or WHO GUARDS THE GUARDIANS?by platonicaristotledupopulous, donplaypuks® intrepid sentinel for guardians’ affairs
CRIME
There is a palpable trail of an important series of events which stretches across our planet. The strands of it have to be pulled together from hither and tither for us to understand the apocalyptic nature of an endemic Global debacle. The Hydra-like tentacles of this plague spread out to just about every nation, from every tin-pot Latin-American dictatorship and from every dictator (some of whom claim to be of the benevolent species) pretending to lead Democratic nations of, by and for the People in Asia and Africa, to those who have replaced any pretensions to a secular polity with religious zealotry. And surprisingly too, its slime slakes its ooze across the very nations which claim to be the discoverers and sentinels of our inalienable human rights.
Unfortunately, the task is made difficult as it is not quite paint by numbers, or connect the dots, and so the search and the odyssey are arduous and onerous. But it is there just the same. The vigilant and watchful can see it clear.
In the late 60’s, hundreds of millions in English speaking countries all over the world had their eyes glued to their tv sets week in, week out, enthralled by that man on the run, ‘Dr. Richard Kimble, an innocent victim of blind justice!.’ Or as a wit at school, Victoria Institution, blurted out in a moment of inspiration ‘An innocent victim of QM Production.’ In hot pursuit of our favourite Fugitive was that tough-as-nails, gaunt, crass, obdurate, crusty, obsessive Lieutenant Philip Gerard whom we all loved to hate; the cop who would possibly not have accepted Kimble’s innocence even if the one-armed killer had sworn on a stack of bibles and confessed in open court to murdering Kimble’s wife!
In the 1993 movie version of ‘The Fugitive’ of course we had to have the New-Age Tommy Lee Jones’ version of Lt. Gerard, that tough-as-nails, gaunt, crass, obdurate, crusty, obsessive, but caring dick who actually broke out into a smile in the end, which reminded you of a grimacing Rottweiler just before it sank its fangs into your hind end. But nothing changes much; the new age dick was also three steps ahead of his minions, but always two behind Kimble.
But note that this was in the era of the 60’s of the Vietnam War, of ‘Where Have All the Flowers Gone,’ Flower & Student Power, Hippies, Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell & protest singers, Woodstock, Santana, Hendrix, Pot (Marijuana), LSD & Psychedelic drugs, Heavy Metal Rock music of Led Zeppelin & Deep Purple, Beatles, Mahesh Yogi & transcendental meditation, Martin Luther King & Civil Rights, Black Power & Black Panthers, Cold War, MI5, KGV, Profumo & Christine Keeler, John & Robert F.Kennedy Assassinations and Kent State students’ shooting-deaths when a cop became a pig!
We had the 1969 ‘Race Riots?’
In 1994 I was holed up in a hotel in NY while on a business trip there. Coincidentally, it was also the week of the FIFA World Cup Soccer Finals played out in the USA. As much as I am a rabid, fanatical Brazil supporter, what made that trip memorable was the live transmission on tv of the Symphonic Concerto No.2 ‘Flight of OJ Simpson in his Ford Bronco SUV.’ Later, OJ was found not guilty on the ground of reasonable doubt by a jury of his peers for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend, one Ronald Goldman. The jury comprised 10 women and 2 men, of whom 8 were black, 2 Hispanic, 1 Red Indian and 1 White. Public polls revealed that 65% % of whites believed OJ was guilty against 30% for blacks.
Three years later, OJ was found guilty of the wrongful deaths of Nicole and Goldman, and fined US$ 8.5 million, by another jury of his peers, this time comprising 6 men and 6 women, of whom 9 were White, 1 Hispanic, 1 Asian and 1 Black/Hispanic! This was a civil trial where a lower standard of proof is apparently acceptable, but not at a criminal one, and where the accused can, and was, compelled to testify.
Fast forward to June 2005. Michael Jackson was found not guilty of all 10 charges of child molestation by a jury of 4 men and 8 women, none of them black! However, there have been several allegations of juror misconduct, including one where a juror’s lucrative book deal was aborted when the proverbial spanner was thrown into the works with MJ’s ‘not guilty’ verdict! Another juror confessed she felt MJ was guilty, but thought the prosecution had botched the case and so, she had voted against conviction.
Over 200 years ago, in 1776, a group of 56 men crafted and signed one of, if not the most important document in the history of the World, The American Declaration of Independence, which reads:
" When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another……..
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women of course) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. "
Of course King George of Britain and Louis XVI of France did not exactly break out in wild, enthusiastic applause and rush forth to stamp their seal of approval on these new-fangled theories of ‘a Government of The People.’ The cheek of it! Let them eat cake! Neither did such enlightened idealistic humanity in the USA abolish slavery for over a hundred years nor grant equal rights in practice to blacks in their own country till well into the 20th Century. In complete and hopeless contravention of the Bill of Rights, the principles of equality and ‘the Constitution is colour blind’ conferred by single citizenship was tossed out of the windows of the Supreme Court, when American Japanese were ordered to be sequestered in anticipation of the confrontation with Japan during World War II. Wherefore, patriotism, one People?
Post 9/11 2001, we have the Patriots Act, Prevention of Terrorism Act, Gitmo and illegal detentions, all of which clearly have no legal foundation or basis in the laws of the lands of the champions of democracy. The law extending remand without charge to 42 days was just passed in London.
Not that pre-9/11 did not have its fair share of assaults on civil liberties and international laws. In 1973, Chile President Salvador Allende was overthrown in a CIA-backed plot, while in 1995 General Noreiga was kidnapped from Panama to stand trial in the USA.
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