How to Get Ahead in Law

Bernard Baran served 22 years on dubious child molestation charges, but the prosecutor who convicted him was promoted to judge.

Last June, District Attorney David Capeless of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, announced that he was dropping all charges against 44-year-old Bernard Baran, a man who has spent half his life behind bars on child molestation charges that the state no longer has the confidence to retry.

Baran was convicted in January 1985 of molesting six children at a pre-kindergarten day care facility in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He was released on bond in 2006 after an appeals court determined that his trial attorney had been incompetent and that the prosecution may have withheld key exculpatory evidence. Baran says that during his jail term he was raped and beaten more than 30 times, necessitating six different transfers to new correctional institutions. Such is the cost the prison system exacts on an openly gay man convicted of molesting children.

Baran was one of the first people in the country to be prosecuted in the day care sex abuse panic of the 1980s, a bizarre nationwide hysteria fed by homophobia, fears of Satanism, and a wing of child psychology that used unproven interrogation techniques that critics say caused children to recount sexual incidents that never took place.

... much more link at sig ...

I have been following these sorts of travesties of "the law" or "justice" since the late 70s. Your reading of the facts may differ from mine; but my reading says that the USA is the land of injustice and we should try to learn about freedom, justice, and law ourselves before we play the savior and tell other societies what they should be doing.

I must disagree. I think Glenn writes much better when he does it straight.

I think snark, sarcasm, satire, and so forth are better done in the comments section where folks know his positions. Glenn is now linked to all over the net. There will be people who read Greenwald for the first time and possibly think him an idiot, not realizing that he meant the exact opposite.

But, each author must make up his own mind as how best to persuade.

We see the problems with other societies, the Muslims for example, and some even want to use our military to make these foreign societies "better", whatever than means.

We don't see the problems with our own society; or we forgive them as regrettable necessities while we "save the world" as God's exceptional people.

This disease effects the far right, far left, moderates, and damn near everyone else in the Country. We grew up being indoctrinated in school that we were the saviors of the world --- the last, best hope for mankind. (ripped off from B5)

It is time for Americans to recall and old saying that used to mean something to the people: "live and let live". It is time for all the busy-body activists to mind their own business. Hell, it is time for them to know what their business is.

This one had it all, eh? Mostly off topic but entertaining. Just the way Glenn loves them I would guess.

Here is a little news that is more on topic. The man-made-death-by-heat crowd is taking it on the chin all over the world today. More "establishment suffers a serious defeat".

a taste:

The prestigious German magazine, Der Speigel, has published an article confirming that climate scientists are now certain that the world’s climate has not warmed at all between 1999 to 2008. This despite the fact that the IPCC assumed it rose 0.2C in this time frame.

These same scientists say that the climate warmed by 0.7C from the late 1970’s to the late 1990’s but “At present, however, the warming is taking a break,” confirms meteorologist Mojib Latif of the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in the northern German city of Kiel. Latif, one of Germany’s best-known climatologists, says that the temperature curve has reached a plateau. “There can be no argument about that,” he says. “We have to face that fact.”

This raises doubts about the predictive value of climate models and Jochem Marotzke, director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg says “We don’t really know why this stagnation is taking place at this point.” ...

This was written before climategate came out yesterday with all the smoking guns of fraud and anti-science seen in the hundreds of private e-mails and documents hacked from a computer server at a British university which are causing a stir among global warming skeptics. They show that climate scientists conspired to overstate the case for a human influence on climate change.

I would respond on that subject to you since you mentioned me by name, but Glenn is deleting most any post that is about the economy, libertarianism, or that mentions progressives. Sorry, take it up with Chris.

=:-)

Bingo!

Starting from the time when the FED was created up until now, the dollar has lost 97 percent of its value. Why, exactly, do you think the FED is a good thing?

My local rag has the news that my congressman Grayson and Texas congressman Paul had won a great victory. I have met Grayson and supported him in both his losing race and in his winning race. Vindication!

Now, what about the Senate?

... of the big news in the world of science ...

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-25061-Climate-Change-Examiner~y2009m11d20-ClimateGate--Climate-centers-server-hacked-revealing-documents-and-emails

or at sig

ClimateGate - Climate center's server hacked revealing documents and emails

Most entertaining development.