Tag Archives: Crime and Punishment

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Huckster’s Plans take Torpedo Hit

Former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee has controversial record of freeing criminals

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s record of freeing criminals from prison was controversial even before news that the man sought for questioning in the killing of four Lakewood police officers had a lengthy prison sentence commuted by Huckabee.

The original parole and clemency papers from Arkansas may be viewed here.

The one-time Republican presidential contender granted twice as many pardons and commutations as the previous three governors of Arkansas combined, The Associated Press reported in 2007. In all, he issued 1,033 pardons and commutations during more than 10 years as governor — an average of about one every four days.

The Arkansas Huckster’s prison chickens are coming home to roost.

Huckabee’s ‘Willie Horton moment’

Mike Huckabee’s chance to be president of the United States could be going up in smoke this week.

The former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential wannabe is at the center of a story involving a “person of interest” in the shooting deaths Sunday of four police officers in the state of Washington….

This story has a long way to go before it’s played out. But, if Huckabee pardoned a man who went on to kill four cops, this will be a lot worse than the Willie Horton incident of the 1988 presidential campaign….

Huckabee’s credentials to lead the Republican party to victory in 2012 would evaporate if Clemmons indeed is the killer in the Washington case.

That’s not exactly something a “get tough on crime” political party would want on the resume of its leader.

Another RINO bites the dust!?

Culture Wars

Do the Crime, Do the Time!

Polanski case sparks noisy culture debate

“The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance, … opens the way for actions of which no one can know the effects,” the petition said.

Outspoken celebrities have been caught up in their own skirmishes as the Polanski case has escalated. Comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg – who remarked on ABC’s “The View” that the incident was not ” ‘rape’ rape” – now has her own critics.

“Just for the record, rape is rape. This is one Hollywood star who does not celebrate or defend Roman Polanski. His art did not rape her,” countered actress Kirstie Alley in a Twitter message to her fans.

Who or rather what is this thing that asserts that an individual who drugs a 13-year-old girl, and then “has sex” with her should take a pass and escape from the consequences of his act, just because he has managed to evade capture for so long?

There is (or at least was…we haven’t found out which yet) a principle of equal justice. If some poor schlub had done this, he would have been in jail doin’ the time. Just because someone is in the Hollywood glitterati, the Chief doesn’t know of any legal exemption from the laws and consequences that the rest of us are subject to.

A growing number of critics do not appear ready to forgive Polanski.

Carol Jenkins, president of the Womens Media Center, an activist group originally founded by Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda, called on the media “to focus their coverage of Roman Polanskis recent arrest where it belongs: on the crime he committed, the rape of a child.”

“Too often, the media is complicit in misrepresenting or silencing the victims of sexual assault,” she said.

“The rape of a child is at the heart of the case,” Ms. Jenkins added. “That is not disputed, and should not be represented as subjective.”

Dang! Must be pretty cold today down in hell…the Chief agrees with Ms. Steinem’s group?

Even the Frogs have figured this one out:

The French government, which initially expressed outrage over the arrest, has since adopted a more neutral line. “Roman Polanski is neither above nor beneath the law,” government spokesman Luc Chatel said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Prison cell, perv H’wood director:  some assembly required.

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Free Pass from B.O.’s DoJ

Firstly, there’s the case of Donk Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico:

Richardson Probe ‘Was Killed in Washington’

Looks like prominent Donk pol Bill Richardson won a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. It’s great to have friends in high places!

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former high-ranking members of his administration won’t be criminally charged in a yearlong federal investigation into pay-to-play allegations involving one of the Democratic governor’s large political donors, someone familiar with the case said.

The decision not to pursue indictments was made by top Justice Department officials, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified because federal officials had not disclosed results of the probe.

“It’s over. There’s nothing. It was killed in Washington,” the person told the Associated Press.

Commenting further:

DoJ drops prosecution of top Dem

An unpleasant smell attends the Department of Justice decision to not prosecute New Mexico Governor (and Obama ally) Bill Richardson. Fresh on the heels of the Department declining to prosecute the New Black Panthers for voter intimidation, while appointing a special prosecutor for CIA interrogators, the appearance of a politicized Justice Department is being created.

D’ya think?  (Yep, sure do!)

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Patriot Act Running Amok

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Somehow the Chief doesn;t quite think that this (from St. Louis) is REALLY what most people worry about as terrorism:

Phone rage leads to arrest here for Ohio man

An Ohio man, fed up with deceptive junk mail, made the mistake of losing his temper while on the phone with a St. Louis company pitching an extended auto-service contract. Now he finds himself behind bars, where he is charged with making a terrorist threat.

According to court documents, Charles W. Papenfus, 43, allegedly told a sales representative during a May 18 telephone call that he would burn down the building and kill the employees and their families. He was indicted for making a terrorist threat, a Class D felony; and he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison if convicted.

Papenfus’ wife, Tracie, said she hasn’t seen her husband since his arrest on June 27, when he was lured to a Fostoria, Ohio, police station with a false story about being suspected in a tavern fight there. Charles Papenfus, a self-employed mechanic who sometimes works on the department’s police cruisers, dropped by the station to clear his name, she said.

This is a bit much…at least…especially when the complainant firm has it’s own record of illegal and/or fraudulent sales techniques.

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Illustrated: Poor situational awareness…

Doh! Pirates captured after attacking the wrong ship

This is just too good!

From a distance the large ship on the horizon looked like the perfect target, ripe for a successful spot of piracy.

But as the Somali pirates sped toward the vessel sailing near the Seychelles, they were horrified to see two boats and a helicopter set off from their target and launch their own counter-attack.

They had failed to spot, in the dazzling sun, that the ‘merchant ship’ they thought they were intercepting was, in fact, a French naval ship bristling with cannons, radar technology and armed commandos.

SOMETIMES there IS some justice in this world!

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Ramos & Compean Prosecuter Out

Sutton resigns as U.S. attorney

The San Antonio federal prosecutor at the center of a politically charged case against two Border Patrol agents convicted of covering up their role in the shooting of a drug smuggler resigned Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton submitted his letter of resignation to President Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, said Shana Jones, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western Judicial District of Texas.

Good riddance. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

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Bye-bye Blago!

Received the following from an e-mail correspondent (not associated with the state government) from Springfield, Illinois:

Hurray!!!! :)

The impeachment of Rod Blogjevich has been sustained by the Illinois Senate and they also voted that he may not in the future hold any public office in the State of Illinois. Both votes were unanimous.

When he addressed the Senate this morning his speech was all about himself and how he was being treated unfairly, no mention of his treatment of we the people.

Seems to make the point. The Chief concurs.

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Political Correctness Flourishing in UK Gov

Prisoners should not be called ‘inmates’, says MoJ

The current Labor Ingsoc government never ceases to come up with new examples of moonbattery.

Prison officers have been told not to refer to their charges as “inmates” because it might offend them. Ministers claim the age-old term is not appropriate if criminals are to be treated with “respect and dignity”.

!

Prisons minister David Hanson revealed the Ministry of Justice stance in a letter to an inmate in HMP Wakefield, in which he said: “Prison staff are expected to treat prisoners with dignity and respect and for this reason the term ‘prisoner’ should be used in preference to the term ‘inmate’.”

He went on to say the term “offender” was not inappropriate.

Hanson sounds like he’s so far removed from situational awareness that he would need the help of GPS, laser range-finders, and a police surveillance team to be able to find his posterior portions with both hands.

Fortunately for Merrie Old England, EVERYONE over there is not bereft of common sense (yet):

One prison officer leader attacked the move and warned jails have already become too soft as he called for a return to tough prisons in 2009.

Opposition MPs said it was “politically correct nonsense”.

In a scathing outburst, Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, called for an end to the “namby pamby attitude” that has led to soft prisons.

“It never ceases to amaze me, the hypocrisy of politicians and senior civil servants,” he said. “On the one hand they say we are not going to have soft prisons but on the other phraseology that has been around for a long, long time suddenly becomes offensive to our dear charges. As far as I am concerned they are convicts, they are prisoners, they are inmates.”

“We should treat them fair and properly but prison should be tough. As we come to 2009, prisons should move away from being seen and actually being soft options to be challenging and demanding places of punishment. Without that we will continue to slide down in the views of the general public and will send people out of prison more likely to reoffend.”

Hear! Hear!

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French Cooking

More than a thousand cars torched on New Year’s Eve

France’s Islamic street thugs were at it again to “celebrate” the new year.

The French press reported that the Interior Ministry released a final “verified” count of 1,147 vehicles burned in France over New Year’s Eve. The number is up 30.64% from last year’s total, 878.

Not to fear, the government is responding forcefully(?).

Sarkozy vows crackdown on car burners

President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to crack down on France’s car burning after more than 1,100 vehicles went up in flames overnight on New Year’s Eve.

Sarkozy said he had asked authorities to be “uncompromising” with vehicle arsonists and said those caught burning other people’s cars should lose their own licences until the damage had been paid for.

Oooooooh! “This time we REALLY mean it! If we catch you, you’ll LOSE YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE!” This must have them shaking in their shoes!

“There is no reason why honest people should have to pay the consequences of the behaviour of delinquents,” he said in an address to emergency service staff who worked over the evening of Dec. 31.

Car burnings are regular occurrences in France, where some 36,700 were recorded in the first 11 months of 2008, according to interior ministry figures.

“…regular occurrances in France…” This is as disgraceful an example of lily-lovered weak law enforcement as the U.S. urban phenomenon of the “known crack house”. What they need is a French Giuliani to straighten out their priorities…but then again, it IS the French…so it may well be beyond all hope. C’est la vie.

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E.U. Emasculates Itself as Pirates Win

Pirates protected from EU task force by human rights

The E.U.’s have just GOT to be “stuck on stupid”.

The pirates of old at least knew where they stood if captured – they would be jailed and hung, or possibly made to walk the plank. But those policing the high seas today have no such potent sanctions to impose on 21st century buccanneers, as the human rights of the successors to Blackbeard and Captain Kidd are being put first.

The European Union’s first naval task force is due to arrive next month in the Gulf of Aden to combat the region’s unprecedented piracy scourge, which is being fuelled by the demand for cash and weapons in lawless Somalia. Ten EU countries, including Britain, have pledged support for the force – yet they may find it difficult even to make an arrest.

Uh, this is NOT rocket science guys. Nor is this a trick question: If your stupid laws forbid you from apprehending and punishing criminals…d’ya think it just MIGHT be time to change the laws?

“In the old days, when the navy would catch a pirate, they would tie his hands and feet and throw him back in the sea,” said Captain Andres Breijo, the Spanish head of the new anti-piracy mission, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. “Now they have human rights.”

The good Captain still remembers how to deal with piracy, from the day when ships were wood, and the men were iron. Now the ships are steel, and the men…oh, yeah…what men?

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A Clean Sweep

Caught on camera: The moment a fearless grandmother used a broom to fight off hammer-wielding robbers raiding her shop

This is a really good one!

Armed with claw hammers, two hooded youths walk brazenly into a convenience store for an early morning robbery. But as these astonishing CCTV images show, they hadn’t reckoned on bumping into shop assistant Ann Withers – who brushed away their violent crime using a broom. The brave 55-year-old grandmother grabbed her weapon of choice and battered the hooded duo into submission, forcing them to flee empty-handed.

Determination and righteous indignation trumps thuggery.

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“My DNA Made Me Do It!”

Study finds genetic link to violence, delinquency

Three genes may play a strong role in determining why some young men raised in rough neighborhoods or deprived families become violent criminals, while others do not, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

One gene called MAOA that played an especially strong role has been shown in other studies to affect antisocial behavior — and it was disturbingly common, the team at the University of North Carolina reported.

There’s more information on this in the article…but the whole thing gives the Chief two premonitions:
• You just KNOW that lawyers are going to use this to claim that perps are not really to blame for their crimes…after all, they can’t help their genes, can they?
• You also have to know that the shrinkologists will use assessments of “anti-social” behavior as an excuse for the development of massive screening and biochemical manipulation (attempts) to “cure” the problem.

Whether or not it is needed is the real question, or whether this starts ud down a path like that in the film Minority Report.

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Eyes of Texas Crossed by Pesky Legalities

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Court: Texas wrongly seized sect children

In a ruling that could torpedo the case against the West Texas polygamist sect, a state appeals court Thursday said authorities had no right to seize more than 440 children in a raid on the splinter group’s ranch last month.

Even Texas courts can’t warp the law into accepting a principle of collective guilt: where a whole class of people are legally liable for alleged misconduct by a few.

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the state offered “legally and factually insufficient” grounds for the “extreme” measure of removing all children from the ranch, from babies to teenagers. The state never provided evidence that the children were in any immediate danger, the only grounds in Texas law for taking children from their parents without court approval, the appeals court said.

Dang! Makes it kind of hard to keep a good witch-hunt going!

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Strict Gun Laws Lower Crime Rate? Not in Chicago!

Bloody Weekend: 32 Shot, 2 Stabbed, 6 Dead

Rough weekend in the Windy City.

Another illustration of the uselessness of highly restrictive gun laws…the bad guys will ALWAYS have access, while the disarmed and defenseless good guys pay the cost.

NOTE: This is not to disparage the work of the police…but realistically…the odds of them being on scene to actually PROTECT, as opposed to responding, is vanishingly small.

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“Goodfellas” Meet the “Untouchables” – 21st Century Update

Alleged Mobsters Busted In Major Roundup

The hierarchy of the Gambino organized crime family — from underboss to capo — was arrested Thursday along with scores of street soldiers and associates in what authorities called the biggest mafia takedown in a generation.

Federal and local authorities targeted the family once famously run with an iron fist by the late John Gotti Sr., saying they smashed its leadership and solved seven homicides, including the 1976 slaying of a court officer poised to testify against the mob and the 1990 murder of a security guard during an airport heist.

This reads like an episode from either of the above cinevideo efforts, or of course The Sopranos.

You’ve got to love the nicknames listed in the indictments too, a real scriptwriter’s dream:
# Vincent “Elmo” Amarante
# Thomas “Tommy Sneakers” Cacciopoli
# Domenico “The Greaseball” Cefalu
# John “Jackie the Nose” D’Amico
# Vincent “Vinnie Hot” Decongilio
# Joseph “Joe Gag” Gaggi
# Anthony “Buckwheat” Giammarino
# John “Johnny Red Rose” Pisano
# Richard “Fat Richie” Ranieri
# Michael “Mike the Electrician” Urciuoli

Can TV shows and or movies be far behind?

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“In the name of the beneficent, the all merciful…”

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Saudi Arabia Marks 136th Beheading of 2007

Saudi authorities on Sunday beheaded a citizen convicted of shooting a man in the head with an assault rifle, the Interior Ministry said. In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, the ministry said that Ali bin Suweid Al-Domnan killed Diyab bin Ali al-Mansour following an argument in the southern city of Najran.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which those convicted of murder, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery are executed in public with a sword.

Sunday’s execution brought to 136 the number of people beheaded in the kingdom this year, according to an Associated Press count. Saudi Arabia beheaded 38 people last year and 83 people in 2005.

Hmmmmm. Immediate execution for murder, drug trafficking, rape, and armed robbery….

Maybe they DO have something right over there!

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British Buffoonery

Guards to go soft on prisoners

This piece is not very lengthy, but it’s proof-positive that moonbattery is alive and well in EngSoc’s Airstrip One just as it is over here.

PRISON guards have to call lags by their first name and ask permission to search their cells under new rules. A Government report into boosting prisoners’ “quality of life” at HMP Winson Green, Birmingham, made the recommendations after finding inmates did not live in a “good environment”.

HUH? Prison is not a “good environment”? Isn’t that the general idea? That’s why they call it…PRISON! It’s NOT a Sandal’s Resort Hotel.

As Isaac Asimov wrote once: “Such folly smacks of genius. A lesser mind would be incapable of it.”

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Border Agents’ Case Garners Support

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Pressure mounts to pardon Border agents

This case is a travesty of justice. Evidence that would have greatly benefitted the defense of these border agents doing their jobs were with-held from the jury by the feckless weasel prosecutor Johnny Sutton. (Piss Be Unto Him).

Top conservatives have joined ranking House leaders in their bid to pressure the president to pardon two jailed El Paso Border Patrol agents for the nonfatal shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler in 2005.

In a letter to be delivered tomorrow to the White House, 31 major conservative petitioners joined a campaign being led by Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and presidential candidate, to ask President Bush to pardon Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean before Thanksgiving.

The letter comes on the heels of the arrest of admitted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila on charges of trafficking marijuana while he was profiting from the federal-immunity deal as the star witness in the shooting case against the agents.

Will Dubya do the right thing in this case. One would HOPE so, but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t, with his head so far up the fecal excretory orifice of the Mexican government that he can’t see the daylight.

The all too sad fact is that an appeal from “top conservatives” won’t be enough, for another reason than the one cited above: Dubya isn’t a consrvative…so why would he give tow hoots in a holler about what real conservatives think.

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FBI Acting as Staatspolizei?

FBI chief orders internal probe

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III ordered an internal investigation into whether bureau agents interfered with midterm congressional elections by disclosing a corruption probe that undermined the re-election bid of Republican Rep. Curt Weldon weeks before the Nov. 7 vote.

Political influence in the FBI? Where could THAT be coming from? Wouldn’t you know…a Clintonista:

The federal investigation of Mr. Weldon and his daughter was requested by Melanie Sloan, a former assistant U.S. attorney during the Clinton administration, who heads the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Miss Sloan said in an interview that her request was sent after a Los Angeles Times report in 2004 suggested Mr. Weldon, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, helped steer defense contracts to his daughter’s business consultancy.

The outcome of the whole thing?

He was later cleared of the charges by the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee.

Of course, he also lost his re-election bid, so the efforts of Ms. Sloan were successful from the point of view of the Clintonian Donks, to whom political triumph is the ultimate goal of the universe.

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A Modest Proposal…

Corrections Chief Proposes ‘Chain Gang’ To Trim Budget

What a concept!

The state could save millions of dollars by housing low-security inmates in tents, slapping them in leg irons and putting them to work maintaining roads, Florida’s prisons chief said Friday. Department of Corrections Secretary James McDonough also offered to take a 10 percent pay cut – more than $11,000 – as part of his recommendations for helping the state trim its budget.

Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Legislature are looking for ways to cover a $1.1 billion budget gap this year because of lower-than-expected tax collections caused mainly by Florida’s housing slump. McDonough said he thinks the tents and road work would save about $43 million.

Hey, if this sort of thing works with Joe Arpaio in Arizona, why not Florida? (Why not a lot of other places, too?)

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Stupid Crook Department

Mississippi Man Mistakenly Calls 91l, leads Cops to His Meth Lab

A man trying to call a news station to complain about not getting a FEMA trailer after Hurricane Katrina accidentally dialed 911 and was charged with making methamphetamine after police arrived, authorities said.

Curtiss Randall Coleman was trying to get the number for Biloxi’s WLOX-TV on Wednesday just before the 6 p.m. newscast, investigators said. He misdialed when trying to reach directory information and called 911 instead of 411. When he hung up on the emergency dispatcher, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department was sent to the home to see if anyone was in need of assistance.

Deputies said that when they arrived at Coleman’s house, no one answered the door. Officers broke in and allegedly found a methamphetamine lab.

Sometimes, there is justice in the world!

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What Goes Around, Comes Around

We’ll Sue Murtha, Chessani Lawyer Vows

If Marine Col. Jeffrey Chessani is exonerated of the charges against him he may haul Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha, into court, suing him for libel, one of his lawyers told NewsMax.com.

As case after case clears the Marines involved in this situation, one would think that trying an officer charged with covering up something that didn’t happen is a logical, and hopefully legal absurdity.

On a personal level, with a nephew in the USMC, currently stationed at Okinawa, I hope these Marines are all vindicated of these phony charges…setting the precedent for the others.

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Irish Rough Justice

Tarred, feathered and tied to a lamppost

Tied to a lamppost, he stands with his head and upper body covered in tar and feathers. A makeshift placard hung around his neck with a piece of string announces the reason for his treatment. It is a very public humiliation, and a medieval one. Almost ten years since Northern Ireland’s Troubles officially ended, this remains the crude face of justice on the streets of south Belfast.

This man was subjected to the painful tarring and feathering on the Taughmonagh estate, a loyalist stronghold in the city. Locals had accused the victim, who is in his thirties, of being a drug dealer. And when police allegedly did not act, they took the law into their own hands. Two masked men tied up the accused victim, poured tar over his head and then covered him in white feathers, apparently from a pillow case.

Hmmmm. This could be a solution to the urban phenomenon of the “known crack house”, which everyone knows about, but which the authorities have somehow overlooked.