THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† Is The Iraqi Criminal Justice System More Efficient Than Ours?: Judge Hilton Fuller Jr., who is presiding over the murder trial of accused Fulton County Courthouse shooter Brian G. Nichols, has indefinitely suspended proceedings until the Public Defender Standards Council, the state agency that is funding Nichols’ defense, can cough up the money to continue. Fuller notes says that three of the four-lawyers on the defense team and their expert witnesses have not been paid since July (the fourth attorney is working pro bono). The trial has already cost GA taxpayers $1.8 million. “Nichols is facing the death penalty in a 54-count indictment, and prosecutors have announced that more than 400 witnesses may be called upon in the course of the trial,” reports the Fulton County Daily Report. Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr., who is prosecuting the case, has petitioned the GA Supreme Court to remove Fuller from the case, and the GA House Speaker is trying to get him impeached in what is widely regarded as a capital case run amok. Howard also asked that the Standards Council staff represent Nichols, not the private attorneys. When someone accused of a crime is taken into police custody and apprised of his Miranda rights, he is told, “If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you at no cost.” One attorney - not an OJ-style legal team of high-priced hired guns. As long as
† Sicko Healthcare Prescription Causes Adverse Side Effects For Dems (second item): The Associated Press reports on anecdotal evidence that Britain's National Health Service is denying elective surgical procedures, such as hip replacement, to overweight patients. One 210-pound 68-year-old who was wheelchair-bound for two years because of arthritis in both hips was told to lose 30 pounds before she could be considered for surgery. She hocked her house and got one hip replacement done by private physicians in Malta. She still needs the other hip done.
Editorial Note: The Stiletto recently attended an international conference, at which she overheard a British doctor brag to a Chinese colleague that the NHS has cut its wait times for hip replacements from eight months to four, and was not likely to spend the money to hire the specialists needed to reduce the wait further since “chronic pain is not a life-threatening condition, it’s just a quality of life issue.” The Stiletto couldn’t help herself and interrupted the conversation to note, “Quality of life matters when you’re the one in pain.” A few minutes later this same insufferable twit explained that due to a shortage of organ donors, the UK is planning to adopt an “opt-out” system – you’d have to sign a document stating that you do not want your organs harvested after death. So in the Brave New World of socialized medicine, The State not only decides what an acceptable quality of life is for you, but also owns your body and its components. This time, The Stiletto just walked away shuddering.
† Gul’s Election As Turkey’s President Not A Victory For Democracy (second item): Turkish authorities have moved to ban the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party and expel several of its lawmakers from parliament on charges of separatism. The Democratic Society Party, which won 20 seats in parliament in July and has called for autonomy for Kurds living in the country's southeast, is accused by Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya of being ''based on blood and orders from the terrorist organization of the PKK'' (the acronym for the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party), reports The New York Times. The prosecutor's office on Friday sent the 120-page indictment to the country's Constitutional Court. Ironically, no one has ever challenged Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code in the Constitutional Court, even though Turkey’s constitution is supposed to guarantee free speech (second item) – even when that speech acknowledges the Armenian Genocide as settled history. But then, in Turkey – putatively a pluralistic, secular democracy (at least according to the country’s shills at The Wall Street Journal) – authorities criminalize speech that runs counter to the state’s interests.
† Illegals Can Skew Elections – Even When They Do Not Vote Fraudulently: According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the number of Hispanics living in the U.S. increased 58 percent in the 1990s, and now comprises nearly 13 percent of the total population. Because of this explosive growth, in 2000 the surname “Garcia” moved to No. 8 on the list of the 10 most common in the nation (up from No. 18); Rodriguez is now No. 9 (up from No. 22); and Martinez is nearly tied with Wilson for No. 10. Overall, the number of Hispanic surnames among the top 25 doubled, to 6. Keep in mind that the Census Bureau does not distinguish between citizens and noncitizen aliens in its headcounts of “residents.” One Luis Padilla, a banker who has lived in Miami since he arrived from Colombia 14 years ago, tells The New York Times, “It shows we’re getting stronger. If there’s that many of us to outnumber the Anglo names, it’s a great thing.”
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