PARALLEL PLEAS

Two seemingly totally unrelated matters over the past couple of days came up parallel on my intellectual radar...President Obama's visit to China, and the movie "Law Abiding Citizen".

First, the movie. It is the story of an educated family man , wonderfully played by Gerard Butler, who in the first scene sees his wife and young daughter raped and murdered by two armed intruders into his home. The killers are identified by Butler and captured. The prosecutor, Jamie Foxx, enters into a plea agreement with the one who actually committed the murders, ostensibly for the purpose of maintaining a high conviction rate, under which the killer received a nominal 3-year sentence in exchange for testifying against his accomplice...who is found guilty, put on death row, and executed.

Butler is horrified at the injustice of the plea bargain and the failure of the criminal justice system, and implements his own personal scheme of justice by systematically killing every one who had anything to do with the plea bargain. Foxx is last on his list. How Butler manages to continue his rampage though he is being held in solitary confinement in prison, is an intriguing part of the movie, but not the focus of this post...which are the rampant injustices and dangers of our prevailing plea bargaining system under which criminals are prematurely set free and their victims unremembered and dishonored.

My views on plea bargaining are set forth in an earlier post about the Michael Vick case, "Justice Vick-timized".

President Obama, this past weekend, sought fit to enter into his own plea bargaining agreement with Red China. Unspoken to be sure, but a plea agreement nonetheless. His deal was as follows: in exchange for the Red Chinese strengthening commercial exchanges and continuing to lend us money, he would ignore China's oppression of its people, its restraints on freedom of speech, assembly, religion, reproduction and emigration, its jailing of anti-Government protesters, he would abstains from visiting the Dalai Lama because Red China objected to his making the trip. And to seal the deal, the President wore a Chinese style shirt to help him project a spirit of camaraderie and friendship and the "we are all the same and I am one of you" attitude he carries to the dungeons of the world and their ruthless rulers.

Justice is the cornerstone of civilization. Failure to treat others for precisely who and what they are, in the manner they deserve by their chosen actions, not only fails to punish evil, but narrows the distinction between good and evil...and tears apart the very fabric of civilization. In the movie, Butler threatens to tear down everything that supports the unjust criminal justice system. "It's gonna be Biblical", he warns. The President ought see the movie...and soon.

THE PROFIT MOTIVE

Any reader of whodunits will tell you that it is easier to find the culprit if you can find a motive. Perhaps because that is true, many Americans have jumped to the conclusion that virtually regardless of the crime they perceive being perpetrated, it is the businessmen who are guilty because "they all have a motive...the profit motive".

What are business profits? They are the excess of income over expenses. They represent tangibly the excess of the market value of what is produced, or the service provided, over the cost of producing or providing it...a cost, I might add, invested by the businessman at the risk of losing it it all.

In other words, what the businessman is guilty of is adding values to our lives. Who would think such a person evil, immoral? Only someone who thinks values are inately evil. Who would think that in light of the obvious evidence that values make our lives safer, healthier, richer, more enjoyable. Your home was likely built by a company with a profit motive, as was the car you drive, the food you eat, the medicines you take, the phone you use, the clothes you wear.

Who would think such values are not of value? Only someone who has a negative view of life, who does not, in the deep recesses of his soul, think man ought to be safe, well fed, entertained, happy...a person who has an inverted view of values and who has reversed good and evil.

Perhaps, some might say, it is moral to produce values but not moral to desire or to selfishly keep the immoral profits that result from such production. If you hold that view, you believe in human sacrifices...desiring, demanding with the force of government authority, that the businessman spend his effort, his effort, his time, his ideas, not for his own benefit but for the benefit of others. To label such a sacrificial code of behavior as moral is an inversion, and perversion, of the worst order.

In fact, quite the contrary is true. It is the profit motive that is inherently moral...for it represents the desire to enrich life on Earth, it recognizes the justice of the producer enjoying the fruits of his production, and it respects the law of cause and effect: the effects you cause, good or bad, are yours to enjoy or to bear the consequences of.

Beware of those who demean and denigrate and denounce the profit motive and those who have it. They have a motive of their own: to make your life value-less.

MUSINGS I

If you think we need a Constitutional Amendment to permit prayers in school, you haven't stood in school hallways lately during final exams.

Have you noticed that those who practice diplomacy have never received a diploma to practice it?

Of all living things, only man is aware...occasionally.

Aristotle discovered that A is A, things are what they are...and the world has been trying to disprove it ever since.

Most political speeches are good examples of free speech...and you know what you get for free.

Anti-trust laws are aptly named...those who support them do not trust freedom.

The world is like an extravagant buffet party...with no waiters.

Isn't it ironic that there could be no government handouts if the government kept its hands out of our pockets.

To believe things on faith is to believe in mind over matter.

What you do to others may be a crime...what you do to yourself never is.

Teach a child how to think and you've opened his world...teach a child what to think and you've closed it.

If your education stops when you finish school, you didn't learn much.

Man's will is free for him to use...but can cost him his life if he doesn't.

Your senses tell you what is...your emotions tell you how you feel about what is ... your mind coordinates the two and tells you what you can do about what is.

The reason many people believe in a sixth sense is because they can't make sense out of what they learn from the first five.

SLOW TO GO

I was wondering the other day why, as I get older, I more enjoy the game of baseball. It is a slow game, basketball and hockey players would say...the pitcher straightening out the dirt on the pitching mound, staring in for the catcher's signals, the batter finding just the right stance at the plate, and then stepping out to slow down the pitcher even further. And I realized I like slow. Well, not very slow, but a bit slower than the turned up, speeded up, frenetic pace that inflicts so much of what we do these days.

I enjoy the walk a bit more when it's a bit slower...I can sense more of the beauty of the earth and the sky and all that is in it. I enjoy whatever I am working on when I am not hurried and have time to think deeper about the things that interest me. I enjoy a book or a movie that unfolds a bit slowly, giving me the pleasure of savoring the unfolding of the characters in the story, giving me a chance to identify the plot and its implications, to identify with the hero's plight and how I would respond to it.

I love the subtle touches which Arthur Conan Doyle gives you about Sherlock Holmes' place at 221B Baker Street...the crusty old books, the smell of that rare Swedish tobacco, the feel of the easy chair...which adds so much to the flavor and the intrigue and the mystery of that ribboned envelope being slid under the door with three orange seeds in it and the one word note "Finally".

I like conversations with each point of conversation explored slowly and thoughtfully, with quiet spaces for cerebral time. I like more detailed and probing interviews on radio and television, more time to examine the depths of an issue (I shut my mind off when the interviewer says, "I only have 45 seconds, how would you deal with the unfolding nuclear crisis in the Mideast?") Takes me longer than that to brush my teeth, and there's not much to think about when I brush my teeth.

Now, I don't like everything slow...like when the bank teller who counts your money over fourteen times, or when the express lane on the thruway is used for sightseeing, or when the waiter in that fine restaurant seems to have developed amnesia. I don't like dawdling, lackadaisical, lethargic, supine, lymphatic, sluggish, dopey, drugges, leaden, lumpish, stultefied, inert, stagnant, languid, listless, vegetative, dormant, numb, moribund, dead.

But I do like slower than hurried, rushed, pushed, pressed, crowded, hustled, bustled, scuttled, scampered, stampeded.

Know what I mean?

RIGHTS, NOT LIGHTS

The 6th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees to every accused the right to a speedy and public criminal trial. Such a trial, conducted under objective rules of law and evidence, is man's practical bulwark against government oppression. Without the security offered by a fair public trial, an accused would stand helpless at the mercy of an accusing government. It is imperative, therefore, that nothing be done to upset the intricate system of justice developed over centuries.

Television may be doing just that. More and more television stations are seeking to poke their cameras into juicy criminal, and civil, cases...no doubt to boost ratings. And they do so under the banner of making the trial even more public.

But the right to a public trial is the right of an accused for the protection of the accused, and he or she ought be free to waive the public nature of the trial if he or she so chooses. Television lights blinking on and off, cameras catching and magnifying every nervous twitch, every expression, every private detail of an accused or witness' life, and distributing it all not just to the country but to the world, can be nerve-wracking and intimidating to all involved, may lessen the willingness and availability of some critical witnesses to testify, and may in fact undercut the very purpose of the Constitutional guaranty of a public trial.

There is much too much media coverage of criminal trials. Radio, television and newspaper outlets flash names and pictures of the accused before they have been found guilty. Families and friends of the accused are pressured for interviews. Media commentators often pronounce judgment and sentence without having heard one word of courtroom testimony, perhaps thereby denying the accused a fair trial by improperly influencing the views of prospective jurors.

Let's protect the right of the "innocent until proven guilty" to a fair trial by keeping television cameras out of the courtroom...unless the accused agrees. "Lights, camera, action" are three very intimidating and daunting words.

PROFESSOR PUSSYCAT

"He acts like an animal."

You've heard it before, you may have thought or said it yourself. It is said derogatorily, often when someone is acting brusquely, arrogantly, crazily. The implication is that the someone being equated with animals is not properly using his human capacity to think. Animals cannot conceptualize.

But animals do many things we can admire and which would be in our interest to learn. Animals function solely on the sensory and perceptual levels of consciousness. And because of this, they rely to a greater extent than we do on their senses. Humans frequently question the validity of their senses, thereby undercutting the validity of human knowledge. Which is why we will sometimes hear someone (often menmbers of the academia) ask, "Since nothing can be known for certain, how do I know you are really here?" as they gaze into someone's eyes. Animals have no such problem. They "know" you are there because they see you and smell you. They are sure of it and act accordingly.

Animals have no choice but to act in their self-interesr...at least to the extent their incredible instincts program them to act. We humans, on the other hand, have the blessing of free will and choice...a two-edged sword that can result in our acting contrary to what is in our best interest. We are even capable of accepting the notion that it is immoral and improper to act in our own self- interest, and that it is ideal to sacrifice ourselves to others. (See any of the collectivist philosophies prevalent in our society today.) An animal is not capable of such anti-life thoughts or actions.

Animals are judgmental, as survival requires. Man has been warned to "judge not lest ye be judged" and often finds his trust betrayed, his love misplaced. Animals are generally persevering in their struggle to survive, they are generally benevolent to those who care for them. You know about humans.

Animals sleep better than we do, they get sick less often, they have fewer nervous breakdowns, their marriages are more enduring. They almost never attack their own species. We have much to learn from them.

And how do we treat those animals we profess to love? We put the birds in cages so that they cannot spread their wings and fly...we put man's best friend on a leash so that he cannot romp and play...we neuter them so that they cannot reproduce...we behead them for ornamentation...and we eat them.

The next time someone says "you're an animal",. smile and take it as quite complimentary.

THE DEFINING BATTLE

President Obama's philosophy is based on a fundamental redefinition of the America's guarantee of equality to all.
Unique in its historical meaning, equality meant equality under the law...all were to be treated the same and no one was to be favored with special privileges or rights or benefits by reason of family heritage, wealth, or any other consideration. In effect, no royalty of any character.

The President seeks to recast equality as equality of entitlements, equality of character. Hence, the President overtly seeks to redistribute the wealth of this country by taking it from the wealthy and giving it to the poor, thus obliterating the idea of equality under the law. He argues that all are entitled to health care, to higher education and to whatever else crosses his mind today, and ignores the undeniable reality that those things do not grow on trees, and ignores the question: At who's expense and at whose forced labor? The President believes in a universal equality of character among all people's of the world notwithstanding their virtues or vices, and hence his constant apologies for America's actions and his failure to acknowledge America's role in saving civilization from annihilation, his willingness to shake hands and bow down and smile at and negotiate with known terrorists and ruthless dictators, to release Guantanamo assasins, to shut down some of our missile defenses, and to delay the sending of recommended support troops to aid our forces in Afghanistan, presumably under the belief that "we're no better, they're no worse".

That is President's idea of the Constitutional right to equality guaranteed to all of us. It is the underlying premise to his desire and drive to take over American industry, for he knows that that is the only way for him to implement his definition of equality.

What is next? Will the FBI to meet with heads of the underworld to negotiate certain limitations on FBI surveillance and weaponry? Will homeowners be required to allow indigents to set up tents on their lawns so that they, too, can enjoy living on their own piece of land? Will the Pledge of Allegiance be replaced by The Plea of Apology? Will only those ignorant of the glory of America's ideals hold high public office? (Actually, we already have that.)

The Founding Fathers' definition of equality is rooted in freedom. President Obama's definition of equality is dependent on slavery and ignorance. In the end, reality will determine which definition of equality better serves man's interests.