In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Jury Duty
I had jury duty yesterday. We were told that thanks to a 1927 law the daily fee had been raised from 3 to $5. I had an extra large lunch knowing that that $5 was coming. We were also shown a video explaining the justice system of America: specifically how it pertained to members of the jury. We were warned that it was slightly dated before we viewed it. I thought it was a pretty could overview of what we, as members of the jury, may expect without being too insulting of our intelligence. But as I was watching it I was wondering why she had said it was dated, and then I got it, at the very ending. “Our system of justice has been unchanged in over 200 years. It is you the jury that make our system of justice the best in the world, everyone, no matter the crime, can request a jury of peers to hear the facts of the case.” Ah, that’s it. The video was definitely pre-Aschcroft. Now you can be arrested without a Grand Jury indicting you, and you can be tried without a jury hearing you. So much for 200+ years of tradition. For more go to the ACLU site.
But I’m not going to just end this story with a complaint about Ashcroft, nope, I’ve definitely got an angle here about Bush, the old “revisionist historian” himself.
IN THE FALL OF 1996, George W. Bush, 21 months into his first term as governor, made a surprise decision: He would show up for Travis County jury duty. He made a very public appearance at the jury screening, telling reporters, "I'm just an average guy showing up for jury duty." When he arrived at the county courthouse a week later for jury selection for a trial, he schmoozed with his fellow prospective jurors outside the courtroom, asserting to reporters his belief that jury duty was everyone's responsibility.
But while Bush held forth in the corridor, a meeting was taking place inside the court that would make certain that the governor would never be impaneled. Back in the judge's chambers, Alberto R. "Al" Gonzales, the governor's quiet, dapper general counsel and one of his closest advisers, was making a forceful case that his client could not be a juror. Bush had the power to pardon defendants, Gonzales argued, and thus should not vote on their innocence or guilt at trial. (read more at Texas Monthly – requires free registration)
So the “average guy” is trying to get out of jury behind the scenes because he’s not “average,” he’s the governor. While this is sleazy, it isn’t atypical political behavior. But it didn’t end there, there was much more to this story:
Prosecutor says Bush “directly deceived” him to avoid jury duty
November 05, 2000 | AUSTIN, Texas -- Travis County's lead prosecutor on the 1996 drunken-driving case in which Gov. George W. Bush was called as a potential juror now believes he was purposely misled by Bush and his attorney in an effort to avoid service.
Ken Oden, a Democrat who has been the Travis County attorney for 16 years, charged Saturday that Bush's failure to answer some of the questions on his jury questionnaire, coupled with his lawyer's efforts to get Bush excused because he might someday be called on to pardon the offender, was part of an effort to deceive prosecutors and others.
Bush "used his position as governor" to avoid having to answer potentially embarrassing questions about his past, Oden told Salon. "I feel I was directly deceived."
The prosecutor, who handles civil cases as well as misdemeanor criminal cases for the county, said that Thursday's news that Bush pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence in Maine in 1976 caused him to reexamine the 1996 case.
"With all the new information that has come forward, it's logical to see that there may have been motives at work that none of us knew about. But at the time, we were just trying to be courteous to the governor," said Oden.
The government asks three things of its citizens: Pay Taxes (Harken pulled some Enron like deals to avoid taxes back when Bush was on the board. And Bush himself pulled a little accounting trick to lower his tax bill back then as well.), Register for the draft (well when there was a draft, Bush got out of that thanks to Daddy’s friends), and Jury Duty (well we can see how Bush dealt with that). Wow Bush is zero for three for citizen responsibilities. Forget about kicking him out of the White House, kick him out of the country! He’s nothing but a free loader! He's a gosh darn leach.
- rob 4:50 PM - [PermaLink] -
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