I Have Never Been Happier To Be Dead Wrong

Congratulations to George Zimmerman, and thanks to his defense attorneys, their staff, and to the jurors who proved that Americans and Floridians can still show some common sense.

Most of all, Thank You, Jesus!

Pray for George Zimmerman

I don't know George Zimmerman.  His politics differ from mine.  He voted for Obamanation.  He wanted to be a police officer or perhaps get a law degree.  He does not seem terribly bright, but he does seem like a decent enough person.  He cared about his community and tried to resist the wolves that prowled its fringes.  I don't know him, but I do know he is not guilty of murder or even manslaughter.

At Legal Insurrection, Professor Jacobson opens with this line:  I have a really bad feeling about the Zimmerman verdict.  I recommend reading it all.

I know how the professor feels.  I expect the jury to find Zimmerman guilty of an included charge of manslaughter.  In this case, in Florida, because of Martin's age and the use of a firearm, that means a thirty-year sentence. 

 I pray that I am wrong. 

As I have watched the case, it appears that the normal roles are reversed.  The prosecution, offering no solid evidence of any wrong-doing on Zimmerman's part, focused on bring his story into doubt.  The defense stuck mainly with facts and evidence, though damning evidence about Martin's use of drugs and his history of violence was suppressed by the court.  In a normal case, where the accused is presumed innocent, this would be no question of the verdict.

This is no ordinary case.  Zimmerman should never have been put on trial.  The former police chief, Bill Lee, says that he refused to make an arrest despite political pressure because it was wrong.  The video interview is in the link above.

As closing arguments begin, we pray that the six women sitting on the jury in this case will have the wisdom and understanding to see through the smoke and fog of lies, emotion, and innuendo from the prosecution and realize that they must find Zimmerman not guilty. 

Crude Shipping

Warren Buffet, the sage of Omaha, who loves Obama and pays less in taxes than his secretary, owns a railroad that might become somewhat less profitable with regard to its lucrative business of hauling crude oil from Canada if the Keystone Pipeline were ever to be built.

But pipelines, of course, are environmentally damaging and dangerous.  Trains, on the other hand, are completely safe.

Normally, before retiring for the night, the train operator sets the hand brakes and leaves one locomotive running to power the air brakes that help hold the train in place on the gently sloping track. The next morning, the operator or a relief engineer starts up the train and continues on their way.

Last weekend, the system failed. The locomotive caught fire, so firefighters shut off the engine to stop the flames from spreading. That slowly disengaged the air brakes, and the driverless train carrying 72 cars of crude oil rolled downhill into the scenic lakeside town of Lac-Megantic, derailing, exploding and leveling the town center.

At least 13 people were killed and some 37 are still missing, according to Canadian police. Few residents expect any of the missing to be found alive.

Very sad.  We should remember this little town and these people to God in our prayers. 

This what I would call a freak accident.  It could happen in very few places under extremely unusual conditions.  Pipeline accidents are rare and unusual, too.  Nothing is risk-free.  Anything can happen, and, over time, about anything will.  C'est la guerre.  

I wonder if Buffet of Omaha is going to take some of his billions to clean up the mess in Lac-Megantic and compensate the citizens for their losses?  I would guess not, but I could be wrong.  It may not even be his train, though he's still profiting on the risks borne by these folks and others.  He probably doesn't see it that way. 

Railways as well as fire departments should probably review their procedures for dealing with fires on trains.  A checklist with the question,  IS THE TRAIN PARKED ON A HILL ABOVE A SHARP TURN IN A POPULATED AREA?, might be helpful.

Meanwhile, it seems like a pipeline might not such a bad idea. 

Cowards and Consequences

I never had much use for Kenny Rogers.  "The Gambler" was not a bad song the first couple of times I heard it.  After a few hundred times, I got pretty sick of it.  Even worse was another "story song" about a boy named Tommy whom everybody called "The Coward of the County".  Tommy's father died in prison but not before telling Tommy not to fight when it could be avoided:  "Walk away from trouble when you can."  Tommy, though, apparently a slightly brain-damaged leftist, thought that meant never to stand up for oneself.

So, Tommy is bullied, run over, and ridiculed all his life.  He meets a girl, Becky, who just loves him for who he is.  Everything is wonderful until one day the three Gatlin brothers -- I assume that's Larry, Steve, and Rudy -- show up when Tommy is at work and proceed to assault Becky.  (In the linked video, Rogers skips the rape verse.  I do not have the stomach to watch it so I'm going by the comments.)  Tommy then goes out, finds the Gatlin boys and beats them like Batman.  And everybody applauds because he did it "for Becky".  You know what?  If Tommy hadn't had a reputation as such a pus-s-s-shover, the Gatlins might have thought twice about raping his wife in the first place.  Does the fact that Tommy knocked three men unconscious really make up for that fact of his wife being terrorized, traumatized and abused? 

It's true that women may be rape victims no matter how tough their husbands are, but that's hardly the point of the song.  We're supposed to feel that Becky was victimized by Tommy's cowardice -- or rather by the misjudgment of Tommy as a coward when, in fact, Tommy was simply trying to live up to the standard of non-violence to which his dying father had called him. Nevertheless, I hardly consider it right to purchase noble principles with the blood and suffering of the weak and innocent. 

There is a lesson in this that would be beneficial on many levels, from the international to the personal.  My father, too, told me to walk away from trouble whenever possible, adding, however, "You never have to take a whipping -- except from me."  As it turned out, I actually had very few fights that weren't, more or less, for fun.  A person who is looking to beat up, intimidate, or humiliate someone else generally does not pick a person who looks capable of and/or willing to put up a decent resistance.  There are exceptions.  Sometimes some people take extra convincing. 

Bullies are never stopped by success. 

This is not a great insight on my part.  Why would anyone think otherwise?  Whether you are a citizen dealing with a street thug, a citizenry dealing with a police state, or a nation dealing with financial pirates, the longer you let the bullies go, the harder it is to convince them to stop.

The more we beg Islam's pardon for our offenses against them, the more we try to bow and submit to their demands, the more outrageous those demands are going to become.  The same is true for Israel, and it has been proven over and over again for more than sixty years.  The only way to stop this nonsense is to draw the line hard and fast and viciously.  The only danger to airplanes is from Muslims.  You all can ride a camel wherever you need to go or submit to profiling.  Period.  Everybody else can take their soda and their Swiss Army Knives and wear their boots.  Muslims will be given a shower, an enema, and a hospital gown and board in little paper booties.

Then you have the case of George Zimmerman.  Last week the persecution prosecution essentially admitted that Zimmerman shot Martin while having his head beaten against the concrete; however, they argued, Zimmerman's injuries were not "life-threatening".  I suppose that means a woman should allow herself to be "legitimately raped" or "rape-raped", as Whoopi Goldberg might say, before she shoots her attacker?  Or maybe she should just go along with it.  That's probably Hillary Clinton's view, because, after all, what difference does it make?

To be perceived as cowardly and subject to victimization is to become a victim.  Unless we are willing to resist evil, evil will have its way. 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

What Will Happen in the Zimmerman Trial

I have been thinking about this a lot.  There are parallels to the Simpson trial and to the Rodney King situation.

In this case there are two factors that tend to skew opinions.  One is race.  As most will recall, Simpson was viewed as guilty by whites and innocent by the majority of blacks.  The fact that this was the first high-profile case involving DNA may have had something to do with it, but the pivot on which opinions turned was Mark Fuhrman, the detective who put the case together.  He had been documented as using racial slurs.  When this was brought to the public's attention, black people immediately concluded that Fuhrman had decided to frame Simpson.  White people, missing the emotional charge of the slurs, continued to look objectively at the evidence.  We did not see that uttering a racial epithet would motivate Fuhrman to try to pin a murder on a "hero" by manufacturing evidence.

I was certain that given the overwhelming physical evidence in the Simpson case, he would be convicted of murder.  As we waited for the news to announce the verdict, I voiced that opinion to a wiser friend who shook his head with disgust and said, "No way.  He will walk."  Juries, like dice, can be loaded.  

Similarly, Trayvon Martin's phrase "creepy ass cracker", as quoted by the prosecution's witness Rachel Jeantel, is seen by many black people as being cultural rather than something racially-charged.  We, white or black, should not allow a bit of teenage trash-talking or bravado to lessen our objectivity.  Rachel Jeantel's credibility isn't a function of her culture, her lack of education, her limited communication skills, or her race.  That does not change the fact that she is not really a witness to the events as they took place.  Even if she is telling the truth, her timeline conflicts with the idea that Zimmerman ran Martin down and initiated the attack.  She cannot give evidence of something about which she has no knowledge. 

The second factor that divides opinion is the media involvement.  Those who are following the streaming video of the trial have one view; those following the media coverage of the trial may well have a different view.  I think many who are following the media coverage both of the incident when it was brought to the fore last year and of the current trial could easily conclude that Zimmerman is guilty.  Those who have looked at the evidence in more detail are likelier to have doubts.   

The media has, from the first, insisted on showing pictures of Trayvon Martin as a smiling twelve-year-old thereby distorting the narrative of what took place the night of Martin's unfortunate death.  There is something of a parallel to the Rodney King case where a video of part of an arrest was run constantly on television.  It showed Los Angeles police officers beating King with batons after he was on the ground.  I have no sympathy for the LAPD, but late Rodney King had been drinking and was driving at high speed, fleeing from CHP officers prior to the stop.  He was on probation for armed robbery and refused to comply with the officers' request to be handcuffed.  He had managed to stay on his feet and continued to resist arrest despite being Tasered twice.  None of that was mentioned much, he was just "motorist Rodney King", the innocent victim of police racism and brutality.  While the charges of excessive force may have been merited, subduing a larger, stronger, belligerent individual without hurting him is difficult.

I suspect there is a good chance there will be another parallel to the King case if George Zimmerman is acquitted.  People are already threatening violence against Zimmerman or against white people in general if the accused is not convicted.  The acquittal of the LA police officers by a Simi Valley jury on charges stemming from the King incident was an excuse for widespread rioting.  In addition, those police officers were brought up on federal charges of violating King's civil rights.  Two of the four officers so charged were convicted and jailed.

I have every confidence that should the jury somehow manage to acquit Zimmerman, Obama will set the White House carpet on fire getting to a microphone where he will read from the teleprompter and say, "I am deeply disappointed by the decision of the jury in the George Zimmerman case to ignore the clear evidence presented by the State of Florida in the tragic and senseless murder of a young man with so much potential in life.  Though the murderer may have managed to escape the consequences of his actions as it relates to state criminal charges, this failure of justice cannot be allowed to stand.  Therefore I have instructed Attorney General Eric Holder to immediately pursue charges relating to the violation of Trayvon Martin's civil rights as he was gunned down after being racially profiled.  My administration will not rest until George Zimmerman is brought to justice for this act of racism and cold-blooded murder."

Again, I have serious doubts that Zimmerman will be acquitted, though I think a conviction would stand a very good chance of being overturned on appeal.  Meanwhile Zimmerman's hopes for any kind of normal existence have been thoroughly dashed, and his life will be in danger if he is set free.

The Zimmerman Trial

The lynching trial of George Zimmerman has been underway with the first of the State's witnesses on the stand this week. Comprehensive commentary along with live streaming links are available at theconservativetreehouse.com -- The Last Refuge in the sidebar. 

The folks at The Last Refuge have, as I do, a pro-Zimmerman basis.  Nobody knows exactly what happened that night except for the two principals involved, and one of them is dead.  The only factual narrative came from the man who pulled the trigger, George Zimmerman -- factual in terms of being the account of a witness to everything that happened in those last few minutes of Trayvon Martin's life.  That does not mean it is a true account. 

There is physical evidence to support Zimmerman's narrative in that he clearly suffered blows to the face and injury to the back of his head.  He appears to have had reason to fear for his life and, if so, was justified in shooting Martin. 

What we can never know for certain is who initiated the attack.  Most likely it was Martin, but I can't be absolutely sure.  I also don't know if Zimmerman did anything to provoke Martin. 

And neither does the prosecution. 

This is why Zimmerman should never have been indicted.  There is no evidence to suggest that he started the fight, that he pursued Martin, or that he was somehow the aggressor.  Not one single shred.  Despite what the media has poured out over the last year, despite Obama's interjection of race and the nationalization of the incident, not one single fact exists to contradict George Zimmerman's account of what took place. 

The witnesses for the prosecution, including the star witness, Rachel Jeantel who claims to have been on the phone with Martin, have done nothing to undermine Zimmerman's story, even corroborating it in some cases.  Ms. Jeantel testified yesterday and is back on the stand today under cross-examination by defense attorney Don West.  It appears that the State's main point is that Ms. Jeantel claims she heard someone, possibly Martin, shouting, "Get off!  Get off!", before the phone went dead.  She is also the source of the claim that Martin thought some "creepy ass cracka" was watching and following him.

However, her testimony seems to add credence to the idea that Zimmerman was, for some period of time, unaware of Martin's whereabouts, consistent with his statements to the police dispatcher.  Martin was in the "mail area" of the townhouse complex near his home, which he could have reached and entered without encountering Zimmerman.  It seems Martin may have chosen to turn back and approach Zimmerman.  Though Zimmerman was, by that time, on his way back to his vehicle after the dispatcher's suggestion that he need not attempt to locate or follow the suspicious person he had reported.

What it really comes down to is that we have a very weak case based not on facts or eyewitness testimony or circumstantial evidence but on the concept of justice for a dead black teenager who was shot by a man with a Latin American heritage and a European-sounding name.  It is "necessary" for George Zimmerman to be found guilty of murder.  The State's prosecutors know this; the court knows this.  It is possible that the jury of six women knows or will know this, and that they will find so, completely despite the absence of evidence.  George Zimmerman may spend the rest of his life in jail because he is unable to prove that he is not a racist looking for an opportunity to kill a boy who looked like Barack Obama's son might, and, frankly, even if he could prove it, I'm not sure it would make any difference.

As I often say, we have a legal system not a justice system.  Justice may prevail in this case, but, if I were Zimmerman, I would not count on it. 

Come to think of it, I am George Zimmerman. 

Anxiety and Sleep Deprivation

Being sleep deprived correlates with anxiety, according to a UC Berkeley study summarized at EurekAlert.

People who tend to be more anxious are more susceptible to the anxiety-enhancing effects of sleep deprivation.  Worry can also keep us awake. 

A good night's sleep is really a blessing and has numerous health benefits, even helping in weight-control.  I often have to miss sleep because of work issues, and I have been doing this chronically for the last seventeen years.  I can tell the difference.  I used to be relatively worry-free, but I am much more susceptible to worry than I used to be.  I know what causes it -- this study is not really news to me, but I can't always do anything about it. 

Wisdom and wise behavior come a lot easier when we get all the sleep we need.