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Aug. 15, 2011 THE REALLY LONG ARM OF THE LAW: Casey Anthony is now a victim. Orange County Judge Belvin Perry ruled that she must return to her hometown and serve a year of supervised probation. The sentence stems from an earlier check-fraud conviction. Knowing she is a social pariah and a potential killing victim, the court has showed a blatant disregard for her safety and possibly that of the public. You would think with her gone, the citizens of Orlando would expel a collective sigh of relief. But no, the sentencing judge declared that not imposing the lawful sentence would be a "mockery of justice." Just because you have the right to do something does not always means doing it is right. It seems to me that the prosecution and the court believes this somehow makes up for what many call a botched verdict. Guess again. Judge Perry even admitted that Anthony could be in danger when he wrote “there is a high probability that there are many that would like to see physical harm visited upon the Defendant.” Perhaps the court should reconsider this sentence or modify it, so that she carries out the terms of her probation elsewhere and reports to the Florida courts. It is naïve to expect the court to bend the rules for anyone, let alone someone who the public thinks got away with murder and in a local nmewspaper poll was votyed the most hated person in America . But this is an exceptional case, and such cases sometimes merit exception. NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME, PLAYA: The Iowa debate revealed that there are two persons in the GOP presidential race that simply aren’t ready for the big time. The first is Herman Cain, who has stuck his foot in his mouth so many times, even Joe Biden is probably laughing at him. He has been asked to explain his inflammatory statements concerning Muslims and rather than do so, complains that his words were taken out of context. This is not the time nor place to be backpedaling and explaining supposed “misquotes.” If you cannot clearly state your positions, simply put, you shouldn’t be a candidate. While his financial acumen has never been question (and was praised by Mitt Romney), Cain is not ready for the big time and should be nowhere near the Republican ticket come 2012. The second person is Tim Pawlenty. He comes off as a wimp who has found the one person (Michelle Bachmann) whom he thinks is weaker than him and tried to pick on her to boost his own self-esteem. Only just like on the sandlot, sometimes the wimp gets his butt kicked by aa girl. And that ios the case here. I think most GOP vbotyers are like me: the more they see of Pawlenty, the less impressed they become. Right after the 2008 election, the GOP touted Pawlenty , South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Louisiana bigwig Bobby Jindal as favorites to be their standard bearer in 2012. Sarah Palin was hyped as a fourth choice, but the woman while popular among Tea Party members, is a polarizing figure. We now see that none of the three have what it takes to perform in the spotlight, which makes me wonder if those three were the best the GOP could produce, why bother with them at all. ANOTHER TEN-GALLON HAT ON A HALF-GALLON HEAD: Like the Governor before him, now Texas’ top dog Rick Perry has jumped into the GOP primary race touting that he is a job creator, and boasting that his state created more than 40% of all new jobs since 2009. The fact that most of them are minimum wage gigs and is due to the influx of newcomers to the state makes his claims a bit cockeyed, if not downright misleading. National Public Radio put it this way: “the 1 million jobs created during Perry's decade as governor, nearly one-third were in government. Because of the surging population, more than half of those new public sector jobs were at public schools. Those jobs are likely to be lost in coming years. Lawmakers in the recent session were forced to slash the budget to make up for a shortfall estimated at $27 billion. The cuts will cost at least 100,000 jobs by 2013, according to an independent analysis released early this year. Major cuts in public school funding is expected to force tens of thousands of educators to be laid off.” (Elise Hu, “Perry Jumps Into Presidential Race Touting Texas Job Growth,” NPR, August 14, 2011 , http://tinyurl.com/3mrllwf). Beware of Texans crowing about job creation. George W. Bush came into office at the beginning of a recession, and according to the Wall Street Journal, “The Bush administration created about three million jobs (net) over its eight years, a fraction of the 23 million jobs created under President Bill Clinton‘s administration and only slightly better than President George H.W. Bush did in his four years in office.” WSJ, “Bush On Jobs: The Worst Track Record On Record,” January 9, 2009) Perry will likely earn the endorsement of his twin sister, Sarah Palin, who is looking more and more like she is content to sit on the sideline and play kingmaker. He Democrats are hitting their knees en masse/at mass and praying for her to jump into the fray and win the nomination. GETTING TO THE GOOD WOODS: Tiger Woods’ golf game is an enigma. When It’s good, it’s very good. But when he’s bad it’s better…for his rivals, that is. Woods, once considered a lock to break Jack Nicklaus’ record for most wins in major tournaments (18), hasn’t won a major in two years and is stuck on 14. Many speculate that the problems are in his head, but others point to the health of his failing knee and that he has changed his stroke for the third time. No longer associated with the caddy who helped him to 13 of those wins, Woods seems to never have gotten over the notoriety of his messy, very public divorce. The fact his ex-wife now has a new man in her life might also be on his mind. Woods however, is not hurting for money and it is estimated that he will top one billion dollars in earnings by this year. So when I hear Stevie Williams, Woods’ former caddy, saying he has “lost respect for Tiger,” I have to chuckle. Woods made Williams golf’s wealthiest and most well-known bag carrier, and now he’s doing to his former employer what Tiger did to his ex-wife Elin. ------------ About the author: Timothy N. Stelly is a poet, essayist, novelist and screenwriter from northern California. His novel, HUMAN TRIAL 2: ADAM'S WAR, is available from Amazon.com, allthingsthatmatterpress.com. Is the HUMAN TRIAL trilogy far-fetched? Check out the article on alien encounters at www.stellyhumantrial.com. Would you like a FREE copy of HUMAN TRIAL 2: ADAM'S WAR? Be one of five people to request a copy and agree to post a review at amazon.com and/or goodreads.com. Email me for details.
See the You Tube trailer for HUMAN TRIAL here.
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