Friday, July 23, 2010

> Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and
> tried to light it? Well, back in 2003 he was found guilty and the judge read him off as reported below:
>
>
> Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.
> < font color="#002041" size="4">
> Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had anything to
> say His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record,
> Reid also admitted his 'allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the
> religion of Allah,' defiantly stating, 'I think I will not apologize for my
> actions,' and told the court 'I am at war with your country.'
>
> Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:
>
>
> Judge Young: 'Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the
> Court imposes upon you.
>
> On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the
> custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4and 7, the
> Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on
> each count to run consecutively. (That's 80 years.)
>
> On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to
> be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes
> upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 that's an aggregate
> fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation with
> respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to
> Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.
>
> The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment. The Court imposes
> upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it.
> But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further.
>
> This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair
> and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.
>
> Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of
> your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been
> through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to
> everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with
> individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As
> human beings, we reach out for justice.
>
> You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a
> soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to
> call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the officers of
> government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a
> soldier, you are not----- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with
> terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with
> terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.
>
> So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow. But
> you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known warriors. You are a
> terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted
> murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you
> first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the
> press and the TV crews were, and he said: 'You're no big deal. '
>
> You are no big deal.
>
> What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys
> have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to
> grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led
> you here to this courtroom today?
>
> I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to
> search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to
> do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing? And, I have an
> answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record,
> it comes as close to understanding as I know.
>
> It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You
> hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live
> as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we
> individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom.
> It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize
> individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom, so
> that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly,
> individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers
> are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in
> their representation of you before other judges.
>
> We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we
> treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake
> though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price, to
> preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The
> world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after
> tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.
>
> Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America, the American
> people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not
> war, individual justice is in fact being done. The very President of the
> United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay
> out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens
> will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape
> and refine our sense of justice.
>
> See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of
> America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That
> flag stands for freedom. And it always will.
>
> Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.
>
> So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV sets? We
> need more judges like Judge Young . Pass this around. Everyone should and
> needs to hear what this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that strike
> home.
>
>
>

Friday, July 2, 2010

A Time to ask Questions

As we watch our government work in several major areas, I wonder about the driving philosophy. Is it "Get something done that we promised or want for our progressive agenda, or, should it be "Get it right the first time"

Does our government already have enough power, resources, law, technology to carry out its responsibilities and get it right the first time or are they politicizing several dreadful situations.

I worked at New York Telephone in another life time where we created the Quality Institute. Among its driving philosophies were "Close enough is not good enough unless you are meeting the customers' expectations. And Do it right the first time". Both of these ideas were cost effective and achieved high customer satisfaction to say nothing about getting the job done!

The Oil Spill
It seems that the only relief is the relief wells due in August. We all understand that accidents happen and that it appears the BP will pay for the consequences.

Why are the various agencies not taking advantage of available help to speed up containment and clean up?

*First, the Environmental Protection Agency can relax restrictions on the amount of oil in discharged water, currently limited to 15 parts per million. In normal times, this rule sensibly controls the amount of pollution that can be added to relatively clean ocean water. But this is not a normal time.

Various skimmers and tankers (some of them very large) are available that could eliminate most of the oil from seawater, discharging the mostly clean water while storing the oil onboard. While this would clean vast amounts of water efficiently, the EPA is unwilling to grant a temporary waiver of its regulations".

Next, the Obama administration can waive the Jones Act, which restricts foreign ships from operating in U.S. coastal waters. Many foreign countries (such as the Netherlands and Belgium) have ships and technologies that would greatly advance the cleanup. So far, the U.S. has refused to waive the restrictions of this law and allow these ships to participate in the effort.

The combination of these two regulations is delaying and may even prevent the world's largest skimmer, the Taiwanese owned "A Whale," from deploying. This 10-story high ship can remove almost as much oil in a day as has been removed in total—roughly 500,000 barrels of oily water per day. The tanker is steaming towards the Gulf, hoping it will receive Coast Guard and EPA approval before it arrives.

In addition, the federal government can free American-based skimmers. Of the 2,000 skimmers in the U.S. (not subject to the Jones Act or other restrictions), only 400 have been sent to the Gulf. Federal barriers have kept the others on stations elsewhere in case of other oil spills, despite the magnitude of the current crisis. The Coast Guard and the EPA issued a joint temporary rule suspending the regulation on June 29—more than 70 days after the spill.
* Paul Rubin WSJ 7/2/10

Energy Legislation
Let's pray that the cynics are not correct that the administration is using this tragedy to push for a new energy bill. After all, we know that" no good crisis should go to waste".

Speaking of an energy bill, if the administration fails to cap carbon emissions by creating a tax for exceeding, it will not reduce emissions or begin getting us off fossil fuel dependence. We listen to Warren Buffet why are we not listening to T Bonne Pickens?

Financial Industry Regulation Legislation
The jury is out as to whether the Frank-Dodd bill will do the job it is intended to do. Regardless. It's worrisome that the driving philosophy is that the government needs more over sight to avoid another crisis. Well folks that simply ain't the truth. The Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the SEC and the rest of the gang had all the rules and laws they needed to keep control of the "Greed Group". These government agencies simply did not use their powers and failed to do their jobs. No new regulations will remedy that so one wonders why the rush to pass a bill even before the president's Commission appointed to determine the causes of the melt down will not finish its work until December?

What is at play here? Politics? Fear? Is our government going in the right direction and if so why these nonsensical out comes?

Have a great 4th of July and may God/Goddess bless and watch over us.