Justice for Mr. Reid-The Shoe Bomber

Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?

Did you know his trial is over?

Did you know he was sentenced?

Did you see/hear any of the judge’s comments on TV or Radio?

Didn’t think so.

So, courtesy of a friend, here is the story. Thank you Judge William Young!! Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.

Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.

Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had anything to say. His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his “allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah,” defiantly stating, “I think I will not apologize for my actions,” and told the court “I am at war with your country.” Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:

January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid.

Judge Young: “Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you. On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That’s 80 years.)

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 that’s an aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government’s recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.

The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment.

The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further.

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice.
You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a soldier. You are not—– you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You’re no warrior. I’ve known warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were, and he said: “You’re no big deal.”

You are no big deal.

What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today?

I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing? And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely. It is for freedom’s sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.

We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bare any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.

Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America, the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That’s the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.

Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down. So, how much of this Judge’s comments did we hear on our TV sets? We need more judges like Judge Young, but that’s another subject.

Information on Harassment and Sexual Harassment can be found at http://www.sexualharassmentresources.com

Bill Barger

Barger Specialties LLC

Mr. Barger became interested in the subject of Sexual Harassment early in his present job. He then began a course of study ending in the 2001 awarding of a Master of Arts degree in Business. During that course of study, and since that time he has researched, reported on, and taught Sexual Harassment to Business Communication's Strategies students, and Ethics students in the Business and Nursing Colleges.

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Drought - Stopping its Negative Consequences

I have written how to stop floods. In practicality, this is the opposite. All municipalities control fresh water to each address and waste water from each address. We only need to add more pumps and connect each city's lines to each other. Right now, we have a myriad of separate systems. Like with buses and airplanes, we need only connect them to have access to more water or to be able to pump out excess fresh or waste water. Thus, when rainfall in inadequate for the farmer's, home owners or others' use, [in the mid west or elsewhere], we only need to have in place, in advance, agreements with surrounding municipalities to receive water from them and to be able to pump excess water out too, when needed.

A decade ago, or so, California had a season with water rationing. That made me laugh. The powers that be only needed to do two things to insure themselves unlimited water; obtain it from another state [like in buying cross state electrical power] and develop along the coast, water DESALINIZATION plants. The LA area has one or more. I have not ever heard of one in the N. Calif area. EVERY state adjacent to the ocean or a large lake should have such a process available.

It is recognized that oceans, rivers, lakes, streams and other bodies of water fall under some government agency. Since this is so, it takes time to coordinate plans to make sure everyone who wishes water at least gets to be heard, and if the "infrastructure" exists, and the costs "reasonable", he who wants water, gets water [or gets rid of it]. Like major water ways, especially the Colorado River adjoining Arizona and California, who gets what amount of it and who pays for its distribution has become a decades long argument and such argument has included Mexico!

Next, rain does fall over every foot of land on earth, but sometimes, it just takes longer at some sites than other sites. When it takes "longer", there is nothing stopping hydrologists and scientists from creating water retention systems from plastic sheeting over mountains and over any water collecting flaura. Also, as in the Death Valley area, cavers have found underground caverns holding many acre feet of water.

In reminder, as long as no geographical lines are illegally crossed, water can be shipped via standard water lines to central distribution areas and from there, sprinkling systems can disseminate water to buildings, ag land or for other use.

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