America's Conscience, Lost and Found, for August 22, 2008

TimK — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:08:16 -0700

Lost: It started a few months ago, the story of a criminal so bad, he’s up to 5 times worse than a murderer. Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about Charlie Lynch, who operated a legal marijuana dispensary for medical patients who had valid prescriptions from their doctors. The sheriff didn’t like the law, so he called in the DEA to raid Charlie’s business and his home, because as we all know, sheriffs and other law-enforcement goons— er, I mean, personnel… Law-enforcement personnel know much more about medicine than doctors do. The DEA managed to get a conviction by working federal law, by suppressing evidence, and thereby manipulating the jury. Now, Charlie Lynch faces a sentence of up to 5 times that a murderer would get. Here’s a prayer for the soul of Sheriff Pat Hedges, who needs a conscience, and for the jurors at Charlie Lynch’s trial, who now need to live with theirs, now that they’ve taken his side.

Found: This week, major news organizations actually spent time reporting something that is good for America. It’s a story repeated many times over, all the time in the U.S., but rarely gets noticed, a “dog bites man” story. Leda Smith, an 85-year-old woman, overcame a much younger, much stronger burglar who had been raiding her home. Naturally, she used the Great Equalizer, a handgun. She first forced the creep to pick up the phone and call 911 on himself. Then she held him until the police arrived. There is no word that she will be prosecuted under Pennsylvania’s gun laws, and I don’t expect any, because Pennsylvania has some of the most reasonable gun laws in the country. Kudos to Leda Smith, who did not just wait for the government to protect her, and also to Robin Roberts and to Amy Robach and to all the other reporters who told her story. (Thanks to Last Free Voice for putting me onto this story.)

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America's Conscience, Lost and Found, for August 22, 2008