Archive for March, 2011

LOST AND FOUND

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Next time you’re standing in an airport security line with your pants around your ankles, wondering if it all makes any difference, let me tell you now that the answer is “not much”.  Are we marginally safer because of all of the security nonsense we put ourselves through?  I suppose so.  Disasters have been averted, or so we are told, and I have no reason to think otherwise.  But at what cost?

It would be impossible, I imagine, to put a dollar figure on what we have spent as a nation on “security” in the wake of 9/11, but it has to be an enormous number.  Think of time lost at work, the general interference with productivity, the cost to airlines and every form of travel.  Consider the cost of the security personnel themselves, the agencies, vehicles and administration.  It is simply nuts and I have to wonder sometimes if we’d be better of just winging it.

I’d like to see one airline say “we’re going to fly our airline as though 9/11 never happened and you are welcome to fly with us, or not.  If you do, we’ll be asking for your participation in common-sense efforts to suppress terrorist activity, and urge you to subdue at will any passenger that presents a threat to the safety of the flight.  You will arrive at the airport, check your luggage, get your boarding pass and fly.”

I would fly that airline in a heartbeat and, hopefully, enjoy the lower fares they could offer as a result of their increased efficiency.  We live in a free country where people come and go at will.  Surviving each day is a roll of the dice.  Most important, I have no faith that the people who slow us down in the interest of keeping us safe…are keeping us any safer than we would be without them.

In Detroit, outside a federal building that houses the FBI as well as the offices of Senator Carl Levin and the Social Security administration, a package was left.  The package was left there…outside the building…in February.  A security guard noticed the package and brought it in and placed it in the “lost and found” bin.  Fair enough for a civilian…but a security guard?  The package sat, incredibly, in the lost and found bin until mid-March when another security guard noticed it and called the Detroit Police.  The package was a bomb.  The Detroit Police Bomb Unit removed the device and detonated it.  The design was intended to detonate upon opening.  Let’s be grateful no kids, or curious adults, were snooping around the “lost and found” bin for treasure.

The guard who ultimately discovered the package and reported it was part of a union.  The contract guard who found the package outside originally was not.  So this, of all things, has become the focus of the story.  The brunt of the story for me is human error, coupled with the impossibility of watching everything in a country the size of the United States, as vivacious and alive as the United States, and as free as the United States.

At some point, we will have to decide how much money and energy we are going to spend trying to do the impossible.  We can’t inspect every package.  We can’t even inspect every suspicious package.  And it is only a matter of time before we have suicide bombers here and begin to enjoy the kind of terrorism that has been plaguing Europe and the Middle East for decades.  It’s coming.

That said, I find myself more and more inclined to remove the net.  We’re on the high wire, like it or not, and it’s not the long drop that kills you anyway…it’s the sudden stop.

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TURNING JAPANESE

Monday, March 21st, 2011

I’ll probably be dating myself by using this reference, but I remember a song…one of the early punk songs I guess you’d call it, by The Vapors, called “Turning Japanese”.  I couldn’t tell you what it was about, but I think it centered more around the rhythm of those two words than anything else.

In the wake of the horrific earthquake, then tsunami, that has rocked Japan, it has become more than a song title for me.  I’m even considering making it a goal.  Not to physically become Japanese, but simply to become more like them, I guess.

We have all seen the graphic footage of what occurred there, and there is some heartbreaking video.  Think also about all the scenes of devastating loss that were not captured on film.  I read an account, just days after the event, of a woman describing being washed away, and how she “felt her daughter’s hand slip away” from her, how she could not hold onto her any longer, and her daughter…age five, was swept away.  The reporter described how the woman folded into agony just after the statement, as though hearing herself say it, probably for the first time, somehow made it real for her.  I simply can’t imagine it.

We tend, also, to dismiss loss of property as being subjective as long as the property owners survived.  There is certainly truth to that, but I would not be so quick to diminish the emotional devastation of watching your home be swept away in current, break apart, and vanish in front of your eyes.  Swallowed up.  During one particular piece of video, you can hear the residents, watching from a nearby hill, wailing, crying and screaming in horror as they literally watch their town disappear in front of them.
Think, for a moment, about your home.  Where you have raised your children, perhaps, and shared holidays.  Your sanctuary from the wind of the world, where you read your children to sleep when they were young.  Photographs, belongings, favorite things…all gone in seconds.  I wonder if, after witnessing that, one feels at all blessed to have survived the event physically.

What struck me most, and a lot of others too, is the demeanor and discipline with which these people handled themselves in the wake.  Every news organization and radio talk show has covered it, but it took us all only hours to notice it.  No looting, no stealing, no hoards of people leaving with widescreens and furniture.  Grocery stores that were without power were left untouched.  One woman offered a prominent journalist a handful of rice.  The journalist was taken back, telling the woman that they needed it more than she did.  Imagine?

When asked about the stellar behavior, the woman replied that if anyone were to steal in this situation, or any other for that matter, they would be looked upon “with shame” by their neighbors and community.  If only that were enough to keep Americans on the straight and narrow.  One can’t ignore the glaring difference in, say…the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan.  Frankly, it should be cause for many Americans to take pause, and a long look in the mirror.

It would be unfair to call it a “silver lining”, but it wouldn’t hurt us to consider the monstrous difference here.  I understand Japan is a much more singular culture, they don’t have the vast diversity in culture that we have here.  But is that reason enough to explain the difference?  Is it reason to pass it off as an anomaly?  There was a time in this country, I’m thinking at least more than 50 years ago, when most Americans would have behaved the same way the Japanese are now, and for largely the same reason.

Whether or not we’ll ever see those days again is a different question.  It has created, at the very least, a “teachable moment” for the next generation.

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THE ART OF THE DEAL

Monday, March 14th, 2011

When you stop and think about it, our justice system has, for decades now, operated more like a used car lot than the lofty dispensary of justice that we imagine it to be.  Still the best system in the world? Maybe, but something went wrong somewhere along the line.  Maybe there’s just plain too much crime in this country to adequately deal with using our current infrastructure of police departments, courthouses and prisons.  I think we’re in pretty good shape as far as lawyers go.

Maybe our parsing and interpreting of every RSA has gone overboard, our studying of the minutiae replacing common sense.  Think back to the O.J. Simpson trial…I mean…really…is this what the legal system has become?  Laughable presentations, even in the face of overwhelming evidence of guilt, turn the “trial” into a contest between defense and prosecuting attorneys.  It really is a contest between them…who can do the best for their client, and in turn up their own worth in the arena of law as sport.  Watch the defense lawyers associations scramble any time a piece of legislation turns up that mentions “mandatory sentences.”  You would have to unleash killer bees to see overweight men move this fast.  But mandatory sentences, even as codified under “Jessica’s Law”, the law drafted in memory of Jessica Lunsford, the nine year-old Florida girl who became famous in death after being molested, then buried alive, by a serial child predator just released from prison, strike fear into the hearts of defense lawyers.  Why?  They negate the possibility of plea-deals, that’s why, and force judges to impose minimum, mandatory sentences.

Lawyers and courts will argue that plea-deals save the legal system, and hence the public, money.  They often negate the need for lengthy trials, the assembly of juries, the calling of witnesses the use of courtrooms, etc. and the sometimes uncertain outcomes of those trials.  There are times when it makes sense. When there is questionable evidence, unreliable witnesses…maybe not enough to ensure a prosecutor that he or she is going to get what they, and probably society at large, consider a suitably lengthy incarceration.

And then there are times when the evidence is strong, and the crime is so heinous, that a trial may be the only way to ensure a suitable punishment is handed down.  Indeed, there may be times when a plea-deal is used as enticement to the victim’s family not to have to endure the pain of a trial…testimony…graphic details and pictures…it is easy to imagine wanting to avoid that.

It sounds as though that is what happened to John Foreman in 1983.  His son, Jason, at age five, went missing.  That was in 1973.  It wouldn’t be until 1982 that Rhode Island police would find themselves searching the home of Michael Woodmansee, who lived just up the street from the Foremans.  There…wrapped in plastic and a rug, they found the skull, ribs and some bones that would turn out to be those of Jason.  He had been murdered, and the flesh removed from his bones in what police believe was a cannibalistic ritual.  Sorry for the details…but you’ve got to imagine what this father went through.  All of this after…after…enduring 9 years of having know idea what happened to your five year-old son.   A neighbor.

Woodmansee was convicted and sentenced to 40 years…under a plea deal which the elder Foreman now blames himself for. “Stupidly, I accepted a plea-deal so we would not have to endure the agony of a trial…”.  Well…then maybe we, as a civilized society, ought to find a better way to afford justice to a family like the Foremans.

Michael Woodmansee, only 16 at the time of the crime, and now 52, will be released in August after serving only 28 years, earning early release for “good behavior”.  I recall the Massachusetts parole board that voted 6 – 0 to release Dominic Cinelli from a 3 life-term sentence, citing his “strident improvements” while in prison as grounds for his release.  Months later he shot and killed a Woburn Policeman during an armed robbery.  Woodmansee’s release, though, has a black cloud hanging over it.

That “black cloud” is John Foreman, who told a radio host at WPRO in Providence last week that he will “find Woodmansee and kill him”.  He sounds like he means it, too.  I wish him happy hunting.

Now, I’ll wait for the emails about how two wrongs don’t make a right and how we have to live with our justice system because “it might be bad but it’s still the best one in the world…”.  Or how John Foreman never should have agreed to the deal, or if he kills this man then he will go to jail and he becomes the “second victim”.  Yet…I’m a parent, and I listened to this man recall the details of his sons death, sobbing heavily some 37 years later.  I try to imagine that pain, and I can’t, but I can certainly understand him wanting to kill that bastard.

Moreover, I’m left wondering…exactly what…what…does one have to do in this country to get a true life sentence?  Abducting, molesting, murdering and then eating a five year-old boy is not enough?  That fact is far more of a crime than anything John Foreman may do to Michael Woodmansee.  Justice was not served…but I’ve got a feeling it’s on the way.

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A SHOT ACROSS THE BOW

Monday, March 7th, 2011

Imagine trying to use an old rotary phone dial on a new cell phone, or Ford Model A tires on a new BMW.  Sometimes, this is what I feel we are trying to do, when adapting notions and laws from over 200 years ago and trying to apply them to a society gone slightly mad.

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church, a small group of lunatics known best for disrupting the funerals of soldiers by congregating with signs such as “God Hates Fags” and “Dead Soldiers are Good Soldiers”.  I have already had several animated conversations with friends who side with the Court and take, apparently, the right of “Freedom of Speech” to be an absolute.  They see the caveat to that right, that one can’t yell “Fire” in a crowded theater, as not an analogy but a specific exception.

To me, it is clear what our forefathers had in mind.  That the freedom to express one’s opinion shall not be squelched by any government, and in particular the right to speak out against said government.  The theater exception says, in theory, that there is an exception to free speech that incites violence or creates an unnecessary danger to other people.  I see no difference in that scenario and the egregious act of displaying such hateful signs, and yelling equally hateful slurs, to families burying loved ones.

The folks that cry “Freedom” at every turn seem to hold themselves in high esteem.  That they are above it all, on a higher intellectual level than the rest of us, willing to endure such unpleasant folks as the Westboro monkeys, in the name of our high ideals.  Yet…do not the freedoms afforded to us as Americans come with any sense of discipline?  Is an absolute free-for-all what we’re looking for?  Is there anyone who thinks that the thoughtful men who drafted our Bill of Rights and Constitution, would support the Westboro Baptist Church?

Look…I’m not saying their opinion should be muffled or denied, just moved to a less antagonistic venue.  Their actions seek violence from those they speak against.  It strains the good nature of people who know better than they, and eventually it will cause an act of violence.  I can tell you without hesitation, I would not tolerate their presence at the funeral of one of my loved ones and would do whatever necessary to remove them.  Have your opinion, have your posters and signs, but have them a good distance away from a funeral service.  People have the right to an expectation of privacy and respect at a burial.

We are a country awash in our own sense of “freedom”.  It seems as though it’s never enough.  Is there anything…anything…that is off limits in this country?  We have become a nation that tolerates everything in the name of political correctness.  I have to believe that if an anti-gay crowd was gathering at homosexual funerals, the Supreme Court would have gone another way.  At the very least, there would be hoards of opposing views at those same protests, and the ACLU would be tripping over itself getting lawyers to the scene.  Imagine a group that hates women showing up at any funeral of a female and espousing similar views against women.  How about a pro-rape group assembling at the funerals of victims of sexual assaults?  Maybe a small contingent of pro-child molesters arriving at funerals for children?

Watch now, as the Westboro Baptists flaunt their new found power bestowed upon them by the high-thinkers on the Court.  Yes…we are a nation built on high ideals…ideals paid for with blood and treasure, and because of that high cost, we owe it to ourselves and our culture to take a long, hard look at the possibility of drawing a line in the sand now and then.  Ironically, it is these very soldiers who defended the “right” of a group like Westboro to congregate and promote whatever warped view of the world they have taken on.

I believe our forefathers would gladly return quickly to their graves if they could return momentarily and see the country as it is today.  A visit, by the way, I would not wish on anyone from that long ago.

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IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

One of my favorite songs, and covered by everyone from Van Morrison to Kermit the Frog…”It’s Not Easy Being Green”, takes on an entirely new meaning when applied to saving the planet.  Before I get accused of being a knee-jerk naysayer, let me remind the reader that I have espoused my views on “Global Warming” in prior columns.  In short…I’m not sure what’s happening to the atmosphere or who is to blame, but I’m of the opinion that something is happening, and I’m in favor of erring on the side of caution.  That means…we need to be better stewards of the planet.  It just bothers me to see it politicized and corrupted.

Speaking of politicized and corrupted, here’s a good example of how the effort to be “green” can be expensive in addition to “not easy”.  The city of Nashua, NH, under the guidance of Mayor Louzeau, decided it would like ten new garbage trucks that ran on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) which burns clean and is relatively inexpensive.  It requires little refining between source and retail and this plays a major part in keeping the cost low.

Consider, though, that each new truck costs an extra $40,000. above and beyond a normal diesel model.  Whoa…that’s pushing a half million bucks in extra costs for ten trucks.  That fact alone would slow down most buyers, but Nashua found some help with the cost.  That “help” came from the State of NH Department of Environmental Services.  This is the agency that licenses and oversees everything from septic system design and installation to hazardous environmental issues.  They also levy fines over a large array of violations from wetlands to gas stations.

Yes…the D.E.S., even as the State struggles with budget cuts and red ink,found there was four hundred grand lying around to help a single city achieve a single dream.  Unbelievable.  Every taxpayer, I’m sure, will be getting a little “thank you” note from Mayor Lozeau.

The silliness doesn’t end there.  You may already have asked yourself…”where do you fill up with CNG?”  Well…nowhere, at the moment.  There are roughly three…yes…three CNG stations in the State of New Hampshire.  I think two of them are owned by the State and do not sell to the public, or to cities who may just have purchased new “Green Garbage Trucks”.

Naturally, as with any ill-fated project being driven by politicians and governments, the obvious solution is for Nashua to have its own CNG filling station.  A brand new one that will require the purchase of land, permits from the D.E.S., and of course, construction and then staffing.  No word yet on whether or not this will be a “public” station, or just another facility for the City of Nashua to maintain.

You see…there’s nothing wrong with the idea.  Green, eco-friendly trucks.  The mistake is getting the taxpayers involved.  If there is a market for it…and I bet there is…let a private company buy those trucks and make a go of it.  Find customers willing to pay a little extra, and I bet you could, to dispose of their trash with the services of said company.  If it doesn’t work, then we’ll all know the market wasn’t ready for it.

It’s another example of the “Two Americas”.  The one with common sense…and the one without it whose mistakes are always funded by BOTH groups.

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