Time to call the Governor to STOP the signing of the 2,000 private prison beds on August 31st!

I’m sure you’re aware of what a waste of time and effort that would be. Our walking blonde joke of a governor couldn’t care less about what any of us have to say unless it’s to make a campaign contribution.

I’ve linked stories (full of FACTS by the way) in the past, and have been assaulted immediately because “that’s a right wing site/paper”.

You all frankly quite easily proved my point.

Just pointing out that for people who claim to not lean to one side over the other, you all seem to be just fine with sourcing mostly from just one side. I never even commented on THIS specific story.

But maybe scruples don’t matter as much since being under Queen Huffington …. ?

America does not have a monolithic legal system. There is the federal legal system, 50 state legal systems, legal systems for DC and other territories, and legal systems for parts of these jurisdictions. Each of these legal systems could, in theory, have different rules as to who may initiate a prosecution. So, there is no one relevant statute.

Anyway, I know for certain that, in the federal system, only a prosecutor may seek an indictment. I’m fairly sure (but a real lawyer might say otherwise :)) that this is now true in all states.

Do you have a specific law which prohibits Citizens from seeking indictments for judicial corruption because that is not what I’ve been hearing lately and I met somebody that did this years ago.

If there is laws against this now, then this is obviously a bad law that should be further explored. All those petitioners showing up at one of the Grand Juries in the area would surely get the attention of the Jurors.

This is in my opinion the most important issue that I can see and Thomas Jefferson even warned us of this Constitutional flaw. The Citizens ability to have recourse against Judiciary tyranny is not only relevant to our country but it is the scurge of mankind around the world.

Thomas has no political resume. He was elected in a fluke election where a sitting prosecutor retired and no credible candidates ran for office. He needed to build a resume before the next election. He needed crime, lots of crime. He needed there to be no trials because trials are public and cost money. He used Minimum Mandatory Sentencing–which determined Courtney’s sentence–as a weapon against local residents to manufacture (aka: fake) a career as a crime fighter for justice. It was smart. It would have worked had he not believed his own fakery and gone after a handful of the rich and powerful in the county to seal his success story to the public.

Courtney lost in a biased bench trial and she is now the victim of a judicial coverup. Courtney did not plead guilty, she had been given the light sentence that the 98% of people charged with MMS crimes plead guilty to so as to receive probation, or lowered sentences. In am MMS case, the judge is shackled to become a courtroom prop. It works like a charm for prosecutors and effectively turns them into judge and jury. It builds their careers for them.

Courtney had the unhappy belief in justice that many of the misinformed among us still have. She pled non-guilty because she is not guilty. She didn’t realize, and large and shrinking group of people still don’t realize, that crime has been redefined to fit a business model and that people are now income-producing, career-building assets.

MMS was born a few years after the for-profit prison industry got its start in Tennessee. MMS needs “heads on beds”. MMS has created a country where 1 in 31 adults are under penal control, where crime “supposedly” rose at a rate 10 times greater than the country’s population grew after 1980, and where 600,000 citizens (a minority of felons created by MMS) are annually released back into society. These people are shunned by employers, live off government assistance, and many ultimately return to drug-use and re-incarceration. Recidivism, as it is called, has more than doubled since 1980.

This is all good news for political hopefuls building a political resume through the prosecutor’s seat, for investors, and for for-profit prison executives. The private prison industry has done exceedingly well during the same period. Several are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The larges of these companies are rumored to be searching for a home-state to center their operations in as they routinely transfer prisoners between states like cattle to avoid in-state resident incarceration costs (such as medical care and mental health treatment) and keep “heads on beds” at a rate above 90 percent for the quarterly SEC reporting to investors.

Arizona has become one of several focal points of the for-profit home-state initiative. In 2010, Arizona sold all of its prisons to the for-profit industry to raise operating revenue for the state’s General Fund. They funded 15 percent of their operating budget in 2011 with those funds. Since Arizona’s economy today depends heavily upon construction revenue, prison building is a particularly attractive venture.

Arizona’s economy past depended heavily on tourist revenue and sales tax revenue. However, Andrew Thomas’ closed-door activities and Joe Arpaio’s very publicity seeking career has caused a drop in income tax and sales tax revenue by 50 percent in the past decade, despite a growth in population from California. A number that is now in decline, further eroding the state’s ability to find money to fund its operations.

Arizona is on target to become America’s first prison state, whose economy and jobs are heavily tied to the incarceration of America’s citizens. While Arizona if full of loving peace-loving people, its reputation has disintegrated into one of a “State of hate.” To further cement their future, Arizona’s governor recently replace 80 percent of the Board of Clemency because the existing board was sending too many requests for Clemency to her desk.

None of this is conjecture. All of it can be found in the Internet, or in a Library. It is reported on government websites such as the Arizona State Government, Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, and more. Go have a look.

Cheers.

Right from the start, the Supreme Court has ruled that government powers are to be given their widest possible interpretation but that individual rights are to be carefully limited.

Moreover, the Supreme Court has ruled that the government’s interest in keeping someone convicted outweighs even absolute proof of that someone’s innocence, even if the sentence is death.

“it is my understanding that Citizens do have a right to seek an indictment against a corrupt Judge, Proscecutor or other Citizen.”

Your understanding is incorrect. In most (possibly all, now) jurisdictions, citizens may not seek indictments; only the government may do so.

These are among the reasons that “American justice” is an oxymoron.

“Unfortunately, prosecutors and judges tend to take convictions as hard-and-fast and in their minds, innocence cannot be a defense, since all accused people MUST be guilty, otherwise they would not have been accused in the first place.”

If this is true, doesn’t this demonstrate bias on the part of prosecutors and judges, and therefore, make it impossible for a truly innocent person to receive a fair trial and/or review in the court system?

Or is it just more “convenient” for the prosecutors and judges to ignore there are innocent persons accused and/or in our prisons in order to: prevent exposing errors of the justice system, or losing one of their wins, and consequently, neglecting the real truth, and justice?

It has become my opinion that it is the judicary which provides the legislators the ability to usurp individual rights and that political methods to rectify this problem have historically been shown to be futile.

My only suggestion is for the honest Citizens to take back control of the Grand Juries and it is my understanding that Citizens do have a right to seek an indictment against a corrupt Judge, Proscecutor or other Citizen. I have only heard of Citzens doing this but I think it would be a crucial step to rectifiying the corruption in the Judicial system.

Why hasn’t the new evidence been heard in an Arizona court? If this can happen to Courtney, it can happen to anyone. So what does this say about Arizona’s justice system?

Courtney Bisbee’s Petition | Help Free an Innocent Woman | Change.org

http://www.change.org/petitions/help-free-an-innocent-woman

Courtney Bisbee’s Petition | Help Free an Innocent Woman | Change.org

http://www.change.org/petitions/help-free-an-innocent-woman

Any specific stories you can’t point us to?

The only such accusations against the New Times I’ve seen have come from Andy Thomas and Joe Arpaio. Neither is all that surprising given that the paper has done an excellent job exposing their corruption, abuse of office, and general awfulness.

While I agree that James D is quick to dismiss the story, it is always good to identify the bias(s) of your source, where possible. Yes, the story looks well researched in comparison to those done by the MSM, buy there are mold patterns on old bread that look well researched in comparison to the MSM’s usual output.

I would be slightly more inclined to accept such a story from a Left Wing source, on the grounds that much of the sex-abuse hysteria that I have observed seems to come from the dark underbelly of the Feminist movement. To me it is like Lawrence Tribe’s opinion that the Second Amendment is an individual right; it is more notable because it doesn’t fit the man’s known bias.

But the foundation of my belief in the story is that persecution (and prosecution) of accused molester has become a Crusade, and I am deeply suspicious of Crusades.

I am not a left-wing writer looking for a way to bash conservatives. This story happened to be well-written and well-researched, as contrasted with anything the mainstream media did. Your gratuitous remark is not appreciated at all, and it tells me that you do not look at the facts of a story, but rather look solely at the source for credibility.

It is also worth pointing out that FACTS are FACTS, whether they are from “right wing” or “left wing” sources. Before you make any comment regarding the Courtney Bisbee case, perhaps you should read the documents. Then come back and make an intelligent, informed comment.

Cops-9
Bad Guy-2

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/nyregion/empire-state-building-shooting.html?_r=1&smid=tw-nytimes