Law & Justice: October 2004 Archives
Igots is a former-engineer/current-law-student and he's got an amusing/disturbing account of a police ride-along. My brother is in the process of becoming a police officer, and it sure sounds like interesting work... at least based on accounts like the one above and Law & Order.
Prosecutor and fellow Bear-Flagger Patrick Frey has written an excellent op-ed advocating a vote of "no" on California Proposition 66. It's a bit graphic, so don't read any further if you've got a weak stomach -- nevertheless, the graphic descriptions are necessary for understanding the incredible seriousness of the issue.
Proposition 66, the initiative to modify the Three Strikes law, is named the "Three Strikes and Child Protection Act of 2004." This name is bitterly ironic, as the proposition will seriously jeopardize public safety, including the safety of children. It will release many hard-core, lifelong violent criminals, including some of the worst inmates in California's prison system.Mr. Frey also explains that the proposition is being bankrolled by a millionaire named Jerry Keenan for the primary purpose of freeing his son Richard.For example, Joseph Noble is a sexual predator with a 26-year criminal history of sexual offenses against young girls. In a typical case, Noble tried to force a seven-year-old girl to orally copulate him, and then choked her until she lost consciousness. He told police that he had fantasized about raping and murdering two-year-old girls. He once wrote a private note, found by sheriff's deputies, which said:
I have an incredible lust for young, tiny, innocent virgins. Sadistically raping or sodomizing a beautiful young girl gives me incredible pleasure. Their screams of agony are music to my ears, as I brutally mutilate their undeveloped tiny genitals for hours at a time.Noble is currently serving 25-to-life for indecent exposure. At his trial, he admitted that he still has violent sexual fantasies about children, saying, "on a magnitude of evil, [masturbating in front of others] is nothing compared to what I'm capable of." The judge who sentenced him said that Noble "has all but promised he is going to re-offend." But if Proposition 66 passes, Noble's 25-to-life sentence will be converted into a three-year sentence, which he has already served.
Here's an absurd story from an absurd place: Northern California. Apparently, the city of San Jose has decided to surrender to a pack of coyotes.
Residents in a gated community just outside San Jose (search) are howling mad: They say they're being terrorized by a family of coyotes (search) that has moved in, and they're getting no support from the city to get rid of them.Who wants to bet that Forrest Williams is pro-choice? Killing coyotes is bad, but killing babies is a-ok.Neighbors said the coyotes follow people home, skulk around garages and have even stalked local children. ...
In a suburban setting, coyotes like these can create a dangerous situation. But city council members voted against allowing residents to trap the coyotes out of what one council member called his deep respect for all life.
"I shouldn't just go out and just eradicate the environment, that's just not a natural state of events because we were not given the power to do that," said San Jose City Councilman Forrest Williams. "And I feel strongly about life in the sense that, from a spiritual perspective, thou shall not kill, that's just a commandment that I live by."
Next up, who wants to bet that Forrest Williams is anti-gun? It's fine for wild coyotes to prowl around a neighborhood, but can you imagine the outrage if one of the residents decided to start carrying a rifle to protect himself and his family?
I like personal stories about Supreme Court Justices, and Power Line points to a moving profile of Clarence Thomas.
A Thomas friend who talks frequently with the justice said Thomas keeps a list in his head of who was for and against him during his confirmation hearings. "It hurt him a lot, I'll tell you," said this friend, who would speak only if not named to preserve his relationship. "And he's still bitter." ...Everyone feels like this at some point, I think. I don't imagine prominent people just sit around all night glowing with pleasure over their accomplishments.Thomas went on to discuss his experience at Yale Law School, and how he felt rejected by the "pretty people," the bourgeois blacks. "I was left thinking he feels incredibly uncomfortable in his skin," the former clerk said. "It was almost like a person who didn't feel attractive, who didn't feel accepted."
The discovery of American school emergency plans in the hands of a terrorist in Iraq (where there is obviously no connection to terrorism) may have led to the recent government alert that schools should be aware of terror threats. In case you missed the first story:
A man arrested by U.S. authorities in Iraq had a computer disk in his possession containing a public report downloaded from a U.S. Department of Education Web site on crisis planning in school districts, including San Diego Unified.Nah, that's not threatening. He was probably just working for Osama's school-building program and he needed a few pointers. In case one of Osama's schools were attacked by terrorists. Or something.The man was described as an Iraqi national with connections to terrorism and the insurgency that is fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. Officials in San Diego said the man's intentions were unknown.
San Diego law enforcement officials said there was no indication of any terrorist plot against schools in San Diego or elsewhere in the country. They did not publicly release the information because there appeared to be no threat. The information was relayed to the San Diego FBI office last week and then to the school district Friday.
Anyway, what does the government say we should do to help prevent terror attacks at home?
In particular, schools were told to watch for activities that may be legitimate on their own — but may suggest a heightened terrorist threat if many of them occur.Unless the person interested in obtaining such plans is a terrorist in Iraq -- then there's no threat at all.Among those activities:
_ Interest in obtaining site plans for schools, bus routes and attendance lists;
I super-duper hate pigeons. They're basically rats with wings. Unfortunately for Woodridge, New Jersey, crazy-lady Ania Nowak loves "all feathered critters".
They fly in every day by the hundreds, crowding power lines and rooftops, dropping feathers, waiting for their next meal.If the government won't help, can't somebody call the mafia?They are pigeons (search). And for four years they have not gone hungry, thanks to Ania Nowak and her mother, who pour birdseed by the bucketful into a fountain-sized feeder every day outside their Woodridge, N.J. (search), home. ...
Neighbors who'd like to barbecue in their backyards say the chubby birds are raining — literally — on their parade.
"Very bad, very bad, very bad," said Sansevere of the Category 3 storm of pigeon poop that she and her neighbors are regularly forced to duck. "My grandson got it on his arm, my granddaughter got it on her face two weeks ago ... all over her face and hair. I can't take this no more, I can't."
Nowak says town law entitles her to a single birdfeeder. But neighbors complain that the hundreds of pigeons she draws soil their yards, roofs and sidewalks, creating a health hazard.
"It's a known fact they cause disease and germs and everything else, and it's not like they're contained to her area," said neighbor Rich Amberg. "They are loose throughout the whole neighborhood here." ...
"It has nothing to do with birdfeed," Nowak said. "I'm not stopping because I stand up for my rights. It's a matter of principle. It's a matter of my constitutional right to have one birdfeeder."
