jackson12

* "The (jackson) twelve did exactly what jurors should do and offered a magnificent example of the abiding importance of the jury as the fundamental bulwark of freedom in this Republic. In their press conference the jurors laid waste the disappointed lynch mob with dignified and articulate responses." link

i didnt watch the jury interviews after the verdict. i wish i had. this jury was perhaps one of the brightest (current) beacons of what we call democracy. they realised there are rules in place, and they are there for very good reason, and they followed those rules. these people are what counts as heroes today. if the egadmin had followed this same simple logic, then we wouldnt be in a war today. and we wouldnt be hearing that they are changing climate reports. and i dont care what nancygrace or shepsmith 'feels' about it. there are very good reasons we have a court system, and nancygrace and shepsmith proved why we need one. and so did the jackson12. when u send 70 fbi agents to some guys house who was accused of doing something years ago, then theres a problem with the system (like i said at the time). and it also highlights what is wrong with this 'indefinite attention' nonsense. and everything else about gitmo. i havent commented on the case cos it was just fucking annoying, and i didnt follow it much, one thing i will say is that the bbc coverage was appalling. they had no bizness covering this story, but from the first day (as i noted in disgust), they gave it extraordinary coverage - up to and including the 2 hour carchase sequences. and let me repeat the other funny part of the story - fox actually stopped the nonsense and carried other stories even when all the other channels were carrying it (not for any noble reasons, i can safely say).

heres the thing, if freaks like michael jackson can be 'taken out', then freaks like me can be taken out. and freaks like you lot. and once freaks can be disappeared, then anyone can be taken out, cos they can simply move the definition of freak. gays? professors? scientists? bloggers? women? darkies?

similarly, history seems to whisper to us that there arent many regimes that practise torture, for example, to a limited extent, as far as i know. power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absoutely. torture corrupts and absolute torture corrupts absolutely. thats why we have rules, and it demonstrates how slippery the slope is. who knows of a regime that 'only' tortured 50 people?

thats why we have a system of rules. thats why the jackson twelve did us all an enormous favour. i havent seen any discussion about the fact that the jurors werent sequestered, altho thats really impressive. i wonder how much media the jurors saw. studies seem to indicate that non-sequestered jurors are really well-behaved, apart from the occassional example when someone reaches for the bible.

so heres to the jackson12, and all they represent.