Post Scripts

Posted by Tina

First you say you do, and then you don’t, and then you say you will, and then you won’t; you’re undecided now, so what are you gonna do?

Obama administration officials, certain members of Congress, and Eric Holder of the Justice Department have made it clear that decisions about the KSM trial are dependent on political breezes rather than the laws of war or basic values such as right and wrong. Muddled thinking and political posturing have conjoined to make a mockery of the international system of justice that covers enemy combatants. Read it and smirk, weep, or defend depending on your mood:

“Opposition to U.S. trial likely to keep mastermind of 9/11 attacks in detention,” by Peter Finn and Anne E. Kornblut – Washington Post Staff Writers

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, will probably remain in military detention without trial for the foreseeable future, according to Obama administration officials.

The administration has concluded that it cannot put Mohammed on trial in federal court because of the opposition of lawmakers in Congress and in New York. There is also little internal support for resurrecting a military prosecution at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The latter option would alienate liberal supporters.

The administration asserts that it can hold Mohammed and other al-Qaeda operatives under the laws of war, a principle that has been upheld by the courts when Guantanamo Bay detainees have challenged their detention.

The White House has made it clear that President Obama will ultimately make the decision, and a federal prosecution of Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators has not been ruled out, senior officials said. Still, they acknowledge that a trial is unlikely to happen before the next presidential election and, even then, would require a different political environment.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said this week that a decision on a trial for Mohammed was close. Other administration officials said that his remark was simply a stock response to a frequently asked question and that it didn’t signal that any announcement was imminent.

How I miss the clarity of purpose, the basic core values, and the adherence to the laws of war that underpinned decision making in the Bush administration.

Rosie said: “The criminal justice system in California is broken. There is no denying that. Castandeda should have never even gone to jail in the first place. He was convicted of possession of a controlled substance, not of selling it. He was NOT a drug pusher but a drug taker. They should have sent him back to El Salvador instead of keeping him here. The medical facilities in prison are terrible. It does not surprise me they did nothing to help treat him in prison. As long as people go to prison for possession of a controlled substance, including pot, the budget crisis will only get worse. The Three Strikes Law is super expensive for California, and is the reason so many people are in prison for the most stupid reasons like possession of marijuana. I went to a trial just today where a guy only had one joint on him and had been in jail five months while awaiting trial. That is rediculous. There was so much money spent just keeping him in jail. I think of all the child molestors and rapists that get out early to make room for non-violent offenders like these people who are convicted of drug possession, and it really pisses me off. Now that is the real travesty. The racist criminal justice system in California needs to be fixed. And until it is, there will be no money for schools or social programs because prison happy prosecutors just want to look good in the eyes of the public. They could care less about the people they send to prison, or about the resources they are wasting by doing so.”

by Jack Lee

A reply to Rosie: Rosie, thank you for your comments, but you made a few assumptions that were just plain wrong and we need to bring you the right information. I’m a retired CA narcotics officer and I’ll be happy to give you the information you need to make an informed decision.

Castenada was being investigated for selling meth. He was a drug pusher Rosie, make no mistake. It’s fairly common (90% of the time) that meth sellers are also meth users. This helps them maintain their bad habit for little to no cost.

He was arrested and convicted in 2005 of possessing methamphetamine with intent to distribute. I’m glad you came to the drug pusher’s defense Rosie – it gave me the opportunity to set the record straight for anyone who might be confused.

I’ve heard pros and cons about the medical facilities in prison, mostly cons, I grant you that. But, its not meant to be a perfect medical care facility. We do the best we can with what we have and we spend a ton of money on it.

Rosie did you know that prison inmates are the only Americans with a constitutional right to health care, and the cost to deliver it is on the rise?

States spend 10 percent of their corrections budgets on average to cover the cost of inmate health care — a total of over $3 billion annually.

As the prison population increases, ages and increasingly suffers from chronic illnesses such as AIDS and hepatitis, state policy makers must either foot the bill, change the way health care is delivered or rethink the sentencing laws.

Because of California’s three-strikes law, more people are going to prison and staying behind bars longer and it’s still cheaper than letting these predators loose on society. The cost of this effort takes billions out of the system to pay for inmate medical costs.
State and federal drug laws have put 277,000 offenders in jail, which accounts for 20 percent of state prisoners and over 60 percent of federal prisoners, according to the Justice Department. ONLY about 1% were incarcerated for marijuana sales.

California found that 41 percent of incoming inmates were infected with the Hepatitis virus. Hepatitis C infects the liver, and is spread through contaminated blood or needles. Also, one inmate in 10 is mentally ill, some having ended up in prison when budget cuts closed state mental hospitals in the 1980s.

California currently spends over $43 a day per inmate for healthcare. We spend 4 times as much as New Jersey and 3 times as much as most states. We spend billions on heatlhcare for inmates… so tell us Rosie, just how much of the state’s budget are you willing to divert to first rate medcial care in prisons? How much would you like to take away from other programs, like Medical, elder care, homeless programs, mental health, welfare, education, highways, enviromental programs, etc., to fund even more in the prison medical system? Inmates get better free care than most of us, if I had $40 a day to spend on medical insurance I would have the best policy in the world. I don’t get $40…I don’t get anything, I PAY it all myself and that is what most of do.

I know there will be cases like Casteneda’s because the system is not perfect. Its never been perfect and it needs constant attention to stop waste, fraud and abuse…but is that any reason to punish the innocent taxpayer by giving a 17 year old girl 1.73 million dollars because her daddy made stupid life choices and became the lowest sort of human being that causes misery and death to those who get involved in meth because of them? Her life was screwed up by her father, not us. He owes her – not us. That is the cold hard reality that idiotic jury failed to realize.

When you think about the prison medical system, think about the thousands of inmates that have been saved and get free treatment for costly diseases.

At a time when the national appetite for cap-and-tax legislation gas gone gastric, Proposition 23, offering an antidote to the previously enacted economic poison pill called AB 32, was rejected by 62 percent of California voters, says Larry Bell, a professor at the University of Houston.

As it now stands, AB 32, California’s climate change law, mandates a 30 percent cut in carbon emissions from cars, trucks, utilities and other businesses by 2020. It is to be accomplished with a web of new taxes and regulations scheduled to take effect in 2012.

Proposition 23 would have suspended AB 32 until such time that the state unemployment rate declined to 5.5 percent or less for four consecutive quarters.
A 2009 study estimated that implementation costs of AB 32 “could easily exceed $100 billion” and that the program would raise the cost of living by $7,857 per household annually by 2020.

The regulatory environment has turned dreams of good lives into nightmares for many who are leaving in hordes, taking much of the state’s tax base with them, says Bell.
About 2.14 million people fled to other states between 2005 and 2007, while only 1.44 million moved in.

Meanwhile, the state’s debt rises at a rate of about $25 million per day. Some 2.3 million Californians (12.5 percent) are without employment, and factory jobs plummeted from 1.87 million to 1.23 million (34 percent of the industrial base) since 2001.

California, with 12 percent of the U.S. population, has nearly one-third of the nation’s welfare recipients and 15.3 percent of all Californians live in poverty.

Its budget gap for 2009 to 2010 ($45 billion) equaled 53 percent of total state spending, despite having the nation’s highest state sales tax and third-highest income tax.
Source: Larry Bell, “California Dreaming: Missing America’s Wake-Up Call,” Forbes, November 10, 2010.

For full text:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/11/10/california-texas-climate-change-law-opinions-contributors-larry-bell.html

Continue reading “Scientist Asks, Warming or Cooling” »

A Los Angeles jury has awarded the family of a deceased prison inmate $1.7 million. His survivors had sued claiming that the man’s cancer went untreated while he was in custody.

Five years ago, Francisco Castaneda spent four months in a Kern County state prison for methamphetamine possession. That prison turned him over to federal immigration authorities who detained the Salvadoran in a San Diego facility. In both places, he complained about growths and lesions on his penis which turned out to be a malignant cancer that he had long befgore being custody. Doctors testified the cancer was to far advanced and untreatable by the time he began complaining about symptoms.

Castaneda’s family maintains that the state and federal institutions ignored his symptoms until he needed an amputation. Two years ago – after he’d testified to a U.S. House committee – the 36-year-old man died.

His family alleged negligence and sued the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Lawyers for that agency said Castaneda’s cancer was untreatable, but a jury disagreed. It awarded his 17-year-old daughter $1.5 million, plus medical expenses. Attorneys for the state have not indicated whether they’ll appeal the jury award. The family’s lawsuit against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement is scheduled to go to court next year.

Only in America can you come here illegally, be a drug pusher of the worst sort and get sympathy and make almost 2 million bucks off the taxpayers because you had cancer years before your arrest and somehow the system is held responsible. Can you believe a jury would be so stupid? I can, if they come from Los Angeles – its a pro-illegal alien haven and sanctuary city and this case should never have been tried there, better to hold it in Butte County where juries are not such dumb-asses.

by Jack Lee

More deception coming from the White House as reported in the Washington Examiner: The Obama administration is crediting its anti-recession stimulus plan with creating up to 50,000 jobs on dozens of wind farms, even though many of those wind farms were built before the stimulus money began to flow or even before President Barack Obama was inaugurated.

Out of 70 major wind farms that received the $4.4 billion in federal energy grants through the stimulus program, public records show that 11, which received a total of $600 million, erected their wind towers during the Bush administration. And a total of 19 wind farms, which received $1.3 billion, were built before any of the stimulus money was distributed. Yet all the jobs at these wind farms are counted in the administration’s figures for jobs created by the stimulus.

Note: This story has been vetted for accuracy and we have the evidence to back up the claims.

Dear Readers: Having spent Veterans Day with my wife and kids I didn’t prepare a column for this week. However I ran across this story from a former Californian who had some tough commentary on our recent election. I will be on duty this weekend and unable to respond to posts but please do enjoy and see you next week!

I found the following article in the Wall Street Journal
Steve

By Allysia Finley

Listen up, California. The other 48 states–your cousin New York excluded–are sick of your bratty arrogance. You’re the Lindsay Lohan of states: a prima donna who once showed some talent but is now too wasted to do anything with it.
After enjoying ephemeral highs and spending binges, you suffer crashes that culminate in brief, unsuccessful stints in rehab. This cycle repeats itself every five to 10 years, as the rest of the country looks on with a mixture of horror and amusement. We’d feel sorry for you if you didn’t constantly flip us the bird.
Instead, we’re making bets on how long it will be before your next meltdown. Oh, wait–you’re already melting down.
You’ve racked up nearly $70 billion in general obligation debt, and that doesn’t include your $500 billion unfunded pension liability. Your own analysts predict you’ll face a hole of at least $80 billion over the next four years.
Your government’s run by a brothel of environmentalists, lawyers, public-sector unions and legislative bums. When they’re not taxing or spending, they’re creating regulations and commissions like the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology and the California Blueberry Commission. Many businesses would leave if it weren’t for your sunny climate.

Continue reading “Republican Corner: California Voters Compared to Lindsay Lohan” »

BECAUSE WE CAN NEVER THANK THEM ENOUGH!

YES! WE ARE THIS PATRIOTIC AND EXTREMELY PROUD OF THOSE WHO SERVE THIS GREAT COUNTRY…GOD BLESS THEM AND GOD BLESS THE USA.