DarrylS

Dave Duffy, the former Bostonian, and now upper left coaster.. publishes a mag called "Backwoods Home", a self sufficiency magazine. He is a long time Liberatarian, and writes great columns.. here is his latest.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/duffy104.html

Here are two stories that should scare you. They are about what happens in America when we have stupid laws, overzealous prosecutors who want their conviction rates up, and too many prisons that need to be filled.

The first is about Matt Bandy, a 16-year-old kid who barely escaped doing 90 years in prison for allegedly uploading child pornography to the internet. He was innocent but that didn’t stop an Arizona prosecutor from pursuing him for two years at a cost of a quarter million dollars to the boy’s family. Maybe you saw Bandy’s story on ABC’s 20/20 program on TV January 12.

The second is about Bradford Metcalf, a middle aged man who is doing 40 years in federal prison for allegedly possessing machine guns and conspiracy to commit terrorism. He was innocent too, as far as I can see, but he

didn’t have any money to hire a lawyer so is now in his 8th year of prison. You probably haven’t heard much about him. Programs like 20/20 don’t do many shows on middle aged militia members charged with crimes involving firearms. He’ll be eligible for release when he’s 87.

Both of these stories are educational for anyone who still believes America is the land of the free. They illustrate just how far America has gone down the road from those innocent-looking random road stops to catch drunk drivers to full-scale invasions of ordinary people’s homes to catch suspected pedophiles and terrorists. Your home may be next. Better pay attention so you can try to figure out what you might be doing “wrong.”

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Patters

Metcalf (the gun owner) sounds like an idiot. He refused to get a lawyer, and argued the case in his own behalf. That has about as much chance of success of performing an operation on oneself.

Even the Judge said, "I thought you killed yourself in your closing argument," federal Judge Richard Enslen said after the verdict was read. "You cut a sympathetic figure, but you cut your own throat." (http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1998/...ws/news11.html)

Harry Boy

The "Gun Guy", what was the whole story on the "conspiracy to commit terrorism" and why did this guy have Machine Guns in his house?

Does anybody know "the rest of the story" I don't plan on committing an act of terrorism and I don't keep machine guns in my home because if I do I realize that if I am caught I may go to prison.

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Bring An Illegal Alien Home To Meet The Kids.

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

DarrylS

Sounds more like a thickhead, and one who believes that the system works and he could defend himself. His naivete cost him his freedom..

"He who represents himself has a fool for a client and an idiot for a lawyer."

Any comments on the 16 year old?

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Patters

One comment I almost made is that libertarian pundits seem to generally cite examples concerning white people. Do you agree or is that my imagination!

There are many examples of injustices in our system, but we have to be realistic. Among any groups--prosecutors, lawyers, defendants, judges, juries, reporters, whatever--there are very few exceptional talents. I don't see any way of preventing occasional bad judgment, overzealousness, pride, and other flaws from getting into our system. We have to do all we can to optimize it by getting rid of bigotry and other identifiable flaws, but I'm not sure what could be done to prevent a situation like that which happened to Matt Bandy.

It's very sad, but hopefully now more police than before will first conduct a thorough analysis of a hard drive before accusing someone of a crime.

DarrylS

Particularly a crime that labels you as a sex offender for life, for looking at some stuff on the computer. Not minimizing SO's, but in this case the end seems a bit extreme.

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"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Pujo

The guy's 16... looking at girls his age is considered child pornography. We don't know the nature of the pictures, of course, if he was really looking at children that's an issue, but if he was looking at a topless 17 year old girl while being 16 himself... well, the law wasn't written for cases like that.

Real World

One of my best friends is a lawyer employed by the commonwealth. His last job, which he did for a number of years, dealt with keeping sex offenders in jail. He told me that if you piss in an alley way, you can be charged as a sex offender. Worse, if it's anywhere near a school, you're doubley screwed. I don't know the specifics, but he's told me about how he gets cases that make you sick, and others that make you laugh. This is what bugs me about government in general, or the law. At what point is common sense lost? Sure, the letter of the law may very well say X, but does common sense apply? If some dope pisses in an alley near a bar after drinking 12 beers, should he really be labeled for life as a sex offender? Some things in this country truly boggle the mind.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897