Sitting in court today, and while I cannot give the details at all of what went on inside, I thought the following (which I recorded in my Moleskine notepad):
I feel terrible for the victim just knowing the type of emotional and psychological trauma they will have to deal with for the rest of their lives. Even though justice may be served in the eyes of some people and in the eyes of the law, no one is a winner at all in a case like this.
The next thought that came to my mind (that I didn't write down):
Even though justice may be served as well, what about the offender? Yes, that individual may serve time in jail, but would that solve the problem at all? Hard time in jail without any treatment to try to figure out why that person has that impulse to molest children? Doesn't that just seem to only plug the gap in the dyke with a temporary measure?
But, I am one of "those people" who also thinks that the United States should eliminate the death penalty. It seems a bit ridiculous that we, as in the US government, are quick to criticize other nations for their violations of human rights, but there is little to no unease about putting American citizens to death. Yes, I'm well aware that juries find these people guilty of murder, but overall it just seems that we haven't left the dark ages of Europe by clinging to capital punishment. And even worse, innocent people have been put to death.
In the end, what does capital punishment solve? Another person dies. It doesn't bring back those who were murdered. There is no magical equation that brings the murdered person(s) back to life once the killer is put to death. It only just proves that we, the United States have not joined a good part of the modern world.
I am leaving out the whole argument as to the deeper social problem that seems to be ignored in the misguided and primitive blood curdling cries for vengeance. Because that's good Christian morals there for you.
What would that Jesus character a lot of these conservatives who support capital punishment love so much say about visiting justice on a murderer?
What does this have to do with my somber thoughts from court today? Well, in that I think the cries for retribution for a heinous crime drown out the need to rehabilitate the offender. Yes, the crime is horrible, I'll be the first to admit that; and its probably worse than murder. But, just tossing someone in prison for a couple of years or the rest of their lives solves nothing. Just another number to our growing prison population (fact, the United States while making up around 5% of the world's population makes up nearly 25% of the incarcerated population of the world...yeah, so how do we have moral standing to criticize China about their human rights violations?). Shouldn't we be interested enough in trying to rehabilitate a person?
Or are we still just a bunch of "savages" that just want our pound of flesh in retribution?
Simply stated: On what moral ground does the United States have in enforcing human rights on other nations when we still kill our own citizens?
Monday, July 26, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
A true committment to Equal Justice?
After a few days of sitting in on a sexual misconduct case (well, to be more specific, sexual molestation of a child), one idea lodged itself in my mind while sitting on the tram: Do I really have a commitment to my idea of providing equal access to justice and I like to think I do?
It only sits with me because a legal career is two years and a Bar examination away right now. What do I do if placed in the situation where I have to defend a person who is accused of sexual assault or one accused of child molestation. Not to mention rape, murder, etc. Its a big thing I think some law students need to think about besides gunning for a job at a top firm (uh, not one of my goals.), because not everyone is going to get that job at the top firm in Chicago, New York, LA, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, etc, etc.
I know its been running around in my head right now. Lawyers are to advocate for their clients, but as was brought up in my Civ Pro class last semester: is there a line where you can't advocate for your client? As in...the client tells you in not so many words they did x offense.
Maybe I think too much, seeing that I tend to believe that I'm not as "high speed," "Low drag" as many of the other law students at my humble little non Tier 1 school, (more ranting on that...its like the BCS, except with more at stake in the long run. Well, the BCS is bullshit too, and I might as well bash it in the future. Go fuck yourself Nebraska. We don't want you in the goddamn Big Ten. Fuck tournaments, fuck TV money....Universities are there to educate people, not to pay some mouth breathing, greedy, asshole coach who is as interesting as the dog shit I almost stepped in running in West Brunswick yesterday millions of dollars. Hey Unis, you do realize kids leave school with 40-100k in debt with an interest rate around 7-4% and a zero fucking job market...and to even be competitive, you have to drop a 100k to get a graduate degree with the same interest rates in loans. What is wrong with this goddamn picture? Lets not even go into how the NCAA is a house of exploitation, where we demonize some kid because he got $10k under the table while the school, the BCS and the NCAA is racking in millions upon millions of dollars. Ok, rant done.) but what really sticks in my mind is that an idea of equal justice should be on the mind of anyone entering the legal field.
Lets not fool ourselves, the United States for all of its great perks, there is an ugly underside that no one wants to accept. The Katrina disaster in New Orleans should have made that clear to everyone. The news that children go to school without eating at all because their family cannot provide meals; and the reason why for me is immaterial. If the parents have a drug addiction, that's a sign that there's somewhere else our society has failed to care for its citizens; but in a country so wealthy, as many bombastic Americans like to claim, what is wrong with providing free breakfast and lunch to young children in school.
This is where I wish I had bookmarked the page of the study that illustrated data that young children need to have sufficient nutrition in order to learn; specifically protein, which the brain requires. And a quick science lecture there: the basic reason why homo sapiens sapiens was able to be a "thinking" organism was that we included a lot of protein in our diet which permitted the brain to operate at its high capacity. Though, not as much as my laptop.
Still.
And equal justice fits in here somehow. Dealing with social inequality is important. From the many speakers I've heard and the random articles I come upon, providing equal justice to everyone is important. Simply, why should someone who is poor not have access to the same legal mechanisms that the richest can easily afford?
That said, I find it interesting that the media is quick to paint in a negative picture a person who murders a person, robs a store...and somehow focuses on fact that the non offenders are not white (hrm, isn't that just another indication of social inequality in this country at some level?)...but when GinormoBanks that participated in the near collapse of the conservative movement's beloved capitalist market in 2008, there's not demands for hard prison time. No loud screams for punitive justice. I'm sure as soon as the BP machine starts rolling, the rhetoric against them may level out.
But back to equal justice. (Wow, I am a crappy law student, I can't even keep the focus on my blog. Well, it is a blog.) It's something that needs to be considered. And while the interpretation of the Constitution of the United States is reinterpreted in different fashions based on the current political climate or the methods used by SCOTUS Justices to interpret the constitution (I'm sorry, that originalist stance is ridiculous. Even Chief Justice John Marshall in an 1803 decision, Marbury v. Madison said that interpretation of the Constitution should not be based soley on an originalist theory), we are still afforded an opportunity to be heard in court. And I don't think your ability to defend yourself or seek justice should be determined soley on your social and economic status.
So even staring mindlessly out of the 55 Tram, thinking of a hypothetical client charged with sexual molestation of a child, I still think that hypothetical client deserves my utmost effort to advocate for them.
It only sits with me because a legal career is two years and a Bar examination away right now. What do I do if placed in the situation where I have to defend a person who is accused of sexual assault or one accused of child molestation. Not to mention rape, murder, etc. Its a big thing I think some law students need to think about besides gunning for a job at a top firm (uh, not one of my goals.), because not everyone is going to get that job at the top firm in Chicago, New York, LA, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, etc, etc.
I know its been running around in my head right now. Lawyers are to advocate for their clients, but as was brought up in my Civ Pro class last semester: is there a line where you can't advocate for your client? As in...the client tells you in not so many words they did x offense.
Maybe I think too much, seeing that I tend to believe that I'm not as "high speed," "Low drag" as many of the other law students at my humble little non Tier 1 school, (more ranting on that...its like the BCS, except with more at stake in the long run. Well, the BCS is bullshit too, and I might as well bash it in the future. Go fuck yourself Nebraska. We don't want you in the goddamn Big Ten. Fuck tournaments, fuck TV money....Universities are there to educate people, not to pay some mouth breathing, greedy, asshole coach who is as interesting as the dog shit I almost stepped in running in West Brunswick yesterday millions of dollars. Hey Unis, you do realize kids leave school with 40-100k in debt with an interest rate around 7-4% and a zero fucking job market...and to even be competitive, you have to drop a 100k to get a graduate degree with the same interest rates in loans. What is wrong with this goddamn picture? Lets not even go into how the NCAA is a house of exploitation, where we demonize some kid because he got $10k under the table while the school, the BCS and the NCAA is racking in millions upon millions of dollars. Ok, rant done.) but what really sticks in my mind is that an idea of equal justice should be on the mind of anyone entering the legal field.
Lets not fool ourselves, the United States for all of its great perks, there is an ugly underside that no one wants to accept. The Katrina disaster in New Orleans should have made that clear to everyone. The news that children go to school without eating at all because their family cannot provide meals; and the reason why for me is immaterial. If the parents have a drug addiction, that's a sign that there's somewhere else our society has failed to care for its citizens; but in a country so wealthy, as many bombastic Americans like to claim, what is wrong with providing free breakfast and lunch to young children in school.
This is where I wish I had bookmarked the page of the study that illustrated data that young children need to have sufficient nutrition in order to learn; specifically protein, which the brain requires. And a quick science lecture there: the basic reason why homo sapiens sapiens was able to be a "thinking" organism was that we included a lot of protein in our diet which permitted the brain to operate at its high capacity. Though, not as much as my laptop.
Still.
And equal justice fits in here somehow. Dealing with social inequality is important. From the many speakers I've heard and the random articles I come upon, providing equal justice to everyone is important. Simply, why should someone who is poor not have access to the same legal mechanisms that the richest can easily afford?
That said, I find it interesting that the media is quick to paint in a negative picture a person who murders a person, robs a store...and somehow focuses on fact that the non offenders are not white (hrm, isn't that just another indication of social inequality in this country at some level?)...but when GinormoBanks that participated in the near collapse of the conservative movement's beloved capitalist market in 2008, there's not demands for hard prison time. No loud screams for punitive justice. I'm sure as soon as the BP machine starts rolling, the rhetoric against them may level out.
But back to equal justice. (Wow, I am a crappy law student, I can't even keep the focus on my blog. Well, it is a blog.) It's something that needs to be considered. And while the interpretation of the Constitution of the United States is reinterpreted in different fashions based on the current political climate or the methods used by SCOTUS Justices to interpret the constitution (I'm sorry, that originalist stance is ridiculous. Even Chief Justice John Marshall in an 1803 decision, Marbury v. Madison said that interpretation of the Constitution should not be based soley on an originalist theory), we are still afforded an opportunity to be heard in court. And I don't think your ability to defend yourself or seek justice should be determined soley on your social and economic status.
So even staring mindlessly out of the 55 Tram, thinking of a hypothetical client charged with sexual molestation of a child, I still think that hypothetical client deserves my utmost effort to advocate for them.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Not really sure what was so great about this idea.
Three weeks since my last final and I'm still questioning whether I want to continue on with this law school farce. I can't say I get disillusioned, that's for people who have foolish ideals of the world; instead I think its more of a general distaste, disgust that grows at the back of my throat hearing students bitch about this professor or that professor or simply listening to the empty comments bantered about.
I highly doubt that the background noise at an Ivy League, Top 10 school would be any better. Actually, I'd probably be even more disgusted.
Probably explains why I enjoy drill weekends or generally just paddling out on my standup paddle board for hours without anyone around. Well, except for the really cool guys hauling around in their speed boats, going 15-20 kts within 2 nm of the shoreline of the National Lakeshore in Indiana. Those guys think they are cool, but in the words of George Carlin: "You're not cool, you're chili...and chili's never been cool."
Actually, I was moments from preventing myself from my general biting my tongue in class when this cluebird wasted 20 minutes of our last class asking about what will be on the exam--screwing everyone else out of 20 minutes of the last topic. What really set me off was that there was supposed to be a review session right after that class. Hm. Hint, hint, that is the time to ask those questions instead of wasting my time. It's been a month since that moment of jackassery, I still think I should have stood up and told him in not so many words: "Shut the fuck up. We've heard your goddamn whining all fucking semester and I'm fucking sick of it. Shut your fucking pie hole. Shut the fuck up."
I was so sick of law school that I chose not to spend my time working on a case comment for the law review competition. Personally, I just think its ridiculous to determine whether someone is good enough for that position soley on one personal project which no one had any experience doing. Maybe I guess that I was too ingrained on the OJT and practicing and practicing before getting grilled on a board--and even then, you really didn't learn the job until you actually executed it on your own.
Eh, I have these moments from time to time, and when I really think about it, I get pretty pissed off. Maybe its the whiny complaints I hear, or just the general immaturity that just sets me off. Not that I'm all the wiser or august--but at least I know not to insult a professor by telling them that I don't think they worked to get to their position. But of course, these kids are so much smarter than me. I'm just some knuckledragging vet. What do I know?
I highly doubt that the background noise at an Ivy League, Top 10 school would be any better. Actually, I'd probably be even more disgusted.
Probably explains why I enjoy drill weekends or generally just paddling out on my standup paddle board for hours without anyone around. Well, except for the really cool guys hauling around in their speed boats, going 15-20 kts within 2 nm of the shoreline of the National Lakeshore in Indiana. Those guys think they are cool, but in the words of George Carlin: "You're not cool, you're chili...and chili's never been cool."
Actually, I was moments from preventing myself from my general biting my tongue in class when this cluebird wasted 20 minutes of our last class asking about what will be on the exam--screwing everyone else out of 20 minutes of the last topic. What really set me off was that there was supposed to be a review session right after that class. Hm. Hint, hint, that is the time to ask those questions instead of wasting my time. It's been a month since that moment of jackassery, I still think I should have stood up and told him in not so many words: "Shut the fuck up. We've heard your goddamn whining all fucking semester and I'm fucking sick of it. Shut your fucking pie hole. Shut the fuck up."
I was so sick of law school that I chose not to spend my time working on a case comment for the law review competition. Personally, I just think its ridiculous to determine whether someone is good enough for that position soley on one personal project which no one had any experience doing. Maybe I guess that I was too ingrained on the OJT and practicing and practicing before getting grilled on a board--and even then, you really didn't learn the job until you actually executed it on your own.
Eh, I have these moments from time to time, and when I really think about it, I get pretty pissed off. Maybe its the whiny complaints I hear, or just the general immaturity that just sets me off. Not that I'm all the wiser or august--but at least I know not to insult a professor by telling them that I don't think they worked to get to their position. But of course, these kids are so much smarter than me. I'm just some knuckledragging vet. What do I know?
Sunday, February 28, 2010
日本に帰る
Back in Japan for the first time since I left last summer.
And I am glad I dropped the extra bucks to fly JAL. Oh boy it was worth it.
One point: I could have taken advantage of getting Asahi Super Dry without shelling out extra dollars for it.
Two points: The first meal was curry. You don't know how happy I was having curry.
Three points: Rice crackers.
Four points: They don't charge you for checking in a bag. Or a second bag.
Five points: The seats seem to be better than those on American Airlines or United. Northwest just sucks, no matter what.
Well, simply put, flying overseas to Japan...I'll choose JAL over any of the US carriers.
And I am glad I dropped the extra bucks to fly JAL. Oh boy it was worth it.
One point: I could have taken advantage of getting Asahi Super Dry without shelling out extra dollars for it.
Two points: The first meal was curry. You don't know how happy I was having curry.
Three points: Rice crackers.
Four points: They don't charge you for checking in a bag. Or a second bag.
Five points: The seats seem to be better than those on American Airlines or United. Northwest just sucks, no matter what.
Well, simply put, flying overseas to Japan...I'll choose JAL over any of the US carriers.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Global Climate Change
TO start, a few metaphors that probably will piss off the zero readers I have:
1. When one procrastinates, such as I do often, and put off whatever goal or task or *insert applicable action* for so long, when one is then forced to deal with whatever it was they were putting off until later, the result is mostly a lot of pain, misery and gnashing of teeth (although the levels of pain do probably run from mild to agonizing waterboarding-esque torture) to finish whatever you were putting off.
2. Would one take no precautions or actions to ensure that their child has a safe or relatively safe environment to grow up: clean house, clothes, food, water, heat, bed etc, and even moreso would try to provide more than what one had as a child growing up? That they would take interest in changes in the neighborhood, changes in the school curriculum, etc etc? That they would not intentionally leave a situation that could possibly endanger their progeny? Of course, I do omit from this general statement those who don't give a shit about their children, figuring in light of mammalian instinct it is more natural for humans to have some semblance of concern for their young.
SO, in both situations, why is it in light of much of the data available that most Americans fervently fight any movement that could mitigate the anthropocentric effect on the planet's climate. There is plenty of data out there that indicates that anthropocentric actions are effecting the planet's climate.
BEFORE I go further, a quick caveat: irregardless of the final outcome of the change in global climate or the fate of homo sapiens sapiens, the planet will recover in the long run as it has before in light of climate change or mass extinction events.
I said it: mass extinction events. That's one possibility on the extreme end of the global climate change. Below that would be mass starvation, drought, ice ages, bloody wars for resources and probably a complete breakdown of the modern civilization that we currently enjoy.
BUT back to the crude metaphors: in each, it does outline what we are facing in light of climate change and actions that we need and should take in order to mitigate the damage that we have already created. The first one points out that we've put off any action to seriously deal with anthropocentric effects on climate change that it will cost us...and although we are now looking to deal with it in the midst of an economic crisis, it isn't a minute too soon, although possibly a few too late. It will cost us indeed for our flippant attitude towards our actions toward the planet. But on the other hand, although it appears (currently reading the 2009 Clean Energy and Security Act) that it will bear a heavy cost in taxes and may cause further job loss; what about the possible innovations and changes in society that could arise from this--if it has teeth.
CLEAN energy--requires development, required innovation from people, required individuals to build the infrastructure to support its use, requires individuals to maintain and conduct maintenance on this infrastructure; those to physically maintain the mechanisms and then those to provide tech assist, parts replacement, training for new workers in the industry, etc. If done correctly, there is potential that not only will the pursuit of renewable energy sources to power our civilization will have a positive and lasting effect on the environment, it also carries within it the possibilities of a constant renewing source of jobs and industry.
IF the United States gets serious, for example, on mass train transit (which exists elsewhere across the world) to eliminate much of the carbon footprint caused by gas guzzuling vehicles, the act of creating this infrastructure should create jobs on the whole; building the rail system, developing "clean" trains, developing the power system (imagine it would be electric)-the electrical grids required to power these trains, possibly innovation on cutting down the loss of power via cables in order to economize the use of electrical power, manning the trains, building the stations, building the transportation hubs that would support commuters and so forth, manning all of the support and perhiperal components of a rail system. Plenty of possiblities for not only innovation but growth.
ALONG with this possiblitiy of growth and innovation--if Americans are up to the task, there is the possiblities of the impact upon foreign policiy: while there are hints of outsourcing overseas, it is essential for the United States to take the lead, because as the US goes in a progressive move, the world's democracies and our allies tend to follow along. Americans worry about jobs being lost overseas: but what is forgotten in this day and age is that it is a global economy, where we are very much intertwined with each other. Although there is a possiblitiy of more heavy industry heading overseas, instead of bemoaning that fact, American innovators need to see how they can improve and cut costs in heavy industry in the United States instead of sitting on their ass spouting racist and xenophobic epithets in the face of reality.
THE steady weaning away from fossil fuels, including becoming energy independent will go a long way in stablizing US foreign policy, where there is no influence to act in order to protect a source of fossil fuels to feed our current civilization. President Obama made several strong statments about the importance of the United States to become energy independent in the world; it is the lack of this independence that may have in part influence some of the poor judgements in US policy overseas. Not a total influence but part of a whole series of issues that effected judgement in the highest levels of government.
IT'S easy to simply look at the doom and gloom at the costs of forcing a change to move towards developing and using renewable energy sources, but we have to break free of the stifled dogma of the fossil fuel civilization which humans have grown dependent upon for over two centuries.
AMERICANS have faced several challenges before and tend to do a pretty good job of tackling challenges: while I personally despise constant references towards WW II, the US did not have a huge military industrial complex to support a mass mobilization--there were policies set forth in the late 1930s to move in that direction, but when the US went to war, it was a total mobilization of the US population to the war effort, in which we outstripped all of the Axis and most of the Allied powers combined in our output. Right now the US does not have much of an infrastructure to support clean energy, renewable energy, but that does not mean we are not capable of addressing this self imposed challenge and tackling it with the amorphous American-Can-Do-Spirit. It is not impossible.
1. When one procrastinates, such as I do often, and put off whatever goal or task or *insert applicable action* for so long, when one is then forced to deal with whatever it was they were putting off until later, the result is mostly a lot of pain, misery and gnashing of teeth (although the levels of pain do probably run from mild to agonizing waterboarding-esque torture) to finish whatever you were putting off.
2. Would one take no precautions or actions to ensure that their child has a safe or relatively safe environment to grow up: clean house, clothes, food, water, heat, bed etc, and even moreso would try to provide more than what one had as a child growing up? That they would take interest in changes in the neighborhood, changes in the school curriculum, etc etc? That they would not intentionally leave a situation that could possibly endanger their progeny? Of course, I do omit from this general statement those who don't give a shit about their children, figuring in light of mammalian instinct it is more natural for humans to have some semblance of concern for their young.
SO, in both situations, why is it in light of much of the data available that most Americans fervently fight any movement that could mitigate the anthropocentric effect on the planet's climate. There is plenty of data out there that indicates that anthropocentric actions are effecting the planet's climate.
BEFORE I go further, a quick caveat: irregardless of the final outcome of the change in global climate or the fate of homo sapiens sapiens, the planet will recover in the long run as it has before in light of climate change or mass extinction events.
I said it: mass extinction events. That's one possibility on the extreme end of the global climate change. Below that would be mass starvation, drought, ice ages, bloody wars for resources and probably a complete breakdown of the modern civilization that we currently enjoy.
BUT back to the crude metaphors: in each, it does outline what we are facing in light of climate change and actions that we need and should take in order to mitigate the damage that we have already created. The first one points out that we've put off any action to seriously deal with anthropocentric effects on climate change that it will cost us...and although we are now looking to deal with it in the midst of an economic crisis, it isn't a minute too soon, although possibly a few too late. It will cost us indeed for our flippant attitude towards our actions toward the planet. But on the other hand, although it appears (currently reading the 2009 Clean Energy and Security Act) that it will bear a heavy cost in taxes and may cause further job loss; what about the possible innovations and changes in society that could arise from this--if it has teeth.
CLEAN energy--requires development, required innovation from people, required individuals to build the infrastructure to support its use, requires individuals to maintain and conduct maintenance on this infrastructure; those to physically maintain the mechanisms and then those to provide tech assist, parts replacement, training for new workers in the industry, etc. If done correctly, there is potential that not only will the pursuit of renewable energy sources to power our civilization will have a positive and lasting effect on the environment, it also carries within it the possibilities of a constant renewing source of jobs and industry.
IF the United States gets serious, for example, on mass train transit (which exists elsewhere across the world) to eliminate much of the carbon footprint caused by gas guzzuling vehicles, the act of creating this infrastructure should create jobs on the whole; building the rail system, developing "clean" trains, developing the power system (imagine it would be electric)-the electrical grids required to power these trains, possibly innovation on cutting down the loss of power via cables in order to economize the use of electrical power, manning the trains, building the stations, building the transportation hubs that would support commuters and so forth, manning all of the support and perhiperal components of a rail system. Plenty of possiblities for not only innovation but growth.
ALONG with this possiblitiy of growth and innovation--if Americans are up to the task, there is the possiblities of the impact upon foreign policiy: while there are hints of outsourcing overseas, it is essential for the United States to take the lead, because as the US goes in a progressive move, the world's democracies and our allies tend to follow along. Americans worry about jobs being lost overseas: but what is forgotten in this day and age is that it is a global economy, where we are very much intertwined with each other. Although there is a possiblitiy of more heavy industry heading overseas, instead of bemoaning that fact, American innovators need to see how they can improve and cut costs in heavy industry in the United States instead of sitting on their ass spouting racist and xenophobic epithets in the face of reality.
THE steady weaning away from fossil fuels, including becoming energy independent will go a long way in stablizing US foreign policy, where there is no influence to act in order to protect a source of fossil fuels to feed our current civilization. President Obama made several strong statments about the importance of the United States to become energy independent in the world; it is the lack of this independence that may have in part influence some of the poor judgements in US policy overseas. Not a total influence but part of a whole series of issues that effected judgement in the highest levels of government.
IT'S easy to simply look at the doom and gloom at the costs of forcing a change to move towards developing and using renewable energy sources, but we have to break free of the stifled dogma of the fossil fuel civilization which humans have grown dependent upon for over two centuries.
AMERICANS have faced several challenges before and tend to do a pretty good job of tackling challenges: while I personally despise constant references towards WW II, the US did not have a huge military industrial complex to support a mass mobilization--there were policies set forth in the late 1930s to move in that direction, but when the US went to war, it was a total mobilization of the US population to the war effort, in which we outstripped all of the Axis and most of the Allied powers combined in our output. Right now the US does not have much of an infrastructure to support clean energy, renewable energy, but that does not mean we are not capable of addressing this self imposed challenge and tackling it with the amorphous American-Can-Do-Spirit. It is not impossible.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
