For Your Consideration

Remove Vermont Judge Who Gave Child Rapist/Child Molester 60 Day Sentence

Sixty days.  Just two months.  That is the sentence Judge Edward Cashman, of the Grand Isle District Court in Vermont, gave Mark Hullet.  Hullet had been convicted of repeatedly raping a young girl over a period of 4 years.  Hullet began the sexual assaults when the victim was 6 years old.

The prosecution in the case had been seeking a twenty-year sentence for Hullet.  Instead the “Honorable” Judge decided to hand down a 60 day sentence and the requirement that Hullet gain counseling and follow other mandated requirements after his release back into society.

I can tell you that for me, it was a real “WTF?” moment when I heard about it.  So I have been following the issue trying to gain some understanding about why this whole mess is occurring.

Was the case not solid enough?  Could there possibly be some issue of Hullet’s competence?  A health issue perhaps?  Something…anything…that would justify such a light sentence for such a horrible crime?

Well Hullet pled guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, so the case would seem to have been solid.  I can find no report of mental incompetence or severe health issues.  So what the hell happened?

An agenda.  The Judge, it seems, is under the personal opinion that incarcerating Hullet would do nothing to treat him and the underlying issues that caused him to assault a child.  The Judge further feels that Hullet’s sentencing should not be about vengeance or retribution for his crimes.  As a result the Judge ensured Hullet would be back on the streets in 60 days, so long as he gets counseling.

Instead of acting impartially to ensure a fair trial and to evaluate the harm done to the victim and Hullet’s potential threat to society during sentencing…Cashman decided to make a social statement about pedophilia being a disease and that incarceration would do nothing to treat the condition.

The time for Hullet to have sought counseling was the very same second he thought of getting the girl alone and away from any one who could protect her from his sick desires.  The Judge is correct that incarceration will do little to treat Hullet.  But the Judge has done little to protect this girl and other children with whom Hullet will come into contact upon his release.  With the exception of impeachment, Judge Cashman is pretty much untouchable for his decision.  In effect the Judge has taken a stand on behalf of child molesters, I am certain NAMBLA will probably honor him as their “Man of the Year” or reward him with some honorary membership.

Judge Cashman may think of himself as some sort of enlightened and even handed, reasonable advocate of justice, but I see him as being callously indifferent to the lifelong injuries suffered by this child at the hands of a child rapist.  Hullet may be the criminal but Cashman has, in essence, handed him a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.  Cashman should be immediately impeached and removed from the bench, so he may find more suitable employment in counseling sex offenders or as a lobbyist for groups advocating sex between children and adults.

If you are even slightly sickened by this case I ask that you PLEASE take just 5 minutes of your time to email the Governor of Vermont and express your opinion.  All the email addresses you could possibly need can be found at http://www.cpiu.us/vermontjudge.php

This site, The Counter Pedophilia Investigative Unit, has outlined the case and provided names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses of Vermont Officials to whom you can effectively express your outrage.  Take a moment to make a stand for the victims and call for the immediate removal of this Judge.

Why Brokeback Mountain Really Isn't Shown In Salt Lake City

Brokeback Mountain, it seems, is a darling of the critics, and a favorite of the news, because of its controversial subject matter.

I see it is somehow news that a theater owner in Salt Lake City, Utah has elected not to show the movie in his theaters.  Why exactly is that news?  I suppose most people, not from the western parts of the United States, would probably smugly find this story reconfirming their opinion that we are a bunch of bigoted homophobes.  Kind of a fluffy “See…I was right!” type of news article.

I on the other hand, see it a little differently.

Yes, we have our share of bigoted homophobes, but that isn’t even half of the issue. The fact is we value our pioneering and cowboy past and heritage.  Cowboys continue to be a part of our lives.  They are part of our economy and out here rodeos are major sporting events.

We also enjoy the whole fictionalized version of the American Cowboy.  We know that it is not an accurate portrayal of the way things really were, but more a version of how we think things SHOULD have been.  We see them as larger than life and above the petty issues we all have to face daily.  We don’t want to have that changed.  It is really that simple.

As a result, I am willing to bet that Brokeback Mountain will not do very well in this part of the country, and Salt Lake City (The geographic center of the LDS religion) is no different. 

If I were a theater owner in SLC, I would have decided not to show the movie on ECONOMIC grounds.  Empty seats simply don’t pay bills.  It also doesn’t help to decide to show a movie that concentrates on a love story that goes against the values of the majority of the community.

So if you choose to have new and “enlightened” fantasies about cowboys, that’s just fine.  We’ll continue to keep our version of the cowboy and the American West.

Howard Stern on Sirius Satellite Radio (Who gives a damn?)

Years ago, I used to be a Howard Stern fan.  A guilty and perverse pleasure, I admit.  He worked for WWDC DC101 at the time.  A Washington DC station, from which he was fired after joking about the Air Florida flight which first crashed into the 14^th Street Bridge and then the Potomac River.

I was in high school at the time, and enjoyed the fact that Howard constantly pushed the edge.  His humor, language and material were constantly under fire from those he offended, which was just about everyone at one point or another.  His antics have resulted in a multitude of FCC fines and numerous job transfers.

Anyway, I grew and matured.  My tastes changed and Howard did not.  Oh, I still find some of his routines amusing, but he had already blazed his trail and his stuff just began to seem old and tired to me.  I outgrew Howard like I outgrew my 32-inch waistline.  Though I stopped listening to his show, I still followed his battles with the FCC and various groups of concerned and offended citizens.  On some level it both amused me and earned a degree of my respect that he thumbed his nose at the FCC and stood his ground.  Something about his sheer rebellion appealed to me.

The rebel is gone now. No longer lurking somewhere on your standard FM dial.  No longer a threat to the forming minds of any adolescent with a stereo.  Howard is exactly where the FCC and those who opposed him wanted him to be.  He is on a Sirius Satellite Radio.  A subscription radio service, requiring monthly fees and a specialized receiver, sort of a radio equivalent to cable TV.

I am surprised at how much it disappoints me, seeing that I stopped listening to him years ago.  It just seems to me that we try to make things too safe, too non-offensive and too bland to be even remotely interesting.  I for one am sorry to see him go.

Tolerance vs Intolerance

A while back I wrote a post about “tolerance” and how some special interest groups wield it like a club. In my own long-winded way, I thought it was pretty good, others must have thought so too, as it generated a significant amount of traffic for my blog.  It helped to relieve the sour taste the misuse of tolerance leaves in my mouth.  If you care to read it, here is it's link… http://getoverit.typepad.com/for_your_consideration/2005/10/tolerance_gone_.html

Yesterday I was directed to a blog written by Blair Warren, where he also addressed tolerance.  Based solely on his writings, I like Blair.  He was able to cut through all the garbage and succinctly and simply make his point.  A very valid one. 

Not to steal his thunder but these few sentences from his post, outline my thoughts exactly…” Perhaps we should all strive to be a little less tolerant.  Not violent.  Not indignant.  Not even selfish.  Just less tolerant of the garbage in our lives”.

Take a moment to check out his website, you’ll be glad you did.

http://www.blairwarren.com/index.php/weblog/tolerance/

I am also happy to include him in my “Links of Interest” in the column to your left.

Dead Miners, Misinformation and Getting it Wrong

The tragic misinformation broadcast around the world about the fate of the Tallmanville Virginia miners has got me all wrapped around the axels.  Unfortunately I wish I could say it is an isolated incident but in fact, misinformation has become a national epidemic.  Tallmanville is just made worse by well intentioned folks allowing family members hope of their relative’s survival, only to have to dash those hopes hours later.

I fell victim to it as well, proudly announcing to my wife and friend “They’re ALIVE!”  I was thrilled for them and their families.  I went to sleep glad in my heart for their good fortune.  The next morning I sat horrified in front of my TV trying desperately to get my head around the fact that all but one miner had actually perished in the mine.  I had perpetuated the whole thing by spreading the news to my wife and friend.

It seems that despite the best intentions, sophisticated technology, HUMIT (human intel), on-the-spot reporters giving "Live" reports from the field, Congressional Oversight Committees and various “watch dog” groups, we still keep getting it wrong.

I hear it all the time…High fat diets are wrong, low carb diets are wrong.  Hell we even modified the food pyramid because “we were wrong”.  Bush was wrong, the war is wrong, the reasons we went to war are wrong. Katrina was a category 4 storm…no a high category 3, the levees were over whelmed by water or they were bombed by a racist administration.  It’s all turning out to be crap.

Facts mean absolutely nothing if we fail to observe them and confirm them prior to reporting them.  It makes me wonder if the all the recent incidents, during which we seem to repeatedly get thing wrong, are because they don’t jibe with what we desperately WANT to believe.

Apologies aren’t cutting it anymore.  Lives are greatly affected by failure to accurately report news facts.  I am so sick of “spin” I could puke.  Just give me the facts, good, bad and ugly, so I can make an informed conclusion.  Some finely printed retraction on page 3 of the next issue doesn’t make things right, despite what some slick attorney may tell you.

I am disgusted.  I just don’t know how far to go back to get myself on track.  Perhaps as far as the Flat Earth Theory?  If our current news outlets wish to retain any credibility they had better correct this trend fast…or maybe I could just be getting it wrong. 

The Death of Customer Service (A Best Buy Boondoogle)

My sincere apologies for neglecting the blog over the Christmas and New Years break.  The holidays and the worst bout of the flu I have ever experienced reduced my brain to something resembling day old oatmeal.

I am on the mend and things are slowly returning to the standard level of chaos that passes for normal at my home.

I have been fortunate enough to avoid trips to the stores lately, though I have been informed that the return and customer service lines are sheer madness…Which brings me to the subject of this post; Customer Service.

So far as I can tell, “Customer Service” evaporated from our retail landscape around the time shopping malls and mega-mart style stores became the norm.  My close friend, Dave Lakhani, has been keeping me updated on an ongoing customer service nightmare with Best Buy, which continues to unfold.  I share his outrage and you should as well.

The story is best told in his own words, so I am referring you to his website.  It involves a computer, a tool he uses for his very livelihood, poor customer service, poor management and even has some mild language and the threat of violence, so it is sure to keep your attention.  http://boldapproach.typepad.com 

The very name Best Buy implies something more than merely best price.  In my opinion they have not lived up to their own name, much less the extended warrantee he was sold at an additional cost.

For the owners and managers of Best Buy, I would like to inform them that there are a few holdouts that still offer customer service.  Enough in fact, to make the treatment Mr. Lakhani has suffered intolerable.  Dave’s company, Bold Approach, is one such company, as is my wife’s company, Business Technology Solutions.  We stress customer service because it is to both to our advantage and credit to do so.  It adds value to our services and encourages loyal customers.  It provides our customers with a piece of mind that is invaluable.  It is all part of what truly makes a purchase a good “buy”.

Perhaps Best Buy should consider changing their name to Cheap Buy and capitalize on offering no service and no frills.

Best Buy managed to lose Dave’s future business; I am offering them a two for one deal, as his experience has soured me from ever spending another dime in their stores.  Read his post and make your own decision. 

Our companies offer a high level of customer service and as such our clients trust our recommendations.  Based upon Dave’s nightmare and my own experiences, I feel just fine steering our clients and readers to other retailers.

It’s your money, your time and your grief loyal readers, you deserve better service and it is about time we all damned well started demanding “customer service” make a comeback.