[COMMENTARYMAGAZINE] With the exoneration of Tom Delay in Texas yesterday, yet another high-profile case of prosecutorial misconduct has emerged. This follows such other cases as that of Ted Stevens in 2008, and the notorious Duke Lacrosse case. But these were all cases in which top-flight legal talent was able to uncover the misconduct. There are many more that go unrecognized. The Innocence Project of Florida lists numerous examples, including one in which a man spent 25 years in jail for the murder of his wife, a murder he didn't commit. They have a list of 1,100 exonerations in the years 1989-2012. Forty-two percent of those false convictions were caused by official misconduct, roughly half by the police and half by prosecutors.
Beyond the individual tragedy of an innocent man rotting in jail, these cases can have national repercussions. Senator Ted Stevens was convicted of seven counts of making false statements on October 27th, 2008. Outrageous prosecutorial conduct was soon revealed and Attorney General Holder asked that the convictions be set aside, which they were.
But a week after his trial, the 7-term senator lost re-election by 3,724 votes. There can be little doubt that had this case not been brought, which it obviously should not have been, he would have cruised to re-election. What difference, except to Ted Stevens, did that make? A lot: his successful Democratic rival provided the 60th vote in the Senate in 2010 to push ObamaCare through.
It was prosecutorial misconduct that gave us the most unpopular major piece of legislation in American history.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Long past time to clean house across the western world.
What number of dead here would it have taken to give the nation pause? Twelve people were fatally shot at the Navy Yard on Monday, and America hardly noticed.
President Obama perfunctorily noted that "yet another mass shooting" had occurred. He required no moment to get control of his emotions, as he had at the lectern after the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. Perhaps because he knew that the massacre of 20 children and six educators, and his subsequent attempts to jump-start the gun-control debate, changed nothing when it came to meaningful violence prevention. Maybe Champ had a golf game lined up? Maybe it was mostly military folks. BTW, "meaningful violence prevention" means gun control, not help for sickos.
The President "perfunctorily noted" the shooting because there was nothing to be gained politically from it. A mentally ill African American shooting a bunch of mid to senior range civil service employees isn't as useful as dead school children and their 'educators'.
When 12 people are massacred in the District, it's not people dying in Real America. After Hurricane Katrina, everyone who'd ever sucked down a drink on Bourbon Street claimed the Big Easy as their home. When 12 people are shot dead in This Town, our nation shrugs collectively and offers justifications for its apathy. There were no children involved. It wasn't in a part of the city familiar to outsiders. It didn't affect thousands like a natural disaster.
Beyond the Beltway, Americans can be forgiven for not knowing the geography of the city. For not knowing that everything here happens within a few miles. That the site of the massacre is about a block from a park where kids splash in a fountain. Just like inside the Beltway, few know what state Des Moines, Iowa resides in.
What cannot be forgiven is the dehumanization of a town and the uninterest when 12 people who work there do not make it home. While I am sympathetic to your unhappiness, I fear you have done nothing to draw the attention of flyover country.
The "12 people who work there do not make it home" don't live in D.C. because the only ones who can live in D.C. are the very rich or the very poor. D.C. isn't a city. It's a bastard mix of administrative entity, political-factory town, historical refuge. I admit a certain affection for the place; there are some good people among its true residents. But, both intentionally and unintentionally, D.C. exists apart from the rest of the nation.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/22/2013 08:10 ||
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#1
What number of dead here would it have taken to give the nation pause?
Only two or three if it had been a white, Tea Party connected, conservative who'd voted for any Trunk. We'd get the full Zimmerman treatment from the Party Propaganda Machine 24 hours, 7 days a week. Maybe the rubes are catching on and the media still reliant upon ad revenue needed another 'the world is ending' subject to fill the air time and print columns.
#3
There's the answer: ban gummint workers and gummint workplaces...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/22/2013 9:25 Comments ||
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#4
America hardly noticed because the shooting failed to support any pet theories of the Left. No AR-15. No background check. It occurred in a "gun free" zone.
If it doesn't fit the narrative, then it didn't happen.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/22/2013 10:57 Comments ||
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Rhetorical question time: How many more PC-based events like this will we have to endure before we can get back to basics and throwing the bad apples out? Fort Hood ( can't call a muzzie a terrorist, that's icky. And he had publicly stated some of his beliefs, no big surprise when the bullets flew) now this guy with a long rap sheet of documented troubles, yet nobody had the balls to call a spade a spade for fear of being labeled a racist.
Can we please get some grown-ups back in charge?
#7
Sorry, USN, Ret., but the answer is "never." The Clintons and Bushes are committed to the idea that "pisslam is the religion of peace." This is inside the beltway gospel and won't go away until the US gummint no longer resides inside the beltway. That's a long ways off, regrettably...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/22/2013 11:32 Comments ||
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#8
Gummit workers murdered in cold blood by a deranged, protected class gummit worker....
He was a low-level contractor, and a fired one at that.
#9
So, "we hired him, we fired him" makes it OK. Uh, yaha...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/22/2013 12:21 Comments ||
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#10
He knows that our country is still beholden to a Congress that blanches at the thought of an unfavorable NRA voting record while it tries more than 40 times to repeal a law making affordable mental health care available to those who desperately need it.
Got that? Its the Pubs fault that President Obama responded to the Navy Yard shooting with just a few obligatory statements and then quickly pivoted back to his usual political grandstanding. Geez he wouldnt be so apathetic if the Tea Party types werent so damn racist dontchaknow.
#11
To paraphrase Bill Buckley: I'd rather be ruled by the current NRA board of directors than by the assholes who rule us now...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
09/22/2013 12:33 Comments ||
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#12
So, "we hired him, we fired him" makes it OK. Uh, yaha...
I'm not sure where you're going with this.
For the record: The shooter was separated from active duty by the Navy, supposedly by request; more likely either as an administrative separation or for the 'good of the service' under general-under-honorable conditions.
He was hired by HP as an IT contract employee. Prior to his attack, he'd been fired by HP.
He had no official access nor possessed an ID that would gain him access into the building. One can gain access to the Navy Yard as a tourist. There are a couple of museums on the grounds. The shooter knew where the building was and obviously knew of the rush-hour access.
According to open-source, he 'piggy-backed' his way into the building, meaning he tail-gated someone who had already swiped their card at a morning-rush-hour entrance (card scan only.)
The original intent was to gain access to the fifth floor of the building, where the IT contractors work. Failing to gain access to the fifth floor (the dead guard's card wouldn't work), the shooter then proceeded to open fire on both the fourth floor and down into the atrium. The dead were civil service employees, most likely mid to slightly upper level , judging by the ages (50-70, though there are quite a few GS-04s and 05s that old.)
To put it in plain words: The shooter was not an active-duty sailor. He was not a civil service employee. He was not a contractor at the time he decided to shoot up the place. He was dabbling in Buddhism. He was mentally ill. He acquired his shotgun legally.
And yes, I'd prefer Buckley's maxim over the current crop. But just like commenting at the Burg, anyone with half a mind to run for office, usually does.
#13
My Senator--scratch that, the Senator elected by the fools in my state--is Stabenow. She used the shooting to front herself on a bill increasing--supposedly--access to mental health care.
She either knows and hopes we don't, or doesn't know because she's as dumb as a senator, that the recent shooters have all been involved in the mental health care system.
Some folks have suggested looking at the psychotropic drugs these guys may have been prescribed.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
09/22/2013 20:30 Comments ||
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I would have thought that the uber nutso left would stay away from this conflict or would split with some supporting the al queda side and some supporting Hezbollah side
I would have been wrong
Posted by: lord garth ||
09/22/2013 7:54 Comments ||
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With this crowd supporting Assad and the Obama/McCain crowd supporting the rebels, I KNOW I'm right in believing we should stay the Hell out of there.
[NYPOST] ... If the sight of senators in their own chamber was enough to drive Chaplain Hale to the Almighty, what would he make of a White House where senators run the show? From the presidency (ex- Sen. Barack Obama) and the vice presidency (ex- Sen. Joe Biden) to the offices of secretary of state (ex-Sen. John Kerry) and secretary of defense (ex-Sen. Chuck Hagel), this administration is dominated by escapees from the upper house of Congress.
You have to go back to the 1850s and the unhappy administration of Franklin Pierce for the last time America saw a like array of senators in these same jobs. It provokes an impertinent question: Might the surfeit of senators help explain why the president's foreign policy is in flames all across the world?
By the nature of the job, a senator shines most when he opposes a president, where his real constitutional powers -- obstruction and delay -- are best deployed. These negative powers are a strength of our system. But the Senate's innate emphasis on the deliberative and the collaborative also shields senators from the real-world consequences of their votes.
In other words, there's a reason the caricature of a senator is an old windbag.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/22/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Among the pile of Constitutional amendments (like sticking congresscritters having to comply with the laws they make upon the citizenry) should be a ban of anyone having served in the Senate from the office of President. Other than the corrupt aspects of posturing and envy that it currently invokes, there is an issue of 'conflict of interest' for a body which casts the last vote of impeachment to remove a President from having the ability to promote from within.
#2
There is something to this. Might be why historically Senators have a very hard time getting elected president. It certainly supports the notion that it is foolish to nominate a Senator as your candidate.
As fond as I am of Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, I would not support either as the nominee for this very reason.
Also would want any nominee to be in his or her second term at the very least. New-wunderkind syndrome would get you Chris Christie as the nominee.
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