Liberal Media Bias????? "Judge" for yourself.

[singpilot]

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/Radio?

Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.

Ruling by Judge William Young
U.S. 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 stated "I think I ought not to apologize for my actions", and told the court "I am at war with your country."

Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below, a stinging condemnation of Reid in particular and terrorists in general. 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 consecutive with the other. That's 80 years.

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years consecutive to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 for the 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 the $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 by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

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 all too much war talk here. And I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, where 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 it is the officers of government who do it or your attorney who does it, or that happens to be your view, you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not 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 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 winds carry freedom. They carry 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 and have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges. We are about it. 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. 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. You know it always will".

"Custody, Mr. Officer. Stand him down."

So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV sets?

[concentric]

I found this on a bunch of news sites when he was first convicted.
I don't know if it was so much swept under the rug as nobody gave a **** about the guy.

JCM

[singpilot]

As a commercial pilot frequently flying the North Atlantic, I was VERY interested in this guy. And I didn't see it go by in any of the mainstream press.

[techweenie]

What a silly post.

That all happened almost one and a half years ago.

Why would you be looking for it in the papers or on TV now? It was very well covered back then.

I guess if you are a conservative, it helps to have short term memory difficulties.

[thamlin000]

Regardless of how long ago this occured......

That was an excellent closing speech by the Judge. It definately shows the rightousness of our country over religous extremists, terrorists, and terrorism in general. It was also done in such a nice way, too.

The best part of the speech was the subtle hints of f.u. in regards to the supremecy of our society's class, strength, superiority, and freedom over the terrorists' ideal.

[singpilot]

It would seem silly to someone that doesn't consider that their personal freedom (and the ability to read and respond stupidly to a silly post) depends on judges and laws designed to protect them from people at war with their very existance.

After all, those that fail to remember the past are comdemned to repeat it.

228 years ago, patriots took actions to insure that even Techweenies' freedom was safe from assault. The fact that he chooses not to remember some of the people that safeguard his freedoms is his choice.

I remember those people every day. As do the silent (voting) majority of this country.

I'll go with the poll conducted this November.

[techweenie]

LOL!

[joeclarke]

If your path crossed the paths of judges on a daily basis you would very likely hesitate to look to the judiciary for moral, ethical or any other kind of guidance at a personal level.

Thanks for dredging up the righteous ramblings of same ancient relic that probably became so full of himself during his pontification that he overlooked the fact that he had pissed his depends.

Speeches like that are insightful as to how easy it can be to allow emotion to eclipse rationale, objective thought. Wow - I find it a bit scary to think that our criminal system can become a whore to the politics of the matter, don't you?

Based on this little tirade - how would the sentence have varied if the defendent had been a "good republican" that took exactly the same actions for a different (ie non-political) reason?

[concentric]

Originally posted by thamlin000
Regardless of how long ago this occured......

That was an excellent closing speech by the Judge. It definately shows the rightousness of our country over religous extremists, terrorists, and terrorism in general. It was also done in such a nice way, too.

The best part of the speech was the subtle hints of f.u. in regards to the supremecy of our society's class, strength, superiority, and freedom over the terrorists' ideal.

What I was thinking of about half the time while reading the Judge's speech is how we funnelled millions of dollars and tons of arms to Osama Bin Laden and the mujihadeen who were fighting and torturing the Russians in Afghanistan, and some other stories I can't recount from people I know who trained certain regimes and persons in the ways of torture and destruction in many parts of the world.

I'd be very careful about speaking in terms as broad and full of false righteousness as the judge did. While I see his intent with the sentiment, we have many instances in our history (c.f. the Native American, slavery, etc.) where we have grossly ignored the basic fundamental rights of people for our own gain. I'd suggest it would be to our national benefit to keep this in mind.

JCM

[singpilot]

I'm glad I made your day!

I really didn't mean it as an attack on you, but it does read that way. Sorry about that. I apologize if the Starbucks kicked in a little too abruptly this morning.

[turbocarrera]

Techweenie was just refering to the title of the post, I think. The trial was covered in detail back in the day, hardly liberal media bias.

edit: people post so fast!

[techweenie]

singpilot: I understand your concern about liberal media bias. God knows, we hear about it enough.

But I see an enormous amount of conservative media bias. The media is not monolithic, nor do all topics fall into one camp or the other.

IMHO, the media loves blood and bad news, because that's what gets readers/viewers. Chances are you didn't percieve what I did before the invasion of Iraq: huge pro-war media bias all out of proportion to the general public's views.

I'm not sure that was really conservative bias in all media -- some were just hoping for war ratings.

[singpilot]

Techweenie;

I do agree with you, that depending on the day sometimes, there can be bias either way. The Reagan 'memorials' going on now are an excellent example of that. It took 24 hours for the dissent to show in here, in a very virulent series of posts, and more like 3 days for the mainstream press to start the anti-Reagan reports.

I, like you I am sure, end up having to go to a number of sources to get a mix of bias to come up with an opinion.

I probably should have not chosen that title for this thread.

Thanks, as always, for your input.

Nice day today out here, I will be sailing right offshore of you this afternoon. I fought the tallest thnderstorms I have ever seen in the USA all the way across from NYC yesterday. It really makes you appreciate the SoCal weather.

[techweenie]

Hey, enjoy our great weather!

If you're ever around here for a while, I'll buy you a beer! (though not just before you fly!)

[304065]

If your path crossed the paths of judges on a daily basis you would very likely hesitate to look to the judiciary for moral, ethical or any other kind of guidance at a personal level.

[SOUND OF OVERHEAD SPEAKER, NASAL OPERATOR VOICE]
"Mr. Clarke, please report to the lawyer-bashing thread. Mr. Joe Clarke, to the lawyer-bashing thread."

[CLICK]

From JCM

I'd be very careful about speaking in terms as broad and full of false righteousness as the judge did. While I see his intent with the sentiment, we have many instances in our history (c.f. the Native American, slavery, etc.) where we have grossly ignored the basic fundamental rights of people for our own gain. I'd suggest it would be to our national benefit to keep this in mind.

So the Judge LAMBASTING Reid at his sentencing in the name of freedom, not terrorism, is too much for you, in light of our historical human rights record?

I agree with every single word, and I'm grateful to Singpilot for posting it here, even if it's six months after the fact. And NO, I didn't notice it in the media, and I wish that his sentencing, and the Judge's comments, had been nightly news for a week.

Those of you familiar with my contributions here know that I try to keep my emotions out. But permit me this departure, as I am a third generation pilot, I lived in Manhattan on 9/11, I have walked the crash site where my dad's best friend and 153 others died, and smelled the burned electrical smell, that I also smelled downtown for a month.

This man tried to take down an airliner full of people whose only offense was that they boarded the airplane. For whatever ideological or pathological reason, he was going to kill a bunch of innocent people, people with families, people with lives. Even if you take the position that as part of the military-industrial complex, everyone on the plane is a combatant, that's no reason to send them plummeting from the sky to their deaths

I agree with everything the Judge said, and if I were given five minutes alone with Mr. Reid, I would have VENGEANCE for the families of AA 77 & 11 and UA 175 and 93.

End emotional rant.

[singpilot]

Thank you John.

I stayed at the Marriott Financial District (across the street from Ground Zero) for the last 4 days.

I was in 'Windows on the World' for dinner with a crew on the Sunday before the Tuesday morning 9/11. My credit card was never charged for that dinner.

The fact is that terrorists do not care about us, or our freedoms. They count on taking advantage of our freedoms to allow them to gain access to our infrastructures (like our airlines) to damage us.

I too, share a bias here. I wish there was an answer. Any kind of an answer.

[Superman]

Naivete' is a palpable part of my being, though you guys would not know that from my posts. In this thread is an example. I still do not know what the connection is between this speech, this story.....and liberal media or even the whole liberal/conservative debate. I truly do not. You guys all know I am about as liberal as you will find. And I find this speech thrilling. I'll offer the usual cliche': I may not agree with your ideas, but I will fight and die along side you for your right to have and promote those silly ideas. Some of you guys are not going to believe it, but you'd have a hard time coming up with more national pride than I have.

If someone is suggesting that this speech was supressed because of the undeniable truths it contains and because those truths are beloved by conservatives and hated by liberals, then I have at least two problems. First, it was not suppressed. I do not have much time for TV or newspapers (many of my friends' cars wear the "Kill Your Television" stickers which I think represent a good suggestion), but I have seen that speech before. Second, if anyone thinks that liberals oppose freedom and liberty then all you have really proven is that you are succeptible to the misinformation that seems to be at the heart of nearly any Republican campaign. As a side note, it seems clear to me that we are disagreeing on the freedom and liberty issue due to differing definitions of those terms. By "freedom" and "liberty," we liberals are not talking about commerce. We're talking about people, individuals. "Freedom" is not just freedom from taxes. At least, that's what we believe.

[singpilot]

Freedom from Taxes???

I'd pay a dollar for that!


Great post, BTW.

I do think this particular story does NOT illustrate the bias (one way or the other), but I had not seen this judicial summary anywhere in the mainstream press when it happened. I would have seen and remembered it for all the reasons stated above.

[techweenie]

"Second, if anyone thinks that liberals oppose freedom and liberty then all you have really proven is that you are succeptible to the misinformation that seems to be at the heart of nearly any Republican campaign."

When I hear Ann Coulter talk about killing liberals being a good idea, I know this concept is the root of her anger. Yet, when i sit down and speak with most "conservatives" I find we have much more in common than not. This notion that liberals are for anyone who is against the U.S. is so preposterous, I'm suprised anyone believes it.

[Superman]

Apparently, the Patriot Act (the remedy born of a conservative administration and a conservative Congress) has done wonders for ACLU membership. Growth has been phenomenal, and greatest in Washington ( a liberal...) State. Now of course, I expect to hear some criticism of the ACLU. I understand that criticism, and essentially agree with some of it. ACLU takes freedom and liberty to an extreme. But the fact remains that this is a liberal organization, and that its agenda is the protecting of personal, individual liberty. So, makes you wonder how the conservatives got credit for being liberty-lovers.

Spin that! (I'm up for some lunchtime entertainment)