I have attempted to get a point across regarding keeping an open mind with regard to things like what Bush did or did not do, right or wrong, good or bad, moral or immoral, the issue regarding the Battle Flag of the Confederacy, etc.
It is not my intention to get others to think the same things I think, but rather to think for themselves and not be influenced by others who are biased and have an agenda of their own.
Then, a few minutes ago, a friend, who has no idea of the discussions going on, sent me the following which pretty well exemplifies how I look at the world.....
Open Mind The mind is like a parachute - it works best when it is open.
How quickly do we make assumptions, jump to conclusions and close our mind?
How easily do we form and hold fast to our opinions and then close our mind?
How fast do we make a judgment, slap on a label and then close our mind?
A closed mind never knows the delight of playing with possibilities, being enlightened by others point of view or enjoying the diversity of human life.
An open and understanding mind never assumes, doesn't jump to conclusions and won't hold fast to any opinion.
Perhaps it is no wonder a closed mind is not a very relaxed mind.
Sooo... was it coincidence? Fate? Alien intervention? or X-Files? : )
Unfortunately, I had no say in the matter. He was raised with my ex, and she got the lawyer.
There is an old saying that if one party gets a lawyer, the other better have one as well. The school bus company (private contract to a parochial school - he didn't even ride the bus to school) had an insurance company, and they had a battery of attorneys. That didn't leave much choice.
Personally, I would have looked at what the insurance company offered first, and try to barter with them. If it wasn't headed the way I thought it should go, I'd get an attorney. But, to do that, you also have to be realistic. The insurance company has a maximum per incident. Beyond that, you'd have to sue them with a jury. Mega bucks without using a contingency attorney.
Also, since this was an ex-spouse issue, it was wise to use an attorney of my own.... essentially, I had to sue the estate. It cost me extra, but it got me about double what the estate attorney offered. And my attorney even reduced his fee afterward. Not by a lot, but some. Instead of 1/3 he took 1/4.
As the estate grew in size, my portion got smaller. Bitter ex... and she's the one who ran off and ended up being ex-communicated. In fact, the estate attorney offered me the chance to totally opt out based upon what she told him. He got his when the judge rebuked her in open court.
The way it works, it's nearly impossible for the average pers>>
The infamous mess. Nothing is ever easy. Every time I have gotten nailed for jury duty it has been a civil case of person(s) X suing person(s), usually for wrongful death. As far as I could tell it always seemed like the only people who were really making out financially were the people in the legal system. Of course no amount of money can replace a loved one or a missing limb.
Just....Bravo on the sex offender bit. Very true, unfortunately. Happened to a friend. It seems like in America (rant) Murderers and DUIers are punished less than sex offenders, becuase there is no registration for them, yet they commit FAR more repeat offences. This country is obsessed with an oxymoron of "sex is naughty" combine with" sex sex sex". Its quite....stupid really. (/rant)
Of course the case cited was ludicrous, but there are an awful lot of real no joke no shit sex offenders out there and I have no problem with the death penalty (by my own hand of course) for anyone who harms either of my children. Rape my wife, pay wife your life as well.
Actually, the case cited was a real case out of Kern County, California with one exception, the mother, who provided the girl with birth control pills, actually testified for the boy. I forget who turned in the initial complaint, but, once the DA had it in hand, nobody could get it dropped. He was found guilty anyway and sent to an adult correctional facility.
As for those who would prey on children, women, the elderly, etc, as long as it is done in keeping with the law,
True, but the reaction was, essentially, and overreaction. An over compensation which restricted the hands of all judges, liberal or hard line.
That is a difference between sexual predators like pedophiles, and murderers, robbers, etc. With the exception of real wackos (the Hannibal the Cannibal types), murderers, robbers, etc, can choose not to commit. The sexual predator is driven to commit and can not be rehabilitated or cured. The repeat offense is nearly 100%. Even with castration, the drive is still there, and the perp will use other means to try to assuage the drive.
We have one out here who was released after serving his full term. Technically, he had done his payment to society. The guy was driven out of several towns. The last i heard, the state had set him up in a trailer within the grounds, but out side San Quentin prison, and there he lives.
Election year, court appointed defense lawyer, and a public up in arms over rising reports of sexual assaults (which for the most part were between spouses, and many were later either proven false or recanted).
While it is not from this country; it actually comes from Malaysia; a government official walking down the street stepped in some gum which someone had cast aside. He became so irate he went back and pushed through a new law. It is now illegal to chew gum there, and violation is subject to caning.
Indentured servitude is essentially legalized slavery... a condition I thought we had put behind us.
True. Stealing is stealing. Suppose someone who is mentally impaired commits a theft. Or a five year old child? And does society want to bear the financial burden approaching $100,000 per year for a $2 loaf of bread?
Consider your own situation if, for example, (and I know this sounds like a good idea for a movie) your child needed medical treatment you could not afford. What lengths would you go to save your child? Or wife? or whoever?
That's just fine, UNLESS you happen to be one of those extremes. Remember that when you get caught up in a situation and they're sending you away. Just accept it because a 'couple of eggs gotta get broke"... (not that I expect it to happen to you, but put yourself in the position of the "extreme at one end or the other."
I don't like to disagree with another cop, but that attitude, while it may be right on the mark, sucks if we are to be a nation of laws. Yeah, I used to get PO'd to see my perp take a walk. But, even though I think it has gone too far in protecting the bad guys, I'm not going to throw out the Construction I've sworn to uphold with that kind of outlook.
Yeah. One place i worked, our theme song was "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"
Of course if was an over reaction, but the public was fed up with the coddling of some major perpetrators. In places were judges aren't elected and aren't doing the job that the public wants them to do what is the alternative?
People are scared. They know that LE in this country is able to do very little to prevent crime. Sure they do a pretty good job of catching the guy after the fact, but their hands are tied in actual prevention efforts. At best they are able to protect us from those horrible speed demons. Perhaps we need to create one of those prisoner islands were they can all go to live and murder, rape & rob each other to their hearts content.
Well there ya go. Through in politics and throw logic out the window.
Like I said, add politics to the mix and throw logic away.
Not really, they are two distinct things. Indentured Servitude is a state where you work for me until your debt to me is paid off. Steal from me then work for me for free until what you stole is paid off. Or at least go wash police cruisers or something. It is just applying the concept of public service to the person harmed.
Well this brings in the concept of knowledge of your actions and being responsible for them. They mentally defective and children have always had (and should) punch out clauses. But again if I steal your loaf of bread and your family goes hungry who is going to make you whole? Does my going to jail serve you? Is it justice for you? What if you just wanted me to come over and clean your yard in repayment? Should not the victim of any crime have some say in the punishment?
Saw that movie. Really didn't like it and it set up the scenario where a certain thing was made OK in a movie so it should be OK in society. Some people wait to the last minute to go to extreme efforts, others through proper due diligence & effort take care of things up front. I have medical care for me & mine for life. Just took a little twenty year stint in indentured servitude. :)
Again, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime. As I said before I don't agree with nor follow (all of the time) all of the laws of the land. However, when (and if) I do get popped I take it like a man. I know I did wrong and pay the price. After all I made a choice.
As you say it is perhaps right on the mark so it is easy to see why it can be developed. LE simply arrests and presents for prosecution. After that a different group of people take over. Now I am not talking about setting people up or falsifying evidence. What he means by that is a skell is a skell. For every crime they catch them for there are numerous ones they never did catch them or were unable to present enough evidence for to prove in a court of law. So while they may end up successfully putting him away for X, he may have been guilty for the other twenty five letters of the alphabet for which they could not make a case. An example is they really, really liked a guy for a series of smash & grabs at local businesses. They couldn't make a case on that but while under surveillance they caught him stealing car stereos. Once he went away the smash & grabs at businesses stopped. Could be happenstance, but they didn't think so.
Now that was a good movie. I used to love those spaghetti westerns. I think I OD on them though.
In part, that is because people don't understand law enforcement is not really there to prevent crime except in the psychological sense. As much as it would like to be proactive, it seldom can be. Historically, it's always been reactive... something happens and the cops react. (If we ever get mind reading we could turn that around.)
That and the job of law enforcement is really to investigate and report at which point it's handed over to the DA and the courts. It was one of the hardest things to instill in rookies. While, as a citizen, we should care what happens in a case, as cops we should not be concerned. Once we have done our part in the justice system, as long as we did our part right, it becomes someone else's responsibility (ie DA, judge, jury, etc). Put the revolving door out of your mind as much as humanly possible.
The best we could hope for is to keep a minimal lid on chaos, and, hopefully, be able to help people who get in a bad situation. There's just way too many of them and not nearly enough of us.
Actually, the island idea isn't too bad (I saw that movie). And the military could use it as a nuke test site. Goes along with my idea for defeating Red China without firing a shot. Send them every one of our airline planes, cargo craft, etc. Give 'em free tickets to Disneyworld. Give 'em half enough fuel to get to the states, and leave out the section of the flight manual covering landing instructions.
Which often results in knee jerk reactions to problems which don't really exist, or exist only minimally.
Except that historically, indentured servitude was still slavery by another name. People worked off their crimes (no matter how petty) it's true. But during that period it was not unusual for the servant to be mistreated, women forced into prostitution, men and children doing hard labor without compensation. Indentured servants were supposed to work off their debt but still be paid for their efforts, which was rarely the case. Often, when their period of servitude was worked off, they were sent forth with nothing to get them started over. That forced many to resort to theft to survive which got them right back where the had been... or worse. In many other cases, their "master" kept them in debt by overcharging them for room and board, etc, just as was done to share croppers and coal miners.
I don't have a problem with restitution. Nor do I have a problem with laws which prohibit criminals from making a profit from their crimes (ie movie rights, book deals, etc).
I worked and earned similar coverage, though I wonder sometimes if I didn't pay more in the long run. You are right, and still there are too many exceptions; people falling through the cracks no matter how hard they try; to make the laws so rigid.
But that wasn't the condition. The condition was there are extremes at each end. In the case where you did NOT do the crime, would you be satisfied to take it like a man because you know you just happen to be one of the extreme cases? I doubt it.
To a point I would agree. HOWEVER, when you think well we couldn't get the perp for this stuff we are sure he's done before, we'll make up for it with this time borders on ignoring due process just to put someone away. Granted, it provides a high degree of satisfaction for making him pay at least a little, but it tosses aside the basic foundation of the principles upon which the nation was founded. And THAT is something I have a major problem with. I think those principles have been eroded way to far as it is, and various groups are still trying to take more (think ACLU). To look at criminal prosecution in this light is, IMHO, just helping the erosion.
Yeah? Ever watch those things (or even TV shows) in a foreign language? Talk about ROFLMAO!!!! Hoss Cartwright in Japanese?
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