Webmaster’s note: Like so many things passed around on the Internet, there is no easy way to tell whether the following is a legitimate writing by the attributed author. 

YOU WORRY ME!

 By American Airlines Pilot - Captain John Maniscalco

“I’ve been trying to say this since 9-11 but you worry me. I wish you didn’t. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don’t blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me.

I notice you because I can’t help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now.

I don’t fully understand their grievances and hate but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks. On September 11, nineteen ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons,wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children’s mothers.

The Palestinians Celebrated, The Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab world. So I notice you now. I don’t want to be worried. I don’t want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you,and the Arab/Muslim terrorist. How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim-Americans and the Arab/Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter these same good neighbors and children? The events of September 11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults.

It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know whether or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car?

Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it? Or do you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your “Jihads”? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by paying the ultimate sacrifice? (more…)

According to the prosecutor, Cynthia Sommer killed Todd Sommer, her Marine husband, so she could get breast implants.

The defense argues that Cynthia loved her husband and had no reason to kill him.

The prosecution, so far, has presented these facts:

1) Todd and Cynthia had financial problems and were deeply in debt

2) Just days before her husband died, Cynthia visited a plastic surgeon to start the $5,400 process to get breast implants -despite having only $280 in the bank.

3) Pathologists found about 1,000 times more arsenic than normal in Todd’s body.

4) Todd had about $250,000 in life insurance which Cynthia received about a month after his death.

You can read the whole story, see clips of the trial, and more at CourtTVnews. Once you have a chance to look over the facts, then pretend you’re on the jury and vote in our innocent or guilty poll to your right. Get your votes in before the trial ends.

Under Iraq law, Sadam Hussein must be executed within 30 days of the denial of his appeal to the High Tribunal. That would put his execution date no later than January 27, 2006.

In the U.S., the process is more like 30 years than 30 days. You really have to wonder what is going on. Why bother having a death sentence if the punishment is so far removed from the crime that the family of the victim will frequently have died of old age before the criminal receives his sentence?

In a recent case that was appealed up and down the legal ladders for over twenty years, the lawyers who filed all these appeals had the nerve to start appealing on the basis that the defendant was too old to be executed. It was “cruel and unusal” to execute someone so old, so the appeals went.

In a case today, a man who received seven death sentences in 1997 came within minutes of his execution only to have it postponed until January 3, 2008, to allow some more appeals. The appeals are based on his competency to stand trial, an issue that has already been presented in both state and federal courts. A year to start up and down the ladder again?

This insanity has to stop. If we cannot find a way to execute those sentenced to die reasonably close in time to the commission of their crimes, then we should abolish the death penaly entirely.

The only thing that we are doing at this point with an empty death sentence is demonstrating that our courts do not work and giving the citizens of this country that much more reason the doubt our system of justice.

Here’s the scenario: A man confesses (written and videotaped) to murdering his step father with a Samurai sword. He later recants his confessions and says the stepfather had been psychologically abusing him for years. There is no proof of that whatsoever, but there is proof the defendant was unhappy that his stepfather had been trying to keep him from seeing some friends the stepfather considered a bad influence (drugs, don’t you know).

But, of course, if the defendant didn’t do it, who did? The only other person that could have done it is the defendant’s mother, who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. So here is the new story: “I confessed to save my mother.” Mom, by the way, denies she killed her husband.

The jury in this case has been deadlocked for several days. There are apparently some members who actually believe that the mother killed her husband with a Samuarai sword.

I would think any jury of competent, intelligent people could decide this case in ten minutes. But here is the problem, as I see it: we have a whole couple of generations of people who grew up with “justice” as portrayed on television. “Justice” where the guilty are never guilty and someone is revealed at the last minute as the real murderer. Television has produced a generation of simple-minded people –in every sense of the word. People who cannot perceive reality even though it is presented by competent prosecutors. People who mangle the concept of “beyond a reasonable doubt” to “beyond any doubt.” Again, as we have said many times before, common sense no longer seems to have a place in the American system of justice.

Update: Hours after telling a judge that they remained deadlocked after deliberating for seven days, jurors Wednesday found Zachary Gibian guilty of murdering his stepfather with a samurai sword as he slept on the couch of his Hauppauge home.

There is a very large drop in bankruptcy filings in the United States for the first nine months of 2006. The Bankruptcy Abuse Protection and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, enacted on Oct. 17, 2005, was enacted for just this reason. But is it the tighter restrictions on bankruptcy filings or is it a strong economy that caused the drop? Perhaps it is a combination. Something else to keep in mind before getting too exited about the drop: Chapter 13 filings actually increased by a very large amount. The increase can probably be attributed to new rules that require people to work out a payment plan rather than liquidating their debts.

“Today’s numbers confirm that we are seeing filing levels not present since the 1980s,” said Samuel Gerdano, executive director of the American Bankruptcy Institute. “Congress clearly wanted to reduce filings, but only time will tell if the 2006 trend is sustainable.” The data, from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, shows that personal bankruptcy filings fell most sharply, by 69 percent, while commercial bankruptcies fell 45.9 percent. The tally of personal bankruptcy filings fell to 429,522 from 1.38 million last year. Business filings fell to 14,228 from 26,275. Kiplinger

The largest drop in bankruptcy filings for the United States was in the Eastern District of Louisiana.

This is one of the most macabre, yet interesting, features on the Internet. The site contains photos of executed inmates together with their last words. Here are a few of my favorites:

“Somebody needs to kill my trial attorney.”

“A few hours ago, Wayne Snow said I had no redeeming qualities. The only thing I’ve got to say to Wayne Snow is kiss my ass. Bye.”

“I was once asked by somebody, I don’t remember who, if there was any way sex offenders could be stopped. I said no. I was wrong.”

“Please tell the media, I did not get my Spaghetti-O’s, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know.”

Be careful who you flame on the Internet. Otherwise, someone who looks likes this might show up at your home:

Daniel Gibbons, shown at left, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison today for the first documented “Web Rage” attack.

Gibbons, 47, and John Jones, 43, met in an Internet chatroom called Islam 10 because they both had an interest in the Muslim faith. “There was an exchange of views between the victim and the defendant which were threatening on both sides,” the prosecutor said. Mmm…. does anyone else see the irony here about claims the Muslim faith does not attract violent people?

After tracing Mr Jones to his home address in Clacton, Gibbons armed himself with a pickaxe handle and, accompanied by a man with a machete, travelled 70 miles to the Essex seaside town in December 2005. When they arrived, Mr Jones, whose girlfriend and three children were in the house, opened the door holding a knife for protection. A fight broke out in which Mr Jones was disarmed and then beaten with the pickaxe handle and cut with his own knife.

One of the investigators said that the case demonstrated the importance of protecting one’s identity on the Internet. “Mr Jones had posted pictures of his family on the web and had chatted to Gibbons on an audio link,” he said. “It demonstrates how easily other users can put two and two together and also shows how children could also find themselves in danger.” –CNN and other sources

Police discover a badly wounded woman. They are told who beat the woman and attempted to slice open her abdomen in order to steal her unborn baby. The suspect, the police observe, is present and has blood on her. What should the police do next? 

A) Arrest her until there is further investigation.

B) Ask her politely to not wash or remove the blood and to make an appointment to come downtown later to answer questions.

The police chose “A)”.  A judge in Pennsylvania yesterday apparently thought they should have chosen “B)”.

This case received wide publicity last year when the woman was arrested. “Prosecutors accused Peggy Jo Conner, 38, of attacking Valerie Oskin in October 2005 with a baseball bat and then taking her to a secluded wooded area and slicing Oskin’s belly in an attempt to cut the child from its mother. Both Oskin, 30, and her son, delivered by emergency Cesarean, survived. Conner was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, aggravated assault on an unborn infant and related offenses.”

However, the judge handling the case sees things a bit differently: “Armstrong County Common Pleas Judge Kenneth Valasek, in a 32-page opinion given Thursday, said state troopers did not collect enough evidence at the scene to warrant taking Conner into custody.”

“Simply because (Conner) was present with some blood on her clothes does not, by itself, constitute probable cause to effect a lawful arrest,” Valasek wrote.

Police were called to the scene because a boy riding an ATV saw the women. Connor told the boy everything was fine, but the boy did not believe her and called his father who then called the police. When the police arrived, they found the badly wounded victim. Connor was also present with blood on her. Connor was arrested and quickly confessed. 

From an interview with the boy: “I saw a body on the ground and another body kneeling alongside of it. I knew that foul play was going on, and I raced back home and told my parents. I’m glad God placed me in that position.”

The prosecution will continue without the confessions. Because of this decision, the jury will never know that the “alleged” criminal confessed to her crimes.

A Jacksonville woman, Agla Nadia Vincent, was arrested for leaving her children alone during the day –duct taped to each other.

“On March 3, military police said they found Vincent’s boys, then 2 and 3 years old, duct-taped to themselves, crying on a bed in her home at Jacksonville Naval Air Station. The children were taken into custody by the state at that time. After a seven-month investigation, Jacksonville police arrested Vincent on child abuse charges Monday.” 

Mmm… Why would it take seven months to figure out there might be some child abuse involved here? Oh, wait, of course it was the postpartum depression: “Vincent, 25, says she suffers from postpartum depression, which might have contributed to the lack of care, according to court documents.”

Amazingly, Vincent still had unsupervised visitation of her kids during the investigation period. At Wednesday’s hearing, a day-care worker said “every time there is a weekend visit with the mother, the child returns with some sort of scratch, cut or bruise.” The worker, who was not identified, also said in September that one of the children returned from an unsupervised weekend visit with a black eye.

So, it would appear that after duct taping her kids together and continuing her abuse for months while an investigation dragged on, she finally has been limited to supervised visitation. Florida justice, at it’s speedy best. –Jacksonville.com

This is really stretching the concept of having a blog related to law topics. However, I couldn’t resist a pictorial comment on Senator Kerry’s gaff. Speaking of gaffs, one Democrat politician was heard to say something like “He cost us the election in 2004, now this. I wish he would just go away.”

That sentiment is probably shared to such an extent on both sides that is might even be termed bi-partisan.