Today on the blog it is only serious subjects. A few days ago on the blog was a link to an article about prosecutorial misconduct. Yesterday in the USA Today was the second part of the investigative series they are doing on our justice system. Here is the link to yesterday's article:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2010-09-27-hyde-federal-prosecutors_N.htm
This article is extremely disturbing to me. A judge warns the prosecutors not to continue going after the man in the article because it would financially ruin him. Yet the prosecutors did so anyhow. If there hadn't of been a rich donor this man's life would have been ruined. Makes you wonder how many other lives out of control prosecutors have ruined.
When there is a society with no middle class a revolution almost always happens. The poor rebel against the rich. How close are we to having no middle class in the United States? Read the following article and weep.:
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/census-finds-record-gap-between-rich-and-poor/19651337?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl1%7Csec4_lnk1%7C173813
I had known from earlier reports that the gap between rich and poor had been growing since the nineteen eighties, I just didn't realize how large the gap was. Does the article surprise you?
OK, I lied, I have to share one not so serious story. This is from Pat, the dumb criminal story to end all dumb criminal stories.
http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=13205166
OK, one, two, three, all at the same time now, YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID.
Off to Mom's for most the day. Your comments about anything on or about the blog are always appreciated.
WHO AM I?
I was born in 1788 and died in 1879 I was a writer and an editor. My parents believed in equal education for both sexes. I was educated by my mother and my brother Horatio who taught me what he had learned at Dartmouth. I was an autodidact. While teaching my dad opened a tavern and I met my husband the same year. We married at the tavern and had five children. After my husband died I wore black the rest of my life. With support of my husband's lodge I published a book of poems whose title would remind you of unknown smart people. My first novel made me one of the first American novelists and one of the first of either gender to write a book about slavery. I would later found a scoiety to assist the surviving families of Boston sailors who died at sea. I wrote many novels and published nearly fifty volumes of work. I retired at the age of 89. The same year that I retired Thomas Edison recorded the opening lines of one of my poems as the first recorded thing on his newly invented phonograph. During my life I believed that women shaped the morals of society, and pushed for women to write morally uplifting novels. I wrote that "while the ocean of political life is heaving and raging with the storm of partisan passions among the men of America women are the true conservators of peace and good-will, should be careful to cultivate every gentle feeling." I did not support women's suffrage and instead believed in the "secret, silent influence of women" to sway men voters. A supporter of education for women I helped found a famous women's college that is still going strong today. I am credited as being the person most responsible for the holiday sometimes referred to as Turkey Day. I also am given credit for spurring the completion of the Bunker Hill Monument. I have had a Liberty Ship named after me. If you don't know who I am by now Ewe should think of the nursery rhyme that we all recited as children. It would remind us of a Mary time. Who Am I?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
First article--It seems the "Justice" Department is misnamed.
Second article--Income inequality has reached epic proportions, and still the 'pubbies are trying to keep tax breaks for the rich. They may even succeed. In fact, in the end, if we plan to have a functioning nation at all, everyone's taxes will have to go up, and the sooner everyone realizes this, the better. I somehow don't see an armed rebellion in this country, but I wonder how long it will take for the former middle class to wake up and at least rebel with their voices and votes.
Stupid criminal stories are always fun. In this case, it sounds like something I might do, except for the part about stealing the car in the first place and/or stealing items from the car. The part about dropping things and leaving them in the wrong places? Could be me. {g}
Like you, I find the first article extremely disturbing and back to "justice for all who can afford it." That prosecutors can create such havoc and be accused of misconduct and not pay a price is untenable. Our justice/legal system needs serious revamping. I'd like to see us go back to the basics and pitch out all the dependence on interpretations and presumptions and the like. I think there are more cases like this than we can imagine and I resent both the treatment of and ramifications for the defendants and the huge sums we, as taxpayers, pay for the prosecutors to push cases with no value and little, if any credibility. I don't think this is quite what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
I wasn't surprised by the article on the income gaps or spread, as we've been following this fairly closely. The rich get rich and the poor get poorer and, when you run real numbers, the poor and what's left of the middle class certainly appear to be carrying most of the freight, as they have few deductions, compared to all the loopholes available to the wealthy. I do think the rich should pay more than the poor. I also think we're back to looking at where we're "giving" our money and keep more of it in the US, to try to even out the gap. I also think corporations have a responsibility for reining in pay for top officers and using that money to increase pay and benefits for the people who actually produce. CEO bonuses should be going to the people on the floor and in the cubicles, who are responsible for producing the profits and products.
We're very close to having no middle class, at least not as it's been defined over the years. Will it lead to revolution? There are days I'm not at all sure. While I like Pat's thoughts that rebelling with voices and votes will turn the situation around, I have some serious doubts, based on the elections of the past ten or twelve years. So long as corporations and lobbyists are funding and directing elected officials, I'm not sure how much the average citizen's voice/vote is going to count. My experience over that period of time is that no matter what a candidate promises, the odds of those promises being kept are slim to none. I am, quite frankly, very disturbed, concerned and sometimes frighted by the direction we're heading and the refusal of Congress and the administration to recognize and correct our domestic circumstances, while paying huge sums of money to other countries and entities. We really do need to get our own house (country) in order, before we fix the problems of the world. Call me isolationist, I guess.
DR mentioned a word that always raises my hackles (whatever hackles are). The word is "lobbyist". I heard on radio this morning that salary for a beginning lobbyist is $300K/year. If s/he's been in or close to Congress previously, it can be $700K/year.
Even though I'm sure there are a few who are lobbying for good causes, my general feeling is --Throw all the bums out!--
Pat, Lobbyists - I agree. I have a strong suspicion that if we could somehow forbid paid (and highly paid, at that) lobbyists, we'd have a lot more honest government and one that better serves their constituents. After all, lobbyists are all hired and paid by special interest groups and you'll never convince me they don't provide "incentives" the average citizen can't.
Hi Pat
I have another article that I am going to post tomorrow from another source besides The USA Today and it will confirm that the justice department isn't about justice.
The separation of rich and poor started with the trickle down theory which been proven over and over again doesn't work due to the greed of those at the top. If the deficit is going to go down it has to do so by either the reduction of spending or the increase in income, aka as taxes. Spending is an unattractive choice because those needing the money the most will be the ones cut first. I hope the middle class starts with their voices now and not tomorrw.
I'd aslo would be prone to leave my keys behind but I'd never steal.
Bill
Hi DR
I don't even think it is justice for all that can afford because it many cases the accused has a lot of money to begin with and when the trial is over, guilty or innocent whatever money they had is gone. I this is a case where the rich suffer as much as the poor but the super rich can survive it. I completely agree that our justice seems needs revamping. I also think the founding fathers had no idea how one unethical person could ruin so many lives and never suffer for it. I'm with you also on the back to basics.
I wasn't surprised by the article but I was surprised by how large the gap was. The middle class always pay under our political system The Democrats get in they take from the middle class and give to the poor. The Republicans get in they take from the middle class and give to the rich. The middle class basically has no politcal representation which is one of the reasons why it is disapprearing. I don't think you are an isolationist. I think more a realist. You have to take care of your own first, so that you are in a position to take care of others. Works in families and should work in governments too.
Becaus the middle class has no effective political representation I have the same or more doubt than you do that voting will turn it around.
Bill
Hi Pat
I'm with you re the lobbyists. Throw them all out and if we can't do that then put a cap on how much a lobbyist can earn. Maybe cap it at 100K
Bill
Hi DR
Take the omeny out of it and out of the elections and the world would be a better place.
Bill
Lobbyists at $100K. Nah. Let's put lobbyist income at or near poverty level or lower middle income (heck, even middle income?), so they can appreciate the issues they're supposedly dealing with
Hi DR
OK Lobbyists and Congresscritters can't make more than ten grand a year.
Bill
Post a Comment