crime

http://tinyurl.com/76pkhqh

In 1968 President Nixon officially launched the “War on Drugs” in response to what was seen as a growing problem of drug use in the United States. At that time, approximately 1.3% of the U.S. population was considered addicted to drugs and the “War” was waged through measures such as heavy policing and arrests for drug possession and trafficking, building more prisons to house drug offenders, and harsh penalties for users. Over 40 years and 1 trillion tax dollars later, the rate of addiction in the U.S. holds steady at 1.3% and drugs are cheaper, purer, and easier to get than ever before.

Your average petty criminal gets a pretty bad rap, all things considered. At first glance your burglars, muggers, and other varieties of thieves appear to be among the lowest of the low that society has to offer, but compared to those who are gradually pilfering the most important parts of our democracy, you begin to see the first group of lowlifes in a new light. For example, most burglars will wait until you’re away to steal all of your worldly possessions. They know, as do we, that if they were to appear in broad daylight while we were at home, they would be caught and subjected to whatever punishment the law handed down. That small act of waiting until your back is turned to rob you blind seems like a measure of respect compared to the electoral shenanigans of North Carolina’s own Art Pope.

Two Libertarian candidates with experience in the law and law enforcement believe a bill being considered by the General Assembly to allow police to take a DNA sample from those arrested for certain felonies violates the basic American principle of the presumption of innocence and protections against unconstitutional search and seizure.

“At its most basic level, this bill offends my notions of the presumption of innocence and the right against unconstitutional search and seizure by those merely accused of a crime,” said T.J. Rohr, Libertarian candidate for District Attorney in Burke, Caldwell, and Catawba Counties.

An interesting story from The Mountaineer in Waynesville about a high school sports official who found a creative way to increase his pay for working baseball games.

I have been a soccer referee for several years. I didn't know getting a raise was so easy!

The NC General Assembly gave final approval to overhaul the probation system following the murder of University of North Carolina student president Eve Carson, Cherokee County serial killer Patrick Burris who killed five people in the Gaffney S.C. area and was on parole from North Carolina, and North Carolina parolee Jerry Case who is accused of kidnapping a whole family and shooting a Cherokee County deputy before he was arrested.

WHY IS NORTH CAROLINA GIVING THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES A FREE "PASS" ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION?

Have we given up because everyone in North Carolina perceives their policies to be so similar? Or do we believe the candidates for state government's claims that they can fix the problem?

"It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or ANTI-IMMIGRANT SENTIMENT or anti-trade sentiment AS A WAY TO EXPLAIN THEIR FRUSTRATIONS."

Many politicians take the easy way out to claim they are “tough on crime.” They think that simply jacking up the penalties for crimes is enough. It’s not.

[First, a cheap plug for my blog Senate 2008 Guru: Following the Races.]

Does it seem like there's a new Republican scandal in the news every single week? Well, that may be because there is.

That seems like an awful lot of corruption, scandal, hypocrisy, impropriety, and jail-worthy crime, huh? A lot of corruption. One might say an entire Culture of Corruption.