I’m Not The Only One

It’s finals time at college, so I sincerely apologize for missing the last two Saturdays, but I am finishing up an entry which should be posted tomorrow.  I am in the final stages of my state-sponsored liberal indoctrination, with my pending graduation of a Baccalaureate in sociology expected for the end of this year.

This week I’d like to review a very entertaining book I just finished, “Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy” by Peter Schweizer. It is not often that a book about political or ideological leaders, self-appointed or otherwise, that has made me laugh so much. Shweizer has certainly done his homework on the 11 liberal icons whose rhetoric is repeated ad nauseum at college campuses around the world.

Published in 2005, the author has handpicked these very influential individuals and skewers them with their own hypocrisy. Among these big boppers of bullshit are Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, Al Franken, Ralph Nader, Noam Chomsky and Barbra Streisand. Using his subjects’ real estate transaction records, tax returns, court records and public statements, Schweizer skillfully reveals not only how the aforementioned not only contradict their own publicly stated rhetoric, but how these “die-hard liberals” live more like closet conservatives.

As Schweizer reveals, these 11 liberal hypocrites buy stock in oil companies and defense contractors, surround themselves with Caucasian employees, fight unionization in their own companies, have worked for the Pentagon and various multinational corporations. They use every imaginable avenue to avoid paying their fair share in taxes and fight environmental projects that take place in their own backyard. (more…)

I was delighted to learn that the Florida Governor and State Clemency Board approved this week a measure to restore, among other civil liberties, voting rights to ex-felons. Florida is one of three states (the other two being Kentucky and Virginia) that deny the right to vote to ex-felons who have served their sentences. But according to an article in the New York Times (4/5/2007), Florida stands as the biggest oppressor in the nation, being home to the largest number of ex-felons (950,000) who have been stripped of their right to vote.

Until now in Florida, people who have served their felony sentences have had to endure a lengthy petition process and be seen before a review board in order to restore their right to vote. Under the new rules, Floridian ex-felons (with the exception of violent offenders, who according to the article, compose about 20 percent of all felons and ex-felons in Florida) will have most of their rights automatically restored upon fulfillment of their sentences, including the right to obtain an occupational license such as that for a barber or nurse, but not the right to own a gun.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist (R) summed up the spirit of this new measure, showing his Christian morals as he was quoted in the Times, “This is Holy Week, a week that is all about forgiveness. Restoring civil rights is the right thing to do.”

Shockingly, one jackass fully came out against the law when it was proposed—Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum. The New York Times reported the AG stated that “many felons aren’t reformed and should have to earn their rights by staying crime-free for a certain time.” This is a ridiculous argument as the whole objective of prison is not only to detain criminals as a form of punishment for their crime(s), but also to rehabilitate prisoners in order to reform them into productive, contributing members of civil society.

If the Florida prison system cannot reform its inmates by the time they are released then perhaps AG McCollum should reform the system until it can. Furthermore, how can one expect a former inmate to successfully integrate into civil society if they don’t have all of their civil rights? And by the way, whatever happened to “innocent until proven guilty?” Ex-offenders should not have to wait “a certain time” to have their rights restored, as this joke of an attorney general believes.

Preserving the civil rights of former offenders is an important issue to me, because to deny them such rights is unconstitutional. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects Americans from being punished twice for the same crime. I believe that when a criminal has been sentenced for a crime and have served that sentence in full, they should be released back into society with the same rights as any other citizen. To do otherwise is not only unconstitutional, it is immoral.

When the judge bangs his gavel and delivers the sentence to the guilty party, he says, “I sentence you to ten years in prison.” He doesn’t say, “I sentence you to ten years in prison and a lifetime of second-class citizenship. Second-class citizenship is for slaves and last time I checked, slavery was abolished in this country a long time ago.

For all his alleged knowledge of the legal system, McCollum obviously hasn’t heard of the U.S. Constitution and lacks the common sense necessary for someone in his high-ranking position. Treat ex-convicts like animals, and they will act that way, Mr. McCollum. Treat them as you would anyone else, and the possibilities are endless.

I believe that this new measure does not go far enough, but an oppressive state such as Florida certainly deserves praise for boldly coming closer to being a democratic society. I believe that non-violent offenders—who often make up the majority of convicted felons—should have the same right to bear arms as anyone else. And anyone who has fulfilled their criminal sentences should enjoy the automatic restoration of all of their civil rights.