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Car wash surveillance camera catches kidnapping on tape
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propria



Joined: 20 Sep 2002
Posts: 630
Location: northern illinois

PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 1:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i'm not at all technosmart, jane ...

but it seems to me that it wouldn't be all that hard to create an ankle band with a gps device that would allow anyone authorized to do so to establish exactly where a banded individual is at any point in time. a device like that could be designed to set off an alarm at federal, state, county and/or local law enforcement facilities whenever the wearer crosses certain boundaries programmed into it according to the conditions of his release ... obviously, any attempt to cut or otherwise remove the band should send a signal that brings police directly to the location of the person wearing the band being disturbed.

i also agree with benn that bracelets on children would help us locate them when they're missing, but rd is right that the need to band the criminals is, at the very least, more pressing than the need to band the kids. i suspect there would be a lot of resistance to the banding of innocent people, even children, because that smacks loudly of the warning that the day will come when we will live under a one-world government that won't permit anyone not wearing a required device or symbol to buy or sell the necessities of life. of course, resisting electronic id bracelets on kids won't prevent or even slow down our progression toward that point in history, but i can see how a lot of folks would want nothing to do with it.


nanci
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How, for example, would it have protected Dru or Carlie if their assailants had had the device? Dru's body could have been recovered, maybe - or is exact enough even for that (more exact, say, than Dru's cellphone?)
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can add only little to nanci's post. She has stated it perfectly. There are several technologies already in place and being used, if we can get to a point in our society of deciding which approach to use we will have achieved something great. If we use more than one of these technologies it has to be part of a unified national system is my only requirement.

The minimum requirement is that it records GPS locations of the person's whereabouts and is periodically uploaded to police. What this does is eliminate the anomynous roaming of the wolves to strike at will on a stray lamb without anyone knowing who could have done it. The GPS locations recorded will show who was at the location. GPS locations are accurate to a few yards. One such device was placed on Scott Peterson's truck to record it's movements, it was reported.

The recording doesn't stop an abdiuction, but it ensures that we can tell who was there. If the device is removed or broken without coming in to a police station to report it, then that is the same as breaking out of jail. It means immediate return to incarceration.

If felons know that they cannot get away anomynously with a crime, then it changes their entire psychology. Sure, someone could go berserk, break the device, and kill someone, but they know they will not get away with it. Now these felons think they will get away with it.

I say parole instead of life because the length of parole is based on the severity of crime. Registered sex offenders would be life, for example, as that is a type of parole. But if someone had a five year parole and didn't commit another crime, then we need to focus our attention on those who are committing crimes. And we need to do it now.

rd
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
Posts: 9273
Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2004 7:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Police are asking people to look for Carlie's backpack or let them know if they remember seeing the guy's station wagon.

rd


from www.cnn.com (fair use)

CNN
February 5, 2001

Housemate tips police to Smith after seeing video

SARASOTA, Florida (CNN) -- The video of a man who approached 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in a carwash parking lot led to the arrest of Joseph Smith, according to a woman who lives with him.

The woman spoke to CNN from inside the home but would not give her name or show her face on camera.

She told CNN that she recognized Smith in the videotape broadcast on television and then called authorities.

The woman and another man live with Smith in Sarasota's Kensington Park neighborhood.

Smith, 37, who has a lengthy criminal record, was arrested at his home Tuesday on drug charges unrelated to the disappearance. Authorities said they took him in after receiving tips, but they did not say who the tips came from.

The girl has not been found and authorities said Smith is not cooperating with the investigation.

Susan Schorpen, the girl's mother, spoke to the media Thursday afternoon, pleading for more information from the public.

"Please help me bring my baby home," Schorpen said. "Carlie Brucia is a beautiful intelligent girl and she's got to come home."

Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill told reporters there have been more than 750 leads in the case and each is being investigated.

He also asked the public to look for Carlie's backpack in parking lots, empty fields and along roads in the Sarasota area. Carlie's mom said the backpack was a Christmas gift.

Investigators impounded a 1992 Buick station wagon on Wednesday. Balkwill told reporters Thursday that investigators are "certain" the vehicle "was used in the abduction."

He urged those in the area to try to remember whether they had seen the station wagon between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday. Investigators still need to know where Smith traveled after Carlie disappeared.

The girl's disappearance has received national media attention since it was recorded by a security camera behind the carwash.

In the videotape, recorded just after 6:20 p.m., a white man in some kind of a work uniform is seen approaching Carlie. He briefly speaks to her as she hesitates, then takes her by the forearm and leads her away.

The man in the video has tattoos on his forearms, as does Smith. He also works as a mechanic.

NASA experts and those at the FBI's lab in Washington worked to enhance the videotape to get a clearer image of the man's face, tattoos, and the apparent name tag on his shirt.

The images have been enhanced and are in Sarasota. Balkwill said the images will be released to the public soon.

Authorities searched Smith's home Wednesday, as well as a field with tall grass behind it, and found nothing immediately linking Smith to the girl's disappearance, a law enforcement source involved in the investigation told CNN.

Forensic examinations will be conducted on certain items taken in the search, the source said.

No bond is being offered Smith on the charges of possessing cocaine and drug paraphernalia and violating probation from a previous drug conviction.

"We will not be letting him out of our custody whatsoever," Balkwill said. "He is not answering any of our questions that we've asked. We have made it clear to Joseph and his counsel that we want to know where Carlie is."

The public defender's office said Smith's two attorneys had no comment on the case.

Smith's criminal record in the area dates back to 1993, when he was convicted of aggravated battery and sentenced to probation.

In November 1997, Smith was arrested on a charge of kidnapping and false imprisonment in neighboring Manatee County. He was acquitted of those charges a year later.

According to records from the Manatee County Sheriff's Department, a woman said Smith grabbed her as she was walking along a street and threatened to "cut her if she failed to remain quiet."

A passing vehicle stopped and intervened, allowing her to flee, the record said.

The records also said Smith told authorities "he had been in an altercation earlier" that evening "and wanted somebody to walk with."

A few months before the incident in Manatee, Smith was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon -- a knife, according to his arrest record from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Smith has faced numerous drug charges, and in 2001 was convicted of heroin possession, possession of controlled substances, and attempting to obtain controlled substances by fraudulent means. He served a little more than a year in prison. He was on probation when he was arrested Tuesday.

The woman who lives with him said she has known Smith and his ex-wife, whom he divorced in 1996, as well as their three children for many years. She would not say how long he has been living with her.

"He never knew the dark side of anybody," she said.

CNN's John Zarrella, Susan Candiotti, Rich Philips and Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report.
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 3225

PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 2:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My problem with any of the ideas on how to catch offenders - repeat or otherwise - is that it doesn't seem to matter whether we catch them - we will always give them the opportunity to strike again. It all seems so futile. If we're not going to prevent it from happening again, why catch them in the first place?
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 2:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It escalates, jane. They were caught on lesser offenses.

rd
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 3:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember one guy who raped a young person and left her injured - he cut both her arms off. She survived. Many years later he killed an older woman. I guess the time he just cut someone's arms off was a lesser offence.

I'm sorry - my mind just works wrong about this stuff and I can't see it the way I'm supposed to. Some things, in my mind, are just as bad as murder. Some criminals allow their victims to live - sort of, but they've murdered something - joy, innocence.
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rd



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 4:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That was a highly publicized incident, jane. No one could believe they even let him out of jail again. I did not mean that was a lesser offense.

Both guys that killed Dru Sjodin and we hope not Carlie Brucia were charged with assault where the women got away. That is what I meant by a lesser offense.

rd
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peripeteia



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 1173
Location: Nova Scotia

PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 5:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just reading everyone's comments and I agree with everyone, something has to give. There are thousands of women, men and children that have been held hostage in one way or another by a criminal, those who do not come forward, and are left with the emotional damage for life. Jane you are absolutely correct, the perpetrators murder something, joy, innocence. Then there are the thousands we know about. How many of the 100,000 people missing lie in fields, the woods, in our rivers and oceans.....?????

How these people (criminals) could be monitored is an enigma, even if you planted something deep in their brain, some surgeon would be for hire to take it out. I'm personally in for frontal labotomies and castration, medical or surgical. I think that certain people and certain acts that people do cannot be rehabilitated, the arm of the law has not kept pace with the henneous crimes of man. I do not know if what is happening in the states is happening everywhere. There is certainly some of this that is going on in Canada...is this just a problem of north america. We know that the sex trade involving very young people is rampant in Asia, and I suppose the victims lives' are not worth a dime/damm.

A friend of mine spent 10 years working in Calcutta with Mother Theresa, and it is common practice to cut off the limbs of very little girls, so that they can be put out on the street to pan handle. In Thialand, America erradicated the opium fields, now the opitum addicts are selling there girls to the sex trade, as young as anyone will buy them. There are whole communities that have sold their children, in the mountains. As those who grew opium were addicted. What the American's did not send was some form of Addiction Services. The Thia government also had to give or ask the Americans for their assistance. We know that Chinese girls are being murdered or orphaned as they are not wanted....one chid per family... The world knows this is going on, and how do we response by adopting the little girls!!!!!!! What are we doing to stop this?

The attrocities of man do not limit themselves to sex, they are deep and far reaching. There is something in man/women that is definately lacking. I think that perhaps Capital punishment should be brought back for certain things, and although this is not Christian, something has to happen. Establish a gulag archipeligo, the Bering Islands would be a good place in the states, and North of Frobisher Bay in Canada...and then there is always the Gobi Desert ...,....

The justice system needs revamping, and the grass roots in most countries are dead. And it is obvious that training in how to protect our children needs to take place immediately! Jane or Nanci suggested that the best way to foil an abduction is to lay down, we need to teach this to our children. To yell, kick, scream, laydown...to resist at all costs. Very few people get to live after being abducted....so it is die then or die later.

I do not think this girl is alive, or this is one very stupid man, because, he had no deaths on record yet, and will face one now so if she was alive, by now he would have rolled over, per se. Unless she is in the hands of others, this I do not believe....

It is interesting that the girlfriend told the police, did not his family see this video, what were they doing but protecting him, I think that if proven people should be charged for this, abetting a criminal....

One thing that is absolutely necessary is that the drug trade needs to stop, especially those drugs that there is so much crime surrounding, and such negative behavior changes....crack, cocaine, speed, methampedimine....and on goes the list....alcohol is right up there in my books as well.......also the pornograph industry needs to grind to a halt....especially related to children.....

Is it any wonder that so may people have guns, I'm surprized that everyone does not have one, it will come to this if things do not change.
Perhaps this is the reason why the shift to children as victims, that adults may have guns and are less easy to prey apon. Or what is making so many pedophiles, or did this always exist?????? Certainly sexual abuse in homes and incest is rampid where I live, in one community, the whole lot of people were into incest and gross sexual indecency, one family was charged with 168 counts of gross sexual indecency....so trust me I'm not pointing my finger or moralizing. The tragedy is that this family (whole community as they are all related) made world news, yet very few of the victims received therapy. I see many of these young women in clinic and they attest both in the havoc of their lives and by testimony that they did not receive therapy. What of the men/boys {they do not come to the clinic and tell of their abuse (cultural things I guess)} what have they learned in this family, they did not get therapy either, and the result is we will have another whole generation of abusers.......!!!!!!!!!!! What is wrong with this picture?!
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benn



Joined: 19 Sep 2002
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Location: Sacramento, CA

PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 6:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kate wrote: >>>What is wrong with this picture?!<<<

The last days are upon us, kate. Of course men have been waiting for the last days for 2000 years, maybe more. I don't know if the Old Testament was waiting for the last days or not. They were waiting for the Messiah.

>>>I think that perhaps Capital punishment should be brought back for certain things, and although this is not Christian, something has to happen.<<<

I have not read or heard that Capital punishment is not Christian, kate.

>>>GENESIS 9:6
6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.<<<

That is what the bible says. There are people who want to change the bible so that it says what they want it to say. God wrote it, so He will enforce it.

>>>What is wrong with this picture?!<<< Men, and women, are getting away from God. All men and women are not getting away from God because I see great big churches on television. One of my favorite tv people, Alex Trabec, of Jeopardy, almost killed himself last week by falling asleep while driving. His car went off of the road. The news did not say anything about him getting injured.

Why did I mention Alex Trabec? Because he is on another tv program besides Jeopardy, that many people probably do not know that he is on. Trabec's second tv program is for World Vision, helping children around the world. He has been doing that for 15 years or more.

Look for the good guys with the white hats, kate. I just received a couple of books from Hong Kong, China. I ordered them from the Amity Foundation in China. Christians in China may not be able to do all of the things that Chistians in the free world do, but they are there. God is still on the throne. Man enforces man's laws, Nature enforces natures laws, and God will judge those who have broken His laws.

benn
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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Location: Jacksonville, FL

PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm sick to my stomach.

rd


from www.cnn.com (fair use)

Carla Brucia's body found

Investigators have recovered the body of an 11-year-old Florida girl whose abduction was recorded by a car wash surveillance camera. "The body of Carlie Burcia has been found," Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill said this morning. "Joseph Smith is under arrest for the abduction and murder of Carlie," he said. Smith, 37, already is in custody on an alleged probation violation.


from www.nytimes.com (fair use)

Body of Missing Florida Girl Is Found
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: February 6, 2004

Filed at 7:38 a.m. ET

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) -- The body of an 11-year-old girl whose abduction was captured by a surveillance camera has been found and a mechanic has been charged with her murder, officials said Friday.

Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill refused to say where Carlie Brucia was found, saying it is an active crime scene.

He said Joseph P. Smith, 37, has been charged with her murder. He is believed to be the tattooed man in a mechanic's shirt who was seen in a car wash surveillance video leading Carlie away by the arm Sunday evening, authorities said.
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He has been held without bail since Tuesday on an alleged probation violation.

Family and friends had kept vigil outside Carlie's ranch-style house, which was decorated with banners and posters reading, ``We love you, Carlie.''

``I need my daughter home,'' Carlie's mother, Susan Schorpen, had said Thursday. ``She's a very, very important part of this family and community.''

Members of her former Girl Scout troop took a day off from school Wednesday to pass out fliers at shopping centers, canvass neighborhoods and distribute pink ribbons adorned with Carlie's name.

Family friend Chessie Huber described Carlie as a beautiful girl who loved actress Jennifer Lopez, going to the mall and hanging out with her friends. The blond, blue-eyed youngster had a cat named Charlie and was known for greeting friends with warm hugs.

A reward fund of $50,000 was offered for information.

Smith has been arrested at least 13 times in Florida since 1993, according to state records and convicted of drug possession and other charges. He was arrested in 1997 in Manatee County on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges, but was acquitted a year later.

An aide to Smith's public defender, Adam Tebrugge, had declined to comment Thursday.

Carlie was walking home from a friend's house at about 6:20 p.m. Sunday when she took a short cut behind Evie's Car Wash, which was closed for the day.

Car wash owner Mike Evanoff said he checked the security system video Monday after bloodhounds led deputies to the business. The images of Carlie popped up almost immediately when he turned on the system, he said.

``It was cold chills right up my back,'' Evanoff said earlier this week. ``My manager couldn't even look at it. It's an awful feeling.''
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jane



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is so sad. What a nightmare for her family and friends.
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benn



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Too true jane, but this seemed apparent right from the start. It is the same thing happening over and over again. I am thinking of Mark Plass's daughter. Over and over again this is happening.

Someone is asleep at the controls. They are equipping Homeland Security, but missing persons, etc. should be part of the Homeland Security. We are getting yellow, or some color terrorist warnings, but no warnings that our police can not protect young children from being abducted.

The police can not be everywhere, so Homeland Security should figure out some other defense mechanisms. In the late 1930s this would have been a death sentence offence, and the trial would not have taken very long, and there would have been very few appeals, and the person who did this would be executed.

Even if tried and convicted to death the murder can still continue to appeal for about 19 years, with no work to do and not too bad living conditions. I used to hear some Christians saying, "When the guilty go free the judge stands accused." Who should we accuse here? Maybe some good will come out of this.

benn
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rd



Joined: 13 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

well, the judge is getting death threats now. However, the charge for jailing the guy was failure to make a $411 court payment, and the judge notated he needed to see that the guy had income. No response from the probation office. Not sure they saw the notation.

They also noted he failed a drug test which could have jailed him, but said the test was suspect due to prescription drugs, antidepressants, yada yada. Why have tests at all since the drug addicts will always say this?

Arrested 13 times in 10 years and serving one year in jail that I can tell means there is a mismatch between crime and punishment. A lot of arrests, no jail. On probation, but roaming around looking for prey. It's a given that drug addicts will commit crimes to pay for their drugs. It's only a matter of time before every one of us becomes a victim of these thugs as long as they are allowed to run free. They shouldn't be. Arrested 13 times in 10 years means he should have been in jail for awhile. He wasn't, and an 11 year old girl had her life taken from her because of it.

rd
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propria



Joined: 20 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 10:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Posted on Fri, Feb. 06, 2004 [fair use]


Sarasota judge says he did nothing wrong in handling Smith case

VICKIE CHACHERE
Associated Press


SARASOTA, Fla. - The two parties responsible for supervising the man suspected in the slaying of an 11-year-old girl pointed fingers at each other Friday for not putting him behind bars in December.

Joe Brucia, the father of victim Carlie Brucia, called for an investigation into how Smith's case was handled.

"As far as this individual being out on the street, I really find the decisions made by some of these judges very questionable," said Joe Brucia. "He should never have been out on the streets."

Both Circuit Judge Harry Rapkin and the Florida Department of Corrections denied wrongdoing in the handing of Joseph P. Smith's case when in December he fell behind in paying his court fines and could have been jailed.

Rapkin said a probation officer did not provide information to show that the often unemployed Smith was willfully refusing to pay his fines. Rapkin spoke out Friday because he said his role has been misunderstood and he is now getting death threats from outraged citizens.

Corrections Secretary James V. Crosby Jr. countered that the judge never called for a hearing during which a probation officer would have presented evidence against Smith. Instead, the judge put a "sticky note" on the file saying: "I need evidence that this was willful. did he have the ability to pay?" and initialed it.

Smith is under arrest in the slaying of Carlie Brucia, whose body was discovered Friday in a wooded area near a Sarasota church. The girl was abducted Sunday night on her way home from a friend's house; her kidnapping has riveted the nation because it was caught by a surveillance camera.

Smith has a lengthy criminal past that includes at least 13 arrests and a string of probation assignments. Court records show him as a chronic drug abuser who has been arrested repeatedly for prescription drug fraud, cocaine use and heroin possession.

Smith was being supervised by a probation officer in Sarasota who since August had sent the judge two notices that Smith was violating his probation.

Neither violation resulted in Smith being jailed. Rapkin, who assumed Smith's case when he took over a division from another judge, never actually saw Smith in his courtroom.

Smith tested positive for drug use in August, but the probation officer noted that the test could have been affected by Smith's use of prescription painkillers and antidepressants. The second violation came when Smith fell behind in his court payments, a $411 bill that was to be paid by the fall.

Rapkin said because Florida does not have a "debtors prison," he couldn't jail Smith for simply falling $179 behind in payments. He said that is a frequent occurrence for people on probation, but then they usually catch up.

"If I thought that not signing a warrant caused this girl's death, I'd quit," Rapkin said. "I couldn't live with myself. But that didn't' happen. I did my job."

But Crosby said under the rules of the Sarasota Circuit, the probation officer had no choice but to wait for Rapkin to call a hearing and then act.

In August, when Smith tested positive for drug use, the judge marked on a form that no further action was required, Crosby said. In December, the matter was only addressed with the note on the file.

"What the judge typically should do according to the rules is issue a warrant and have a hearing," Crosby said. "If he had a question on whether we had evidence, we would produce the evidence.

"...The judge has all the power. All we can do is report when the person has not performed as ordered by the judge."

Crosby said he believes probation officers kept Smith under as close watch as possible and reported him every time they caught him violating the terms of his probation.

"It's a shame that we go to try to find a person who has done their job as a probation officer and try to make them a scapegoat," he said.

**********

>>> "If I thought that not signing a warrant caused this girl's death, I'd quit," Rapkin said. <<<

in that case, hang up your robe and call it a career, judge ... you are so responsible for this child's death that you probably ought to be charged as an accessory.

to respond to your point, benn, i don't think it's so much that someone is asleep at the controls as it is a matter of those at the controls being blindfolded by the all-pervasive power of political correctness and our growing refusal, as a nation, to hold those who do wrong accountable for their actions. we can't profile for easily recognized potential wrongdoers because that's claimed to be racist, we can't get the drugged out losers off the street and behind bars because they aren't 'bad' they just have a disease, we can't send parolees back to jail when they violate the conditions of their release because they're 'having a hard time' after spending time in jail ... when we fail as a people to demand that those who do wrong be punished for their crime, we have no right at all to complain when our streets are crawling with criminals on the loose.

this is not really about homeland security, it's about getting codependent, activist, liberal judges off the bench and replacing them with people who really will enforce the laws that are on the books ... that's what george bush has been trying to do for three years now, and you can see how far it's gotten him. we really do have two americas, and the line of demarcation between them is growing brighter with every passing moment ... we have one america where criminals are victims who need our pity and another chance, and another america where the victims of crime have more rights than the perpetrators, so the bad guys need to be put away and kept there, if that's what it takes to make our streets safe.

i wish this problem really was as simple as blaming george bush or praising him, but it's just not ... we have the unenviable privilege of being the generation that gets to watch as our society becomes as secular today as it was spiritual in the days of our founding fathers, and the stress of the distance between those two extremes is ripping the fabric of the nation apart at the seams right before our very eyes. for all i know, it might be too late already to close that distance enough to retain the strength of our judicial system, and the nation in general, for that matter. in fact, we might already be on the road of watching our nation shape-shifting from a republic [with its powers balanced between the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government] to a democracy [where the largest number of voices control the nation's course]. the really scary thought about that is the fact that the mind and voice of the nation are largely being shaped by hollywood, where great fortunes are made on the basis of convincing us that what is not real, is real ... that makes no sense at all to me.


nanci
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