Of Casey Anthony, One Juror and Another Mom

Step aside Lady Justice, there's a new babe (and I do mean babe) in town and the scales are clearly tilting toward the one of "hot bod" contest fame. Lady, you may be blind, but the rest of us got a month's view of a whole new take on the pursuit of liberty.

If there's a person reading this that does not know the details of the Casey Anthony trial then stop reading. I have no interest in recounting the trial, the massive misdirection attempted by both sides, and successful only by the defense, or the brutality done to the child, Caylee Anthony, which led up to it.

Let's get right to the heart of the matter. Are you trying to tell me there wasn't a SINGLE person on that jury that believed she killed her own child, most likely in a torturous manner, and then threw the body in a festering swamp to be consumed into nature? Seriously? I heard an alternate juror suggest that evidence wasn't presented to convict, but that doesn't mean they considered Casey Anthony innocent. Nice copout. If just ONE of them had held out there would have been a hung jury and the prosecution would get a second bite at the apple. Instead, society now has another psychopath back on the streets and running around the bars during ladies night. Really? Not one of you figured out that this woman does not belong in society and by simply sticking to common sense we could keep her locked up until the State figured out how to convict her on the appropriate charges?

Instead, juries like this one go into deliberations to talk each other into something. It becomes an exercise in focus group strongman personalities. That in a nutshell is the fundamental problem (besides scumbag lawyers - I know that's redundant) plaguing our legal system. All it took was one person to do the right thing.

Until the court case was being broadcast live on TV, I had little knowledge of it, and had not formed an opinion about guilt or suspects. At times throughout the trial I watched live TV coverage and in some cases, cable news coverage of the days' events in late night reports. To spare the suspense, let me go on record as saying I firmly believe Casey Anthony is guilty of murder. Remember, what the twit alternate told us, being acquitted is not the same as being found innocent.

Perhap, like me, at times, you viewed the trial in the "how does this relate to me" mode. Throughout the proceedings I couldn't help but think of another young mother I met a few months ago. At the ripe old age of 21 she is the single mother of a bouncy two year old. We met through my daughter over the Christmas Holiday and I could not help but be impressed by this young woman we'll call Susan.

Susan had a child with her longtime boyfriend who then went overseas to study. Susan was left to finish her college education, work part time, and care for her son with the substantial help of her family. She loaded up on credits during her pregnancy and beyond so she could graduate early and get on with providing for and raising her son. The father of the boy has since returned to the States but he is more interested in pursuing his business career and playing at part time daddy than being a real man and claiming his responsibilities to his child and the mother. Through it all, Susan has remained upbeat, positive, nonjudgmental, and completely focused on her responsibilities and the love of her life - her little boy. When I met Susan, I instantly formed a deep admiration toward her for the commitment she shows to her child and her intent to better herself to provide for both of their futures. She has a spirit, sense of responsibility and a work ethic you won't find in many people in their early 20's. That brings us back to deadbeat, high school dropout, bimbo and waste of flesh that is Casey Anthony.

It shocks me to see the majority of American people dismayed about the outcome of the verdict. Our legal system was never intended to arrive at truth and justice. It is designed to pursue proof. Without proof one cannot be convicted. Casey Anthony will forever be acquitted of the murder of Caylee Anthony. End of case.

Our legal system has as much to do with pursuit of justice as our health and medical systems have to do with delivering care to everyone who suffers from any affliction, condition, disease, or tummy ache. Our health system is designed to provide services to those who can afford to pay and those who pose the greatest risk to the general population, be it through contagion, financial cost, social or civic burden. It is not meant to address everyone's health related needs. Similarly, our medical system is designed to provide products and services to those who can afford it at various levels. Pharmaceutical companies are not interested in curing disease, only in selling drugs to manage it. Doctors do not practice medicine as a hobby. Those who can pay more, get more. Those who can't, get less or do without. There is medical school, summer homes, and the latest model Mercedes Benz to pay off, not to mention first wives.

I find those who lament the lack of justice for Caylee Anthony in the trial to be pathetic. The only justice that child could get was never to have been born to that mother. Nothing spared her the suffering or can bring her back. Short of those things, the concept of justice is perverted.

There you have it. A child's life is snuffed out. Oops, so sorry. Casey Anthony goes on to live a life of fame and infamy, and Susan and her little boy live quiet, honorable but publicly unacknowledged lives of dignity. And life goes on while CNN and Nancy Grace seek the next headline.

A message from a Marine

I did not write the following, cannot vouch for its authenticity, but thought it was a very powerful message worth sharing with as many people as possible so I copied it and pasted it here. As you ramp up your Holiday celebrations, take a moment, reflect, and remember these men and women in a meaningful way. God Bless our troops.


Subject: [Fwd: Enhanced understanding of Afghanistan - Though the eyes of a Marine]


Not Pulitzer prize material but much better than those that win the "P".


Subject: Enhanced understanding of Afghanistan - Though the eyes of a Marine



You'd have to be there in order to write it this well. Interesting reading.. Writing dated Nov 25, 09.


From a Recon Marine in Afghanistan.


From the Sand Pit. It's freezing here. I'm sitting on hard, cold dirt between rocks and shrubs at the base of the Hindu Kush Mountains, along the Dar 'yoi Pomir River, watching a hole that leads to a tunnel that
leads to a cave. Stake out, my friend, and no pizza delivery for thousands of miles.

I also glance at the area around my ass every ten to fifteen seconds to avoid another scorpion sting. I've actually given up battling the chiggers and sand fleas, but them scorpions give a jolt like a cattle prod. Hurts like a bastard. The antidote tastes like transmission fluid, but God bless the Marine Corps for the five vials of it in my pack.

The one truth the Taliban cannot escape is that, believe it or not, they are human beings, which means they have to eat food and drink water. That requires couriers and that's where an old bounty hunter like me comes in handy. I track the couriers, locate the tunnel entrances and storage facilities, type the info into the handheld, shoot the coordinates up to the satellite link that tells the air commanders where to drop the
hardware. We bash some heads for a while, then I track and record the new movement.

It's all about intelligence. We haven't even brought in the snipers yet. These scurrying rats have no idea what they're in for. We are but days away from cutting off supply lines and allowing the eradication to begin.

I dream of bin Laden waking up to find me standing over him with my boot on his throat as I spit into his face and plunge my nickel-plated Bowie knife through his frontal lobe. But you know me, I'm a romantic. I've
said it before and I'll say it again: This country blows, man. It's noteven a country. There are no roads, there's no infrastructure, there's no government. This is an inhospitable, rock pit shit hole ruled by eleventh century warring tribes. There are no jobs here like we know jobs.

Afghanistan offers two ways for a man to support his family: join the opium trade or join the army. That's it. Those are your options. Oh, I forgot, you can also live in a refugee camp and eat plum-sweetened, crushed beetle paste and squirt mud like a goose with stomach flu, if that's your idea of a party. But the smell alone of those 'tent cities of the walking dead' is enough to hurl you into the poppy fields to cheerfully scrape bulbs for eighteen hours a day.

I've been living with these Tajiks and Uzbeks, and Turkmen and even a couple of Pushtuns, for over a month-and-a-half now, and this much I can say for sure: These guys, all of 'em, are Huns... actual, living Huns. They LIVE to fight. It's what they do. It's ALL they do. They have no respect for anything, not for their families, nor for each other, nor for themselves. They claw at one another as a way of life. They play polo with dead calves and force their five-year-old sons into human cockfights to defend the family honor. Huns, roaming packs of savage, heartless beasts who feed on each other's barbarism. Cavemen with AK-47's. Then again, maybe I'm just cranky.

I'm freezing my ass off on this stupid hill because my lap warmer is running out of juice, and I can't recharge it until the sun comes up in a few hours. Oh yeah! You like to write letters, right? Do me a favor, Bizarre. Write a letter to CNN and tell Wolf and Anderson and that awful, sneering, pompous Aaron Brown to stop calling the Taliban 'smart.' They are not smart. I suggest CNN invest in a dictionary because the word they are looking for is 'cunning'. The Taliban are cunning, like jackals and hyenas and wolverines. They are sneaky and ruthless, and when confronted, cowardly. They are hateful, malevolent parasites who create nothing and destroy everything else. Smart. Pfft. Yeah, they're real smart.

They've spent their entire lives reading only one book (and not a very good one, as books go) and consider hygiene and indoor plumbing to be products of the devil. They're still figuring out how to work a Bic lighter. Talking to a Taliban warrior about improving his quality of life is like trying to teach an ape how to hold a pen; eventually he just gets frustrated and sticks you in the eye with it.

OK, enough. Snuffle will be up soon, so I have to get back to my hole. Covering my tracks in the snow takes a lot of practice, but I'm good at it. Please, I tell you and my fellow Americans to turn off the TV sets and move on with your lives. The story line you are getting from CNN and other news agencies is utter bullshit and designed not to deliver truth but rather to keep you glued to the screen through the commercials. We've got this one under control. The worst thing you guys can do right now is sit around analyzing what we're doing over here, because you have no idea what we're doing, and really, you don't want to know. We are your military, and we are doing what you sent us here to do.

You wanna help? Buy Bonds, America..

Saucy Jack
Recon Marine in Afghanistan
Semper Fi

"Freedom is not free... but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share."