Regarding the CA editorial “Bresden holds complex case” dated 4/23/10: The Gaile Owens case is a slam dunk for the death penalty. She hired a guy to kill her husband, and it was carried out according to plan. This was pre-meditated 1st degree gruesome murder, and is a prime reason why we have the death penalty. My only shock is why it has taken 24 years for the system to bring her up for execution.
I believe the battered woman syndrome (BWS), which I admit exists in obvious and extreme cases, is now too often used as courtroom trickery - a back door legal defense where lawyers find easy traction in a courtroom with no one to defend the murdered male. BWS in most cases is used when there is nothing else for the defense to hang their case.
We live in a society where personal responsibility is no longer a value that is a desired trait, and this spells nothing but trouble for our society. Women are not idiots – after all, they have been fighting for, and deserve equal rights - and there are resources where they can call or go to in order to document domestic violence. They can get a lawyer and get a divorce; they can go to the doctor and document physical abuse.
As a male, it unnerves me that in Memphis, Tennessee a man who lives a normal quite life can be brutally executed by a disgruntled wife in a premeditated fashion and then sees his character assassinated again in court without the benefit of defending himself.
The Mary Winkler case was a travesty of justice. If Gaile Owens execution is suspended or delayed any further, it sends a duel message to the community.
Men: You better be on your best behavior, or you may end up brutally murdered and your character bludgeoned without the benefit of a defense.
Women: Why hire a divorce lawyer? You can have your husband murdered, collect the insurance money and have a happy life. If you get caught, you (and your lawyer) can make up whatever slander you want against the deceased in order to get off on a “battered wife syndrome” defense.
Does this sound like justice to anyone?
Friday, April 23, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Obama the Paper Tiger
One has to admit, when it comes to staging a political public relations event to distract the press – and at the same time enhance his image as a global leader, President Obama’s recently ended “Nuclear Security Summit” in Washington DC was a masterful stroke of genius.
Unfortunately, there was more smoke and mirrors than substantive results. The recent discovery of an expansion of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons production, the consistent violations of North Korea’s nuclear program, and the clear and present danger that Iran’s nuclear program presents to the Middle East and the entire world was not even on the table for discussion.
President Obama has no problem making outrageous and offensive demands of Israel in order to curry favor from the Arab world. How can our President expect Israel to take him seriously when he is preoccupied with building permits and zoning issues in Israel’s capital, while a fanatical Iran is openly threatening Israel’s existence and at the same time building nuclear bombs? When it comes to the heavy lifting of confronting Iran over its nuclear program – a program which will surely start a dangerous arms race in that region (or worse), Obama is a shameful paper tiger.
Pakistan, which is desperately defending its main cities from Taliban assaults, could fall any day if it were not for the U.S. military propping up the Pakistani government. The odd of their nuclear arsenal falling into Taliban hands - with the help of Pakistan’s Taliban sympathetic security services, is now a likely scenario.
Iran’s entry into the nuclear weapons club will usher in an era of uncertainty and paranoia around the world – especially in the Mideast - that will equal the darkest days of the US/Russia cold war. The only difference is that Iran has demonstrated in the past – unlike Russia – that it has been consistently willing to share their most sophisticated weapons to various fanatical groups who are more than willing to use them without any limitation.
The Summit’s fancy gilded dinners, tuxedo-ed cocktail parties, grand closing proclamations, and the PR enhancing Obama press conferences cannot mask the fact that his Presidency is incapable of providing leadership on the serious foreign policy issues of the day. In the absence of America’s moral global leadership, the world is cast into the ocean on a boat without oars, and – in my opinion, the world is entering a phase more dangerous than we could eve r have imagined.
Unfortunately, there was more smoke and mirrors than substantive results. The recent discovery of an expansion of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons production, the consistent violations of North Korea’s nuclear program, and the clear and present danger that Iran’s nuclear program presents to the Middle East and the entire world was not even on the table for discussion.
President Obama has no problem making outrageous and offensive demands of Israel in order to curry favor from the Arab world. How can our President expect Israel to take him seriously when he is preoccupied with building permits and zoning issues in Israel’s capital, while a fanatical Iran is openly threatening Israel’s existence and at the same time building nuclear bombs? When it comes to the heavy lifting of confronting Iran over its nuclear program – a program which will surely start a dangerous arms race in that region (or worse), Obama is a shameful paper tiger.
Pakistan, which is desperately defending its main cities from Taliban assaults, could fall any day if it were not for the U.S. military propping up the Pakistani government. The odd of their nuclear arsenal falling into Taliban hands - with the help of Pakistan’s Taliban sympathetic security services, is now a likely scenario.
Iran’s entry into the nuclear weapons club will usher in an era of uncertainty and paranoia around the world – especially in the Mideast - that will equal the darkest days of the US/Russia cold war. The only difference is that Iran has demonstrated in the past – unlike Russia – that it has been consistently willing to share their most sophisticated weapons to various fanatical groups who are more than willing to use them without any limitation.
The Summit’s fancy gilded dinners, tuxedo-ed cocktail parties, grand closing proclamations, and the PR enhancing Obama press conferences cannot mask the fact that his Presidency is incapable of providing leadership on the serious foreign policy issues of the day. In the absence of America’s moral global leadership, the world is cast into the ocean on a boat without oars, and – in my opinion, the world is entering a phase more dangerous than we could eve r have imagined.
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