There can be no equal justice
where the kind of trial a man
gets depends on the amount of money he has." - U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Hugo Black, Griffin v. Illinois, 373 U.S.12,(1964)
, THIS IS FUN
"If the motto ‘and justice
for all’ becomes ‘and justice
for those who can afford it’, we threaten the
very underpinnings of our
social contract." - Chief Justice
Ronald George California
Supreme Court, Annual
"State ofJudiciary"
Speech, 2001
We love Martin McMahon
From TCPalm, Stuart, FL
Regarding
Judge Larry
Shack and his ludicrous
statement; “I’m going to
hand out a million years
served before I’m off the
bench,”
What do we have
here? Premeditation and
prejudice — already
sentencing people before
their cases are heard. He
is an elected egomaniac.
Let’s get together and
vote, or force this “judge”
into another venue —
maybe flippin’ burgers at
a hamburger stand. Then
the “judge” can claim more
than a billion served.
Martin McMahon Stuart, Fl
Steven with his son Trent
Steven & Trent
.....
it is estimated that 70 percent of low- to middle-income citizens can no
longer afford the cost of
justice in America. What would our Founding Fathers think?
Our
Constitution intended that only elected lawmakers be permitted to create
law,
yet judges create their own law in the judicial system based on their
own opinions and rulings. It's called case law, and it is churned out
daily through the rulings of judges. When a judge hands down a ruling
and that ruling survives appeal with the next tier of judges, it then
becomes case law, or legal precedent. This now happens so consistently
that we've become more subject to the case ruling laws made by the
lawmaking of judges rather than
elected bodies outlined in our Constitution.....
That
would be O.K. if the judges would read the facts of the case they are
presiding on, and then make a decision. In most cases they do not read
or listen but dozing on the bench,
therefore they are making their ruling solely on the prosecutor's theory
and base their opinion and ruling on it bypassing the
constitution.
....This case-law system is a constitutional nightmare because it
continuously modifies Constitutional intent. For lawyers, however, it
creates endless business opportunities. That's because case law is
technically complicated and requires a lawyer's expertise to guide and
move you through the system.
The judicial system may begin with enacted laws, but the variations that
result from a judge's application of case law all too often change the
ultimate meaning.
16-year sentence for consensual
sex.
Steven and his wife may have messed up but they handled the
situation better than the State of Florida and the US Justice
system ever will. They were a family, something the US Justice
system doesn't understand. And what is most important they
were happy together. The pictures don't lie. Until State of Florida,
Judge
Larry Schack & US Justice system
destroyed this family on Jan. 09 2007 when they sentenced Steven to
16 Years
prison time. Prior to the
legal system entering this picture, Steven, Tiffany and Trent stood
a good chance of making it as a couple and a family. At the time of
sentencing their third wedding anniversary was coming up.
Given the facts
that Steven was 27, his wife 20 and their son Trent 4 years old and
that they are a family unit. How can
the judge
pass a sentence on Steven of 16 years for
consensual relations with now his wife.
Why did
Larry Shack gave Steven 16
years and at the same time allow another men who was charged with
the same crime walk away
with probation?
Here are a few cases tried around same time and one by the same
judge, Larry Schack.
Port St. Lucie, Fl
Michael A. Brown 47 years old
charged with
lewd and lascivious battery with 13 year old girl plus Grand Theft,
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia ... got Time served in county jail
(14 months) plus 4 year probation.
Now, that is a
pedophile and the judge let him walk.
West
Palm Beach Brian J. Taylor (Teacher)
Had 2 year sexual relationship with 16 year old student.
Case was dropped.
Martin County, Fl
Judge Larry Schack sentence
Ari Ravon Stanberry
for lewd and lascivious battery plus 3 prior felony to 2 years
Sex Offender Community Control and 4 year probation.
For the same thing Judge Larry
Shack gave Steven a 16 year sentence. After reading the full
story below, can someone explain how that can happen, explain to his 5 year
old son, Trent.
This case is a
travesty of justice. We are not endorsing Stevens'
conduct. What he did was illegal, and he deserved to be
punished for it. But the punishment has to fit the crime, and
the punishment has to be proportionate to what any other person,
similarly situated, would receive.
So was it just another selective enforcement of the law as well as
cruel and unusual punishment contrary to the Constitution's 8th
amendment?
And then
the judge has the audacity
to say this to Steven:
" I certainly hope this
was worth it for you because it has destroyed your life, this young
lady's life and caused permanent damage to your son."
What he meant by that we don't know.
What we do know is his ludicrous out of courtroom statement:
“I’m going to hand out a
million years served before I’m off the bench,” what do we have
here? Premeditation and prejudice— already sentencing people before
their cases are heard.
He is an elected egomaniac.
And what we do know
is that he most certainly destroy Steven's life, his marriage, his
child's relationship with him.
How has justice been
served in this situation when everything around this case lies in
tatters, lives ruined and torn apart. Prior to the legal
system entering this picture, Steven, young lady and Trent
stood a good chance of making it as a couple and a family.
Giving 16
years prison sentence to a man who had consensual
relations with his wife when she was almost 16 year
old, but not hearing witnesses or acknowledging
what they have said about circumstances that surround this incident it is
preposterous. That is when State calls
its own violence law, but that of the individual crime.
The Judge must have been sleeping at the bench if he
didn't hear what Steven has done for Tiffany and his son
from early pregnancy. She was "
victimized " by the State of Florida
childs welfare, and the school system long before
Steven arrived in her life. She drop out of Hi school at
age 12 and no one did anything about it. It was
not at all
as portrayed by prosecutor and
Judge Larry
Schack. Steven in fact was a positive
influence in her life. He encouraged her to get her life
back on track and when she was with him she was on her
way to a normal life. When Trent was born
no one cared except one man who realized that mistakes
had been made and he accepted the responsibility of this
from early pregnancy. He took Tiff to the doctor for
checkups, he was at the hospital for the birth, he cut
the umbilical cord. He put his name on the birth
certificate without any proof at the time that he was
the father. He was helping and care for the boy
until
all came crashing down once the state got into it.
This man went through hell
the past 4 years and has already served 4 1/2 years in
jail. After all, he is not just a number in the
penal system, he is a husband, a father of a 6
year old, a brother and son to someone. He
will be the first to admit that he made a mistake and he
did everything in his power to try and make things right
afterwards.
We realize that
the penal system was setup to be punitive in nature and
not remedial. But 16 years sentence is extremely
excessive for the nature of the offense committed.
The
disparity of treatment in these cases as compared
to the sixteen year sentence that Steven received
is blatant and very obvious. How can this be
explained with any cohesiveness and reason? How
can some people "walk" and some serve a good part of
their lives behind bars? Why is the judicial
system not accountable for such disparity of sentencing
and why isn't there more transparency in the system?
The
individual state's need to revise their statutory rape
laws to reflect what is going on in the twenty-first
century and the sexual behavior of teen's and young
people today. From ABC morning news and talk show,
Good Morning America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj8p94a81ZE Until that time comes,
sex education classes should be more all-inclusive in
explaining the legal consequences of premarital sex by
teenagers not just the caveat to "use condoms".
There are many more legal consequences to teenage sex
than just STD's and unwanted pregnancies.
Aside from
the above consequences, spending many years in prison is
one very big failure of the system. IT SERVES
NO PURPOSE. Few teenagers and their parents are
aware that serious jail time is a very real possibility
in underage sex. Rather than changing
the law in the failed system, the system is further
punishing the offender. In
addition to jail time, as things presently stand, the
offender, once released is put on a Sex Offender
Registry and in a very real sense, this "sentence" lasts
a lifetime and its repercussions follow the
individual for all of his life. True
pedophiles need to be put on such a list, not young
people who are behaving in the norm for their age
bracket by today's way of life.
The State
of Florida is a leader among other states in creating of
social problems, Tiffany for example, having her
own problems, she can't take care of their
child by herself she needs help from her parents who are
presently taking care of their son. And at the end
Steven? He worked hard full time, attend college
at night and
was attempting to run started up "12Volt Fusion"
an automotive audio-video business and was taken away from all this. Hi
will be 41 years old when he'll get out of prison. No
education, no work experience. Label of pedophile on his
forehead that will have to carry for life. What will
happen to him? Probably another social problem because
it is a good chance that he will not be able to
get a job. His parents probably not going to
be around anymore to guide him or help him.
Changes in sentencing law and policy, not increases in
crime rates, explain most of the six-fold increase in
the national prison population. And “one size fits
all" mandatory minimum sentences that allow little or no
consideration for individual characteristics as in case
above.
How many prisoners have been victimized with maximum or
near maximum sentencing just for a prosecutor's career
ambition to be furthered, mostly to become judges? They
rack up convictions like scalps on an Indian's belt just
to secure their career goals. The prosecutor in this
case, Kathy Roberts of Martin County, has achieved her
crowning goal and became judge shortly after she charge
and prosecute Steven.
Keri Smith
took Roberts job so Stevens
conviction become trophy on his belt and soon
he will be joining the club of judges.
Is that
how we solving a problems? Is that right thing to do?
All the wrong choices. How can we be the leader to the
world if we are becoming a laughing stock of the world.
We need to take
a good look at the our own back yard our own living room
our kids room. What do they see and read on the
internet? Don't even go there. They are watching
nip/tuck for breakfast, lunch and diner. The most sexual
TV series I have ever watch on a regular TV channels.
And then we are sending them to 16 years in prison for
having consensual sex? From ABC
morning news and talk show,
Good Morning America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
State Department also have
the nerve to send out complaints every year to 180
nations abut human rights violation? Mr.
President, House of Representatives, Senators, the
People of The United States, take a good look in
to our prisons and you will never again complain about
human right violations. How sad!
It
is disgrace, that an 8-year-old boy from Arizona
going to be charged with the premeditated murder of his
father and his friend. Police
are pushing to have the boy tried as an adult even as
they investigate possible abuse.
Since when an 8 year old can premeditate murder? And
then be tried as an adult, but 15 year old can't
consent to have sex? What is wrong with you people?
It is a fact that
70-80% of US prisoners within one year are back in
prison. In Europe for example the number is reversed,
80% of them get job and become normal law abiding
citizens. Why is that? And why is crime rate in
Europe 10 times les per capita. Crime within the prisons
is almost non existing. They give prisoners some
dignity, something to look forward when they get out.
Prisoners in Europe work in every prison, making
furniture, sheet metal work, farming, teaching etc.
They feel productive, they are productive. They
learn new skills, develop working habit.
What comes out of US prisons? Vast majority
come out as poorly educated criminals, street fighters,
drug traffickers and even murderers and they are back in
prison within 6 to 8 months.
Spending many years in prison is one
very big failure of the system. It serves no purpose.The
United States is a nation of laws badly written and
randomly enforced.
Wilson released after two years behind bars for teen sex
conviction. The judge
courageously wrote:
If this court or any court
cannot recognize the injustice of what has occurred
here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal
our judicial system has always strived to
accomplish....justice being served in a fair and equal
manner.
Steven’s punishment
was excessive too,
and should be reduced just like Wilson's, just
like the prison sentence for former White House aide I.
Lewis “Scooter” Libby, which was commuted by
President Bush.
Unfortunately, we cannot get the attention of civil rights
activists as Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson or Attorney
like B.J. Bernstein, and it appears that without
high-profile help, situations like this remain unknown
and out of the public eye and without media attention
people stay in prisons.
As Al Sharpton
said in Genarlow Willsons case.
“If he had a different
complexion and a different connection, we wouldn’t be
here today.”
Neither would Steven if
he had a different conection. And he doesn't have white Al Sharpton
on his side. All he has, is this website and us!
The state calls its own violence law, but that of the
individual crime.
And,
lastly, why is it believed by a state that a fifteen
year old is not mature enough to enter into consensual
sexual relationship but yet in the same state is able to
stand trial as an adult in a murder case as was the case
of the thirteen year old boy who accidentally killed a
neighbor friend in Florida? The state cannot have it
both ways! It
does in The United States of America!!!
After
watching this reports on young people sexual behavior
today, do you think 16 years prison time Steven got was
fair and just?
Editors note.
Jan. 10. 2009
All of the above I wrote about 3 years ago is now coming
to light.
NEW YORK
States budgets in crisis, governors, legislators and
prison officials across the nation are making or
considering policy changes that will likely remove tens
of thousands of offenders from prisons and parole
supervision.
Collectively, the pending and proposed initiatives could
add up to one of biggest shifts ever in corrections
policy, putting into place cost-saving reforms that have
struggled to win political support in the tough-on-crime
climate of recent decades.
"Prior to this fiscal crisis, legislators could tinker
around the edges — but we're now well past the tinkering
stage," said Marc Mauer, executive director of the
Sentencing Project, which advocates alternatives to
incarceration.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28592088/
Trimming fast-rising costs Policy-makers in Michigan,
one of four states that spend more money on
prisons than higher education, are awaiting a
report later this month from the Council of
State Governments' Justice Center on ways to
trim fast-rising corrections costs, likely
including sentencing and parole modifications.
In Florida,
where prisons are so
crowded that the state has acquired tents for
possible use to house inmates, officials say 19
new prisons may be needed over the next five
years. As an alternative, Corrections Secretary
Walter McNeil told lawmakers they should
re-evaluate the state's hard-line sentencing
policies and look at ways to help released
inmates avoid returning to prison.
California,
5 Aug 2009
Federal judges order California
to release 43,000 inmates. examiner.com
California has torelease up to 58,000 inmates,
or roughly 40% of the total prison population,
says a three-judge panel convened to deal with
the state's massively overcrowded prisons.
That's not really that much of a shocker -- the
state is currently jamming its holding pens full
of human bodies at roughly 200% of capacity,
with the inhumane conditions you'd expect as a
result. But who to release? The obvious answer,
it would seem, is to start with California's
sizeable population of people who shouldn't be
behind bars at all those convicted of consensual
"crimes" or drug related offenses.c
"These laws have
neither curbed drug use nor enhanced public
safety," said Donna Lieberman of the New York
Civil Liberties Union. "Instead, they have
ruined thousands of lives and annually wasted
millions of tax dollars in prison costs."
Probation & Parole supervisions are waste of time, waste
of taxpayer's money as they DO NOT function as
intended and do not protect the community in anyway.
States where people on probation have to pay $30 to $60
in probation fees, makes it even more difficult for them
to stay clean as the jobs they get as ex- cons pay
minimum wages and the state takes almost half of their
salary. In most cases they can't leave the area or state
to look for a better job, so 80 % of them are back
in prison within 8 months average.
In many countries around the world where inmates on
probation or out on parole are not monitored at all. In
fact they have a simple process; if the parolees commit
a crime or any offense during that period, they will be
charged with the new crime plus violation of probation
or parole and will serve time for both. This method does
not cost anything and saves millions of taxpayers’
money. Ex-inmates find jobs much easier than their
counterparts in the US because only the police and
justice system know about their criminal record, unlike
in the US where you can easily find a person's criminal
record by just pulling their credit history. Best of
all, the foreign system works; eighty percent of
ex-offenders become good, law-abiding citizens. So wake
up America; it is time to change our judicial system and
reintegrate the nonviolent, ex-offenders back into
society by giving them equal opportunities to succeed
like other citizens--not the
second class citizenship that they currently have.
Here is
what people of the United State think about US justice
MtMike-571674.newsvine.com
When did facts matter to a populace so brainwashed into
thinking their government can do no wrong. This is
America, use scare tactics.
When one is speaking of releasing prisoners early, it is
the non-violent that heads the list to be released, not
murders, rapists or robbers.
Law enforcement and the "penal system" operating in the
manner they do, is just another government welfare
program for those employed in these branches. A way to
have a job that is not needed.
These people employed in law enforcement are not serving
America, but are operating under a false sense of self
importance. The real criminals are the DRUG WAR
PROFITEERS who are fighting the war on crime/drugs, but
not doing anything to win the war, just collecting their
pay checks and inventing new criminals/crimes so they
will stay employed.
Government is not a cure for all. Locking people up,
forcing these people to behave as you think they should,
will not save society from its own stupidity.
Linda Frazzetto commenting on to the TCPalm news paper
article.
Another thing that really sticks in my craw is the
labeling of Steven by the judge as a "child abuser" and
"pedophile". Anyone reading what has been said about
Steven by the Judge would jump to some pretty wrong
conclusions without knowing all the facts, especially
when the child was at the center of all of this when he
was accidentally hurt. One would surmise from this that
Steven abused his child rather than what we assume is
the judge's assumption of Steven being a child
abuser/pedophile for having sex with the child's
underage mother. This is really over the top and a very
bad disconnect in this case. And then the Judge ends his
sentencing of Steven with "causing permanent damage to
your son". What is one to assume from all of this? The
words used by the Judge and not explained in the context
of what he is saying is really a gross injustice to
Steven. And then the newspapers pickup pieces of the
story and without the whole reference of the case, cause
even more confusion for the readers.
Needless to say, this is a very difficult time for all of
us. It is pretty sad when a sixteen year sentence is
given out so lightly, with little concern for the
ramifications of such a sentence on all the lives
involved.
Jordan Brown
Superior Court Appeal: Will Pa. Boy be Tried
as an Adult for Murder?
Only in the U.S. can an 11 year old be
arrested and charged as an adult for murder
and a 16
year old can't consent with 22
year old boyfriend, what a
farce.
Jordan Brown Mug Shot (APPhoto/LawrenceCounty Prison via Beaver County
Times)
PICTURES: Kenzie Houk
PITTSBURGH (CBS/KDKA/AP)Jordan Brown was only
11-years-old when he was arrested and charged as an adult for the murder of his
father's pregnant fiance.
A three judge panel of the Superior Court
met in Pittsburgh Tuesday to hear from both sides as to whether or not the boy
should in fact be tried as an adult, reports
CBS station KDKA.
Now 13, Brown is charged with shotgunning
26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk, also killing her unborn son, in their New Galilee
farmhouse in February 2009. A Lawrence County judge in March refused to move
Jordan Brown's case to juvenile court. Judge Dominick Motto found that the boy
showed no signs of remorse and did not take responsibility for his actions. How
could he? He was 11, you idiot! Two judges questioned whether Brown has had his
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination violated by Motto. Some of the
appellate judges at Tuesday's hearing wondered whether Brown would be forced to
give up his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in order to be certified as a
juvenile.Only the United States and Somalia have refused to sign the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which does not allow persons under the
age of 18 to be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of release,
reports the
Guardian
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20029737-504083.html
Your Ad maybe posted here. Be the first to help.
Save Jordan Brown
Eleven-year-old 5th grader Jordan Brown is charged as an
adult for a double homicide he did not commit.
Pennsylvania state police conducted an inadequate
investigation which ignored important leads; the media
have convicted Jordan of the crime without any credible
evidence.
Under a
Pennsylvania law aimed at urban street gangs, Jordan
faces the prospect of spending his entire life in prison
without the possibility of parole.
Jordan Brown urgently needs your financial support to
mount an effective defense and prove his innocence.
Jordan’s defense team is working Pro Bono, but
the expert witnesses who must be hired to prove Jordan’s
innocence are not. They will also have many
out-of-pocket expenses to conduct their investigations,
as well as for travel, lodging, etc. during the trial.
Please Contribute Today.
Jordan’s life and future depend on you!
To make a contribution by mail with check, money
order, or credit card please contact us at: The
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SAVE JORDAN BROWN
An update, Tuesday, September 27, 2011 12:15 am |
Updated: 9:30 pm, Mon Sep 26, 2011.
Jordan Brown juvenile trial delayed By Eric Poole
Calkins Media Timesonline.com | 9 comments
NEW CASTLE -- The murder prosecution of Jordan Brown
-- which has yet to begin more than two and a half
years after the alleged crime -- will take a little
longer.
A juvenile trial for Brown, scheduled for today, has
been delayed pending an appeal by media outlets that
petitioned unsuccessfully last week to have the
hearing open to the public. Lawrence County Judge
John Hodge, who will hear the juvenile trial, denied
media petitions to have the trial in open court.
Hodge released the decision late Friday afternoon
without comment in a two-page order.
Pennsylvania Superior Court on Monday agreed to delay
the trial until the court can hear emergency appeals
to open the proceeding.
Lawyers for the media outlets have 62 days to submit
other documents before the court assigns a
three-judge panel to hear the request.
Brown is accused in the Feb. 20, 2009, murder of
Kenzie Houk, 26, of New Beaver. Houk and her two
children were living at the time with Brown and his
father, Christopher, and the couple planned to
marry. Houk was pregnant with Christopher Brown's
child at the time of her death. The fetus did not
survive. State police and prosecutors maintain that
Jordan Brown killed Houk with a single shotgun blast
to the back of her head.
Jordan Brown, now 14, was 11 years old when the
slaying took place, but he was charged as an adult
under a state law dictating that minors charged with
murder be tried in adult court. The defense
attorneys filed in late 2009 to decertify Brown and
clear the way to move the trial into the juvenile
system.
In March 2010, Lawrence County President Judge
Domenick Motto ruled to keep the prosecution in
adult court, but the decision was overturned on
appeal by state Superior Court. In a new
decertification hearing ordered by Superior Court,
Motto ruled to have Brown tried as a juvenile.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony Krastek is
prosecuting the case. Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman
for the attorney general's office, said the
arguments over closing Brown's juvenile trial to the
public centered on a state law that, in Krastek's
interpretation, prohibits public trials for suspects
who are younger than 12 when the crime is committed.
The attorney general's office had no objection to the
juvenile trial being open to the media and the
public, Frederiksen said, but conceded that state
law doesn't permit it.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
America's international standing as a fair and just country does not match
its superpower status as the world's greatest democracy.
When it comes to basic human rights, it is there in
the gutter alongside some of the world's most
toxic dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.
Having stepped inside US prisons -- both military and civilian -- I can tell you
there is nothing
civilized about the penal institutions in the United
States.
Four days of filming inside Guantanamo and half a day at one of California's
largest young offenders prisons provided me with enough material to reach his
conclusion, bearing in mind as a journalist I was just shown “the good bits”!
Having also viewed CCTV footage of detainees in US institutions being stripped
and cavity searched was equally traumatic and for those who showed the slightest
resistance a procedure would follow which in my view is tantamount to gang rape.
Frankly, I was appalled by what I saw inside American jails and the interviews
and research which followed did not make easy reading.
I wondered how the US could really describe itself
as a civilized, mature democracy. And if you
doubt my judgment here are a few statistics to play
with in a prison system
where 70 percent of the inmates are non-whites. The US
has a higher percentage of its citizenry
in prison than any other country in world history.
25 percent of the world's prison population --
around 2.3 million -- are caged in America, as young as 11 year old are charged
as adult and locked up with adults.The evidence is there for all to see --
America's human rights record is appalling, the prison system is a disgrace and
the way it treats its own convicted citizens, let alone foreigners, is
primitive.
Gareth Peirce, an internationally acclaimed and respected solicitor based in
London, explains in her book Dispatches from the Dark Side, “Guilty pleas
resolve 97% of US trials, an extraordinary statistic inevitably achieved by the
defendant's apprehension of what lies ahead -- not just for the 'worst of the
worst' - and a desire to avoid, at any cost, the US law's most extreme
application.”
A number of her clients including Syed Talha Ahsan, Babar
Ahmad, Adel Abdel Bary and Khalid al-Fawwaz have been held in British prisons
for a record amount of years fighting extradition to the US.
All of these men protest their innocence and would welcome
their day in court -- a British court. However the evidence against them is
either so flimsy or nonexistent that police in the UK have no intention of
wasting public money on trials which will end up being laughed out of court.
Which takes us back to the 2003 US Extradition agreement in which the Blair
government tied the hands of the UK judiciary beyond sound judgment; now any
slight allegation made by the US should be regarded in British courts as solid
proof.
By the way, it's not a two-way system. Should the UK ever wish to
extradite a US citizen, the evidence supplied must be well documented, concrete
and factual and able to withstand the scrutiny of a US judge.
Britain's
legal system became the basis for most others in the world. It is based on
presumed innocence and a trial by a jury of one's peers which emanates from our
rights as set out in the Magna Carta of 1215, a noble document which has stood
the test of time.
The 2003 Extradition Treaty is a complete betrayal of
those basic rights. A victim of the treaty faces being locked up without
evidence and has no right to a trial by jury and gone is the presumption of
innocence.
We cannot allow anyone in UK custody or under “house arrest”
like Julian Assange to be extradited to the US. You just have to look at the
treatment of America's own citizens to realize this. Bradley Manning, the
22-year-old US Army Private accused of leaking classified documents to Wikileaks,
has been held in solitary confinement for the last seven months, despite not
having been convicted of any crime.
Manning has been kept alone in a
cell for 23 hours a day, barred from exercising in that cell, deprived of sleep,
and denied even a pillow or sheets for his bed. Unsurprisingly he now relies on
anti-depressants to cope with the effects of isolation. No date for a court
hearing has been set. Make no mistake, this sort of treatment is torture and
we, as a civilized nation, cannot send anyone into the hands of the US judicial
system which openly tortures its own citizens as well as others.
But don't stop there! Every year the State Department of the U.S. sending a
complaint letters to one hundred and eighty countries around the world reminding
them of their human right violations.
Judges are but
men, and are swayed like other men by vehement prejudices. This
is corruption in reality, give it whatever other name you
please. ~David Dudley Field
Laws: We know
what they are, and what they are worth! They are spider webs for
the rich and mighty,
steel chains for the poor and weak, fishing nets in the hands of
the government.
~Pierre Joseph Proudhon, quoted in The Match!
Bye Dad,
