...depends on what is, is.
So goes the latest in a long litany of political scandals, this one is once again bringing negative publicity to presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton.
The first time it was her husband Bill, who was outed for having a sexual affair in the Oval Office with a twenty-something admirer, named Monica. When impeached, he parsed the admission of his affair, with the infamous, "depends on what is, is..."
This time it's super-delegate, and her major political endorser, Elliot Spitzer, Governor of New York and rising star of the Dems party. His scandal is much more serious, because he transported a prostitute across state lines to meet him in Washington, D.C. This is a federal crime and violation of the Mann Act, which was used to dethrone and jail the black boxer, Jack Johnson, at the turn of the last century.
Both Bill and Elliott are considered the smartest of the smart, and yet they have both done some extremely stupid things, damaging themselves, their families, and possibly Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations. The ghosts of Bill's affairs in the 90s still follow Hillary as she campaigns, and the stench of Elliott's $4,300 pay-for-play sex scandal, will also hover over her, even as she tries to distance herself from it.
What is it about Hillary, that the men in her life seem to have little or no regard for the impact their inappropriate behaviors may have on her, particularly now that she is running for president. If she can't persuade them to do the right thing, how can she be expected to persuade the country, the legislature, foreign leaders, etc., etc., to do the right thing.
New York State Lieutenant Governor, David Patterson, stands to become the first black governor of New York State, if Spitzer, the former anti-crime crusading attorney-general who used similar wiretaps to snare his targets, resigns in disgrace for his criminal conduct, as expected.
So how smart, is smart?....depends on what is, is.
The fall of this latest rising star, could be a harbinger of things to come for the Dems, if they steal the nomination from Barack and give it to Billary.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Innocent? - So What!
Tonight on '60 Minutes' there was the incredible but believable story, about a black Chicagoan who was falsely arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for the past 26 years, for a crime that he did not commit.
The incredible part is, that there were two lawyers representing a defendant in another case, who knew he was innocent because their own client confessed privately to them to the crime for which this other man was falsely accused of.
Instead of promptly notifying the authorities who were about to try the innocent defendant, they kept the secret on the specious premise that what their client told them was confidential and privileged. So they let him be tried, convicted and jailed without saying a word in his defense.
What jumps out at me, is that the innocent defendant, had the misfortune to be born black in a racist society with a racist criminal justice system, as was the guilty defendant. In this system, they don't care much about which black defendant is guilty or innocent, so long as they have black defendants who they can convict and imprison. So they kept the secret of his innocence, and in so doing, obtained the convictions of two black men, one very guilty and one very innocent.
There is no doubt in my mind that had the innocent defendant been white, they would have under no circumstance, let him be tried, and certainly not convicted nor jailed. No excuse of privileged information or anything else would have prevented them from doing the right thing, and freeing an innocent white man.
But this system was never designed for justice for black men. Any justice accorded is due to the herculean efforts of dedicated lawyers like those of the Innocence Project, who have worked mightily to free the many mostly black prisoners, who are innocent and have been unjustly convicted and imprisoned. In most cases they have had to waste away for years until the science of DNA matching, caught up with the system.
In this case, DNA was not a factor, but it might just as well have been, since they waited 26 years until the guilty defendant finally died, while jailed for another crime. So now they are belatedly stepping forward to clear the innocent black man they cavalierly let rot in jail all these years. Thanks a lot!
I believe that there is a hell, and these two lawyers along with the guilty party, will have a special place there in the next life. The sad thing is that this is just one of hundreds, maybe thousands of examples of innocent convictions, jailings and probably even executions, that have been perpetrated against the powerless and less fortunate by the justice system.
When will 'justice for all in the land of the free and the home of the brave', finally be a reality for everyone, rather than just for some?
The incredible part is, that there were two lawyers representing a defendant in another case, who knew he was innocent because their own client confessed privately to them to the crime for which this other man was falsely accused of.
Instead of promptly notifying the authorities who were about to try the innocent defendant, they kept the secret on the specious premise that what their client told them was confidential and privileged. So they let him be tried, convicted and jailed without saying a word in his defense.
What jumps out at me, is that the innocent defendant, had the misfortune to be born black in a racist society with a racist criminal justice system, as was the guilty defendant. In this system, they don't care much about which black defendant is guilty or innocent, so long as they have black defendants who they can convict and imprison. So they kept the secret of his innocence, and in so doing, obtained the convictions of two black men, one very guilty and one very innocent.
There is no doubt in my mind that had the innocent defendant been white, they would have under no circumstance, let him be tried, and certainly not convicted nor jailed. No excuse of privileged information or anything else would have prevented them from doing the right thing, and freeing an innocent white man.
But this system was never designed for justice for black men. Any justice accorded is due to the herculean efforts of dedicated lawyers like those of the Innocence Project, who have worked mightily to free the many mostly black prisoners, who are innocent and have been unjustly convicted and imprisoned. In most cases they have had to waste away for years until the science of DNA matching, caught up with the system.
In this case, DNA was not a factor, but it might just as well have been, since they waited 26 years until the guilty defendant finally died, while jailed for another crime. So now they are belatedly stepping forward to clear the innocent black man they cavalierly let rot in jail all these years. Thanks a lot!
I believe that there is a hell, and these two lawyers along with the guilty party, will have a special place there in the next life. The sad thing is that this is just one of hundreds, maybe thousands of examples of innocent convictions, jailings and probably even executions, that have been perpetrated against the powerless and less fortunate by the justice system.
When will 'justice for all in the land of the free and the home of the brave', finally be a reality for everyone, rather than just for some?
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Trickle Down Effect??
The news over the past several weeks has been bleak and bleaker on all fronts. From a spike in the homicide rates in several key cities; to mass shootings on school campuses; record foreclosures of homes; oil prices hitting $105/bbl; the dollar hitting historic lows vs. other major currencies; gasoline prices going sky-high; hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children murdered by precision weapons of war wielded by the Israelis in occupied Palestine; a revenge-seeking suicidal Arab entering a Jewish seminary and murdering 8 students with an automatic weapon; random gang shootings of rivals and innocent civilians on the streets of our cities; the layoffs of 85,000 American workers in January and February alone, along with unabated outsourcing of key jobs; large arson fires set by radical environmentalists; Ralph Nader running again for president as a spoiler rather than as a real candidate; and on and on and on.....!
It seems to me that there is a general air of despair and uncertainty in the air, brought on by the horrific news reports from so many different sources and in so many different areas. These all have had an overall unsettling effect on the moods and the emotions of our citizenry, contributing to these eruptions of mindless violence and other signs of extreme negative stresses.
It would not surprise me that this is the trickle-down effect of the illegal war and occupation, we have now been waging for 5 years on the people of Iraq. With all the massive deaths and costly destructions we have waged over there, the universe cries out for justice, and requires that we reap here, some of the things we have sown over there.
This reaping is manifesting itself in these awful, horrible news events at home and abroad, as we go from one terrible crisis to the next one. The economy is teetering and barely functioning, unemployment is at record levels, the rich are getting insanely richer with unseemly corporate profits, while the majority of us continue to get poorer. Our human rights are being eroded, we are and have been spied on illegally, those doing the spying are being given immunity from prosecution, while those ordering the spying are successfully evading censure and impeachment, and.........
I don't think Reagan envisioned this kind of 'trickle-down' mess, but he started the ball rolling with his phony economic theories and his ripping-off of the working classes. This is the logical effect of his voodoo economics and the ongoing illegal wars of empire and rapacious covetousness that have followed - these all have brought us to this insane point.
It seems to me that there is a general air of despair and uncertainty in the air, brought on by the horrific news reports from so many different sources and in so many different areas. These all have had an overall unsettling effect on the moods and the emotions of our citizenry, contributing to these eruptions of mindless violence and other signs of extreme negative stresses.
It would not surprise me that this is the trickle-down effect of the illegal war and occupation, we have now been waging for 5 years on the people of Iraq. With all the massive deaths and costly destructions we have waged over there, the universe cries out for justice, and requires that we reap here, some of the things we have sown over there.
This reaping is manifesting itself in these awful, horrible news events at home and abroad, as we go from one terrible crisis to the next one. The economy is teetering and barely functioning, unemployment is at record levels, the rich are getting insanely richer with unseemly corporate profits, while the majority of us continue to get poorer. Our human rights are being eroded, we are and have been spied on illegally, those doing the spying are being given immunity from prosecution, while those ordering the spying are successfully evading censure and impeachment, and.........
I don't think Reagan envisioned this kind of 'trickle-down' mess, but he started the ball rolling with his phony economic theories and his ripping-off of the working classes. This is the logical effect of his voodoo economics and the ongoing illegal wars of empire and rapacious covetousness that have followed - these all have brought us to this insane point.
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