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Ken Schram: "As A Democrat, I'm Embarrassed"
As I was driving along Lake Washington yesterday listening to KOMO radio, I suddenly heard Ken Schram saying exactly what I had been thinking -- well, almost exactly. (See story).
He referred to a story on KOMO 4 News recently where reporter Liz Rocca uncovered how badly the State Department of Corrections is handling dangerous felons after those criminals are released from prison. (See story).
Ken pointed out the most glaring evidence of their mishandling of these felons is the three dead police officers who would still be alive if the DOC had done its job.
He said the Republican lawmakers have proposed a series of bills to toughen things up and hold the DOC more accountable for keeping bad guys off the street.
He said, "The problem is, not only are the Democrats not signing on to those bills, they're not doing nearly enough to help move them forward."
"As a Democrat," he said, "I'm embarrassed." Well, I'm not a Democrat and I'm not embarrassed, but I sure agree with Ken. Why are these folks afraid to tighten and enforce the law against some of our most dangerous felons?
Some of the bills they are refusing to support are bills that Faith & Freedom support and in supporting them, we have found widespread bi-partisan support among voters across the state. (See the list of Washington State bills we support and oppose).
While I'm not embarrassed, I'm disappointed and we all should be.
Safety should not be a partisan issue.
Voters tend to have a short memory and some of our Democratic lawmakers are betting their political careers on that, because if the public remembers next time these folks come up for election that they were unwilling to act on bills that make us all safer, some of them may get fired.
We'll do our best to help you remember.
________________
Gary Randall
President
Faith & Freedom
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24 Comments:
Hmmm...does this sound like a partisan shill taking advantage of tragedy?? I strongly suspect so. How often have Republicans been responsible for immense crimes not to mention the raping of America morally, financially, and constitutionally by the Bush regime?? But not a word from the Religious Right about true righteousness.
Further reflection indicates that the much of the solution probably lies in the failure of the Dept. of Corrections to function in the manner in which it has been prescribed by the legislators.
I suspect their are complexities and needs that warrant a great deal more attention and genuine solutions. Not half-baked sound bites from partisan hacks who could not really care less about genuine solutions but are far more interested in getting a lick in for the philosophical and political benefit.
Too bad.... we need people like Jesus Christ who will work for the genuine good of humanity rather religious people who simply sound off at any point for the purpose of simple partisanship regardless of the tragedy that they have to take advantage of for their personal benefit. Kind of sick actually....
I would love FNF engage in the former rather than the latter activity.
Sincerely,
In Christ
Human
In Ken Shram, Gary Randall has found a person that I find almost as obnoxious as he is.
Be very helpful to know what are the designations of these bills. I can agree something should be done but what's being proposed might not be what needs to be done as is often the case.
Only by being able to read the bills themselves can an informed opinion on whether these particular bills are actually proposing a solution to the problem.
(and Ken is a professional gadfly - if he's not irritating you he really isn't doing his job (I consider myself just a talented amateur.)
The democrats in Olympia have the same problem the Republicans suffered till the recent election in DC. Of course we have a national media that pointed this out , at times rightly .. Or should I say leftly . No such thing , in the Puget Sound region anyway .
They listen to a limited view point , squelch debate , and offer limited solutions to complex problems .
Ken Schram is a arragant puke for sure , I listen to him sometimes with JohnCarlson and see its more his personality then his liberalism , he can be as self righeous when attacking the left when he does ..
Olympia caters to the bureacracy , they claimed three strikes and your out would be a disaster for our judicial system , well violent crime went down , .Repeat offenders should not be out on the streets for yet another chance when their crimes show a disregard for the safety of citizens and their property . The problem of tough sentencing is only part of the problem , getting people who are genuinely wanting to go straight sure need a helping hand to keep them out of the circles and circumstances that got them in the cycle . That takes not just money , and feeding the status quo .
Jessica's Law was watered down to allow people who are not victims of crimes , never met the victims to make the decisions of how the case to be prosecuted , to allow sexual predators be released on the continued use of plea baragains through a burueacratic system .
The democratic reps then went out and bragged about getting tough on sexual predators , and then went on TV and the willing press to dismiss the cries of victims as political posturing .
Often the winners in the bills on crimes from Olympia are lawyers , bureacracy and the criminals .
The system has loop holes big time , and the left ward good intentions , if they really are ,keep them elected but has caused a growing organized victim revolt ..
The Olympia carreer politicians listen to the folks who support their continued access to power .
What also bugged me was the recent bill promoted by the dems allowing felons on parole to get their voting rights back . Heard one of the sponsors of the bill admit one of the problems in the past election was identifying those voting who should not have been , therefore the Olympia solution , allow them the right to vote while still paying for their crime , . I am sure it makes a victim of a crime feel like the system is protecting them allowing a criminal who violated their Constituional rights to vote for someone who makes the penalty for doing so less severe .
Mick,
Your point about 3 strikes valid. The problem is that when you make is carte blanche, you end up locking up certain idiots who made some bad decisions but should not be locked up whereas some individuals are plain evil and should probably simply be stoned. That is why we need honest, objective judges to judge people as well as the law. This is a failure of the right-wing Republican and to some extent the Democrats as well (as well as our culture).
Christ knows who simply needs help and support and who needs to spend eternity in hell even though, on the surface, they might have committed 3 felonies each.
NOTE: Just because one is a felon does NOT necessarily mean they are violent. Sad to say, but our laws are very screwed up and that is why we are in this mess in the first place.
Sincerely,
Human
Below is a blurb from http://www.crooksandliars.com/
This blurb sums up why Evangelicals NEVER should have gotten involved in Right wing, Republican politics - it is ugly, corrupt, violent and filthy. And they have become fully corrupted by it and the power they managed to get - as well as being fully manipulated by the power brokers. Their intent may have been sincere but playing with the devil will land your butt in hell. FNF is a classic example which is why I blog on here - to expose just how corrupt those who name the name of Christ can become when they engage with Satan.
NOTE: I am not a democrate, liberal, progressive or any other title - there are not titles in Christ - there is no Right or Left - only the Strait and Narrow!!!
Using External Enemies To Crush Domestic Dissent
By: Nicole Belle @ 7:10 PM - PST
This post by Austin at Jesus General falls very much in line with my question of the conservative fear of The Other from yesterday.
On January 31st, Amanda Marcotte wrote about how conservative pundit Mike Gallagher actually admitted that terrorism would be a good thing for Republican political ambitions:
Seeing Jane Fonda Saturday was enough to make me wish the unthinkable: it will take another terror attack on American soil in order to render these left-leaning crazies irrelevant again. Remember how quiet they were after 9/11? No one dared take them seriously. It was the United States against the terrorist world, just like it should be.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - but I think he might have been wrong. I think that we should also perhaps fear, or at least be very wary of, those in our society who would use our fears for their own political agendas. Mike Gallagher's comments are not an isolated instance of political insanity - similar thoughts have been expressed to varying degrees by a number of conservatives and Republicans over the past few years. There are many who look fondly on the 9/11 attacks because they provided an excuse to push through domestic and international policies they had long advocated, but could not successfully impose on others because there wasn't enough fear in American society to help.
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Human
Amanda Marcotte the source for your post is receiving much attention from the DC Press
and political commentators . John Edwards hiring her recently for his Presidential campaign has caused a backlash because of some of her outrageous opinions , nasty comments concerning people from the Duke students charged with rape to political opinions . . . She has a reputation for uncivil discourse , a bloggers Ann Coulter .
Interesting you mentioned FDR with a quote to make your point ., , Because on your same blog you referenced, it had the following about FDR , they seem to not care for him , or about any Anmerican they don't agree with , and that appears to a wide list .
Pearl Harborw was just a democratic trick to stay in power . Sounds crazy , yep , sound familiar ?
.
From Crooks and Liars ...
It has long been suspected that there was advanced knowledge of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that was not properly given to commanders at Pearl Harbor, information that could have prevented the attack or let the American forces be more prepared.
This is a complex situation. There are two primary issues at hand:
1)Was the attack on Pearl Harbor provoked?
2)Did the FDR administration have prior knowledge of an impending attack and fail to warn those stationed at Pearl Harbor?
Whether or not FDR knew about the Japanese plans to attack Pearl Harbor actually misses the larger and more important issue, which is the fact that the Japanese were provoked into attacking America at Pearl Harbor. The majority of Americans, and even service men, were unaware of what was going on behind the scenes, but not all were. FDR had been charged in public with agitating for war since 1939. FDR had to push the Japanese into attacking the United States because the overwhelming majority of Americans opposed getting involved in the war and Japan itself had no intentions of attacking the United States, their interest was Asia. Without FDR's antagonisms towards the Japanese, Congress and the American people never would have allowed FDR to declare war on Japan or Germany; FDR knew this, and he also knew how important it really was that America join in the war against fascism and imperialism.
The most direct evidence of antagonisms toward Japan is the McCollum Memo written October 7th 1940 (declassified in 1994) that was given to FDR as well as the actions that were later taken by the administration.
The McCollum Memo can be viewed here (I strongly advise that you read the entire memo by clicking the image above):
Of critical importance in this memo is the portion that reads:
9. It is not believed that in the present state of political opinion the United States government is capable of declaring war against Japan without more ado; and it is barely possible that vigorous action on our part might lead the Japanese to modify their attitude. Therefore, the following course of action is suggested:
A. Make an arrangement with Britain for the use of British bases in the Pacific, particularly Singapore.
B. Make an arrangement with Holland for the use of base facilities and acquisition of supplies in the Dutch East Indies.
C. Give all possible aid to the Chinese government of Chiang-Kai-Shek.
D. Send a division of long range heavy cruisers to the Orient, Philippines, or Singapore.
E. Send two divisions of submarines to the Orient.
F. Keep the main strength of the U.S. fleet now in the Pacific in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands.
G. Insist that the Dutch refuse to grant Japanese demands for undue economic concessions, particularly oil.
H. Completely embargo all U.S. trade with Japan, in collaboration with a similar embargo imposed by the British Empire.
10. If by these means Japan could be led to commit an overt act of war, so much the better. At all events we must be fully prepared to accept the threat of war.
- H. McCollum
On November 26, 1941 Secretary of State Hull presented "peace terms" to the Japanese. The terms presented by Hull were such that in order for Japan to agree to them they would have had to withdraw from China, and essentially end all hostilities, something that the administration knew was not going to happen. Hull's oral presentation to the Japanese follows:
"The representatives of the Government of the United States and of the Government of Japan have been carrying on during the past several months informal and exploratory conversations for the purpose of arriving at a settlement if possible of questions relating to the entire Pacific area based upon the principles of peace, law and order and fair dealing among nations.
These principles include the principle of inviolability of territorial integrity and sovereignty of each and all nations; the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries; the principle of equality, including equality of commercial opportunity and treatment; and the principle of reliance upon international cooperation and conciliation for the prevention and pacific settlement of controversies and for improvement of international conditions by peaceful methods and processes.
It is believed that in our discussions some progress has been made in reference to the general principles which constitute the basis of a peaceful settlement covering the entire Pacific area.
Recently the Japanese Ambassador has stated that the Japanese Government is desirous of continuing the conversations directed toward a comprehensive and peaceful settlement of the Pacific area; that it would be helpful toward creating an atmosphere favorable to the successful outcome of the conversations if a temporary modus vivendi could be agreed upon to be in effect while the conversations looking to peaceful settlement in the Pacific were continuing.
On November 20 the Japanese Ambassador communicated to the Secretary of State proposals in regard to temporary measure to be taken respectively by the Government of Japan and by the Government of the United States, which measures are understood to have been designed to accomplish the purposes above indicated.
The Government of the United States most earnestly desires to contribute to the promotion and maintenance of peace and stability in the Pacific area, and to afford every opportunity for the continuance of discussion with the Japanese Government directed toward working out a broad-gauge program of peace throughout the Pacific area.
The proposals which were presented by the Japanese Ambassador on November 20 contain some features which, in the opinion of this Government, conflict with the fundamental principles which form a part of the general settlement under consideration and to which each Government has declared that it is committed. The Government of the United States believes that the adoption of such proposals would not be likely to contribute to the ultimate objectives of ensuring peace under law, order and justice in the Pacific area, and it suggests that further effort be made to resolve our divergences of view in regard to the practical application of the fundamental principles already mentioned.
With this object in view the Government of the United States offers for the consideration of the Japanese Government a plan of a broad but simple settlement covering the entire Pacific area as one practical exemplification of a program which this Government envisages as something to be worked out during our further conversations.
The plan therein suggested represents an effort to bridge the gap between our draft of June 21, 1941 and the Japanese draft of September 25 by making a new approach to the essential problems underlying a comprehensive Pacific settlement. This plan contains provisions dealing with the practical application of the fundamental principles which we have agreed in our conversations constitute the only sound basis for worthwhile international relations. We hope that in this way progress toward reaching a meeting of minds between our two Governments may be expedited."
12:57 AM, February 12, 2007
1:12 AM, February 12, 2007
Gary,
Pack your bags and focus on your resident State of Oregon. Washington doesn't need your meddling.
Good grief.
"Safety should not be a partisan issue"
in the midst of a blog entitled,
"As a Democrat, I'm Embarassed"
Could Mr. Randall and FFN make their truest allegiance any more clear. For those of you who are still blindly pretending this site is something more than a 100% shill for the GOP - WAKE UP FINALLY!!!
Yes, and we are so glad that it is. Thank you Gary, and keep reminding us, and helping us to keep reminding others of what is really going on.
Mick,
Thanks for some of the clarifications - I appreciate them - and NOTE that my focus is on both sincerity and truth - which is not always gotten in a direct line.
Sincerely,
Human
Ignoring the free-form rant this discussion has turned into I'm still wondering exactly which bills Ken Schram was talking about. Using the keywords 'crime' and 'criminal' at the wa.gov legislative web site I can't see any pending bills that would really have prevented any of the things Ken (and Gary) are complaining about.
Does anyone yet know the bill designations?
Oh and I hope everyone here CAN get behind HB 2122 which would compensate people who have been wrongful convicted and imprisoned. Such reversals are rare but when they do happen we do owe the victim more than a 'sorry' and a new pair of shoes.
One of the bestcivic sights I have found , informational and ease of operator use is Washingington Votes . Not only gives you bills , allow comments in a blog form .
An example of what Ken Schram is talking about , really all you have to do is search crime , and you cansee all the related crime bills , active , out of committee, buried . Here is just one .
(http://www.washingtonvotes.org/
2007 House Bill 2084
(Improving state supervision of felony offenders in the community
. Have not investigated the bill about compensating falsy imprisoned . My first concern was what happens if it was like 20 years , maybe the compensation should be more , or what happens if the person is released on a techanality like recently when the Court allowed people convicted of secon degree murder to have their sentences overthrown if they had killed someone but had not intentionally meant to kill them .
Leaving some disgression is sometimes good .. I did not know we were handlng cases shabily , or were we spending too much ?
(http://www.washingtonvotes.org/
2007 House Bill 2084
(Improving state supervision of felony offenders in the community
Oshtur,
Thanks re: HB2122 - this is ABSOLUTELY essential and certainly conforms to Judeo - Christian values so I am certain FNF is fully supportive and lobbying for this vital justice oriented piece of legislation.
Mick brings up a good point - what about criminals who get off on a technicality. Clearly they are not the ones who need redress. The bill needs to be written in a narrow manner such that only genuinely innocent, peaceful human beings who have been wrongfully attacked by either State or Federal agents are FULLY compensated. I believe any competent judge/appeal judges could easily sort this out.
AND we should add language that any prosecuters or state agents who aided and abetted in this insidious plot against said individual should receive full punitive damage of the law including the forfeiture of whatever property they have to reimburse the state as well as they loss of their position AND, as if it even needs to be said, the loss of their pension.
I suspect we will see a lot less corruption by said agents of the justice and "law enforcement" departments.
It is time for the democracy of America to function in a healthy, just and peaceful manner to ALL peaceful human beings.
I will be writing to my legislators concerning this.
Sincerely,
Human
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Thank you Mick - reading through the bill its seems like fairly minor changes and may be why it didn't get much attention though I have no problem with it being enacted.
As far as HB 2122 the $50k per year ($100k per year if spent on death row) is a minimum, the judge/jury can award more if they think it is warranted (though 20y x$50k/y is a million dollars - I think that's a pretty decent compensation.)
Concerning people getting paid due to a technicality, the money isn't automatic - a judge or judge and jury have to award it after it was applied for. I doubt anything will be awarded to anyone released on a technicality. There is a front page article on the Seattle Times web page about it, according to it only 4 cases in recent years would qualify.
Before anyone disparages this bill - they should consider what they would consider appropriate if it was them - or their spouse or child or sibling or parent. This might help bring some perspective onto it.
Sincerely,
In Christ,
Human
Shocking! 10:22 actually admitted to what we all know is true - FFN is nothing more than a cheap shill for the GOP. Kudos on finally owning up to it.
I read that article at work about compensation . < during lunch>
22 states alread have done it , I must have been out of the loop on this issue . I read once in a while about someone being released because DNA evidence proved them innocent , but did not realize it that it happened that often .
Yes, we really should focus on the .1 percent of people wronged, while every year, children are being transported across state lines to risk death to have their babies aborted. Makes perfect sense.
Hey Anom ,
The blog started out with Mr Randall pointing out all the bills on crime that were not being noticed .
Someone brought this one up concerning people who were innocent and sentenced to prison .. If you ask me , that would suck and it has merit , or worthy of knowing about it . It has no problem that I know of getting passed .
My problem since I have been involved in politics on the grassroots levels is not people paying attention to the important issues like abortion , homosexual marriage , sexual predators , like this blog brings to light , but to the issues that surround every day decision making . Who is elected , who are selected on volunteer committees and boards , etc ..
If you want to talk about abortion rights , that is great , but please pay attention to the other matters at hand . many on the left side of issues have made politics their religion , it has gotten very lonely by the few of us who have been on the front lines , and behind the liberal lines in political battles , ..
This web sight is an example of the pronlem in many regards , if you only show up to fight the big battles , the people who are showing up for the everyday little ones and are don't share your world view, will eventually defeat you ..
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