (having had a prior criminal record). This, of course, raised the hackles of the Dynamic Duo of Race Baiting - the Reverands Jesse and Al. So, they organized protests, marches, and media coverage.

Here is my take on it: In a recent press conference, the DA stated that there was nothing he could charge the white students with, so he chose not to prosecute them. That is a crock of shit. They could at least be charged with disturbing the peace, and, after this week’s media circus, inciting a riot. And, since those are crimes, they could be tagged with the "hate crime" additur. That, at least, would be something. There was nothing. Now, while attempted murder may be a bit much to charge the black students with, six of them beat up one other student. That, by Louisiana law, qualifies as a "gang attack", and would get that multiplier, though, it still only really amounts to assault and battery, aggravated if a weapon was used. Moving on to the trial, trying someone as a child or adult is a decision for the DA, and, on appeal, the Appeals court found that the one defendant tried so far should not have been tried as an adult. Additionally, I want to know who the defense attorney was that let the jury be selected as all white. Surely there were some blacks selected in that jury pool. I think it is a failure on the part of that attorney to properly pick the jury, this equaling "ineffective assistance of counsel". That may have been one of his trial strategies all along. It’s not unheard of to give an automatic out for the appeals court, but it does open up the guy to malpractice and/or a bar complaint for not doing his job properly, if that was his strategy. Compound things by having a massive march on the town, with the requisite media invasion. The entire town was practically shut down yesterday as a result. Perhaps that was the point of the marchers, so that more attention was drawn to their cause. Now, as to my comments about Jesse and Al - they will always be the first to scream racism from the highest mountain top, but, when proven wrong in a situation, they will never admit they were wrong (see Duke Lacrosse Team Rape Case - white students cleared well after the election, race made issue, mostly so DA there could win the election in a 50/50 population area). Every time that racism is alleged, whether right or wrong, the big part of Dr. King’s plan - a color blind society - is ignored. Yes, injustice is injustice. I would be saying the same thing if colors were reversed here, or other colors were involved. And that is the crux of y argument - what happened to the Jena 6 should not have happened to anyone, of any race, sex, religion, color, whatever, anytime, anyplace, and certainly not in America.

Second - Iraq war and the MoveOn.Org ad. What happened: this organization placed an ad in the New York Times, at a severely marked down rate, that insulted General Petraeus (sp?) and belittled our military because President Bush will not surrender in Iraq. Every conservative that heard about this is completely up in arms about it. After several days, liberals, and Democrats in particular, finally began to distance themselves only slightly from the ad and the organization. The Senate voted 72 to something condemning the ad. Guilliani (sp?) wanted to, and succeeded in taking out an opposition ad, at the same rate (though he had to fight them for it). Media feeding frenzy number two ensues, as both sides battle fiercely on the airwaves for supremacy on the issue.

Here’s my take on this one: MoveOn has the right to say what they want. First Amendment. However, they need to understand that not everyone will agree with them, and be prepared to deal with consequences of their actions. Additionally, in my experience, and as can be seen when watching the news or reading the paper lately, liberals have what appears to be a tendency to preach "political correctness" and non-offensive speech as often as possible. This, in my opinion, puts a limit on what can be said, therefore limiting free speech. It is just as offensive to my sensibilities as many conservatives who say that you have no right to bad mouth the country or the President. That, too, is a crock of shit. Our country was founded on the principle that we can say things like that - we put it in the Constitution because England would not let us do that. That is the same reason we have freedoms of the press, religion, and others. The problem as I see it, is that people are not willing to have open, educated discourse on the subject, listen to the opinions of others, and, if unable to come to a reasonable agreement between the two opinions, agree to disagree. It is PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE that people may not agree on something. In terms of speaking about it, I have a right to say what I want, but I also have a RESPONSIBILITY to take into account other’s feelings and opinions, and try to be sensible in expressing my thoughts. I expect the same from others, but I just don’t get it all that often, and certainly not from watching the news.

As an aside, and a personal peeve related to this issue, the Office of the President of the United States should be respected. Whether you like the guy, voted for him, think he’s an asshole, or whatever. He’s still the President, and should be accorded the dignity of that office. Even though I personally despise the Clintons, Bill was President, and, at least in writing, I respect that fact, and try to address him with proper dignity (capitalizing "president", generally stating "President Clinton" or "during the Clinton Presidency" or something similar). I’d just like the same from the media about President Bush. All I keep seeing is after one mention that he’s the President, they just say "Mr. Bush". That ought to stop. I did not used to be this way. I seem to remember it only starting around 2000.

Third - Hurricanes and tropical storms. This one has me hopping mad. Especially given the state of current affairs and recent happenings in our area. There is a small disturbance that was in the Atlantic, that crossed over Florida, and was sitting there for a couple days without doing much, just meandering slowly our way. Since the media is into "Horrorcanes" instead of actually reporting the news, we have been inundated with "watch out!". I’m kinda tired of it. I’ve looked at the damn thing, it’s just going to be rain and some wind. Granted, we still have a large population in FEMA trailers, and they have to be careful when someone farts in their general direction. However, the media plays it up for ratings, instead of calmly reporting the facts, and letting people decide what they need to do, and then do it. The Governor has declared a state of emergency, and we have been issued just about every warning imaginable. We live in Panic Town, USA. Yippee! People just have no idea how to be prepared and stay that way, having plans made, ready to enact, then sit back and wait to see if they need to kick them in. Am I the only sane one down here anymore????

OK, so, I have gone on a few rants here. I expect that if anyone actually reads this thing, I’ll likely garner some feedback. But hey, that’s the nature of opinions, folks. Freedom of speech allows us to state things we want to say. And, I think I have been about as judicious as I can be, and state my opinions in such a way as to make it clear that they are opinions. I just remind my readers (if there are any) of what Voltaire one said, "I may not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

K