strange priorities, jury nullification, and monied cover-ups...

I feel as though I have entered bizarro-america as of late...although maybe its just the same old america I've always known, the same place run by the same crazy fucks that have been in charge of things my entire life. say what you will about Richard Nixon, but his "silent majority" strategy has had some serious lasting power. at a time when the economic well-being of the western world remains hanging by a thread, a time when millions and millions of americans are desperate for a job - any job, a time when the most geo-politically dangerous region on the planet continues to slide closer and closer to a frightening chaotic state...american political and economic leaders remain in some fantasy land where bill clinton knew what he was doing and the secret to happiness is stoking cultural anger of all sorts. there is little wonder that so many have abandoned the american political process...when we need solutions and ideas all it gives us is more shit about abortion.

don't get me wrong...I feel very strongly that stringent restrictions on abortion are not only assinine and a not-so-subtle means of maintaining the gender status quo, but they are also counterproductive and do nothing to attack the legitimate issues and concerns relating to unwanted pregnancies and the disintegration of family and community. but in all honesty, when we are faced with tens of millions of people unable to gain access to health care of any sort, hordes of our children living in disgusting poverty, delapitated schools, crumbling infrastructure, and a very real chance that our economic well-being, the very foundation of american society, is entering a time of serious relative decline, how the hell did our leaders allow themselves to be drawn into a fight over abortion? well, that is an unfair question because I am fairly certain precisely how that happened (although I do have side questions...like how the hell the pro-choice people weren't prepared for this), but that does not relieve our political establishment of responsibility.

seriously, this is a time we should be concerning ourselves with serious solutions to problems that have been festering for decades. (and while the abortion amendment in the house's bill would undoubtedly make it extremely difficult for women of unsubstantial means to obtain a needed procedure...without this bill would they be able to anyways? afterall, it isn't like poor women have legitimate access to serious reproductive health care now). and we are in a position to address it now...the political capital was there to seriously rearrange our priorities, to shift public funds to the public good. hell, with the falling dollar we are even in a position to at least try and salvage our manufacturing infrastructure in a last ditch effort to avoid the fate of so many other economic behemoths before us. instead, we continue our death-spiral virtually unabated while our political leaders bicker over who can get married, and who can avoid having kids. me...I'm just hoping we can hold on long enough for my generation to grab a hold of things since we seem much less likely to give two shits who you fuck in the privacy of your own bedroom and how you deal with the consequences.

a jury recently returned a not guilty verdict for two bear sterns managers...and the government and prosecutors and law enforcement talking heads immediately started complaining about how much of a setback this is for our legal system. and while I believe strongly in prosecuting large white collar cases (if for no other reason because those defendants have the funds to cover substantial attorney's fees), I have to strongly disagree that this is in any way a setback in our criminal justice system. in fact, if the case was truly as strong as the prosecutors apparently thought, the acquittal provides me with a renewed faith in the american criminal justice system because, quite simply, it is proof that jury nullification is alive and well. historically, the petit jury was the last stand of the common man against the over-reaching, over-zealous power of the government displayed through the public prosecutor. it provided a means of a last-ditch effort on the part of the community to stand up and saw "we will not stand for this. regardless of what you say about the law, it is wrong, and we will not support your tyranny." and so we have it again, twelve common people refusing to allow the government to turn two men into a scapegoat for an entire system that the same government encouraged and applauded for decades. as one of the jurors told the press - "The entire market crashed, you can’t blame that on two people." to you twelve, I shall toast.

turns out that when you pay a private company billions of dollars to do the work of your military, they lie, cheat and bribe. never saw that coming. whatever happened to the good old days of the old-fashioned coverup by the chain of command and threats against fellow soldiers? that was way cheaper.

I keep me in a vacant lot...