Little back as city prosecutor

By Jennifer J. Foster

You know, some things just leave you so stunned, all you can do is shake your head.

From the Cullman Times:

Sen. Zeb Little was recently reinstated as Hanceville’s municipal court prosecutor — approximately two months after he stepped down from the job due to a drunk driving arrest.

“The mayor (Kenneth Nail) called recently and asked if I was ready to come back and I am,” Little said. “If not today (Monday), then some time later this month.”

The Hanceville City Council hired Little to be the municipal court prosecutor in November 2008 after the previous prosecutor resigned to return to private practice. As prosecutor, Little received a fee of $500 per month. The court is held twice a month.

OK, folks. Let’s review.

According to the Times, Little (D-Cullman) resigned from his position in April after he was arrested on I-65 in Jefferson County for DUI, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, violation of the open container law and driving with an expired license.

Just to be clear, that’s four violations.

Little pled guilty in May. The Times says he was given a 90-day suspended jail sentence with one year probation, fined $625 and had his driver’s license suspended for 90 days.

“Since his situation is over and he’s dealt with his punishment, it’s time for him to go back to work,” Nail said. “We’ve all made mistakes and the man paid for his mistake ... he paid his fine.”

Right. Except that he hasn’t “dealt with his punishment” yet.

Since a municipal prosecutor enforces city ordinances and misdemeanor crimes committed within city limits—including driving under the influence (DUI)—shouldn’t the city wait to reinstate him at least until he’s off probation?

... Or at least until he can drive himself to court?

“There are other prosecutors in the state who have had DUIs,” Little said. “Only a felony offense removes you from office.“

Oh, well, by all means, then it must be OK. Let’s just load up the city courts across this state with prosecutors who have any number of misdemeanor offenses on their records. Because, you know, they aren’t real crimes, like felonies. Wink, wink.

“I thought (resigning) was appropriate while charges were pending,” Little said.

It was. And it still is, until you have paid your debt—your complete debt—to society.

“The thing about America is when you pay your debt, you’re free to resume your normal activities,” Little said.

Yep. So when you do, you can.

Showdown brewing?

By Jennifer J. Foster

UPDATE, 7/10, 8 a.m.: Sadly, it looks as though the showdown as fallen through.

Darn.

See the comment below from regular reader (and Montgomery Tea Party Patriot) Don S. END UPDATE

It looks like there is a showdown looming at U.S. Sen. Jeff Session’s Montgomery office tomorrow.

Members of MoveOn.org are set to rally there in support of President Obama’s health care reform plan at noon.

Members of the Montgomery Tea Party Patriots are calling out their members to meet them in a counterdemonstration.

Sounds like fun!

Anyone planning to go? Pics, please!

Is this a hate crime?

By Jennifer J. Foster

From the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal:

Akron police say they aren’t ready to call it a hate crime or a gang initiation.

But to Marty Marshall, his wife and two kids, it seems pretty clear.

It came after a family night of celebrating America and freedom with a fireworks show at Firestone Stadium. Marshall, his family and two friends were gathered outside a friend’s home in South Akron.

Out of nowhere, the six were attacked by dozens of teenage boys, who shouted ‘'This is our world’‘ and ‘'This is a black world’‘ as they confronted Marshall and his family.

The Marshalls, who are white, say the crowd of teens who attacked them and two friends June 27 on Girard Street numbered close to 50. The teens were all black.

The most seriously injured victim was badly bruised around the head and eye, suffered a concussion and spent five nights in the critical care unit at a local hospital.

So ... is this a hate crime?

Technically, no, because, you know, those only happen to “protected groups.“

If it isn’t pursued as a hate crime, then white teens who treat black families this way could be punished more severely than the black teens who attacked the white family in this case.

Yes, equal justice under the law.

But if it is pursued as a hate crime, that’s going to require the definition of “protected groups” to include regular old white folks.

GASP!

Yet another example of the lunacy of trying to protect some people over others.

Punish the CRIME. Here we have disturbing the peace, making terroristic threats, felonious assault in the 1st degree, battery, probably some property damage; plus, the perpetrators can be made to make restitution to their victims.

... And then there is the exposure that these young lads have in civil court.

Gee. Looks like the justice system has this pretty well covered without having to crawl inside everyone’s head.

If only the criminal justice system was set up to punish crimes, and not engineer social policy.

Jeb Bush gets feisty

By Jennifer J. Foster

We talked a few weeks back about former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the impact he could make on the 2012 presidential race.

Could we have a tiny sign that he’s headed in that direction?

Jeb made news today wth his response to a reporter’s question about whether he thinks President Obama is a “socialist.“

From CNN:

“I don’t know. Define socialism for me,“ he told Esquire magazine. “It’s a word… I believe he’s a collectivist. He believes that through collective action, through government, you can solve more problems.“ He added that he believed the word “socialism” was a pejorative, and “didn’t help” the GOP make its case.

And as far as approval ratings, Jeb says simply, “Who cares?“

As I have said before, Jeb is a great communicator. See how he refuses to let the questioner dictate the terms of the conversation? He avoids calling the president a socialist, but he goes ahead and makes his point in a way that won’t obscure it.

There’s more to Jeb this. He’s a big-idea guy. He is a visionary. Even more, he has a record of turning those big ideas into policy. He’s just the kind of person the Republicans are going to need to go toe-to-toe with Obama.

Just for fun, compare these comments from Jeb to some of the things you’ve heard, oh, for example, Sarah Palin say about the president.

If you were in the political minority, who would you want out in front, carrying your banner, making a serious case against the majority?

Yeah. Me too.