Flyover Country

Six Ohio legislators want to give criminals with multiple convictions the option to have their court records sealed.  As it is now, only first time offenders are eligible to petition the court for this action.  Where it gets really evil is that the record expunging isn’t limited to the courts.  These senators have decided they want all records of the convictions erased.

Columbus Dispatch The legislation, introduced by Sen. Shirley Smith, D-Cleveland, however, would not stop at ordering courts and police agencies to seal the official record.

It also would require individuals and private businesses to erase the historical record by destroying “records” they hold about the convictions of those whose cases are sealed.

Under threat of a $250,000 fine, the bill would require individuals, newspapers and other news media to delete stories from the Internet and their archives about the arrests and convictions of those who win expungement orders.

If a party knowingly released information about a sealed conviction, they would face a $500,000 fine. The damages would double to $1 million if the banned information was available on the Internet.

This is a blatant attempt to create a de-facto Ministry of Truth – where historical records are destroyed on penalty of massive fines.  Small-town newspapers would be immediately destroyed by even a single one of these fines.

To start with poor convicts who just can’t get a job because of their criminal record is the foot in the door to forcing the erasure of other history.  We have a right to a public trial primarily for the accused.  We have a free and open press so that we have someone keeping an accurate record of history.  As an employer, I have a right to know if someone I’m interviewing has a rap sheet for fraud or bank robbery.

However well intentioned, this is a supremely bad idea.  Every piece of history the government or a politician doesn’t want you to find out about will be erased.  One conviction for a minor offense is a youthful indiscretion.  Multiple DUIs is a pattern – and we the people have a right to know who we’re electing.

There is an unrelated story about how the Columbus City council is trying to grant themselves privileges to move meetings behind closed doors, out of view of the public.  This is the opposite of a government of the people.  This is a government of rulers, who alone will decide what history is kept, what must be changed to reflect their arbitrary declarations, and what must be erased.

Spoiler Alert: this post contains details of the plotline of a movie integral to the story. If you don’t want it spoiled, stop reading now.

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Bloomberg: Investigating 9/11 Mosque Is Un-American

NEW YORK (AP) – New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate a mosque that is planned for construction near where the World Trade Center once stood.

(h/t @DanRiehl)

Let me make a list for Mayor Bloomberg, to refresh his memory, of things that are Un-American:

• Honor killings
• Honor “rape”, or just rape in general
• Beatings for women going out in public unescorted by a male relative
• Not allowing women to go to school, or learn to read
• Killing Christians who won’t covert
• Killing Jews because they’re, well, Jewish
• Refusing to drive a cab for passengers who have an unopened bottle of wine, or a dog
• Flying planes full of people into buildings full of people
• Suicide bombings
• Strapping explosives to women, children, and the mentally retarded – turning them into bombs
• Shari’ah law superceding American law
• Beheadings, including of journalists like Daniel Pearl.
• Burning the bodies of Americans, dragging them through the streets, and then hanging them from a bridge
• Promising to drive all the Jews into the sea
• Declaring that the Muslim flag will fly over the Whitehouse
• Killing and/or threatening to kill people over newspaper cartoons
• Cheering in the streets when the towers fell
• Screaming ‘Allah Akbar’ and shooting up a room full of unarmed people on an American military base

There are more, but here is my last one: sticking a fork in the eye of the American people by building a huge mosque within spitting distance of and overlooking the pit where buildings once stood and 2,500 people, most American, were murdered by Muslim fanatics on 9/11.

These things alone are reprehensible on their face.  They are not a reason to investigate a simple, humble religious building being constructed in Manhattan.  That the folks behind the mosque might be funding terrorism is a reason to investigate.  That the folks running the mosque may use it to incite more terrorism is a reason to investigate.  I’m sorry that the symbolism of the mosque’s size and location are lost on you, Mr. Mayor.  I’m pretty sure it isn’t lost on the Muslim world.

Dear Mr. President:

Please stay the hell away from Columbus.  Especially when we’re trying to train and prepare for a real disaster.  You knew we were running an all-day exercise that hard-working folks have been planning for over a year.  You knew your visit would mean sucking away resources from our exercise and leaving us short-handed on first responders.  You gave us barely two days notice (based on the publication of the initial TFR), and wanted us to cancel our plans – for you.

I don’t think you give a shit.  We’re just flyover country.  We’re mostly just typical white people who cling to our God and our guns, and what we’re doing doesn’t really matter.  You’re the king, and if you want to come to give a 10 minute speech on the one day we need you to not be here f’ing things up, we’ll just have to suffer.  You have no respect for the American people, let alone the good citizens of Columbus.

How many of our first responders were not able to participate because you had to come to town?  They had to line your parade route to make sure they were available if anything happened to YOU.  It is always about YOU.  How many of our firefighters and police missed out on valuable, irreplaceable training?  How much less prepared are we now, and how much benefit in emergency services have the tax payers of central Ohio lost because of you?

Let me be clear Mr. President.  This wasn’t some little mom-and-pop operation in a rural firehouse in the sticks.  We’re a major city, and this involved the entire Columbus metro area, including a major airport, 9 major local hospitals, and more fire-rescue departments than I can count.  Two hospitals bailed at the last minute – one because you were going to be in their way.  Many agencies were only able to send EMTs.  There were only a couple of fire trucks and almost no police.  Does that make sense in a major disaster?  Of course not.  Because I suspect they were all pulled off the exercise to come babysit you for your 58 minutes on the ground here in town.

You couldn’t pick another day on YOUR busy schedule.  You just had to fly in, spend 10 whole minutes talking about jobs – while the workers on the site you chose for your theatre had to go home without pay.  Your 10 minutes pretty much ruined months and months of careful planning and coordination from multiple agencies, and a whole day for all of the unpaid volunteers.  Go back to Washington and stay the hell out of my city.

Sincerely,
Me

Update: Found a CBS article saying the 10 minute speech cost the tax payers somewhere between $500,000 and $1,000,000.  Salt in the wound.