America's Future As A Republic Seems Doomed

It's funny how certain libertarian people are concerned about government wire tapping.  Why don't they ever wire tape these big financial institutions - - banks and investment firms - - and gather evidence against them?  Of course in the case of Goldman Sachs or something the misconduct of that firm was done literally under the noses of government on site investigators from the Bush administration.  They literally Saw what was going to happen in a few months and did nothing to stop it.   So what about congressmen?  Why can't the Obama administration wiretap John Bohener and be appraised of every word he says to his colligues in terms of a "battle plan" against the Obama administration?  Why is it seemingly only innocent civilians like you and me that seemed to get wiretapped and harrassed?  There is one libertarian blog, which has fallen out of favor with me now so I won't name them, who states that the Obama administration, despite media reporting to the contrary, is MORE active in governmental abuse of power of all sorts than the Bush administration was.  Now we come to Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan, who is a Republican- - who single handedly seems to be orchestrating Detroit's demise.  Of course the People of Detroit took a vote and decided they did NOT want the "emercency economic manager" to have all of these new powers that had been planned, but the Governor overroad their wishes.  I've heard other story about the State of Michigan overruling the will of local cities.  Of course it wouldn't be because Detroit is 85% Black, could it be?  They put out PR that this "early intervention" in pushing for an outside takeover of the City is a good thing because it Prevents losses of bond holders and such.  Randy Rhodes brought out this yesterday and I"ll repeat it again.  This is my Main Point.  Bond holders and creditors take a risk when they ante up their money.  They are hoping their money will Make money.  The higher the interest rate of the bond- - the greater the risk is assumed.  They know all of this going in.  It's part of the rules of the game.  Just like an Insurance Company once they give you a physical and are satisfied as to the state of your health- - and then assign you a policy or rate accordingly- - can't come back later and say "Oh we're changing our mind now.  We think you had a pre existant consition and we're not going to pay".   Tell me you new Overlords of Detroit- - are things like Labor Union Contracts and Pension Funds- - things that you decide you just "don't have to pay" now.  In other words it's "Tough luck, Charlie" for all of those Union members who negotiated to work for reduced wages and in compensation would get something down the line in the way of higher pensions of promised Health Care.  Many of these workers for whatever technical reason- - are not even ellagable for Social Security.  So in other words they have been Mitt Romneyed.   This is Mitt Romney's panacia- - engage in what for anyone else world be risky is not economically suicidal behavior- - yet he gets his Golden Parachute- - and everybody else gets screwed.  Not only are all the union members and those awaiting health care and pensions all screwed- - but the tax payers of Detroit as a class are screwed.   Because Detroit has assets like valuable paintings in Art Museums, and Belle Island Park and other assets that are rightfully owned by the People.  You remember them.  In every criminal case it's always The People verses so & so.  How could they just forget that?  The bottom line of all this is that there is no faith or trust in America any more.  It truely is being "bought out" by Corporations.  I didn't think Democracy was for Sale but it literally is.  I mention the following them with greater urgency.  Because people like Glen Beck and Judy and other tea party people- - keep going on and on about our "mounting debt" and how China is our creditor and how they are going to "pull the plug" at any moment and send us all into economic chaos.  Then you hear people on the right doing- - guess what?  They say "OH well we're OK because we have all that government land in the west and oil holdings. If worse comes to worse we can sell off our National Parks to pay the bill".  Only some sicko whose mind was already pre-disposed to even think along such terms would come up with an idea so absurd.  But in Detroit we truely see that such Mitt Romney type thinkers are alive and well- - despite their defeat at the hands of the voters.  These people haven't completely destroyed democracy or "vox populi", but they're working on it!

This is kind of a sicko age anyhow.  You have Antony Wiener who was disgraced once and resigned from office, and now he's running for high office again- - and once again more reports surface about Wiener's on line sexual exploits.  His wife stands by him now just as Hillary stood by Bill during the Jennifer Flowers caper of January 1992..  But there is a difference.  Because Bill Clinton had his "come to Jesus moment" when he knew he was caught, and changed his ways and for the last fifteen years or so we haven't had a problem with Bill.  Just also he's changed his high cholesterol diet, so he'll live longer.  But Antony Wiener gets caught doing the same thing again despite his great protestations of "regretting the mistakes he made in the past".  Just as an aside here- - it's interesting that when a White person sins it's a "youthful indescretion", like going to frat parties and getting drunk and using drugs and perhaps even sexually assaulting women.  But when a Black person falls int sin- - he becomes part of the penal system- - and id ID'd  that way for life.

The Zimmerman case is still being talked about even after a week and a half.  It's strange that a conservative would ever say "You liberals like to go on feelings and we conservatives like to go on the facts".   Just by the way the next person to say "The Zimmerman jury verdict was fairly arrived at" I'm going to start throwing punches.  The facts are that physical evidence reveals Zimmerman to be a liar - - which is a pretty good trick because he never took the stand and swore to tell the truth to begin with- - so nothing Zimmerman says is admissable- - either first hand- - or 2nd hand heresay.  The voice evidence is clear indication that it is NOT Zimmerman's voice crying "Help" on that tape.  We can all agree on that.  As you know there was a lot of cultural bias on the jury.  There were character references for Zimmerman like that woman who had a lock installed on her door to- - - keep all those Black criminals out.  Zimmerman is portrayed as an all around nice guy in a suit and all and people called him "George' or even "Georgie".   Meanwhile nothing is done to humanize the victim.  In fact Rachael Jantel was trashed by the attorney- - and a reason why jurors voted not guilty because "they just didn't like this witness".  Not because ANY of her vital testimony had been impeached- - but you know she's a fat teenager and doesn't speak well and- - by the way She's BLACK.  Zimmerman is never referred to as "The suspect".  That designation is reserved for the victim of the crime, who is on trial.  As such- - the Victim is intitled to Character Witnesses of his own since apparently he has to prove he wasn't deserving of being murdered in cold blood.  If anything is in question in a trial- - then this necessitates witness to prove it one way or the other.  Hence Trayvon Martin should have had character witnesses.  Nothing was done to "humanize" the victim.  But Zimmerman's state of mind is also in Question and needs to be resolved.  The way the Florida laws are worded "state of mind" of the shooter are paramount, hence any witness that would help establish state of mind would be essential.  For instance "Witness number Nine", who was crossed off the witness list.  Now let's get to more profound cases of Jury misconduct.  First of all there were at least two major Errors in the Judicial instructions to the Jury.  This isn't an attorney having an "off day" but is grounds for a mistrial right there.  Garbage in - garbage out- as they say.  We have more profound problems with this case.  Juror B 37 should never have been seated because of the Attorney connection to the defense.  But also apparently during an unsupervised visit with relatives information was leaked to and from this technically Sequestered jury.   It gets worse.  You know in the movie "The wrong man" there is a scene during boring court testimony and one of the jurors calls out "How long do we have to sit and listen to this crap?"  I would have just gaveled him down and went on with the trial.  That's not what happened.  A mistrial was called in this case for juror misconduct.  You see "impatience' is a removable offense.  This jury was impatient because there was pressure to wrap this thing up by the weekend because some of them had plans.  This is not allowed.  It's even possible that actually bullying was going on.  But here's something you've probably never heard before- - those of you still looking for a "smoking gun" in the case.  If you'll remember the jurors came in and inquired about the requirements for conviction of Manslaughter.  For some reason the Judge would not tell them.  She just said "Go back and see if you can come up with a more focused and specific question to ask the Court".  One would then presume that the jury's first agenda was to try and do that and ask the Court and have questions they have about Manslaughter answered before they can go on.  But the next thing you know they come back with a six to nothing verdict of Acquittal.  In other words they were in this "Confused" state all the while and never resolved a question most fundamental to even arriving at a Verdict.  This is indeed Juror misconduct.  It is most certainly grounds for  mistrial.

 Here's a really bad "Defense" nightmare scenario.  Your client withheld a major piece of condemning evidence from you, the Attorney.  This evidence falls into the hands of the Prosecution.  You explain it away saying "yes, I knew the victim, sure - - - but I had to take action because he was a dirty cop, don't you know".  Attorney says "So you knew him.  This gives you a possible motive".   Client.  "Of course I had a motive- - and this guy was on the verge of ruining everything- - which explains the video".   Attorney says "You mean you had to shut him up or something"?  Client says, "Well sort of.  He was the guy who had the evidence that I was trying to steal back - - - about my son's Own case of attempted murder that was covered up".  Attorney.  You realize how this makes you look to any jury?   Client.  Well yes- - but the worst thing is my Son was also involved in cover up of this case too.  But your wife ratted me out.  That dirty sneak!  She shouldn't have gone to the DA.  If she had gone to you instead- - then both you and her could be charged with being Accessories.  Meanwhile I'd get a different attorney and claim that "Since my attorney and his wife are  accused of a felony for this reason I was denied a proper defense in my case"   It's just a variation of the theme about a defendant who murdered both his Parents and then pleads the mercy of the Court "Have mercy on me because I'm an Orphan".

It seems that Prince William and Princess Kate when they showed "Baby Cambridge" to the cameras - - were less formal.  There was not the "proper separation" as with Charles and Dianna- - and Prince Charles was dressed in a formal suit.  This child's upbringing will feature further departures from tradition than we even had in the rearing of Princes William and Harry.   Meanwhile Pope Francis has tried to humanize himself.  He pays his own Hotel bills- - and carries his own luggage.  He went on this tour of Brazil to celebrate "national youth day" but the motorcade made a wrong turn and was thronged by people- - who wanted the Pope to personally hear their Confessions.  This is his first return to South America since he became Pope.  He's obviously trying really hard to be a "Pope of the people".