THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE NATION FEARED “MURDER,INC.”

NOW THERE IS THE TIME FOR REAL FEAR---IN A WORLD GONE MAD, A WORLD THAT SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR ALLOWING CHILD ABUSE AND MURDER TO CONTINUE UNABATED.

                   July 31, 2009    by Fred Kelly Grant

 In the 1930s the infamous Murder, Inc. was formed by gangsters for the purpose only of wiping out informants and competitors within the syndicate. The name Murder, Inc. was given to the group by the Press.  As the leaders of families and sub-families of the syndicate began to suffer from information given out to law enforcement officers, and as their positions of authority began to weaken from information given to their competitors, they decided to form an organization of killers to eliminate the threats.  During a span of a decade and a half, 800 hits were reputedly attributed to the organized killers.  It took energetic young prosecutors like Thomas E. Dewey of New York to begin to put the group to rest.

And, the nation seemed to panic over the murders which had no impact on them at all, unless they were mob informants.

Today, there is a greater killng effort in place which does affect every living American.  We have mad, as in crazier and meaner than normal, people killing and maiming our children without end.  We have a criminal justice system that sits on its rear end, watching the carnage go by and talking about “if only we had enough funds”.  We have child care systems that are right ready to run into and meddle in some divorce situation in which the rumor of sex abuse is raised by one of the angry parents.  But a system that overlooks danger signs and negligently allows children to be subjected to murderers in waiting.

This National plague has no connection with the mob.  So, it is not dynamic and romantic enough to stir our imaginations.  We all want to read about a “hit”, but we don’t want to read about child abuse and murderes----its too depressing and horrible.

This plague is far worse than Murder, Inc. because it poses a danger to every living American, not just to mob informants. 

It is a danger to every church in America---every catholic, protestant, evangelical, jewish, muslin, Buddhist, church---because it is Satanic in its nature.  If you pay attention to the stories, most of the morons who kill children excuse their actions on the basis that “they heard voices telling them to do it”, or “Satan made me do it.”  This shows either a much larger presence of Satanic pleasure in mental disorders, or a Satanic spirit which allows the biggest con job psychologically in our history.

One of the best arguments I ever heard in a closing argument was said in a trial of a Satanic type killing in Nampa, Idaho.  A mentally disordered man, off his medications of course because he “didn’t like the way they made him feel” walked up to a car in which two handicapped people were folding newspapers for their delivery route by which they supplemented their disability incomes.  He claimed to be mentally disturbed, but he also claimed that he didn’t do the killing----one of the worst, most implausible combinations of defenses ever conceived.  In arguing to the jury, Richard L. Harris, then Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney said:  “So, the defendant tells you on the one hand that he did not actually and physically commit the murders, but even if he did, he should not be held responsible because he is mentally disturbed because he was off his medicine.  So, he says to you ‘I absolutely did not shoot these innocent people, but, on the other hand, even if I did and you find that I did, please excuse my bad manners.”

It is time that Americans GET MAD about the wholesale child abuse and murder that goes on and is allowed to continue by the system which as voters we control, or rather should control.

The most recent case that should get us boiling mad is right in Boise, Idaho.  For one week now, a little 8 year old boy has been missing.  Last week, his parents say, he may or may not have left home for a party at 9:30pm by himself, and he may have had one of two described sets of clothing.  They aren’t sure.  Good parenting so far?

It gets worse.  The little boy, Robert Manwill, was visiting his mother, Melissa Scott Jenkins, on a court ordered visitation.  Here is a woman who does not have custody of her son, gets to see him only on court visitations, and didn’t know where he was going at 9:30 at night or what he had on when he left.  Do you begin to wonder why the court ordered that this young innocent should have to be in her presence?

Well, add in this fact.  Melissa Scott Jenkins, missing Robert’s mother, is on probation for fracturing the skull of his infant half-brother by “striking the child’s head on a surface causing a fracture to the child’s skull.”  The incident occurred in October, 2008, and this past March she pleaded guilty.  Now get this, the Boise, Idaho court sentenced her to 29 DAYS OF WORK RELEASE, FINED $75.50 (for court costs no doubt) AND PUT ON PROBATION FOR TWO YEARS.

I kid you not!  That’s the sentence imposed.

The injured infant was taken from her custody; wonder when the infinitely wise state workers will allow her custody again, when the child has recovered enough to be able to withstand another skull fracture or worse?

And, the court and all the facilities of our state child protective agencies allowed her to see her 8 year old son on ‘court ordered’ visitations.

Preposterous.  And, if I hadn’t spent so many years inside the criminal justice system I would say unbelievable.

So, young Robert, was allowed by his murderous mother to roam somewhere unknown in clothes she is not quite sure of, to an unknown fate.

Where was the other adult supervisor in the home, you ask.  Where was the current Melissa Man?  Well, her boyfriend Daniell Edward Ehrlick was there too, but he doesn’t know where the boy was going or what he had on.  He is a winner worthy of bedding down the murderous Melissa.  A felon himself who has served penitentiary time, he has been banned by a court from ever being alone with Melissa’s 2 and ½ year old daughter during Melissa’s court ordered visitations.

So, begin to get this picture. Here is a murderous mother who broke the skull of her baby, doesn’t have custody of her 2 ½ year old daughter, is bedding down with a felon who is forbidden by court order from ever being alone with the daughter when she is visiting her mother.

These were the two custodial “adults” who let Robert walk out of their lives, or worse I fear.

Well, one would ask, where is the biological father of Robert and why would he even think of allowing visitation without spending every dime of his money on a good scrappy trial lawyer who would force feed a sappy judge until he or she saw the light.

Well, Robert Manwill does come off as the most normal looking of all the adults in young Robert’s short life.  But, he seems to have a propensity to women who like to hurt children.  In 1993, his wife Silke Fatima Manwill, quarreled with their 4 year old son Michael and STABBED HIM TO DEATH. 

She was charged with first degree murder, but again our “system” came to the rescue and allowed her to reduce the charge by pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter (one wonders if she might have made it with ‘involuntary’ if she had argued that the knife just slipped into the young boy’s chest). She served ten years in a federal prison for the murder of a child who never saw any of the life God had planned for him.  But, take heart, on her release she was placed on five years of supervised parole.

I am going to follow up on Silke’s case to see whether she claimed to have a mental disorder worsened by her refusing to take medication.  Would like to delve a little into the facts to determine why in the name of God one man can be attracted to bedding down two murderous women.

So, these are the adults in young Robert’s life.  Not very promising for his future?  But, more promising than what I fear has happened to him.

Last night around midnight, law officers searched his mother’s apartment, and one officer was seen carrying two bags of materials of some kind from the apartment.  The search was not connected to the skull fracture, because she already has done her 75 days of work release and no doubt paid her court costs for that one.

So, I fear greatly that we are nearing the discovery of Robert’s body, or at least the truth of how he met his death at the hands of a murderous mother and her felon boyfriend.

I hope I’m wrong.  I hope that some friend knew of Robert’s home situation and decided to give him a better life and is now hiding him.  If so, for God’s sake don’t give him up to the searchers.  Protect him as long as you can.  If he isn’t already dead, he will be before he reaches adulthood.

Meanwhile, the boy’s aunt has been named as the spokesman for the family---just like real important people.  She said “we are a joined family at this time in this crisis”  Now, there is a scary thought---this family “joined” could be even more dangerous.

And, another meanwhile---are there some judges today who even give a damn about what they have wrought: allowing a woman who tried to murder her baby be free on the streets with access to her 8 year old son; allowing her to have that son visit her in a home shared by a man who is forbidden to be alone with her 2 ½ year old daughter when she is allowed to visit; even allowing the 2 ½ year old to be in the house with a man who you know will not honor the “no time alone” restriction; allowing these children to be anywhere near a murderous mother who beds down a felon with obvious propensities toward very young girls.

A judge’s hand had to sign every order that has allowed these things to happen, whether they were divorce judgments or criminal dispositions.  A judge had to know what he/she was allowing to happen, or negligently and stupidly signed those orders without caring enough to find out the facts.

And, are there child protective workers today who give a damn as to why they haven’t acted more aggressively in protecting these children.

It’s the same old story all over the nation:  the woman in Salt Lake City who just this week beat her 7 year old nearly to death, leaving her in a coma with permanent brain damage; the woman in San Antonio who mutilated her baby with samurai swords and a steak knife and ate her toes and brain; the woman in Texas who severed the arms from her infant; the woman in Texas who drowned her five children because she was mentally disordered by not “having enough time to myself”; the woman in Texas who drowned her daughters and was found not guilty by reason of insanity because a psychiatrist said she didn’t “know it was wrong to drown her daughters.”

All of them will seek relief because of mental disorder.  In each case it appeared and will appear that they were on medication, but had quit taking it because they didn’t like the way it made them feel, and committed the crimes while off the medication.

Then, when a judge allows them to leave the mental facility as being safe to the community, one of the “stringent” conditions of probation is that they take their medication.   Right!  Take the same medication they were on before, which they quit taking because they didn’t like the way it made them feel, but now they’re going to take because the good judge said to.

What a remarkable system we have.  And, it will continue to turn-stile child killers until we do something about it.  Until we get mad enough to force legislators to do the hard work necessary to write a constitutionally sound statute that doesn’t allow a mental disorder to protect the killer to the extent of being free in a few months.

I am always amazed at how mental staffs “determine” that someone is now safe and will do no harm to the community.  The person is in custodial protection, someone is there to see to her every need, someone is there to give her the medicine and see that she takes it, someone is there to be sure that she has clothes and food and all the necessities of life, she doesn’t have the responsibilities of outside life.  So, suddenly she seems stable, and the doctors turn her loose back into the same environment which led her to murder the first time:  no one to take all the responsibility off her shoulders, no one to provide everything for her without any effort on her part, no one to force feed her the medication which keeps her stable.  And,then, surprise, surprise, she re-commits.

MADD, Mothers against Drunk Drivers,had a tremendous influence on the handling of drunk drivers in our court systems.  They started showing up for sentencings and trials, and judges started paying attention because of the voting bodies in the seats, and because of the news coverage which MADD members took care of.

People, if we don’t start the very same, local type of activism for our children, the judges will continue to do the easy thing so that they can get out of the courthouse to play golf, to go to the nearest “high brow” drinking hole, to go play ball, to do whatever miscreant judges do on half-days.  I’m not guessing about this.  I KNOW THIS FROM LONG YEARS OF WATCHING JUDGES WORK, WORKING WITH THEM AND IN FRONT OF THEM.  They will respond to nothing but political (or money) pressure or public pressure.

So, until enough people are Mad enough, to form an equivalent of MADD, young men like Robert will continue to be endangered.

Remarkable to me that we give more protection to endangered species of birds, snakes and plants under the endangered species act than we do to our children.  It is shameful.

AN “EAGLE” DIES WAY TO EARLY---AND ANOTHR SPORTS LEGEND LEAVES US WITH ONLY MEMORIES

                         July 29, 2009----by Fred Kelly Grant

 

     Cancer turned out to be the only force that could “beat” Jim Johnson, defensive coordinator extraordinaire, at age 68.  The long time coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles gave it an all out battle, but succumbed to it yesterday, July 28, 2009.  A melanoma cancer that first emerged in 2001, returned last season, forcing Johnson to work his defense from the press box in the championship loss to Arizona.

     After the season he began chemotherapy, and had recoverd sufficiently to participate in the Eagles first post-draft minicamp in early May.  But he coached from a motorized scooter and told reporters he wasn’t sure he could return for the regular season. The Eagles then announced that he was on paid leave of absence, and his hand pick Sean McDermott was named to coach the defense in his absence.

     At the time, head coach Andy Reid, said of his friend at the time:  “He’s struggling right now.  I told him, when you feel like it, come back.”  But, it was not meant to be.

     On Monday, Reid said again “He’s struggling.  But he’s a tough guy and a true battler.”  Reid said that they talked football, and Johnson had down all the dates and schedules for training camp.

     Reid said that when Johnson’s absence first really hit him was in the Pro Bowl when all of a sudden he didn’t hear Johnson’s voice “growling” through the head sets.

     Johnson was successful as a defensive coordinator not just because he was a motivator; he was an excellent tactician who could then motivate his players to accept and enforce his game plans.

     Eagle general manager was all in favor of Andy Reid’s decision to hire Johnson as coordinator because he remembers the day that Johnson’s Indianoplis Colts “kicked the living daylights” out of the Eagles with half the Colt defense out with injuries.  It was a game the Eagles should have won easily.  The Colts were winless and half their defense was out with injuries.  Banner said “Jim’s defense came out blitzing us on every single play, and I think we lost by 30 points.”  When Andy suggested hiring Johnson, Banner and Jeff Lurie, Eagle chairman of the Board, looked at each other and said “Wait, that’s the guy who coached against us in Indianapolis.  They were missing their whole team and they killed us anway.  We were immediately like ‘That’s a good idea.’”

      Lurie’s last memory of Johnson was the most moving.  After the Eagles lost to the Arizona Cardinals in the championship game last year, Johnson came over to Lurie in the locker room and Johnson came over to him and said “I’m so sorry we didn’t deliver this for us.”   Lurie says that he thought to himself: “Oh my God, Jim, I have the best defensive coordinator in football for the last 10 years.”  He says he told him “You have nothing to be apologetic about.  You give more than any owner could possibly expect.”  Johnson had just coached from the press box because of the debilitating pain coming from the return of the cancer to his spine.  Lurie said “It was one of those rare moments when things are so upsetting because we hadn’t advanced to the super bowl.  He was so confident we were going to get the ring.  He was just so apologetic and I’ll always remember that.”

     Reid said that he knew of no one EVER who did not like Jim Johnson, from his playing days through his coaching days.  He was an owner’s coach, a coach’s coach, a player’s coach---he was a teacher of men.  Reid remembered that from a day in 1997 when Johnson’s winless Colt defense pulled a stunning upset of the Green Bay Packers.

     While Johnson was good week in and week out, one of his prime contributions to NFL defense was developing an effective defense against the “west coast offense”.   He said that in the early 90s when the Colts were playing Steve Young and his 49ers, and Young “was releasing receivers all the time, guys getting by you. The idea was don’t let these people dictate to you.  You have to put more pressure on the quarterback, and every year we tried to figure out how to do that.”

    Jim Johnson played his college football under Dan Devine at Missouri.  He was an all Big-8 quarterback, and went undrafted in the NFL draft. Later he was signed by Buffalo to play as a tight end.  He retired and started his coaching career in 1967 at Missouri Southern.  He then coached at Drake and Indiana, before joining his old coach DeVine at Notre Dame where his defense earned the Irish a national championship in his first year there in 1977.

     After 7 years at Notre Dame, he went briefly into the short lived USFL, and then joined the Arizona Cardinals as defensive line and secondary coach.  After 8 years there, he went to the Colts as coordinator for Ted Marchibroda.  During the dreadful Colt years, he managed to be the only bright light, several times stunning opponents with a defensive game plan, and players excited to exercise the plan.

     He was linebacker coach for the Seahawks on the final staff of Dennis Erickson, and his ‘Hawks scored 10 touchdowns on defense, including 8 interceptions returned for touchdowns.  The interception-touchdown record was the 2d MOST IN NFL HISTORY,

     Then Andy Reid made the move in 1999 that guaranteed Eagle fans the most exciting decade of defense they could imagine.  In 2001, his defense became only the 4^th NFL team to go 16 games without giving up more than 21 points in a game. His defense reached a sreak of 34 straight under-21 point games, the second longest in history (second only to the Purple People Eaters of 1968-71).  In that same year of 2001, his defense forced 46 turn-overs including a team record 5 interceptions for touchdowns. The turn-overs led the league.

       The 2001 year was not a fluke.  There was nothing flukey about Jim Johnson’s coaching.  From 2001 -2007, his teams ranked tied for first in the NFL with 342 sacks, second in third down efficiency, second in red zone touchdown rejections, and fourth in fewest points scored.  Through his career at Philadelphia, he turned out 26 Pro Bowl selections.

       From all over the league have come praise for this man who contributed in many places but will be an “Eagle” forever.  Brian Dawkins, who played for Johnson, and is now a Bronco, said “this is a sad, sad day for myself and the Philadelphia family.  Jim was tailor made to coach in Philadelphia. He was a tough coach who wasn’t afraid to let you know how he was feeling, but at the same time he cared about us deeply.  He was an absolute blessing to me with the way he used me on the football field and allowed me to show my God-given ability.  His confidence in me meant so much—he looked to create defenses each week to utilize my talents.  I have been praying for him every day, and those prayers won’t stop now.  I’ll be praying for the family and their comfort during this difficult time.”

    Reid said that “this whole Eagles-Andy Reid regime here that’s taken place wouldn’t have been possible without Jim.  He really represented everything this city is about with his toughness and grit.”  And, then reflectively he added, “and that’s the way he fought this cancer.”

    The Eagle-Reid regime includes 7 times in conference play-offs, five championship games and one super bowl, all in 8 years.

    The Jim Johnson run Eagle defenses drew fans who had not been Eagle fans.  They watched to see how tough the defense would make it on the highly skilled offenses it was playing.  They were impressed when the Eagle defense, after playing their hearts out, did no criticize a sputtering offense.  I remember one game when the defense scored the winning touchdown on an interception and runback for a touchdown.  The defensive man interviewed just took it in stride, saying something to the effect  that “the offense seemed to be having a little trouble, so we just decided that on that last drive we had to score for them.  There’ll be games where they have to cover for us,”  But, if any, there weren’t many.

     I also remember one night in a sports book in Reno when I wanted to place a bet on one of my favorite teams.  I took a look at the scoring line, saw that my team was favored by 17 over the Eagles, and without hesitation placed my money on the Eagles.  Philadelphia not only killed the spread, the defense put the offense in a position from which they won the game.

    Too many legends of the game leave us too early.  But, too many unsung heroes like Jim Johnson leave the game too early also.

    They leave the rest of us to only remember and try to tell our grandchildren about how great some of these men and women were.  But, its never the same if you haven’t lived it and seen it for yourself.

   One thing about it, my sons and grandsons, and all the young friends of my sons and grandsons will remember the work of Jim Johnson.  They may not remember his name, but they will remember how many times those great Eagle defenses took out their teams in real life, and stymied their fantasy league running backs and passers.

    With all respect to Sean McDermott who replaces Jim Johnson, I doubt we will ever again see the all-out, petal to the metal, blitzing that took out heavily favored Green Bay and Philadelphia.  On the other hand, McDermott says that Jim taught him everything he knows, so maybe?  Johnson would be pleased if McDermott can motivate his players to “do the impossible”.

SEATTLE JUDGE WHO RELEASED ALLEGED MURDERER EXPLAINS THAT BAIL DECISIONS ARE “SOME OF THE MOST DIFFICULT DECISIONS FACED BY JUDGES”-----Ahhhhh.  That Explains It, The Judge Was Befuddled By a Tough Decision.

 

                     July 29,2009   by Fred Kelly Grant

 

    I still am asking Jon and some friends in Seattle to run to ground the actual transcript of the bail proceedings in which Judge Brian Gain decided to leave a dangerous man on the streets of Seattle---just days before two women were brutally attacked in their home, one of them now dead.  Police report that DNA matches to the defendant have been found at the site of the fatal home invasion.

    Just a recap for those who might have missed “Worth Reading” yesterday, Isaiah MK Kalebu, age 23, is in custody today in King County jail, facing murder, rape, burglary, and attempted murder charges.  Also pending against him are harassment charges filed by his mother after he allegedly threatened her life.  And, also in existence is a protective order secured by his aunt the day before she was murdered in an arson fire.  In her affidavit for the order, she alleged that the defendant  threatened to kill her just the day before she applied for the order.

    The murder and rapes occurred on July 19, when a man believed to be the defendant broke into a house through a window in the early morning hours.  He repeatedly stabbed and raped two women who lived there.  One of the women died, the other managed to escape through a window.  When found she was drenched in blood and was crying and saying that “he promised not to hurt us if we did what he said.”  Based on DNA match with DNA left at an Auburn burglary scene, and surveillance video from the Auburn burglary site, the police put out an all points alert to find the defendant.  He was spotted by a bus driver and was arrested last Friday.  He is now being held on $10 MILLION BAIL.

   But, the “system” has to answer for why his Honor, Superior Court judge Brian Gain missed his opportunity to save the victims from the brutal attack in their own home.

   Kalebu was charged with harassment of his mother, a crime, in March, 2008.  His mother claimed that he threatened her with a six inch knife.  His mother told him to leave because he was not taking his medication for a bipolar, manic depression mental disorder.  The day she ordered him out of the house, she had to defend herself from him with a pair of scissors.  As he left, allegedly he said to his mother:  “you’re gonna die.  You’re no match for me…those scissors are no match for me or my dog (a pit bull which was with the defendant at his arrest)”,  He also told her “enjoy your last day on earth.”

   She filed felony and misdemeanor harassment and domestic violence charges against him, he was arrested and a judge saw fit to place a substantial $25,000 bail, plus enter a protective order restricting his being around his mother.

   His defense attorney asked that he be committed to Western State hospital for a mental evaluation.  He was found incompetent to stand trial because of his dangerous mental disorder.  He was kept in the hospital. On August 6, 2008, after four months of treatment, he was found competent to stand trial.  Given the shortness of time for the “cure” to take place, it is a reasonable inference that the hospital kept him on his medication long enough to stabilize his mental disorder.  This inference is corroborated by the fact that his mother related his violence to his not taking his medication.

    Two weeks after he is found to be mentally competent, the defendant appears before Judge Gain.  The prosecutors ask that he be held in jail pending trial of the cases charging violence against his mother.  Defense counsel asks that he be released to his aunt without any restrictions.  The judge rejected the prosecutor’s request, and released the defendant.  This he did in spite of the fact that the defendant had specifically threatened his mother’s life, brandishing a six inch knife during some of the violent conduct, and in spite of the fact that his medical review in the hospital had shown that when he didn’t take his medication he was mentally incompetent to even “rationally understand” his actions or his position in life.

    Nearly a year later, the defendant entered a plea of guilty to the charges involving his mother.  Then, less than a month later, he appeared before Judge Gain and withdraws his guilty plea.  This was on May 15, 2009.  From his later decisions, Judge Gain apparently didn’t even factor into his decision the odd change pleas within a month.

   On June 4, 2009 he appeared before Judge Gain and trial was scheduled.

   Meantime, the defendant was living with his aunt, having been allowed by Judge Gain to live there rather than await trial in jail. 

    On July 8, 2009, the defendant’s aunt ordered him out of her house, and filed for a protective order.  She swore in her application that the defendant “threatened to harm me many times.”  She swore that he struck her many times, and “commands me and orders me around”.  She said she just sought “peace in my house” by having him gone.

   The next day, July 9, 2009, aunt and a tenant were murdered in an arson fire which destroyed her house.  The police immediately suspected the defendant and picked him for questioning.  He was questioned and released.

   The next day, July 10, 2009, the defendant missed a hearing in Judge Gain’s court; the prosecutor asked that a bench warrant be issued for his arrest.  But, Judge Gain, probably with a headache from the difficult decision before him, denied the request and simply rescheduled the hearing for the convenience of the defendant.  After all, as the good judge says “a balance must be [found] between the safety of the community and the rights of the accused.”  Where the balance should fall in this case, I guess is in fact the real question:  a defendant charged with threatening to kill his mother, telling her she was facing her “last day on earth”, found to have been so irrational without medication for his bipolar disorder, allowed to be free and live with his aunt, then thrown out of that house because of his threats and abuse to the aunt, and the day later the aunt is murdered in an arson fire, and then two days after the murder misses a hearing----versus………………………….difficult to see anything to balance on the defendant’s side except the bare presumption of innocence.  But, bail decisions are to be based on facts, not presumptions.

    At any rate, the defendant was left on the streets by Judge Gain, to appear on July 13.

    When the defendant shows up on the 13^th, the prosecutors very alertly asked that the defendant’s bail set on the 2008 threats to kill his mother be revoked.  The prosecutor asked that the defendant be remanded to jail pending trial “based on concerns of mental instability and Rachel Kalebu’s (the aunt) protection order filed just prior to the arson” which resulted in her murder and that of a tenant.  The prosecutor detailed the investigation being carried out involving linking the defendant to the arson-murder.

    Judge Gain does his “difficult” balancing act, denies the motion and leaves the defendant on the street.

    On July 19, the murders and rapes occurred.  DNA now links the defendant to those crimes.  Coincidentally, the defendant’s counsel withdrew from the case on July 21, just two days after the rape-murder.

    On July 24, the defendant was arrested for the murder and rapes.  Fortunately, the prosecutors let the system take its course and a judge pro tem (lawyer serving as a committing judge) set a bail of $10 MILLION.  Lord knows, if Judge Gain had set the bail, the defendant might still be on the street.

   So, how does the judge explain his decision to release the defendant just days before he murdered and raped.  Well, he refused to explain why he made his decision.  Rather, he issued a press release which said that bail decisions are “some of the most difficult decisions faced by a judge”.  Imagine that.  Don’t you suppose that’s why judges are paid a high salary, given benefits more than almost any working citizen, spared from competition for work, and protected from virtually every disadvantage that plagues common workers.  To make “difficult decisions.”

    But, lets review his statement and see what exactly made this decision so “difficult”.  I can tell you that from my experience on both sides of the criminal trial table, I would have had not one doubt about revoking the defendant’s bail and remanding him to jail, then setting a speedy trial.

    The judge says that the defendant’s rights must be balanced against safety of the community.  Okay, but as seen above, the balance of facts on the part of the state representing the community certainly tips Lady Justice’s scale toward detention pending trial.  Keep in mind that this Judge was not supposed to decide innocence or guilt; he was supposed to decide whether this defendant posed a danger.  How in the name of what is Holy, could any judge find that this defendant did not pose a danger.  So, what were the rights of the defendant balanced against this danger:  simply the right to remain on the street until trial---in light of the fact that twice he had violated terms of his having been previously released by this same judge.  He had been thrown out of his aunt’s house where he was supposed to live under Judge Gain’s prior order.  Thrown out because she swore under oath that he threatened her and physically abused her.  The second violation was failure to appear for hearing the day after he was questioned in the arson-murder of the aunt who had barred him from her home.  So, what right of the defendant other than the right to a speedy trial would have been risked when balanced against the overwhelming implications of danger to the community.

    Judge Gain then makes the mistake of explaining that he is bound by the provisions of Supreme Court Rule CtRLJ 3.2 which govern the “release of accused”.

    His decision doesn’t fare very well in comparison with what the Supreme Court directs him to do.  Let’s examine the rule:

    First the rule does state that in a non-capital case the defendant “shall” be released on bail unless certain conditions are met.  This is called by the Court a “presumption of release in noncapital cases.”  So, the language is not a mandate of release; it is a statement that the prosecutor must show facts and inferences that will overcome the presumption.

   What are the standards to be met to overcome the presumption of release?  Subsection (a) (1) and ( 2)(a) and (b) sets those standards.

    The first matter listed is whether the court is satisfied that the defendant will appear in court when required----this defendant had already pleaded guilty to the charge, then less than a month later withdrawn the plea, and then MISSED, as in failed to appear, a hearing just three days before the bail decision was made.  Presumption of proof: to the prosecution.

   The second matter is whether there is evidence that shows “a likely danger that the accused will commit a violent crime”---this defendant had been charged with threatening the life of his mother with a six inch knife and his pit bull, then found that he could not act rationally because of his bipolar mental disorder, then released by Judge Gain to live with his aunt, then thrown out of his aunt’s house because he threatened her life, then the very next day she is murdered and the defendant is the only suspect, and the very next day he misses a court hearing----all these factors balanced against the “right” of the defendant to be free on the streets unless there is “a likely danger” of commission of a violent crime.  I can’t imagine that there is one in a hundred “reasonable men” in terms of legal standards that would balance this question toward the defendant’s rights.  After all, his basic right is a speedy trial, and the judge has absolute control over setting a trial immediately.  Or, he could have sent him back to the hospital for a mental evaluation  based on his history in the case.  He had that power and refused to use it.

   I feel really bad that Judge Gain must make “difficult” decisions as a judge.  I wonder if he took the job thinking that he was entitled as a matter of right to his salary, benefits, well equipped office and staff, protection against competition for income, a secure retirement, and a gurantee of no lay-off no matter how bad the economy becomes.  Maybe he was lead to believe that he wouldn’t have to make decisions---except easy ones.

   Judges are the only people in the criminal process that the people of the community can  count on to protect their rights---yes, in balance to the defendant’s rights, but in “balance” against facts and inferences from facts.  The Supreme Court rule places discretion in the trial judge, but restricts that discretion by requiring that the judge hear and weigh the facts and inferences presented by the state with regard to the defendant’s future appearance and to his danger to the community.

    Judge Gain refuses to explain how he made the balancing act between facts overwhelmingly in favor of detention pending trial.  He rests on the “difficult decision” statement.

    While he rests on that difficulty, the results of his decision are that the defendant’s aunt and a tenant have been murdered (one day after he threatened her life; keep in mind that after his hospitalization as a potentially dangerous defendant the judge denied the prosecutor’s request that the defendant be held in detention until trial, the judge released him to the aunt who was later murdered), and then two completely innocent and unrelated women were brutalized, raped and one murdered just days after Gain denied the prosecutor’s motion to revoke bail on the basis of the threat to the aunt immediately followed by her murder and his failure to appear at a hearing the day after he was questioned for the murder.

    In this life, whether we like it or not, there is always someone to measure the consequences of actions.  As Judge Gain contemplates the “difficulty” which wouldn’t let him hold this defendant and schedule a speedy trial, I hope he also contemplates who it is who will measure the consequences which he should face because of his decision.

    In the meantime, I don’t imagine the surviving victim of the rape-murder spree will have much sympathy for the heavy weight carried by Judge Gain in having to make a “difficult decision” to hold a man with a continual pattern of violence and threats of violence.

     What will be the consequences of Gain’s decision?  The system won’t do anything about it.  Unless a judge takes money from someone, the system will do nothing about mistakes which lead to murder.  His decision will ultimately be forgotten, closed over by time and the ever continuing wave of violent crime that rolls over every city.

    But, the survivor of the home invasion will not forget; she will not forget her rape, her being nearly killed, her begging for mercy from the defendant as she detailed it to police, her forever fear of lack of security in her home.  Relatives of the survivor’s murdered companion will not forget murder.  And, they will not forget that this judge had it within his power to have saved these women from their horrifying experience and victimization.

   I think the system should provide that victims of a judge’s bail decision be allowed to judge his decision and, if they find that it is not reasonable, determine his punishment.  That just might result in “justice”.  It might also deter lawyers from becoming judges if they can’t stand the heat of making “difficult decisions.”

July 27, 2009   by Fred Kelly Grant

 

Just hours ago, city officials of Cambridge, Massachusetts announced the formation of a committee to be headed by professor  Wechsler, consultant to law enforcement professionals, to conduct a study of the department and city attitudes toward racial relations.  It is a tremendous step by a city to make the best of a very controversial racial situation, and to change a problem into an opportunity for meaningful discussion of racial tensions much needed in this country.

The appointment of the committee, normally a bureaucratic way to avoid action, is meaningful in this case because of the chairman, professor Wechsler.  He will not let the committee or its work bog down into meaningless wheel spinning.

The city’s action, together with the President’s meeting this week with the professor and the police sergeant, may become the most important steps forward in race relations since the death of Dr. King.

Let’s not kid ourselves:  there is, and always has been, and always will be, racial intolerance and bias in this nation.  If you have any doubt of that, take a quick look at the David Duke website “White Civil Rights” which refers to the professor as an “Uppity Black Professor”.  My God, I haven’t heard the word “uppity” in decades, and, even though I may be naively insulated, never heard it used in my native South Carolina except to put down a Black person who has accomplished more intellectually and socially than the utterer of the word.  The website says this:  “Everyone familiar with Blacks knows what happened over in Cambridge.  A useless quota-hire Black ‘professor’ threw a hissy fit about discrimination and refused to cooperate with the cops who were doing their jobs after they responded to a complaint about a break-in.”

The website also links to David Duke’s website where he attacks the Reverend James Hagee as being insane because of his support of, and interest in, the Jewish people.  Duke puts down the reverend as being a “criminal”, not a Christian, because he supports Israel against Iran and the “innocent Persians” who live there.  If the reverend Hagee didn’t have so much to do in performing God’s work, he should sue Duke and all his writers for slander and libel.  I would love to work on that case pro bono.

Once you have read the websites, head for the shower, and then realize that “yes” there is racial bigotry alive and well in this nation. Discussion of that fact by reasonable, intelligent, and responsible people is needed, and needed badly, as it has been for decades.  The last meaningful discussions ended with the assassination of Dr. King.

For the first time, yesterday, I was very disappointed in one of William Buckley’s protégés, George Will.  As one of the regulars on George Stephanopoulos’ Sunday morning show, he took the position that we should all ignore the incident that occurred last week in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that there is enough and has been enough discussion about race in this country.  He even downplayed the significance of Black men being treated differently by police, to the point of doubting that the problem is widespread.  And, of course he criticized the President for “butting into a local police matter.”  A “local police matter”?  I remember Bull Conner using that term regarding the fire hosing and unleashing of dogs on youthful civil rights marchers.

I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I am in Will.  As a sports writer, he was never really conscious of, or sensitive to, the bigotry shown to Jackie Robinson and continued on right through the end of the hold out against Black athletes by the racist owner of the Washington Redskins, George Preston Marshall.  But, I don’t recall that he ever reacted angrily when white people attempted to discuss racial intolerance.  I think he should go back to his sports work exemplified by his book “Bunts”.

    For a brief period of time yesterday, he reminded me of Pat Buchanan.  I actually could see the distaste on Will’s face at even having to talk about not talking about race.  It brought to mind the awful, scowling look on Buchanan’s face when he attacked Sonya Sotomayor and referred to her as “that WOMAN” in a most denigrating tone.  It was an angry look, mean-spirited.  Yesterday, I saw Will demonstrate the same type of anger at being put on the spot to discuss what is, always has been, and always will be, a critical issue of human relations in this country.

   David Brooks, another of Buckley’s protégés, appeared on the same panel, as a regular, and looked positively mystified at Will’s angry reaction.  Brooks distinguished himself as he so often does in his columns by discussing the week’s events in a sensible, intelligent manner.  In the manner that the mentor, Buckley, would have preferred.

   Let’s also have no doubt that Buckley never shied away from discussion of racial interrelationships and the existence of disparate treatment.  He openly discussed racial tensions, and called on all Americans to engage themselves in the discussion.  Buckley believed in communication, thus was he a genius in communicating.

   Buckley would have been front and center in the discussion of what happened when a respected member of the Harvard faculty was arrested by a respected, apparently unbiased, police sergeant in or near his own home.  The faculty member allowed himself to become so enraged over the idea that he had to identify himself in his own home, that he apparently followed the officer outside resulting in the officer escalating his own response.  The fact that this was a Black man being required by a white officer to identify himself in his own home, to prove that he lived there, is of course the significant fact of the incident. 

Buckley would have jumped at the opportunity to discuss the racial issue existing at this level, rather than in a street setting. He would have seen the value in discussing an issue that escalated out of control when an intelligent faculty member of high social standing was confronted by an intelligent, experienced sergeant of police of high social standing.  George Will chose to run and hide from the issue presented at this intellectual level.  Unfortunately, his attitude placed him in the ranks of Buchanan, Limbaugh and Hannity, quite apart from his mentor Buckley.

Of course there is racial profiling practiced in this country.   There always has been, is now, and always will be.  A police officer will always give more attention to a Black male walking alone in a white, or mixed racial, residential neighborhood.  A police officer will always give more attention to a car driven by a Black male through a white, or mixed racial, residential neighborhood, or in a commercial neighborhood late at night or in the early morning hours. 

Why?  Because the officer knows that it is not “regular practice” for Black males to be in such surroundings.  And, when an officer sees something that is not “regular practice” ,he or she pays attention.  Does this mean that the officer is racially intolerant, or bigoted?  No, not necessarily, although many of them are.  Experienced law enforcement officials---police, prosecutors, probation officers, correction officers---will tell you that Black police officers will, and do, use the same type of profiling.

Is the profiling the “right” thing to do?  It doesn’t matter how you answer the question, the practice is not going to change---because there have been too many successful discoveries of law-breaking activities as a result of profiling.  Many times, the profiling “street check” has disclosed wanted felons and crimes in the making.  The fact that way too often the “street checks” result in nothing more than resentment on the part of the Blacks who are stopped and “checked”, and a worsening of racial relations, will not stop the officers from using what they believe is an effective crime prevention and discovery tool.

I am reminded of a case years ago involving the first woman patrol officer ever hired by the Boise, Idaho city police department.  Ernie Lippell, my friend and associate at the Idaho Law Enforcement Planning Commission, had been training officer for the Boise PD who picked that first officer.  He told of an incident that occurred during her first solo patrol shift.  She radioed in that she was stopping a Cadillac with Mississippi license plates, with five Black males in the car.  The stop was being made in a warehouse section near the Boise State campus.

 Ernie said that every police car in the city immediately started for the scene, afraid that she had gotten into something that she couldn’t handle.  By the time the officers arrived, she had the occupants of the car outside, with their hands on the roof o the car, her gun drawn.  The dispatcher had advised her that the registered owner of the car was wanted for questioning for murder in Jackson, Mississippi.  It turned out that Mississippi came for the driver, and he was later convicted of murder.

What lessons come from the incident?  The white female officer did racial profiling. She later said that she stopped the car because the driver and passengers were Black in an area that made their presence suspicious to her.  The profiling resulted in a successful law enforcement action. 

The other officers didn’t question her action, they questioned whether as a woman she was capable of handling the situation.  They discussed their reaction later and realized that they would have stayed alertly by their radios if the officer had been male, but wouldn’t have immediately rushed to the scene.

So, the incident framed two biases:  racial profiling and underestimation of women to do a traditional male job.  Yet, the result for the public was a good result.

As long as those successful results continue to occur, neither of the biases will disappear.

The sergeant in Cambridge responded to a call that there was a mysterious situation in progress at a residence, with two men trying to force open the front door.   (He did not know ahead of time that the two men were the resident and his taxi driver trying to get the front door unstuck; the caller did not know that, so the officer could not have known.)

Had the sergeant not responded, had he not checked the i.d. of the resident, and a crime had occurred, he and his department would have been criticized from and by every corner of our population.

Would he have acted as he did if the resident had been white?  Hopefully so, because whites do commit burglaries, rapes and home invasions.  He says he would have.  And, the Black officer who was also on the scene says that he believes the sergeant followed a sound police process.  Having worked with police officers for the better part of my career, I take them both at their word.  I also say that as an old prosecutor I approve of what they did.  As an old defense attorney, knowing what I learned about defendants, I KNOW they acted correctly.

Did the resident professor have the right to be outraged?  Of course he did.  How would you feel, returning home from a long trip, at night and tired, finding that you couldn’t get your front door open, getting help from a taxi driver to force your way into your home, and then be confronted by a police officer demanding that you prove who you were and that you had a right to be in your own home?  I would have been outraged, and hopefully wouldn’t have let my anger escalate my actions and words.  But, don’t count on my having such restraint.

I would have known better.  I would have known to do what the officer asked or demanded, for my own safety.  I always told my sons to do what an officer said if stopped, to make sure they didn’t get smart, to make sure they didn’t disobey, or even hesitate to follow, any direction an officer gave them.  I told them to follow that advice no matter how wrong the officer was. It is just a common sense way to avoid getting hurt by an unstable officer, and the field is full of them.  But, it is also a common sense way to avoid getting hurt by a well-meaning, but frightened officer.

The professor should have acted in the same common sense way of self protection.  He should have known that when an officer gets a call, he/she has no idea what really is waiting.  More officers are killed in domestic dispute responses and in routine car stops than in any other type of situation.  He should have known that we call on regular human beings to perform super-human duties as police officers, and he should have just kept the situation on a non-confrontational basis.

But, the professor cannot just “forget” that he is Black, that through his whole life he and his racial community has been focused on by police officers far more critically than white people engaged in the exact same conduct.  I cannot criticize his angry response.  If I were Black, I have no doubt that I would have been one of the most active of the activists, fighting the traditional and historic humiliation heaped on me because of the color of my skin.

More power to the city of Cambridge.  I hope that Wechsler doesn’t disappoint, and if he follows his lifelong pattern he will not. 

More power to David Brooks, to Donna Brazille, and the other columnists who appeared on the Sunday news show.  We need the type of discussion, serious discussion, that is going on in columns today.  We need community discussions which will never end bigotry or even well intentioned profiling, but may help all sides better understand the impact of such actions and perhaps find a way to blend good police work with equality.

And, by the way, remember that the Cambridge response was not keyed to suspicions of “Black crime”.  The 911 caller said that she saw two men trying to force their way into a house.  She even said that “I don’t know whether they couldn’t find their key” but that she did see them using their shoulders to get in.  She did not identify them as Black men. The dispatcher is heard asking her whether either was “Hispanic”, and her response is that one man looked like he “might be” Hispanic but she wasn’t sure.  She also said that she had no idea about the race of the other man.  So, the sergeant did not head for that house focused on a Black man, but focused on a report that “two men” had been seen forcing open a front door. I see no reason, from my experience, to doubt that upon arriving on the scene he did his duty as he saw it, and that it would have been done the same if the resident had been white.

The fact that careful police inquiry, and anger of a resident being questioned about his identity in his own home, coincided with national consequences is a good sign that real, actual discussion of race will take place.

If people talk, if they communicate as William Buckley would have it, who, but God, knows what good may be done.

THE JUSTICE SYSTEM---DOESN’T MIX WELL WITH COMMON SENSE

            July 26, 2009    by Fred Kelly Grant

   A California law school graduate has been denied the opportunity to take the state bar examination because she paid the fee with a check instead of a credit card.

   Have we really come to a point at which a legally recognizable commitment of cash is no good, and running up a debt on a plastic card is preferable?

   Is this just an indication of California state thinking on finance, a thought process that actually took the state to the position of paying for services with IOU’s?

   Oh, I think it is more than any of this.  I think it is a failure of common sense whenever government in any form is allowed to operate unchecked by the people.

   The full story of this incident makes out the case that common sense has been abandoned---and particularly abandoned in the court system where, of all places, it should be followed at all costs.

   29 year old Sara Granda is paralyzed from the neck down.  She was injured in an auto accident in 1957 just days prior to beginning a college career on a full scholarship at California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo.  After spending nearly three years in six different medical hospitals, she began her studies and earned both undergraduate and master’s degrees.

   She then entered the University of California at Davis law school, and earned her degree.  She began studying for the bar examination, and the California Department of Rehabilitation funded her preparation efforts because of her disability.  The Department paid out $4,700.00 for preparation courses.

    The Department also paid her entrance fee for taking the bar examination.  It paid that fee with a state check (not an IOU) in the amount of $800.00, a check that was paid in March, 2009.  This was a method of payment differing from the standard “payment by credit card” required by the Bar Association’s website.

    It was a different method of payment, because the state department could not pay the fee with a credit card.  Because of her circumstances, Granda has no personal credit cards. It was not legally possible for the Department to make the rehabilitation driven payment by credit card. Granda discussed this with Bar Association personnel on several occasions by telephone and on line.  She completed her application on line as instructed by Bar personnel.

   But, as with most organizations which use on line processing, the Bar is controlled by the computer systems to which it has committed.  (I recall a time when, working for Canyon County, Idaho, I was told the county couldn’t comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act because the “computer system” wouldn’t allow it.  After carefully explaining that such an answer would lead to treble damages and possible criminal liability, I saw actual people change the automated system.  But the mindset of the “system” analyst was “it can’t be done, because the ‘system’ won’t allow it.”)

   So, in spite of what actual people working for the Bar Association said, the “system” did not allow the processing of the application. 

    Just last week, days before the bar exam is scheduled for July 30, Granda was told she would not be able to take the exam.  Her fee was paid in March, she graduated in May, and spent the past three months studying for the exam.  Finally, the bureaucrats who run the exam for the California Supreme Court, gave her about two weeks notice that she would not be able to take the exam because payment by check, by a state check, would not suffice. No exceptions to the credit card rule would be allowed, regardless of the facts, regardless of the California laws regarding to physical disability, regardless of the fact that the California Supreme Court has enforced physical disability exceptions on private business in every part of the state.

    Granda filed a lawsuit in the federal district court in an attempt to force the Bar to allow her to take the exam.  NOTE that she doesn’t seek special treatment on the exam, just that she be able to take it upon having paid her fee with a legal representation of ACTUAL CASH.

    On Friday, the federal judge rejected her complaint, saying that he did so quickly so that she could proceed with the California court systems with full exhaustion of her federal remedy.

    The second highest bureaucrat in the State Bar Association says “no exceptions”.  Not only “no exceptions”, but the Bar will oppose her request to the state’s supreme court to reverse the Association’s decision.

    What an incredible sacrifice of common sense.  Granda has overcome tremendous physical disabilities, she has completed an educational course in two of the finest institutions of higher learning in the state at state expense (through scholarships and rehabilitation assistance).  She prepared for the bar exam at state expense.  She applied to take the exam, with the state paying the fee to another state agency.

   Now, all the money that the state has paid to assist her in reaching her goal will be wasted because of a bureaucratic decision based on a computerized website.

   If the California Supreme Court doesn’t reverse the bureaucrats, and Granda is denied the opportunity to be tested, a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act will result, she will win, and the state of California (read “taxpayers of California”) will pay big dollars in penalty.

    The whole issue could be avoided by allowing her to take the exam.  The factual circumstances provide the parameters for the exception to the credit card rule, an exception which never has to be made again unless there is another quadriplegic who manages to get her/his law degree and have the entrance fee paid by a state rehabilitation program.

    What risk does this whole incident pose to the Bar Association?  There is no danger that the check would bounce, it was received months ago.  But, from that standpoint, what has the Bar Association lost even if a person takes the bar exam and a check does bounce?

    It all boils down to bureaucratic stubbornness, bullheadedness.  It boils down to the same type of bureaucratic nonsense that costs California taxpayers every day of the week, every week of the year.  The same type of bureaucratic rigidity that costs California businesses untold dollars every day of every week of the year.

   The Governor has now weighed in and urged the Bar Association to reverse its decision.  The bureaucrats should listen to this man who obviously understands common sense.  He has spent months tirelessly spinning his political wheels rather than come to the common sense budget decision dictated by the fiscal crisis which he and the legislature have created.

    The ridiculous stance taken by the Bar Association comes as no surprise to any person who has experienced, voluntarily or involuntarily, the so-called “justice” system run by lawyers.  There is no worse bureaucrat than a lawyer bureaucrat.

Patrick Dorinson, Political communications strategist and commentator:

Patrick Dorinson, Political communications strategist and commentator:

Patrick Dorinson, Political communications strategist and commentator:

SOME BELIEVE THAT AN UNBIASED JUDGE IS THE KEY PERSON INMAKING THE PROCESS WORK---BUT THE PERSONAL FOIBLES OF A JUDGE, WHETHER HE IS UNBIASED OR NOT, BRING DOWN THE PROCESS JUST AS SURELY AS DOES BIAS
                   July 18, 2009---Fred Kelly Grant
 
 
      The judge below who sent kids to detention for profit claimed that each kid he committed deserved it.  So, he claimed, I expect, that the state ought to ignore the fact that he was getting money on the side to do his job the right way.
      Just for a moment, suppose that were true.  Suppose that every kid that he committed deserved to be committed and for the term he committed.  Or, just suppose that he was a "maximum moe" meaning that he believed that if the statute allowed commitment, he should impose commitment.
 
     That would make him unbiased from the standpoint of each individual who appeared before him.  Yet, he would still be the worst piece of trash around.
 
     As long as he was taking money for each person he committed, the public would never be convinced that he was not biased toward commitment so that he could make his ill gotten money.  His unlawful selling of defendants destroyed the system and the process just as severely as would a racist, anti-feminist, anti-teenager judge.
 
    Dean Edward J. Levi of the Univeristy of Chicago Law School always said that "perception is truth" and therefore,
"even the perception of conflict of interest is a conflict of interest."  Thats the rule he established as part of the ethical code of the United States Department of Justice when he was appointed Attorney General by President Gerald Ford to try to re-built a Department in which the people would have trust.  But the damage done to that department prior to Levi by Nixon's crowd, and continued degradation of the job by Janet Reno, patsy to BillClinton and his impeachable offenses, and the infinitely inept, corrupt and defender of unlawful schemes Alberto Gonzalez, has never allowed the Department of Justice to live up to its name except during the brief period that Levi was there.  But, even today, the ethics standard of the Department of Justice shows that "even perception of conflict of interest constitutes conflict of interest."
 
Hardly as bad as selling children to detention homes, but bad enough to make national headlines was the police chief in tiny Jordan Valley, Oregon seveal years ago.  David Brinkley of NBC nightly news brought to our Chicago living room one night the story of the chief whose salary was paid by the amount of traffic fines he collected.
 
He set up a speed trap that was impossible to meet.  If you have traveled there, you know that from a wide open highway and range, you suddenly hit the Jordan Valley line.  He posted a speed limit in the town at a point at which the motorist had no time to reduce his lawful speed to the required limit. He, of course, was there to meet the offender.  As he ticketed sevealmotorists at a time, he would send them to the justice of the peace's or magistrate's office for court.  After writing enough tohandle at one sitting, he retired to the court, removed himself from the police chief's role and became the judge, found the offender guilty, imposed the maximum fine and pocketed it as his salary.
 
Lodice and I were so proud to have national news attention of people like David Brinkley, Chet Huntley and Walter Cronkite focused on law enforcement in the wild, wild west.
 
But, while it wasn't "fair" perhaps to change the speed so quickly, it wasn't selling kids into commitment.
 
As we begin the countdown to publisher of Justice My Ass the book, we're going to leave this judge story up for today to be sure that enough people see it.  There is nothing more contemptable than selling children into detention.
 
And, as we prepare more stories for the week of judges who will be playing footsie with inmates in the prison system for the next few years, keep in mind this joke:
 
                In a corruption trial, the district attorney bore in on the witness,"isn't it true that you took $5 grand in corrupt funds to inflluence the outcome of this case?"   the witness just stared out the window.
                the d.a. repeated the question a little louder.  the witness continued to look out the window at the trees and garden outside the courthouse.
                The judge leaned over the bench and said sternly "Sir, I order you to answer the question."
                the witness, startled, turned to the judge and said "Oh, I'm sorry sir, Ithought he was asking you."
 
Within the next few days, more judges who have gone to jail, and some who should have, followed up by the opinion of a highly respected member of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals who told the Harvard Law School that the foibles of the bench have hurt the criminal system almost tothe point of being beyond repair.

CROOKED JUDGES MAKE PROFITS OFF COMMITTING KIDS            Scourges of Society Prey on Kids at their Mercy    July 17, 2009----By Fred Kelly Grant

 

     If we were to run a poll of people who had not been intimately involved with the criminal process, or just involved in the civil process, and ask the following question:  Which person in the “system” or “process” can the public depend on for unbiased treatement?  the answer would probably be “the Judge”.

     Most folks have little respect for the lawyers on either side unless they are in the process with a good lawyer.

     There is a story which demonstrates that the poll responders would be wrong, and they would be wrong more than they know.

     Before we get to the story, I am reminded of a story about a doctor, an engineer and a judge who are discussing which of their professions Is the oldest in the world.

      The doctor says”well gentlemen, after all Adam’s rib had to be removed to make Eve and that is medical/surgical procedure, so I would say it is clear that medicine was the first earthly profession."

      The engineer wasted no time pointing out that “God took chaos and turned it into the heavens and the earth with all the mountains, valleys and streams, and did it within a week.Now that’s a pretty marvelous engineering feat and it came before Adam and eve. So I would say engineering was the first.”

      The judge simply sardonically grinned and said “And,who do you think created the chaos that God worked with?”

     My vote goes to the judges and chaos.

     In the great keystone state of Pennsylvania, founded by the most ethical faith group of its time, the Quakers, we find a story of judicial corruption that sickens even me.

     The story starts innocently enough with a high school girl named Hillary Transue.  She created a “My Space” page on the internet spoofing her assistant principal at the high school in Wilkes-Barre.  She was a fine student, never in trouble before.  The page on the “My Space” stated clearly at the bottom that the matter was just a joke.

     Should she have done it?  No.  Would I have done something similar when I was in High School, a straight A student and student body president?   Yes.  But, the difference is it wasn’t on the internet for the world to see. Would I have done something like it as a young professional in the State’s Attorney’s Office in Baltimore?  Yes, and did pull a joke on an assistant office manager who was a good guy that Charley hired as a family friend. He did some good administrative things, but he had this “check in and out” board which we were expected to come to the front office to change when we changed our positon.  One morning I was late.  It had been tough getting up and started after a night of heavy drinking.  On those mornings, Lodice simply left me to my own devices to get ready.  On mornings when I had behaved myself the night before she helped me get my clothes and brief case together and helped get me off on time.  On hung-over mornings she left me on my own.  So, I was a little late entering the courthouse and went directly to the courtroom where my trial was to resume.

      Along about 10:30 am, the guy walked into the court room and sat down beside me at the trial table, which was fine, didn’t bother me at all.  When my cross examination ended and re-direct started, he leaned over and whispered to me “You’re not signed out on the board.”  I didn’t say a word to him, just stood and said “Your honor, may I request an immediate recess necessary to take care of an administrative detail?”  The judge granted the request as I knew he would.  It was almost time for the morning break for the jury, the defense was taking time with client to determine whether to redirect the witness and the judge knew that in my organized crime unit there were many things going on at the same time.  I turned to the guy and “said, okay lets go change the board before I have to explain to the court the ‘detail’ that is calling me away from the court.”   He said that he didn’t mean that I should interrupt the trial, and I told him I was sure it was that important since he came into the trial room to tell me.  I said “it will be all right, the judge won’t know why I had to break until after the recess, so we got what we needed.”  He said something to the effect that the judge would think that he was a fool.  I just shrugged,and as I turned to walk out after moving my marker from “out” to “in court” I saw him hustling into Charley’s office.

    That’s another time that I caused Charley heart-burn needlessly.  I had no intention of telling the judge why I asked for the recess.  It would have BEEN ME, not the administrator that would have looked like an ass to the judge.  But, my little joke on the administrator caused him grief, but it wasn’t on the internet for the world to see.

    So, all I got was a talking to by Charley and a sidewinder reminder not to do it again.

   But, you get the idea---it was a childish prank, and Hillary Transue expected to get a stern lecture and reprimand.

   However, she was taken before a judge, and before the proceeding was over she was committed to a detention facility operated by a private company under contract to the state.  She was committed for 3 months for “harassment”, and was removed from the court room in handcuffs in front of her horrified parents.

   Hillary said in a later interview that she just didn’t know how anything like that could happen.

   The answer came when a long investigation of the judge and a cohort on the bench proved that the two were taking kick-backs from the private company for every kid they sentenced to detention.  The company was paid by the commitment.  The investigation began when a Youth Advocacy Group petitioned the Pennsylvania Courts to review the cases of 500 juveniles detained under orders from Judge Mark A. Clavarella, Jr.  From the year 2002 and following records showed that he committed 25% of all kids who appeared before him, while the statewide average was 1 in 10.

      Clavarella’s cohort Judge Michael T. Conahan was president of the Court and had charge of the budget, and he is the one who secured the illegal kick back contracts.  The two judges had shut down the county operated detention center on the grounds that it was too run-down.  Conahan secured contracts with PA Child Care and Western PA child Care to operate detention facilities for the county, receiving money for each commitment and money determined by the length of the commitment.

    Clavarella was the judge in charge of the court proceedings regarding the juveniles, so he was the operational crook.  Conahan as controller of the budget then arranged for the kick back payments to go to a company the two judges had formed in Florida.

    The more kids Clavarella sent away, and the longer sentences he imposed, the more money the two made.  They made $2.6 million dollars in kick backs between 2003 and 2006.  5,000 kids were sent to detention in order to gain the judges that $2.6 MILLION.

    The two judges were charged with federal crimes of wire fraud and tax fraud.

    They pleaded guilty on a plea bargain under which they agreed that they each would serve 87 months in federal prison.  Later, the Court accepted the plea bargain agreement and imposed the sentence of 87 months on each.

     Meantime, the State Supreme Court designated Senior Judge Arthur E. Grim to try to straighten out the chaos left by the two crooks in the form of 5,000 kids that were sentenced under the fraudulent scheme.  Many of those kids were first time offenders, most were minor offenses, and some of them still remain in custody.

     For years the Advocacy Group had complained about Clavarella’s massive detention operations, but no one listened.  As a spokesperson said “There was a culture of intimidation surrounding this judge and no was willing to speak up about the sentences he was handing down.”  But, not until the petition was filed with the supreme court did action commence.

     Juvenile probation officers were in court all the time and saw what was going on, prosecutors were in court all the time and saw what was going on, public defenders were in court and saw what was going on, clerks were in court and saw what was going on.  In fact, every criminal process employee in the courthouse knew what was going on, because that’s the way the “courthouse messenger” system works.

     So, the entire process deserted our kids at often their first experience with the “lady of justice”.  Guess the blindfold had slipped over both eyes in this obviously crooked system in Luzerne County in northeaster Pennsylvania.

     What kind of justice do you do for the kids?  What the government always does when its people screw up accidentally or crookedly, pay damages with tax payer dollars.  So, how much in dollars is it worth to have been put into detention with hardened juvenile delinquents, and subjected to the indignities which are common, because some judges were getting paid kick backs to put you there?

    The money won’t really be justice because it won’t remove the feelings left behind.

    But, justice will come to the judges, not through the courts, but through the treatment they will receive at the hands of federal criminals in that federal prison, and it won’t be possible for the crooked judges to remove the feelings left behind. 

     Its one time when I applaud the kind of treatment the judges will receive.  My only suggestion would be that they carry signs around their necks reading “I am a judge who sentenced kids to jail for money.”  Just in case some inmates don’t know them and would like to make their acquaintance.

SOME BELIEVE THAT AN UNBIASED JUDGE IS THE KEY PERSON INMAKING THE PROCESS WORK---BUT THE PERSONAL FOIBLES OF A JUDGE, WHETHER HE IS UNBIASED OR NOT, BRING DOWN THE PROCESS JUST AS SURELY AS DOES BIAS
                   July 18, 2009---Fred Kelly Grant
 
 
      The judge below who sent kids to detention for profit claimed that each kid he committed deserved it.  So, he claimed, I expect, that the state ought to ignore the fact that he was getting money on the side to do his job the right way.
      Just for a moment, suppose that were true.  Suppose that every kid that he committed deserved to be committed and for the term he committed.  Or, just suppose that he was a "maximum moe" meaning that he believed that if the statute allowed commitment, he should impose commitment.
 
     That would make him unbiased from the standpoint of each individual who appeared before him.  Yet, he would still be the worst piece of trash around.
 
     As long as he was taking money for each person he committed, the public would never be convinced that he was not biased toward commitment so that he could make his ill gotten money.  His unlawful selling of defendants destroyed the system and the process just as severely as would a racist, anti-feminist, anti-teenager judge.
 
    Dean Edward J. Levi of the Univeristy of Chicago Law School always said that "perception is truth" and therefore,
"even the perception of conflict of interest is a conflict of interest."  Thats the rule he established as part of the ethical code of the United States Department of Justice when he was appointed Attorney General by President Gerald Ford to try to re-built a Department in which the people would have trust.  But the damage done to that department prior to Levi by Nixon's crowd, and continued degradation of the job by Janet Reno, patsy to BillClinton and his impeachable offenses, and the infinitely inept, corrupt and defender of unlawful schemes Alberto Gonzalez, has never allowed the Department of Justice to live up to its name except during the brief period that Levi was there.  But, even today, the ethics standard of the Department of Justice shows that "even perception of conflict of interest constitutes conflict of interest."
 
Hardly as bad as selling children to detention homes, but bad enough to make national headlines was the police chief in tiny Jordan Valley, Oregon seveal years ago.  David Brinkley of NBC nightly news brought to our Chicago living room one night the story of the chief whose salary was paid by the amount of traffic fines he collected.
 
He set up a speed trap that was impossible to meet.  If you have traveled there, you know that from a wide open highway and range, you suddenly hit the Jordan Valley line.  He posted a speed limit in the town at a point at which the motorist had no time to reduce his lawful speed to the required limit. He, of course, was there to meet the offender.  As he ticketed sevealmotorists at a time, he would send them to the justice of the peace's or magistrate's office for court.  After writing enough tohandle at one sitting, he retired to the court, removed himself from the police chief's role and became the judge, found the offender guilty, imposed the maximum fine and pocketed it as his salary.
 
Lodice and I were so proud to have national news attention of people like David Brinkley, Chet Huntley and Walter Cronkite focused on law enforcement in the wild, wild west.
 
But, while it wasn't "fair" perhaps to change the speed so quickly, it wasn't selling kids into commitment.
 
As we begin the countdown to publisher of Justice My Ass the book, we're going to leave this judge story up for today to be sure that enough people see it.  There is nothing more contemptable than selling children into detention.
 
And, as we prepare more stories for the week of judges who will be playing footsie with inmates in the prison system for the next few years, keep in mind this joke:
 
                In a corruption trial, the district attorney bore in on the witness,"isn't it true that you took $5 grand in corrupt funds to inflluence the outcome of this case?"   the witness just stared out the window.
                the d.a. repeated the question a little louder.  the witness continued to look out the window at the trees and garden outside the courthouse.
                The judge leaned over the bench and said sternly "Sir, I order you to answer the question."
                the witness, startled, turned to the judge and said "Oh, I'm sorry sir, Ithought he was asking you."
 
Within the next few days, more judges who have gone to jail, and some who should have, followed up by the opinion of a highly respected member of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals who told the Harvard Law School that the foibles of the bench have hurt the criminal system almost tothe point of being beyond repair.

CROOKED JUDGES MAKE PROFITS OFF COMMITTING KIDS            Scourges of Society Prey on Kids at their Mercy    July 17, 2009----By Fred Kelly Grant

 

     If we were to run a poll of people who had not been intimately involved with the criminal process, or just involved in the civil process, and ask the following question:  Which person in the “system” or “process” can the public depend on for unbiased treatement?  the answer would probably be “the Judge”.

     Most folks have little respect for the lawyers on either side unless they are in the process with a good lawyer.

     There is a story which demonstrates that the poll responders would be wrong, and they would be wrong more than they know.

     Before we get to the story, I am reminded of a story about a doctor, an engineer and a judge who are discussing which of their professions Is the oldest in the world.

      The doctor says”well gentlemen, after all Adam’s rib had to be removed to make Eve and that is medical/surgical procedure, so I would say it is clear that medicine was the first earthly profession."

      The engineer wasted no time pointing out that “God took chaos and turned it into the heavens and the earth with all the mountains, valleys and streams, and did it within a week.Now that’s a pretty marvelous engineering feat and it came before Adam and eve. So I would say engineering was the first.”

      The judge simply sardonically grinned and said “And,who do you think created the chaos that God worked with?”

     My vote goes to the judges and chaos.

     In the great keystone state of Pennsylvania, founded by the most ethical faith group of its time, the Quakers, we find a story of judicial corruption that sickens even me.

     The story starts innocently enough with a high school girl named Hillary Transue.  She created a “My Space” page on the internet spoofing her assistant principal at the high school in Wilkes-Barre.  She was a fine student, never in trouble before.  The page on the “My Space” stated clearly at the bottom that the matter was just a joke.

     Should she have done it?  No.  Would I have done something similar when I was in High School, a straight A student and student body president?   Yes.  But, the difference is it wasn’t on the internet for the world to see. Would I have done something like it as a young professional in the State’s Attorney’s Office in Baltimore?  Yes, and did pull a joke on an assistant office manager who was a good guy that Charley hired as a family friend. He did some good administrative things, but he had this “check in and out” board which we were expected to come to the front office to change when we changed our positon.  One morning I was late.  It had been tough getting up and started after a night of heavy drinking.  On those mornings, Lodice simply left me to my own devices to get ready.  On mornings when I had behaved myself the night before she helped me get my clothes and brief case together and helped get me off on time.  On hung-over mornings she left me on my own.  So, I was a little late entering the courthouse and went directly to the courtroom where my trial was to resume.

      Along about 10:30 am, the guy walked into the court room and sat down beside me at the trial table, which was fine, didn’t bother me at all.  When my cross examination ended and re-direct started, he leaned over and whispered to me “You’re not signed out on the board.”  I didn’t say a word to him, just stood and said “Your honor, may I request an immediate recess necessary to take care of an administrative detail?”  The judge granted the request as I knew he would.  It was almost time for the morning break for the jury, the defense was taking time with client to determine whether to redirect the witness and the judge knew that in my organized crime unit there were many things going on at the same time.  I turned to the guy and “said, okay lets go change the board before I have to explain to the court the ‘detail’ that is calling me away from the court.”   He said that he didn’t mean that I should interrupt the trial, and I told him I was sure it was that important since he came into the trial room to tell me.  I said “it will be all right, the judge won’t know why I had to break until after the recess, so we got what we needed.”  He said something to the effect that the judge would think that he was a fool.  I just shrugged,and as I turned to walk out after moving my marker from “out” to “in court” I saw him hustling into Charley’s office.

    That’s another time that I caused Charley heart-burn needlessly.  I had no intention of telling the judge why I asked for the recess.  It would have BEEN ME, not the administrator that would have looked like an ass to the judge.  But, my little joke on the administrator caused him grief, but it wasn’t on the internet for the world to see.

    So, all I got was a talking to by Charley and a sidewinder reminder not to do it again.

   But, you get the idea---it was a childish prank, and Hillary Transue expected to get a stern lecture and reprimand.

   However, she was taken before a judge, and before the proceeding was over she was committed to a detention facility operated by a private company under contract to the state.  She was committed for 3 months for “harassment”, and was removed from the court room in handcuffs in front of her horrified parents.

   Hillary said in a later interview that she just didn’t know how anything like that could happen.

   The answer came when a long investigation of the judge and a cohort on the bench proved that the two were taking kick-backs from the private company for every kid they sentenced to detention.  The company was paid by the commitment.  The investigation began when a Youth Advocacy Group petitioned the Pennsylvania Courts to review the cases of 500 juveniles detained under orders from Judge Mark A. Clavarella, Jr.  From the year 2002 and following records showed that he committed 25% of all kids who appeared before him, while the statewide average was 1 in 10.

      Clavarella’s cohort Judge Michael T. Conahan was president of the Court and had charge of the budget, and he is the one who secured the illegal kick back contracts.  The two judges had shut down the county operated detention center on the grounds that it was too run-down.  Conahan secured contracts with PA Child Care and Western PA child Care to operate detention facilities for the county, receiving money for each commitment and money determined by the length of the commitment.

    Clavarella was the judge in charge of the court proceedings regarding the juveniles, so he was the operational crook.  Conahan as controller of the budget then arranged for the kick back payments to go to a company the two judges had formed in Florida.

    The more kids Clavarella sent away, and the longer sentences he imposed, the more money the two made.  They made $2.6 million dollars in kick backs between 2003 and 2006.  5,000 kids were sent to detention in order to gain the judges that $2.6 MILLION.

    The two judges were charged with federal crimes of wire fraud and tax fraud.

    They pleaded guilty on a plea bargain under which they agreed that they each would serve 87 months in federal prison.  Later, the Court accepted the plea bargain agreement and imposed the sentence of 87 months on each.

     Meantime, the State Supreme Court designated Senior Judge Arthur E. Grim to try to straighten out the chaos left by the two crooks in the form of 5,000 kids that were sentenced under the fraudulent scheme.  Many of those kids were first time offenders, most were minor offenses, and some of them still remain in custody.

     For years the Advocacy Group had complained about Clavarella’s massive detention operations, but no one listened.  As a spokesperson said “There was a culture of intimidation surrounding this judge and no was willing to speak up about the sentences he was handing down.”  But, not until the petition was filed with the supreme court did action commence.

     Juvenile probation officers were in court all the time and saw what was going on, prosecutors were in court all the time and saw what was going on, public defenders were in court and saw what was going on, clerks were in court and saw what was going on.  In fact, every criminal process employee in the courthouse knew what was going on, because that’s the way the “courthouse messenger” system works.

     So, the entire process deserted our kids at often their first experience with the “lady of justice”.  Guess the blindfold had slipped over both eyes in this obviously crooked system in Luzerne County in northeaster Pennsylvania.

     What kind of justice do you do for the kids?  What the government always does when its people screw up accidentally or crookedly, pay damages with tax payer dollars.  So, how much in dollars is it worth to have been put into detention with hardened juvenile delinquents, and subjected to the indignities which are common, because some judges were getting paid kick backs to put you there?

    The money won’t really be justice because it won’t remove the feelings left behind.

    But, justice will come to the judges, not through the courts, but through the treatment they will receive at the hands of federal criminals in that federal prison, and it won’t be possible for the crooked judges to remove the feelings left behind. 

     Its one time when I applaud the kind of treatment the judges will receive.  My only suggestion would be that they carry signs around their necks reading “I am a judge who sentenced kids to jail for money.”  Just in case some inmates don’t know them and would like to make their acquaintance.

CROOKED JUDGES MAKE PROFITS OFF COMMITTING KIDS            Scourges of Society Prey on Kids at their Mercy    July 17, 2009----By Fred Kelly Grant

 

     If we were to run a poll of people who had not been intimately involved with the criminal process, or just involved in the civil process, and ask the following question:  Which person in the “system” or “process” can the public depend on for unbiased treatement?  the answer would probably be “the Judge”.

     Most folks have little respect for the lawyers on either side unless they are in the process with a good lawyer.

     There is a story which demonstrates that the poll responders would be wrong, and they would be wrong more than they know.

     Before we get to the story, I am reminded of a story about a doctor, an engineer and a judge who are discussing which of their professions Is the oldest in the world.

      The doctor says”well gentlemen, after all Adam’s rib had to be removed to make Eve and that is medical/surgical procedure, so I would say it is clear that medicine was the first earthly profession."

      The engineer wasted no time pointing out that “God took chaos and turned it into the heavens and the earth with all the mountains, valleys and streams, and did it within a week.Now that’s a pretty marvelous engineering feat and it came before Adam and eve. So I would say engineering was the first.”

      The judge simply sardonically grinned and said “And,who do you think created the chaos that God worked with?”

     My vote goes to the judges and chaos.

     In the great keystone state of Pennsylvania, founded by the most ethical faith group of its time, the Quakers, we find a story of judicial corruption that sickens even me.

     The story starts innocently enough with a high school girl named Hillary Transue.  She created a “My Space” page on the internet spoofing her assistant principal at the high school in Wilkes-Barre.  She was a fine student, never in trouble before.  The page on the “My Space” stated clearly at the bottom that the matter was just a joke.

     Should she have done it?  No.  Would I have done something similar when I was in High School, a straight A student and student body president?   Yes.  But, the difference is it wasn’t on the internet for the world to see. Would I have done something like it as a young professional in the State’s Attorney’s Office in Baltimore?  Yes, and did pull a joke on an assistant office manager who was a good guy that Charley hired as a family friend. He did some good administrative things, but he had this “check in and out” board which we were expected to come to the front office to change when we changed our positon.  One morning I was late.  It had been tough getting up and started after a night of heavy drinking.  On those mornings, Lodice simply left me to my own devices to get ready.  On mornings when I had behaved myself the night before she helped me get my clothes and brief case together and helped get me off on time.  On hung-over mornings she left me on my own.  So, I was a little late entering the courthouse and went directly to the courtroom where my trial was to resume.

      Along about 10:30 am, the guy walked into the court room and sat down beside me at the trial table, which was fine, didn’t bother me at all.  When my cross examination ended and re-direct started, he leaned over and whispered to me “You’re not signed out on the board.”  I didn’t say a word to him, just stood and said “Your honor, may I request an immediate recess necessary to take care of an administrative detail?”  The judge granted the request as I knew he would.  It was almost time for the morning break for the jury, the defense was taking time with client to determine whether to redirect the witness and the judge knew that in my organized crime unit there were many things going on at the same time.  I turned to the guy and “said, okay lets go change the board before I have to explain to the court the ‘detail’ that is calling me away from the court.”   He said that he didn’t mean that I should interrupt the trial, and I told him I was sure it was that important since he came into the trial room to tell me.  I said “it will be all right, the judge won’t know why I had to break until after the recess, so we got what we needed.”  He said something to the effect that the judge would think that he was a fool.  I just shrugged,and as I turned to walk out after moving my marker from “out” to “in court” I saw him hustling into Charley’s office.

    That’s another time that I caused Charley heart-burn needlessly.  I had no intention of telling the judge why I asked for the recess.  It would have BEEN ME, not the administrator that would have looked like an ass to the judge.  But, my little joke on the administrator caused him grief, but it wasn’t on the internet for the world to see.

    So, all I got was a talking to by Charley and a sidewinder reminder not to do it again.

   But, you get the idea---it was a childish prank, and Hillary Transue expected to get a stern lecture and reprimand.

   However, she was taken before a judge, and before the proceeding was over she was committed to a detention facility operated by a private company under contract to the state.  She was committed for 3 months for “harassment”, and was removed from the court room in handcuffs in front of her horrified parents.

   Hillary said in a later interview that she just didn’t know how anything like that could happen.

   The answer came when a long investigation of the judge and a cohort on the bench proved that the two were taking kick-backs from the private company for every kid they sentenced to detention.  The company was paid by the commitment.  The investigation began when a Youth Advocacy Group petitioned the Pennsylvania Courts to review the cases of 500 juveniles detained under orders from Judge Mark A. Clavarella, Jr.  From the year 2002 and following records showed that he committed 25% of all kids who appeared before him, while the statewide average was 1 in 10.

      Clavarella’s cohort Judge Michael T. Conahan was president of the Court and had charge of the budget, and he is the one who secured the illegal kick back contracts.  The two judges had shut down the county operated detention center on the grounds that it was too run-down.  Conahan secured contracts with PA Child Care and Western PA child Care to operate detention facilities for the county, receiving money for each commitment and money determined by the length of the commitment.

    Clavarella was the judge in charge of the court proceedings regarding the juveniles, so he was the operational crook.  Conahan as controller of the budget then arranged for the kick back payments to go to a company the two judges had formed in Florida.

    The more kids Clavarella sent away, and the longer sentences he imposed, the more money the two made.  They made $2.6 million dollars in kick backs between 2003 and 2006.  5,000 kids were sent to detention in order to gain the judges that $2.6 MILLION.

    The two judges were charged with federal crimes of wire fraud and tax fraud.

    They pleaded guilty on a plea bargain under which they agreed that they each would serve 87 months in federal prison.  Later, the Court accepted the plea bargain agreement and imposed the sentence of 87 months on each.

     Meantime, the State Supreme Court designated Senior Judge Arthur E. Grim to try to straighten out the chaos left by the two crooks in the form of 5,000 kids that were sentenced under the fraudulent scheme.  Many of those kids were first time offenders, most were minor offenses, and some of them still remain in custody.

     For years the Advocacy Group had complained about Clavarella’s massive detention operations, but no one listened.  As a spokesperson said “There was a culture of intimidation surrounding this judge and no was willing to speak up about the sentences he was handing down.”  But, not until the petition was filed with the supreme court did action commence.

     Juvenile probation officers were in court all the time and saw what was going on, prosecutors were in court all the time and saw what was going on, public defenders were in court and saw what was going on, clerks were in court and saw what was going on.  In fact, every criminal process employee in the courthouse knew what was going on, because that’s the way the “courthouse messenger” system works.

     So, the entire process deserted our kids at often their first experience with the “lady of justice”.  Guess the blindfold had slipped over both eyes in this obviously crooked system in Luzerne County in northeaster Pennsylvania.

     What kind of justice do you do for the kids?  What the government always does when its people screw up accidentally or crookedly, pay damages with tax payer dollars.  So, how much in dollars is it worth to have been put into detention with hardened juvenile delinquents, and subjected to the indignities which are common, because some judges were getting paid kick backs to put you there?

    The money won’t really be justice because it won’t remove the feelings left behind.

    But, justice will come to the judges, not through the courts, but through the treatment they will receive at the hands of federal criminals in that federal prison, and it won’t be possible for the crooked judges to remove the feelings left behind. 

     Its one time when I applaud the kind of treatment the judges will receive.  My only suggestion would be that they carry signs around their necks reading “I am a judge who sentenced kids to jail for money.”  Just in case some inmates don’t know them and would like to make their acquaintance.

TODAY IN HISTORY----AWESOME EVENTS

·       The “Trinity” Test---the first test of the Atomic Bomb---Occurred Just Before Dawn On This Date in 1945 in the Almagordo, New Mexico Bombing Range, And the World Changed Forever

         ----July 16, 2009—by Fred Kelly Grant

     On April 12, 1945, President Harry S. Truman was sworn into office on the death of four time elected President, and War and World Leader Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

     The new President met with the Roosevelt Cabinet and asked them to remain in their positions.  After the meeting Secretary of War Harry Stimpson asked to stay behind.  At that time, for the first time, Truman was advised that an atomic bomb was under development, and was advise of the magnitude of the bomb.  Throughout his years as vice president, Truman did not know of the bomb; the reason Stimpson stayed behind was that none of the other cabinet members knew of the bomb.

      Fear that the Nazis would develop a nuclear explosive device led this nation into planning efforts in the early 1940s, before the United States was ever in World War II.

      In 1939 American scientists were almost sure that the Nazis were developing a nuclear bomb.  In 1942, in an effort to develop a bomb before either Germany or Japan did, the United States initiated is own development and testing program.  The top secret program was assigned to the Army Corps of Engineers.  General Leslie R. Groves, deputy chief of construction for the Corps, was tapped to lead the project.  He had just finished overseeing construction of the Pentagon, and was headed for overseas duty when the assignment was made.

       Thus, began the Manhattan Project, unknown to the American public, and even to the Vice President of the United States.  Hard to imagine, with today’s society of informants within the government, “pay for” scoops for the tabloids, and one upsmanship in the District of Columbia, that such a secret could be kept.  But, it was a different world, a very different world.  The people still believed in their government, still believed that elected officials were in office to do their constituents’ work.  Elected officials still believed that they worked for the people, with national security and war interests at top priority.  Yes, a far different world.

    One important part of the Manhattan Project was the atomic research being done by Enrico Fermi at “my” school the University of Chicago.  Fermi had fled the facists in Europe for the United States and became manager of the University of Chicago nuclear reactor known for the Project as “Chicago Pile” (or CP-1).  During the afternoon of December 2, 1942, under the west grandstand of the abandoned football stadium, Stagg Field (named after legendary U. of Chicago football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg), the first controlled nuclear reaction occurred.  Man, under Fermi’s knowledge and direction, had controlled energy released from the nucleus of the atom.

     For two years I passed that site every day as I walked from classes at the Law School to our apartment in south Chicago.  Never did I pass it without thinking about the awesome responsibility that Fermi undertook willingly and knowingly.  Never did I pass it without thinking of how his widow described his regrets at how nuclear power came to be used.  He believed that what he had done could easily someday start a reaction that would not end until matter disintegrated.

     I remember watching as the visiting professional football teams practiced on that field prior to their games with the Chicago Bears up north at Wrigley Field.  One day, I stopped to watch the San Francisco 49ers practice, and watch “alley oop” R.C. Owens who had starred at the College of Idaho when I was there.  Practice ended, and as the players were headed for their buses, I walked up to R.C. and told him I was at the College when he played there.  We talked for a couple of minutes,and I was amazed when he looked around and said something to the effect that it was strange to be playing football where the atomic bomb was born. This was in 1959 or 60, and I think we all had a better awareness of the awesome threat of nuclear weapons than today’s people do.

       On this date, in 1945 came the culmination of three years of planning headed by scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Los Alamos laboratory chosen by Oppenheimer for the research.  The site chosen for the actual test of the bomb was in a remote section of the Almagordo Bombing Range, now known as White Sands Missile Range.

       The test site was named the Trinity site, a name chosen by Oppenheimer based upon his fondness for poet John Donne who had referred to the Trinity at one’s death. Soldiers began arriving in 1944 to secure the site from approach from all sides and angles.  Two observation bunkers were set up:  Oppenheimer and General Farrell were to observe from one 10 miles away from the test, and Groves watched from one 17 miles away.

       The plutonium-core nuclear device was nicknamed the “gadget”, and it was hoisted to the top of a 20 meter steel tower.  The “gadget” was assembled at a nearby ranch house on July 13 and was winched up the tower on the 14^th.

        For two weeks, events had been on nervous hold because of rain.  Finally, when it appeared that the weather would be favorable, the “gadget” was assembled and readied.  The test was scheduled for 4 am Mountain War Time, but was delayed again by rain and lightning.  Scientists were afraid that lighting would cause accidental detonation, and feared that rain would unnecessarily spread radiation.

        Rumors have it that a pool (the ultimate of the office March Madness pools) was established for bets on the results of the test.  Some bet on the test being a “dud”, one bet on an 18 kiloton of TNT result (the closest to the actual 20 plus kiloton result), some on the destruction of the state of New Mexico, and at least one on the ignition of the atmosphere and incineration of the entire planet.  By the time of the test, scientists had at least convinced themselves that planet destruction would be almost impossible. But, to Fermi it remained a distinct possibility to his death.

         The final count-down finally started at 5:10 a.m.  At 5:29:45 New Mexico Mountain War Time, the explosion occurred.  Observers said that the surrounding mountains were illuminated brighter than day light for a couple of seconds.  Heat from the explosion was reported to be “hot as an oven” at the bunker ten miles away.  Observers reported a color range of purple, to green and then ultimately to white as the mushroom cloud began to develop.  The sound of the shock wave was heard 40 seconds after the blast at the bunker 10 miles away.  The shock wave was felt over 100 miles away and the mushroom cloud reached 7.5 miles in the air.

      It wasn’t until two days later that Secretary of War Stimpson was advised of the details of the morning’s test.  The report to him included an account by General Thomas Farrell who observed from the bunker with Oppenheimer.  According to Farrell’s report:

       “Dr. Oppenheimer,on whom had rested a very heavy burden, grew tenser as the last seconds ticked off.  He scarce breathed.  He held on to a post to steady himself.  For the last few seconds, he stared directly ahead and then when the announcer shouted ‘Now’ and there came this tremendous burst of light followed shortly thereafter by the deep growling roar of the explosion, his face relaxed into an expression of tremendous relief.  Several of the observers standing back of the shelter to watch the lighting effects were knocked flat by the blast.”

(“The First Atomic Bomb Blast, 1945” Eyewitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com)

       Some unofficial reports say that after the initial celebrating that took place, test director Kenneth Bainbridge said to Oppenheimer “Now we are all sons of bitches.”  The same reports say that later Oppenheimer said that while watching he was reminded of a line of Hindu scripture “I am become Death the destroyer of worlds.”

      Even before the test, a second bomb had been dispatched toward the Pacific to be used in Japan, if the test was successful.

      Of course, the public had questions.  A forest ranger 150 miles away reported hearing a huge explosion and seeing a cloud of smoke; a citizen 50 miles away said that the dark sky lighted up like the sun; 200 miles away the explosion was heard. 

      The air force issued a 50 word statement announcing that a “remotely located ammunitions magazine containing a considerable amount of high explosives and pyrotechnics exploded.”  End of story, end of press coverage.  Can you imagine such statement ending the matter in this day and age?

      Again, in the official report, General Ferrell wrote that “the lighting effects beggared description.  The whole country was lighted by a searing light with the intensity many times that of the midday sun.  It was golden, purple, violet, gray and blue.  It lighted every peak, crevasse and ridge of the nearby mountain range with a clarity and beauty that cannot be described but must be seen to be imagined.”

      All our lives changed at 5:29:45 am 64 years ago today by an explosion which left a crater of radioactive glass 10 feet deep and over a thousand feet wide.

MAN INNOCENT OF RAPE FREED AFTER 12 YEARS IN PRISON---July 14,2009  by Fred Kelly Grant

A 45 year old man has been freed from the Illinois prison system  after serving 12 years for a rape that he did not commit.   A year ago, DNA evidence cleared the man convicted in a judge trial in 1995, and he has now filed a civil suit against the City of Chicago and its police department.

    He was convicted of raping a 15 year old girl, based upon her testimony.  He had just come to Chicago from Arkansas and had no criminal record of any type. He was arrested after a tip was received by police that he resembled a composite photo of the rapist.  The victim picked him from a lineup, and then identified him at trial.

    Serious evidence was hidden by the state, and other critical evidence was not pursued.  The victim had several sexually transmitted diseases, and the defendant had no trace of any.  The evidence of the victim’s sexually transmitted diseases was found by forensic investigators, revealed to police and the prosecutor, but withheld from the defense and the court.

    DNA samples were not taken from the defendant for comparison with DNA evidence found at the scene.  The DNA evidence was not taken, and apparently not demanded by the defense, even though in another rape claim against him DNA evidence was taken which cleared him of the charge.

     While in prison, the man repeatedly requested help from the Innocence Project in New York City.  Finally, in 2006, the Project which focuses on innocence rather than due process violations, convinced the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office to take a DNA sample from the accused and test it against evidence taken from the scene of the crime.  The comparison showed that the accused COULD NOT HAVE BEEN THE RAPIST.  Yet, it took two years to free the falsely accused man.

    During the past year the state of Illinois issued to the accused a “certificate of innocence” which allows him to seek damages in money for his unlawful incarceration.   This is not a case in which the state deprived the defendant of a fair trial (even though it did so by withholding evidence), this is a case in which the accused was shown scientifically to BEING EXLUDED FROM EVEN THE POSSIBILITY OF COMMITTING THE CRIME.

    How much is even a day of confinement in a maximum security prison in Illinois worth in dollars?  The City of Chicago will find out when a federal jury hears and decides the damage issue.

    But, the question I have is why just the police department of the city?  The prosecutor knew about the evidence of sexually transmitted diseases and did not reveal it to the defense or court.  Forensic investigators knew about the evidence, and knew that it was being withheld by the police and prosecutor.  So, why just the police?  Here, the entire system failed, and no part of the system should escape the consequences.

    Why did the defense not demand DNA evidence?  It was demanded as to another rape claim and the defendant was cleared.  Whatever the reason, the defense counsel failed to use a tool which by 1995 had become routine procedure for competent defense counsel. 

     The “system” failed because of the character of the people serving in it.

      But, don’t think this kind of thing happens only in the huge urban areas and their crowded calendars.

      Years ago when I worked in Canyon County, Idaho, a relatively civilized rural county in what used to be a key agricultural area, and is now a subdivision mecca, a man was lost in the county jail for over 66 days.

      He was arrested and charged with driving while under the influence.  When he was scheduled for arraignment, jail personnel failed to bring him to the court.  It was a negligent mistake, nothing deliberate, just the good old government operating at the usual rate of care.

      When he didn’t appear for arraignment, a failure to appear bench warrant was issued for him.  A month or so later, the defendant complained to the jail officer that he had not been taken to court.  The complaint was ignored, and a week later, the defendant sent a note to the jail commander and, fortunately, someone in the chain of command read the note, checked the records and reported the mistakes to the prosecutor and to the District Court Administrative Judge for whom I worked.

      The public defender was immediately notified and appeared with the defendant before a District Judge who designated himself as a Magistrate to hear the case.  A plea of guilty was entered, the Judge imposed a 30 day sentence, gave credit for time served and released the defendant.  As he left the courtroom he was quite pleased.

      However, no body bothered to check the computers to determine whether there were any outstanding warrants to be answered to or cleared.  So, that night, in the downtown county seat, the defendant was stopped by an officer who had information that an outstanding bench warrant called for the man’s arrest.  It was the “failure to appear” warrant which had been issued on the day the jail neglected to bring the defendant to court.

      Believable or not, the jail failed to bring the defendant before the court for six days.  Finally, the man got the attention of the jail again, and the prosecutor appeared in court and moved to quash the warrant.  The judge did so and the defendant left court not quite so happy this time.

      He went to a lawyer to see if he couldn’t collect some money from the county for the last arrest.  The lawyer filed a notice of tort claim, and appeared for deposition with the county’s insurance counsel.  Counsel told me that the company was prepared to pay well into the six figure market.  But, when the defendant’s attorney “demanded” $66,000 calculated at $1,000 per day, the adjuster’s hand shook as he wrote and signed the check in fear that the defense would change its mind before the release could be signed.

    That was nearly three decades ago, in a rural, conservative county.  What do you think 12 years of days in an Illinois prison, with all the assaults endured from other inmates during that time, will be worth at today’s dollar value?  Enough that the Chicago criminal justice system will be punitively taught a lesson----a lesson that should not have to be taught through a lawsuit?  No, don’t count on it.  As long as human beings man the positions in a system which decides life, death and freedom from imprisonment, there will be abuses of the system.  “Justice” system; Justice and you know the rest.

RACISM DYING IN AMERICA ?

     By the way, in case you are one of those who truly believe that racism is getting better or less destructive in the U.S., you might want to go back and read the comments to this story in the Tribune of Chicago on their blog.  One graduate of a no doubt superior “white” school, commented that the defendant should be relegated to suing the victim instead of the city which framed him.  He said that the accused did not do that because he wanted the white taxpayers to fund his “welfare” needs.

     Oh, and off the subject of the article, but on the subject of “justice” and racism, there is Pat Buchanan on Sunday past saying that white males are the most discriminated against group in history; and Jefferson Beuregard Sessions II the Alabama racist hammering on Sonya Sodomayor, when he was rejected by his own party members when he was nominated for federal judge in 1985 and it turned out that as federal prosecutor in Alabama he had:   called a Black lawyer in his office “boy” and told him “to be careful how he acted around white folks”; said that the KKK he thought was a pretty good group until he found out that some of them were “pot smokers”; called the ACLU and NAACP communists who forced civil rights down the throats of white people; filed and tried voter fraud cases against three Black civil rights workers (later proven to be trumped up charges); and said of a white lawyer that he ought to be ashamed of himself for representing Blacks in civil rights cases.

    This idiot is the one who the Republican party has chosen to be its leader in the attack on the female nominee?  And, Pat Buchanan claiming to be the heir to William Buckley referring to her as “that woman” when falsely claiming that she ruled against a white male fire fighter.  Yes, racism is alive in America, and right not it is being lead by the Republican members of the Senate of the United States.  Within that racism attack on a federal judge, we are watching the disintegration of the Republican party as it now exists.  Four leading candidates for possible nomination for president gone through sex scandals or otherwise, and a female governor who resigns,could it be, just prior to public statements about a federal investigation of the construction company which furnished the supplies for her and First Dude’s mansion and for her multi million dollar sports arena which has left the city which she headed in a financial pit.

CALIFORNIA FEELS THE IMPACT OF A CONGRESS THAT IS TOO FAR REMOVED FROM THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INTERESTS---DUE IN MANY WAYS TO THE FACT THAT ENVIRONMENTALIST GROUPS HAVE DAILY ACCESS TO CONGRESS AND THEIR STAFFS, AND AMERICANS DEPENDENT ON THEIR HISTORIC AND TRADITIONAL MEANS OF LIVING DO NOT.

                   July 7, 2009---------Fred Kelly Grant

Understand, at  the beginning, that I use the term “environmentalist” in this piece to refer to the activist organizations of interests that tend more to the security of species than to the security of man.

I recognize fully, that the term “environmentalist” was taken by those activist groups while the farmers, ranchers, loggers, grazers, commercial fishermen, miners and all others who make their living from the natural resource uses in this country slept on their rights.  They “slept” on their rights while they worked more hours a day in dirt-hard work for less money than most of the world.

The word “environmentalist” fits more in line with the actual users of the land who took good care of the land because their annual income depended on good environmental balance on their land.  They had a very personal interest in the environment because if it was not cared for, their livelihood would suffer or die.

But the activists took them all while they slept; they used subterfuge to get people like my wife and I to contribute to their causes---which they advertised in the name of elephants being senselessly slaughtered, and other of the favorite big game animals being endangered.  We, as city dwellers, had no idea what these groups were planning to “take out” rural land ownership rights and the natural resource industry with them.  By the time we learned what many urban contributors still do not know or understand, the ball game had entered the ninth inning,

Right now, even though the landowners and workers in the natural resource industries are in the bottom of the ninth as the “home team” since they represent very personal interest in the lands homes affected by the efforts of the “environmentalist organizations”.

It is time for everyone of the landowners,  natural resource workers and the locally elected officials who represent them to bring forth every offensive skill they have on the bench.  As every fan in baseball knows, “there ain’t no tomorrow” once the home team hits the bottom of the ninth.

For landowners and natural resource workers, there “ain’t no tomorrow”.  Its the rest of 2009 which is all that is left of the bottom of the ninth.

Where better to start than California, a land many in America think of as a vacation paradise only, haven for tourists who don’t share the Californians access to sunshine and good climate, who don’t have Disneyland and who don’t have the beautiful Pacific ocean.

As we drove through dry, cracking farm lands for over 4 hours on Saturday, entering California up near the Reno section of Nevada and driving to Anaheim, it became clear that these California landowners, farm operators, farm workers, and town businesses dependent on those landowners and workers, are in the bottom of the ninth, with little offensive help available to them.

Signs along the freeway  proclaimed “Congress created dust bowl.”  I had heard a little of this story from Terri Murrison, County Supervisor of Tuolmne County, California.  But, the sight of dry, cleared and cracking fields where tomatoes and other row crops should be growing to provide produce for a great percentage of the nation, was mentally staggering, and physically sickening.

Today, the Los Angeles Times, in a front page story, detailed the Californians’ plight.  The article which all of you should read, just to learn to what extremes the “environmentalists” will go to put species ahead of humans, is “Despair flows in water’s absence”.

The article begins with the following description of danger to an entire area of California:

          “Water built the semi-arid San Joaquin Valley into an agricultural powerhouse.  Drought and irrigation  battles now threaten to turn huge swaths of it into a dust bowl.

         “Farmers have idled half a million acres of once-productive ground and are laying off legions of farmhands.  That’s sending joblessness soaring in a region already plagued by chronic poverty.”

The Times points out that the agricultural farm revenue LOSS will be more than $900,000,000.00 MILLION DOLLARS, and a UC Davis economist  says that an additional 30,000 jobs will be lost in 2009 OVER AND ABOVE THOSE ALREADY LOST.

An Anglo farm owner, Joe Del Bolsque, showed his barren ground to the Times reporters.  He showed them the cracked and dry earth where tomatoes, cantalopes and asparagus should be growing to feed the tables of Americans.  He is operating on only 10 PERCENT of the water he needs for a productive and viable farm. He didn’t plant tomatoes, and only planted half the usual acres in cantaloupes and asparagus because those crops need such great amounts of water.

The Governor of California, as usual when presented with a crisis, turned to the mighty federal government for relief, and asked the President to declare Fresno County a disaster area.  The result of that would be increased federal aid—not to solve the problem, because that’s not federal relief designation does, but to provide “loans” to landowners and “extended unemployment payments to out of work farm hands.”   All the loans would do would give the farmers another bill to pay, when they can’t pay their current bills, and eventually the farmworkers will run out of unemployment, when what they want is jobs.

At a recent meeting at Fresno City Hall, according to the Times,  farmers “shouted down officials from the Interior Department”  Their common message was “We don’t want welfare, we want water.”

Do they have a right to water?  Yes, water rights shored up by a contract with the federal government, the same government the Governor now wants to deliver disaster benefits instead of water.

In 1952---nearly 6 decades ago---farmers banded together as the Westlands Water District to collectively handle protection of water rights and use.  The District contracted with the U.S. to buy water, and as a result of the contract, a system of canals and reservoirs (that capture water in northern California and hold it for distribution to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta).

Since the District was only formed in 1952, the water rights became subordinate to prior existing rights.

In the last two years of severe drought, the federal government has only allotted half of usual amount of water expected by farmers.  That amount will only be 40 percent in 2009.

This year, the supply of water has been damaged also by a federal judge’s decision that puts the priority of the Delta Smelt, salmon and green sturgeon much higher than the priority of human farmers, landowners and workers.  The court decision ordered that pumps moving water through the water systems be turned down to protect these three endangered fish.  The supervisor of the National Marines Fisheries Service, which stands as the Royal Guard for fish, says, according to the Times, that the pumps need to be slowed down because they can reverse water flow and trap salmon in the river, pulverize other fish or ensnare them on protective screens.

The result of the lack of water, at the expense of landowners and workers, helps other wildlife according to a representative of the California Endangered Species Coalition who says there hasn’t been a commercial or recreational fishing season for salmon in the last two years.  Apparently such benefit is of much greater importance than the continued operation and productivity of farms in the area.  After all, we can always turn to Mexico for all our produce, as the one-worlders would have us do.  And, maybe if the fish production comes up, even though many of us doubt whether what man does is going to save a species from God’s natural order of things, the California farmers, landowners and farm workers can get jobs at the fish viewing sites, or helping with the fish harvests. 

When Congress originally enacted the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy act, was it the intent to protect every species protected by the national government, even to the expense of putting farmers and farm workers out of business---even at  the expense of ruining this great central California produce giant of the industry?  No.  The language of both acts, as well as the debates in Congress show that no such intent existed.  Does it state the intent of today’s Congress?   Who knows, we aren’t entitled apparently to many single votes on such issues that we can look to the views of, and hold to their responsibilities to their constituents, our individual members.  Leadership has permitted the congressional process to work only such a convoluted process that individual opinions and votes on a specific issue can be hidden from the public.

We will look to the specifics of these acts after this vacation that started last Saturday.  Would do it before, but the hotel we’re staying in, the Wyndham in Anaheim, has strange pool rules, strange elevator operation, and strange internet service.  In fact, in writing this, I feel a lot like those US correspondents during the Second World War, before America got into the fight, who wrote from Germany and Japan and didn’t know whether their writings would get out.

What all this shows though is the pattern that follows and is following throughout rural America.  Everything the federal government does with regard to restricting agriculture and natural resource work hurts rural America.  There is in fact a War on Rural America.  Unless we convince urban voters of this, and what it means to them, we are in a losing war.

And, until we can enlist that offensive power of the urban voters, we can keep the bottom of the ninth inning going only if local elected officials step into the batter’s box and swings for the rural economy.  How they can do this, and the reason why only they can help now, will be spelled out also this week, providing  that modern communications techniques are not prohibited to me here in deep southern California.

In the meantime, consider this:  the environmental organizations couldn’t be continually successful if local government, state government and the Congress and Executive Branch of the federal government didn’t allow it to happen.  Someone, and it has proven to be that only local officials WILL, has to step up and protect the human species in the fight to save species from extinction.

THE FOURTH THAT WAS

                At Midnight last, we moved into our 234^th year as a Republic.  In spite of a massive Civil War, a conviction of one impeached president, and three impeached presidents, the assassination of two sitting presidents and the attempted murder of at least three others, five world wars in which we defended the entire free world, and a direct invasion of our land on September 11, 2001, we have survived.  In the words of one of our most inspiring leaders, who also was assassinated, “We shall overcome”.

            The spirit that leads this Nation through its people was evident last night in major cities and small towns as fireworks displays thrilled old and young alike.   Seniors like me shed tears unashamedly as a crystal voice, or a less than precise amateur voice, hits the crescendo notes of the Star Spangled Banner.  We get a chill of immense pride when we hear the rousing God Bless America, the deeply inspiring America, the Beautiful, the rockish---still moving---Coming to America by the never slowing Neal Diamond.

          The march impact desired by John Phillip Sousa  brought crowds to their feets, faces broadly smiling and openly crying, on the televised East River, Boston Commons, Atlanta, and Rose Bowl sites as  the William Tell Overture and Stars and Stripes Forever  accompanied thrilling displays of color and sound.

         We moved yesterday through tributes to our veterans of all wars and to our men and women currently on the actual line of life and death in Afghanistan and Iraq, and on defense throughout the land mass of the earth and on the seas.  Our current president, who is presiding over the culmination of the Iraqi war and the upsweep of the attempt to help Afghans return to the freedom of will which we helped them attain by sweeping the troops of the Soviet Union from their boundaries,  and our prior president who started, bungled and then successfully reversed his errors to bring about his goals in Iraq, both addressed and “hosted” parties for members of the military forces and their families.

         We also moved through vocal attacks on our current president and our prior president, with the attackers hardly pausing to recognize that in spite of their prognosis of being torn asunder, past and present, this Republic remains strong and the only hope of the free throughout the world.

        We have never been free of the self imposed duty to protect the free world. Without our commitment to freedom---our own and the world’s---Adolph Hitler or Hirohito would have ruled the world in the 1940’s.  It would have been one or the other, because having defeated us, each would have taken over the power and authority of the other.

         Without the leadership of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Satanic forces of Nazi terror would have reduced the world to a Dark Age far worse than any ever experienced by civilized humanity.  But, yesterday references to him were largely derogatory because of his domestic policies which, according to his critics, would destroy our Republic.  Without the leadership of Harry S. Truman, who courageously recognized the Nation State of Israel, who courageously took on the moral responsibility of unleashing an awesome destructive power to end World War II, and who put in place the plans to rebuild free Europe and to provide the plan to return balance to the powers of Asia,  our Republic may not have survived  deep crisis.  He was universally  ignored yesterday.  Without the resurrective spirit, communication, and leadership of Ronald Reagan, who restored the importance of individual economic, moral  and social responsibility to our citizens and the image of our Nation throughout the world, we may well have missed the opportunity to provide the stability needed to observe and participate in the dissipation of the tyrannical Soviet Union.  His greatness was hardly the center of the tax revolts of yesterday, even though his vision provides the base for uprisings like the TEA parties held throughout the land yesterday.

           The lesson to be learned from the scarce attention that those leaders received yesterday is that when this Republic is in danger as a free nation, a great leader steps forward to take the Republic by the hand and move us through crisis to victory.

       We have never been free of the self imposed right of the people to attack us through free speech guaranteed by our Constitution---attacking our government , our leaders, and our fallen heroes. 

           The lesson of last night’s celebrations is that the spirit of the people of this Nation remains vibrant and ready to support the Republic through crises which again threaten us and the entire free world.

           As  Lady  Liberty was again opened to our citizens, we were reminded that we are indeed a Nation of immigrants who have always held out the offer of liberty, with responsibility, to the oppressed throughout the world.  Her re-opening for the first time since the dastardly cowardly attack on our shores on September 11 is simply symbolic of what we knew on that day of evil attack:  this Republic will survive because it is the will of people who will give all to protect liberty.

          Our friend and new contributor Ron Ewart pointed out in a moving presentation featured here yesterday that it is time for a patriot to step forward to provide sound, intelligent and inspired leadership to conservatives so that we can have meaningful debate and choice as we move into the second and third decades of the 21^st century.  He or she will.

          I hope you felt the stirring that I did as his words reminded us of the sight observed by Francis Scott Key in the Baltimore Harbor just prior to penning our Anthem.  I hope, and know, that you did feel the stirring as our birthday parties progressed coast to coast last night.

         We will survive.  That was clear even from the individual accomplishment of the “hotdog champion” who was crowned at Coney Island yesterday, and the bank guard in Indiana who without concern for his own safety and life, prevented individual terror created by a would be bank robber.

And, today, we move on to live with the tragedies which impact the citizens of the Republic  continually.

         Domestic violence apparently took the life of a great athlete and human being:  Steve McNair, “Air McNair” to the football fans of the Republic.  He died in an apparent murder-suicide in Nashville, victim of a romance gone sour.

        Natural disaster shocked us with death brought about by  a lightning strike, and predictable disaster struck as a fireworks truck blew up on Ocrakoke Island in North Carolina.  On the international scene, insanity again moved the North Korean government as seven missiles were launched by the “Dear Leader” of that military wannabe.  Typical, and traditional.  Each fourth of July, for several years now, the North Korea leaders have played at the game of displaying some military gamesmanship.  To what end?  North Korea remains a nation in name only---a geographic area without effective government, without effective leadership, inhabited by starving, jobless, socially and physically miserable people.

         The ineffective, pathetically outdated Scud missiles barely cleared North Korea’s own jurisdiction.  They demonstrated not strength, but weakness and failure.  They brought no fear to our nation.  Rather, they simply demonstrated one other source of tyranny against which we feel obligated to protect human liberty.

        As we move into our 234^th year, we will find that conservative leader; we will enter the second and third decades of the century strong in will and in deed.  This Republic has not endured the threats, actual and imagined, from inside and outside our own  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA

 

From Sparks Nevada's Nugget, on the way to Disney Land to celebrate our Nations official birthday at the World's happiest place, the Grant family says happy birthday to you all, and God Bless America.

Today's post comes to us from a new and welcoe provider.  Ron Ewart s a dedicated patriot and steward of American liberty.   His organization is important tothe local government coordination process which we promote andhelp implement.  Welcome Ron to justicemyass.com

 

The Decline and Fall of the All-American Male

We need to clean up our gender and start asserting ourselves again. A successful America needs two strong genders not one holding power over the other.

Obituary:

The All-American male, after years of verbal and psychological abuse, finally succumbed to the many injuries inflicted upon it by the politically correct mainstream media, Oprah and Hollywood. There will be no funeral and in lieu of flowers it is requested that any contributions be sent to the NRA and NASCAR.  

Well, it was a good run but all things must come to an end.

Many men have become weak and slovenly and have no manners. Their courage and manhood seems to emulate from a beer bottle and not from their strength of character. Go to any bar during a major sporting event and you will see it on full display. Lots of tough talk fueled by liquid courage but in reality they are "all hat and no cattle." 

In many cases men have regressed and have adopted the clothing and habits of their children's baggy shorts, hands in their pockets, a ball cap on backwards and a T-shirt with a witty saying such as "Beer Belly Under Construction." Think I'm kidding? The next time you go to an airport take a good hard look. It's getting so you can't tell the kids from the parents.

How did this happen?

Hollywood has had a big hand in it. They shape modern culture with their constant presence and their ability to use the media to deliver their version of what a man should be.

Take the simple sitcom. We went from the strong father figure in "Father Knows Best" in the '50s to Mike Brady in "The Brady Bunch" in the 70s. And it went straight downhill from there.

Today on shows like "According to Jim" the father is typically portrayed as a dumb fat sports loving overeating slob in a dead end job who responds to adult situations like a little boy. And he usually has a smart, pretty wife who "parents" her adolescent husband just like her other kids.

They usually have 2-3 kids. A young teenage girl with an attitude who dresses like a skank, an obnoxious, wise-ass son who is usually smarter than his Dad and sometimes a precocious 5-year-old boy or girl who just says the darndest things, most of which is highly inappropriate for a child their age but no matter, it sounds cute.

Dad always forgets his wife's birthday or some other special occasion and Mom wears the pants in the family. Men are not heroes to their kids, just weak bumblers.

In TV dramas women are now the hard-bitten, foul mouthed detectives and the men clueless dopes.

We brought much of this on ourselves but some was beyond our control.

As the women's movement gained steam in the '70s and roles were changing we didn't adjust. And over the years as women progressed and took on larger roles in the highest levels of business, politics and government, many men seem to have retreated to their inner adolescent unable to cope with the new reality. David Letterman's locker room humor at the expense of Sarah Palin is a perfect example of this --a middle aged man desperately trying to stay relevant and hip, ably supported by sophomoric writers who are even more juvenile.

This is not an indictment of all men. But we need to clean up our gender and start asserting ourselves again. Boys are falling behind every day. More women than men are attending college than ever before. But a successful America needs two strong genders not one holding power over the other.

We need to teach young boys what it means to be a man and what the brotherhood of men expects of him. That one's masculinity is not to be found in the bottom of a can. To stand up for your beliefs and being willing to defend them. Sitting up straight and not slouching through life mumbling instead of speaking clearly. Looking someone in the eye and telling the truth. Respect for elders. Not excusing bad behavior with the "boys will be boys" nonsense. And yes, teaching respect for women.

We need to start building real men from the very beginning. And that means fathers need to be fathers and not friends and buddies. My dad will be 91 in August and he is still my dad. I don't think we will ever be friends nor should we be, because that is not the relationship we have. I still seek his counsel and advice because he has the wisdom and experience that I don't. Every time I talk to him I learn something new about our relationship and about myself.

Will boys resist this reassertion of the traditional father-son relationship? They probably will but that's a good sign. Because that means that fathers will have put their foot down and become fathers again and not enablers of bad behavior.

Some day they will thank you.

John Wayne once gave this advice to his son and I think every father in America should impart this to their sons.

"Never think anyone is better than you, but never assume you're superior to anyone else. Try to be decent to everyone, until they give you reason not to." -- That's what a real man is.

Patrick Dorinson

Patrick Dorinson, Political communications strategist and commentator:

The Texas Legislature Meets Today, July 1, In Special Session

Comprehensive Development Agreements (CDAs) MUST BE DEFEATED!!!!

WHAT’S AT STAKE:    Profits and benefits to CHINA-- (China’s products can be transported through its Mexican ports without US Customs, and without Teamsters’ drivers)

                    Profits to the Spanish Royal Family—(Its company, Cintra, will collect all tolls FOREVER from Trans Texas Corridors;and will have non-compete authority to build all businesses along the TTCs—motels,restaurants, service stations, utility rights of way)            

                   Building NAFTA SUPERHIGHWAY(The Trans Texas Corridors will connect Mexico to the rest of the Superhighway that will stretch across the U.S. without US customs inspections)

ALL CITIZENS OF TEXAS HAVE THE CHANCE TO STOP THESE PERRY PETS---CALL, FAX, EMAIL, GO AND VISIT TODAY, TOMORROW, OR JULY 3 YOUR SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE IN AUSTIN   AND SAY NO WAY! TELL THEM TO WATCH CAREFULLY ALL BILLS INTRODUCED,AND VOTE NO AGAINST COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS (CDAs)and AGAINST EXTENDING THE LIFE OF TxDOT (which will find a way to build against the will of the People if allowed to stay in existence)

    

ALL AMERICANS SHOULD TAKE HEED BECAUSE IF TEXAS APPROVES THE TRANS TEXAS CORRIDOR, IT WILL BE THE FIRST AND MOST CRITICAL LINK TO THE NAFTA SUPERHIGHWAY THAT CONNECTS MEXICO TO CANADA WITH LITTLE OR NO US CUSTOMS INSPECTION IN BETWEEN.

SO ALL AMERICANS SHOULD OBJECT TO AUTHORIZATION OF THE TRANS TEXAS CORRIDOR.  DO IT THROUGH YOUR FRIENDS IN TEXAS.  CALL, WRITE, FAX, OR EMAIL THEM TODAY AND TELL THEM TO CONTACT THEIR SENATOR AND REPRESENTATIVE IN TEXAS AND OPPOSE AUTHORIZATION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS AND ANYTHING ELSE CONNECTED WITH THE TRANS TEXAS CORRIDOR.

THE REASONS ARE SET FORTH BELOW-----DON’T HESITATE, ONCE THIS SESSION IS OVER, WE’LL BE FREE OF THE MOST CRITICAL LINK OF THE SUPERHIGHWAY, OR WE WILL BE STUCK WITH INTERNATIONAL CONTROL OF OUR ROUTES OF TRANSPORTATION.

 

When the Texas legislature ended its regular session, it had failed to authorize continuation of comprehensive development agreements (infamously referred to as “CDAs”).  These are the contracts by which Texas allows foreign companies, like Cintra (owned by the Spanish Royal Family) to buy and own toll roads such as the Trans Texas Corridors and collect the tolls FOREVER.

Cintra and other foreigners, under CDAs also have the absolute right to develop all businesses along the new superhighway toll roads,and either sell or lease them WITH SALE OR LEASE PRICE GOING TO CINTRA, NOT TO TEXAS.

Cintra, and other foreigners, under CDAs will also have the utility rights of way that go along with the Trans Texas Corridor toll superhighways.  Local water, power, communications and other utilities will have to pay the fees charged by Cintra, and the local governments will bear the increased cost in higher utility fees.

The TransTexas Corridors are dreams of Governor Rick Perry, whose other good judgments include supporting Rudy Julianni for President in the hope of becoming his VEEP candidate.

 Perry could NOT let the CDAs go away or he would lose his dream and however it is connected to those foreign DOLLARS.  So, he called a special session of the Legislature to ram through his prize.  He called it a time when he expects he can get quick, unthinking action, from the members because of the 4^th of July coming up.

But what a great time for Americans to rise up and say “no” to governmental tyranny.  Taxation without representation was the rallying cry in 1776 at this momentous time.  Today it should be ‘NO DOUBLE TAXATION (which is what toll roads amount to) TO PAY PROFITS TO A FOREIGN COMPANY.

We fought in 1776 to free ourselves of foreign control.  Today and tomorrow the Texas Legislature is considering giving back to foreigners CONTROL OVER OUR MOST CRITICAL ASSET: OUR HIGHWAYS.

The order for special session included both of the following points which affect all Americans, and Texans, PARTICULARLY IN Their Pocketbooks:

1.  Authorize the continuation of comprehensive development agreements (cdas) by which foreign companies can own the superhighways like TranTexas Corridors, collect all the tolls from them FOREVER.

a. These CDAs are not responsive to the people’s best interests:  the companies who get them do NOT HAVE TO COMPETITIVELY BID FOR THEM---What an opportunity for graft and corruption.

b. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TEXANS OPPOSED THESE, BUT THIS IS RICK PERRY’S LAST CHANCE TO GET THEM THROUGH BECAUSE HE FACES REELECTION IN FRONT OF THOSE CHEATED VOTERS.

c. The CDAs allow the foreign company to pick the highway route, and they pick the cheapest route in order to increase their profits---that means EMINENT DOMAIN OVER the finest farm land left in Texas, the Blacklands and the Blacklands Prairie.

d. The CDAs allow the foreign company to locate the superhighway so that it runs right through towns and school districts----dividing them with as much as 1200 feet of solid right of way.  Business, emergency services, school routes, all would be destroyed and the towns and districts would die---all for the profit of a Spanish Company and the glory of Rick Perry.

e. The CDAs allow the State to raise highway taxes for, and tolls on, other highways, forcing traffic to the foreign owned superhighway.

 What part of CDAs benefit the Texas voters?  None.

What part of CDAs benefit the rest of America?  None.

2.  The second agenda item that affects all Americans is the continuation of the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT).

a.  The Texas Legislature allowed the Department to continue until 2011 when the legislature next meets.

b. A Sunset Advisory Commission told the Legislature that the Department was out of control, a “rogue” agency that pursued policies which the Legislature and the people oppose.

c. It was proved beyond a doubt that TxDOT employes LIED to federal agencies in order to evade federal laws which the ordinary Texas citizen must obey.

d. It was proved beyond a doubt that TxDOT broke Texas law by paying MILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS for registered lobbyists to promote its projects with the SAME LEGISLATORS WHO MEET TODAY.

e. It was proved beyond a doubt that TxDOT committed unethical conflicts of interest, and deliberately withheld a technical document from the Federal Highway Administration in order to evade environmental laws which would have protected vital water supplies to Texans

f. A Commissioner of Transportation openly and scandalously labeled ALL OPPONENTS OF CDAs and the TRANS Texas Corridors as “a bunch of bigots”.

In Most places TxDOT officials would be facing criminal charges, but the state and some main counties face too much money from the TxDOT CDAs and toll superhighways.  So, there is only remedy for the people.  That is to help “convince” the Texas legislature to vote “no” on CDAs and on Authorizing continued existence of TxDOT.

Our forefathers threw tea in the harbor to get attention to their cause---‘tea parties’ are being held all over the nation.  But, the real tea party is taking place in Austin today,tomorrow and the next day----NOW IS TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN AND WOMEN TO COMDE TO THE AID OF THEIR STATE,AND THEIR COUNTRY, AND INSIST THAT TEXAS LEGISLATORS VOTE NO on any bill that authorizes CDAs or extends the life of TxDOT.

Please remind legislators that the CDAs may well be disguised in a seemingly meaningless bill.  They must read each bill carefully and then VOTE NO on CDAs.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR TEXAS LEGISLATORS CAN BE FOUND AT

www.legis.state.tx.us/ 

IF YOU’RE A TEXAN, CALL, FAX AND EMAIL,AND VISIT YOUR LEGISLATORS!!!!!

If you’re not a Texan, call, fax and email your friends in Texas and remind them to get after their legislators!!!  AND YOU CAN LET THE MEMBERS KNOW TOO THAT ALL AMERICA IS WATCHING!!!!!!

IF YOU WAIT, IT WILL BE TOO LATE   THIS IS THE TIME!!  Once Robert Kennedy asked “If Not Now, When?   If not US, Who?”  Live that notion TODAY.

Patrick Dorinson, Political communications strategist and commentator: