Justice is no longer blind

  It is bad enough that the prolonged rape of a 16 year old girl by 2 high school football players happened and almost went completely unpunished, read an blog post of mine on the subject Injustice in Steubenville OH.

  It is pathetic the sentences these two "all American football players" got.  Both found guilty, which you might think it is better then many rape cases get.  But remember the the rapiest not only photograph and video the 6 hour ordeal, they also tweeted, sms'd and even posted photos and video up onto Facebook and YouTube of the incident.  It was a open an shut case if there was ever one.  Their attempted defense that the girl some how gave consent when she was clearly unconscious in almost all the photos and videos is repugnant.

  One of the young men, Ma'lik Richmond, was convicted and sentenced to a whopping 1 year in juvenile detention for being found guilty of rape of a minor.  The other, Trent Mays, was sentenced to a whopping 2 years in juvenile detention for being found guilty of rape of a minor and disseminating child pornography.  Both sentences being the minimum allowed sentences for the crimes they committed.  The Judge, Thomas Lipps, claims the the incident was "profane and ugly." but this, along with Ma'lik's comments the "No pictures should have been sent around, let alone ever taken" and "My life is over" don't indicate regret and remorse for drugging and then raping a girl over a 6 hour period.  It shows disappointment that he got caught.

  Judge Thomas Lipps sentencing send the message of "My hands are tied but I'll make your punishment for the crime you committed as small as possible".  So You'll have the next set of football players thinking they have the right to drug kidnap and rape an under-aged girl but they better not photograph the gang rape.

  Now to put insult on to injury the activist Deric Lostutter that brought all the posts, tweets and other evidence, that there was an attempt to cover up, to light is facing 10 years sentence if convicted.  2 football players drug, kidnap and sexually violate a young girl and they get 1 and 2 year.  The man that exposes the attempted cover-up by the locals faces 10 years.

  We have clearly entered into a culture where whistle blowers are now more likely to be punished then those people and organisations they've exposed as breaking the law.  Why is it?  Because whistle blowers by their nature are exposing corruption of powerful people.  If these 2 boys where from a ghetto and someone dug up this info no one would care.  But Deric didn't do that.  He not only exposed what the 2 boys had done.  He exposed how their whole community tried to cover up the incident.
 
  We live in a culture where people are becoming afraid of doing the right thing.  Speaking up when they see a wrong.  Where reporters are being intimidated by the government for doing their job.  Where questioning what any branch of the government is becoming taboo.  Where peaceful protesting is looked down upon.

  Our founding fathers would be ashamed.  It is a tragedy that in many ways those that signed the Declaration of Independence were more progressive then many politicians today.  I for one think that we need to reclaim our government needs to be reclaimed from the clutches of a few.  Where the government works with and for the common person not just the wealthy and powerful.  Where equal rights for all isn't coupled with less rights for most.  Where people are people and corporations aren't.

Remember your rights!

  All to often we get self absorbed in our world views and think that those with different voices need to be silenced.  When ever you find yourself thinking "Someone needs to shut them up!" or "Why are they being allowed to protest?" then I ask you to step back and think.  We live in a society that was designed by our forefathers to give a voice to the minorities in the community.  To establish a mechanism where they can air their grievances in a peaceful manner.  The for fathers where very purposeful in their doctrine to guaranty these rights to all not just to those that hold the same view as yourself.

  I find myself torn in many situations.  I think to myself "Why do we have to put up with Westboro Baptist Church?" or "Why do the police let those Neo Nazi's gather like that?".  But then I remember that while I find these people morally reprehensible I'm sure many people find me morally reprehensible when I support peoples rights even if they are sexually attracted to someone of the same sex.  I'm sure many people find me morally reprehensible when I support Muslims when they want to build a mosque near the former World Trade Center.  I'm sure many people find me morally reprehensible when I advocate for the teaching of main stream science like the modern theory of evolution.  I'm know people find me morally reprehensible when they find out I am an atheist.

  I've voiced my support for movements like Occupy Wall Street before not only because it is a good example of peaceful protest, but also because it is against a system which is responsible for a large social injustice in our society.  Many people complain that such and such of a group is "Un-American" because they protest against the government.  Ironically when those exact same people protest because they don't agree with the current administration they are "exercising their constitutional rights".

  All people should be weary of the subtle changes that we are seeing in our society.  The introduction to Free Speech Zones just boggles my mind.  It is a perfect example of limiting oppositional voices under the guise of things like "protecting the safety of the public".  In the past we've had some tragedies when the government has tried to stop peaceful protests under such pretences.   43 years ago at Kent State University where members of the Ohio National Guard fired 67 rounds into protesters killing 4 kids and wounding 9 others.  29 out of 77 the guardsmen present admitted to discharging their firearms into an unarmed crowd.  Two of the four young adults killed, William Knox Schroeder and Sandra Lee Scheuer, were not even protesters   They were just walking between classes.  One can only be thankful that either most of those 29 where really bad shots or that they purposefully missed their targets or this tragedy could have been a lot worse.

  In today's day and age we have to remember that peaceful protests are a very valid way for people to air their views.  The government should not infringe on those rights.  Even if you don't agree with what the protesters are saying.  Especially if you don't agree with what they are saying.  Because the same bills that you may support today that would stop people, who have different world views then yours, from protesting could be used against you later when you find yourself wanting to let your own thoughts be known.

Some time I wonder...

Just this morning I read a news article titled "Victim's family wants end to police chase" with a first line in bold of  "PRESSURE is mounting on Victoria Police to change how it handles police chases after a young father was killed by a speeding driver who had been pursued by officers."

So we have here a first thought about a police chase that caused a fatal accident with an innocent civilian.  But now if you read on you find out that the police called the chase off after less then a minute.  The stupid driver fleeing from police kept speeding and a drove the wrong way down a ramp which resulted in a head on collision killing both drivers and seriously injuring the innocent man's wife.

Now I feel for the innocent victims families.  But I don't see what the police did wrong here?  They tried to stop some one for speeding.  That person didn't stop and soon after they tried to pull the driver over they ended the chase because it was clear he was not going to stop and there was no indication, at the time, that he was some larger threat to the community, like a murderer, which he ended up becoming.

So what does the family want?  Cops to ignore all speeders?  You know where that will lead.  Someone will get killed by a speeder that was spotted by police but did not attempt to pull them over and some one will die.  The public will be out raged.  I feel sorry for the police as is.

Honestly are the procedures not good enough now?  Didn't the police do what should have been done to have "higher priority placed on community safety rather than ensuring a criminal doesn't escape."

The reality is the offender was probably and idiot and a danger to society as is.  The police did what they should have done and the grieving family of the innocent victims are looking for someone to blame.  How about looking at the idiot driver that caused the crash in the first place.

It may sound like I'm uncaring towards the victim's family but I'm not.  I'm just being practical and saying this is a bit of over reacting.  It would be like blaming a school for your kid getting beat up at your local park that is no where near the school after they disciplined the kid that beat up your kid earlier that day for being a bully at school.

Read the full article here at Adelaide Now

Grey Weather

I know it is winter and all but the rain can still bring me down.  Living in Adelaide SA it is, for the most part, hot and sunny but even we have an off season in Adelaide.  Though I would not go as far as saying that it is anything like winter.  Being originally from just south of Boston it is hard to describe anything over 0°C as winter let alone 14°C.

I constantly remind myself that the rain is good for us which brings me to my point.  Things around you might naturally get you down but it is in our power to look for the silver lining in as much as we can.  So take this time to look outside or even better yet go outside.  If it is raining look up and let the rain drops fall on your face and think that the rain is a wonderful thing.  Hopefully some hoon doesn't take you out because they are driving to fast for the wet roads.
WF