Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Paris Hilton was given a much tougher sentence than others who broke a similar law of "driving with a suspended driver's license while on probation."  It turns out that the typical sentence in approximately 500 similar cases had been 3 or 4 days.  

Paris Hilton served 23 days.  The prosecutor said he was making her a symbol of how equality worked for all.

When she began serving her jail sentence, it was discovered that she was taking a doctor prescribed medication she had not brought with her.  Sheriff Lee Baca decided that she might collapse and that it was best to send her home to wear an ankle bracelet and be with her parents to oversee her under house arrest.

When the judge found that that Sheriff Baca had allowed her this consideration he was furious.  Hastily he demanded that Hilton be immediately returned to her jail cell.  

As a limo brought her back to her jail cell a screaming mob along with a press contingent surrounded her car.  They were yelling and carrying on like a rerun of the French Revolution before Marie Antoinette was beheaded.

The fact that a frightened young woman was crying out in genuine fear for her mother only whetted the appetite of the angry mob.

Later it was discovered that the prosecutor who had fought diligently and succeeded in imposing a much tougher sentence on Paris Hilton, 23 days in lockup when 3 or 4 days was the customary sentence, had a skeleton in his own closet.

There was an outstanding arrest warrant relating to the driving record of the prosecutor's wife that had been ignored for almost 9 years.  When the media discovered this fact the prosecutor's wife went to court and paid a fine of over $400 but served no jail time for a comparable offense to that of Paris Hilton.

So much for equal justice under the law!

Barbara Walters managed to obtain a brief interview with Paris when she was locked up.  Time Magazine reported in its July 9 issue but declined to interview her following her release:

"Checkout time:  Paris Hilton is free after serving 23 days in lockup.  Larry King secured the first post-prison interview after NBC opted out, and family friend Barbara Walters declined.  `The whole thing was somehow beneath me,' Walters said."

The question remains as to why it was apparently proper for Barbara Walters to interview Paris Hilton while she was in jail but "beneath" her to do so following her release.

Bill O'Reilly registered outrage when he heard a rumor before Hilton's release that NBC was considering giving her a million dollars for her first post-prison interview.  

O'Reilly's righteous indignation at the possibility of a million dollars being given to Paris Hilton rings hollow.

O'Reilly adamantly and repeatedly refuses to tell how much it cost him to settle his sexual harassment suit.  Quickly he lets anyone he interviews know that any sexual harassment discussion is unthinkable.  Meanwhile he rakes anyone he chooses over the coals in his one-sided rants.

When Ann Coulter uses her Fox hate-inspired interviews to smear individuals with impunity, engaging in repeated tasteless name calling rather than discussing issues, O'Reilly excuses her rants, attributing them to her "sense of humor."

Freedom in Chicago schools has led to 29 deaths so far this year.  CNN has done a couple of specials where a free education has led to shooting gallery style in classrooms.

New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has had its crime rate jump 46 percent.  The killers are not being convicted most of the time as witnesses fear for their lives if they testify.

Over half the marriages in the U.S.A. end in divorce.  Some sadly wind up on Court TV's series of bizarre murder cases on "48 Hours" on CBS.

We also have a serious problem with sex predators, as evidenced by the recent popularity of the "Dateline" expose series on the NBC hit show, which relates to adult males pursuing underage females on the Internet and arranging to meet them.  

Now the typical family that used to include both a father and mother in the home has been surpassed by single mothers raising their children alone.

Sperm banks abound, which stock sperm from willing males, who will sell it at the going rate.  Thus they contribute to this single motherhood syndrome.

Some organizations that think selling sperm and not letting the offspring know about whom the father is amounts to a grave injustice to any human being. They argue that every human being has a legal and moral right to know who their parents are.

In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on July 3, 2007, an article on drunken drivers in Seattle and the U.S.A. by Casey McNertney includes the following:

"The State Patrol makes between 25 and 50 drunken-driver arrests each day in King County (where Seattle is located)."  McNertney went on to say that on July 4 and Labor Day that number is doubled.

Families of drunken driving victims are often outraged when their loved ones have been killed and sentences are as brief as 2 ½ and 3 ½ years in prison.

It is estimated that 17,000 deaths a year in the U.S.A. are due to drunken drivers.

We also have had grave tragedies in Columbine High School and Virginia Tech relating to shooting deaths on a high scale, revealing the collapse of American discipline.

The aforementioned tragedies relate to a nation in collapse.  

What nation would want to pursue the "freedom" to have the majority of their families consist of single woman struggling to raise her children or be a part of a society consisting of widespread alcoholism and mass murder?  Would they want educational institutions turned into shooting galleries?

Democracy and freedom demand responsibility and accountability of government as well as on the part of every citizen.

Without accountability and responsible behavior at every level, society descends back to barbarism.