THE LAST DITCH -- Douglas Olson — FREAK SHOW #16

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Freak show #16
 
By DOUGLAS OLSON

 

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Our precious darlings 

In the first two days after the Supreme Court banned execution of those who kill before their 18th birthdays, two relevant murders were reported: A 14- year-old Tennessee boy was accused of shooting his school-bus driver, and a 13-year-old California kid was charged with beating an 87-year-old man to death with a skateboard. Gee, what amazing coincidences!
 

The public be damned 

Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) has spit in the eye of the people by appointing Reece Rondon to a judgeship in the 234st District Court (Houston). Although judges in the Lone Star State are elected, the governor fills vacancies by appointment. Prior to the 2004 primary, Perry had appointed Rondon to another court seat, but the judge was defeated in the Republican primary and forced to leave the bench. Now, despite that repudiation, he is back. But then, what elected official gives a damn about the will of the people on any issue?
 

Equal justice under law? 

Of course everyone is treated equally by our judicial system!

(1) More than 40 years after the murders of three "civil rights workers" (a Negro and two Jews) in Philadelphia, Mississippi, prosecutors have arrested an 80-year-old man who had been tried and acquitted on conspiracy charges in connection with the crime in 1967. More arrests were promised but have not materialized. In an apparent effort to ensure a "fair" trial, our media heralded the apprehension of "reputed Ku Klux Klan member" Edgar Ray Killen. Originally authorities wanted to rush the case to court as early as April 18, in a most unseemly hurry, presumably to avoid the possibility of Killen's dying before the Stalinesque show trial could be held. We hear now that the trial has been delayed until June — but only because Killen was hospitalized after an accident that broke both his legs. There is, of course, no statute of limitations on murder — at least not on the murder of Jews and Negroes.

(2) Michael Skakel, part of America's royal family through his aunt, Ethel Kennedy, was convicted three years ago of beating a female playmate to death with a golf club in 1975. Serving a sentence of 20 years to life, Skakel is contending that Connecticut had a five-year statute of limitations on his crime, and that it expired long before he was charged in 2000. He also whines that he should have been tried in Juvenile Court, even though he was 40 years old when the trial began, because he was 15 when the murder took place. Don't laugh — his uncle Ted got away with killing Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick, suffering only the temporary loss of his drivers license.
 

Don't vote — it only encourages them 

It sure is great to be able to make a nation's laws, to change and twist and manipulate them to your own personal benefit! Take Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.), who apparently doesn't think that pols such as himself get enough bribes disguised as campaign contributions. Now he's introducing legislation to change the tax code — to provide a tax deduction of up to $600 for political donations. Now, freedom-lovers have never met a tax break they didn't like, in principle, but to put it in perspective, recall that taxpayers are allowed a deduction of only $3,100 to theoretically compensate them for all expenses of raising a child during an entire year.
 

Tolerance today 

  The Swedish minister convicted of a "hate crime" for a sermon denouncing homosexuality — including applicable Bible verses — won his appeal of a 30-day jail sentence. At trial, the government prosecutor had raved that Aake Green, 63, "expressed disdain for the homosexuals as a group" and compared the sermon to shouting "Sieg Heil" and giving the Nazi salute. The Swedish appeals court ruled that the nation's free speech laws covered this particular utterance, but no one can doubt that the whole affair will have a "chilling effect" in Sweden and other "progressive democracies."

  A Maryland "pregnancy clinic" providing education, counseling, and sonograms to women carrying babies was vandalized in January, on the 32nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. More than half the windows were broken and epithets such as "Choice" and "Womyn haters" were spray-painted. (Who could possibly hate women more than someone outraged at those performing their primary biological function of having children?) Unlike the universal rage expressed by the media whenever an abortion clinic is defaced, this assault received almost no publicity. Rush Limbaugh is seldom completely right, but he was directly on target when he observed that, for many on the far Left, "Feminism is the religion and abortion is the sacrament."

  Police in Manchester, England, have been barred from using the word "township" to describe portions of that city — because it is allegedly reminiscent of South Africa during apartheid and might (horrors!) be construed as "racist."

  Washington State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle) is proposing to repeal a 1909 state law criminalizing the "slander of a woman." The law bars "false or defamatory words or language which shall injure or impair" the reputation of any female over the age of 12 — but has a special provision protecting such language when speaking of a "common prostitute." Since this provision manifestly includes all politicians, it's no wonder that legislators don't want to be singled out for such embarrassing protection!

  More than 200 people arrested in Denver for interfering with the 2004 Columbus Day parade say they are justified because the event is a form of "hate speech" against American Indians and constitutes "ethnic intimidation." They also complain that a group of teenagers on one float threw candy in an "aggressive manner."

April 7, 2005

© 2005 Douglas Olson. All rights reserved.
 
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