The News That (Gives) Fits ...

THREE ITEMS TO MAKE ME SAD FOR MY COUNTRY:

ONE:
North Carolina: "State crime lab analysts omitted, overstated or falsely reported blood evidence in dozens of cases, including three that ended in executions, a government ordered audit found.

"Agents of the State Bureau of Investigation repeatedly aided prosecutors in obtaining convictions from 1987 to 2003, mostly by misrepresenting blood evidence and withholding notes from defense counsel....

"State Attorney General ... ordered the review after the exoneration of a man imprisoned for 17 years for a murder he didn't commit."

COMMENT: WHY IS THERE NOT A DEATH PENALTY FOR THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE ACTIONS?

TWO:
WASHINGTON (AP) — "President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily, a White House official said Thursday, trying to tamp down growing doubts about the president's religion. A new poll showed that nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, believe Obama is Muslim. That was up from 11 percent who said so in March 2009. The survey also showed that just 34 percent said Obama is Christian, down from 48 percent who said so last year. The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they don't know his religion."

COMMENT: NO ONE EVER LOST MONEY UNDERESTIMATING THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.... YOU CAN FOOL SOME OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME ...

THREE:
ORLANDO (FLORIDA) SENTINEL: "The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on American Muslims to respond to a Florida church’s planned “International Burn a Koran Day” by hosting educational “Share the Quran” Ramadan fast-breaking dinners (iftars) at which copies of Islam’s holy text will be distributed to neighbors, public and law enforcement officials and journalists. (The month-long Islamic fast of Ramadan will begin in August.)

"Representatives of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville say they will burn a Quran outside the church on September 11 and are encouraging others to follow their example. This is the same controversial church that has been in the news for claiming that “Islam is of the devil” and for protesting recently outside a local mosque."

COMMENT: BOOK BURNING? NO MOSQUES IN NEW YORK? WHOSE NEXT? AREN'T WE PROUD?

... And You're Out (Finally)

The L.A. Times reported today that a man who was sentenced to life in prison for entering a church to steal food as a "third strike" should be released from prison after a mere eight years. Even D.A. (and California attorney general candidate) Steve Cooley apparently claimed some credit for this, having cited it as one of the reasons for his policy not to seek a third strike conviction where the underlying crime is so minor.

His policy, by the way, results in another injustice, almost as egregious as the disproportionate life sentence of the three strikes law. By "striking a strike" on condition that the defendant plead guilty, the D. A. assures denial of a fair trial and a still outrageous sentence -- double the sentence that would have been given without a strike and a requirement to serve 85% (rather than 50%) of the stated prison sentence. Thus, a defendent committing a petty non-violent crime might still serve many years in prison.

The three strikes law, like many changes in criminal procedures over the past twenty years, is the product of the Initiative Process, based on propositions written as a wish list of District Attorney associations allied with so-called victims rights groups. Most of these laws take discretion away from judges and juries and give it to prosecutors. This increase in power has resulted in a corrupt, complacent, political, dictatorial prosecutor-driven justice system.

The cost to the society of these mistakes will be incalculable, but you can start by counting all the wasted money spent to incarcerate non-violent prisoners for many years.