Chelsea King is 17.  A senior in high school. Straight A student. A runner.  A world of possibilities on her doorstep.

And now she’s probably dead.

Last week she decided to go for a run after school.  So she parked her car at a park, locked the doors, and probably even stashed her purse in the trunk.  But she never came back.

Yesterday police arrested John Albert Gardner III, after physical evidence led them to believe that Gardner had raped and killed the still missing Chelsea.  This story sucks.  It is the sort of tragedy that is so vile that it’s almost unbearable to think about.  It makes my stomach hurt and my heart twist into a knot and my eyes well up when I think of my two precious daughters.

But it was a punch in the gut to read this part of the story:

Gardner is a registered sex offender convicted of committing a lewd or lascivious act on a child younger than 14, the Union-Tribune said. Details of a 2000 criminal San Diego Superior Court case he was involved in were not available, the newspaper said.

What the heck was a man who committed a lewd or lascivious act on a child doing out of prison?  Child rapists give up their government protected rights when they decide to commit the most disgusting and perverted act known to man.  Lock them up and throw away the key.  What the heck good is requiring them to register and making their addresses known to anyone through sites like Megan’s Law?  A site with a disclaimer that specifically states: Anyone who uses this information to commit a crime or to harass an offender or his or her family is subject to criminal prosecution and civil liability.

I just looked up my neighboorhood, and there’s a man living a mile away from me that’s been charged four times with “lewd of lascivious acts with children under 14,” or “oral copulation with persons under 14 by force.”  Now what am I supposed to do with this information?  Skip his house at Halloween?  It’s not like I can stick a sign in his front yard that says, “Beware of Child Rapist!” That might hurt his feelings or something.

Something is wrong with our system when the sex offenders have more rights than Chelsea King did.  Because of all the protection awarded to convicted sex felons, her young life was unprotected.  A list of addresses is not enough.  Obviously.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was escorted into a Detroit courtroom today, where his lawyers entered a not guilty plea.

I cannot believe I just wrote that sentence. Let me re-write it:

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (the terrorist) was escorted into a Detroit courtroom today (as if he had the same rights as American citizens), where his lawyers entered a not guilty plea (despite the nearly 300 witnesses on the plane that saw his crotch catch fire as the bomb he was supposed to explode the plane with failed to detonate correctly).

Rudy Giuliani hit the nail on the head this morning during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America:

This isn’t about whether you convict him or not, this is about whether you get information or not. If you put someone in a civilian court, within a short time a lawyer is appointed and the person shuts up. If you have a person in the military system you can question him endlessly for as long as you have to, make sure you’ve gotten the full scope of information, and here’s the most important point, you get it timely.

Yesterday, President Obama lectured the intelligence agencies for failing to keep our homeland safe.  He’s right in that we need to do everything possible to keep terrorists off our planes.  But that should be our second line of defense. The first line of defense should be making them too scared to even think about boarding the plane.

How do you terrify a terrorist?  Not even the death penalty means much, because they’re all suicide bombers.  They’re ready for the afterlife (at least they think they are. I bet meeting Satan sort of sucks…). Do we threaten them with a lifetime in prison without trial on a tropical island, where they get 3 meals a day and free access to pray to their God for The Great Satan(America)’s destruction?  Geez, no wonder the Gitmo detainees don’t want to leave… Sounds a lot better than living in a cave in Yemen!  Even if they do manage to get back to their cave in Yemen, they will have fresh information to spread amongst their brothers about our safety and security procedures.

Is there anyway to scare terrorists off planes, then?  Everyone’s afraid of something… Terrorists are afraid of being tortured into giving up valuable secrets about their organization, location, future plans, or any other information that might be floating about in their twisted little brains. To do so would not only harm their mission, but would bring shame upon them and possibly damnation from their god.

It’s insane that Abdulmutallab is being given a civil trial.  If convicted, he could serve up to a life sentence.  Here’s the message that sends to the other terrorists back home:

Keep up the good work boys! There’s nothing to be afraid of with these silly Americans; they’ll even let you on the plane if they know you work for al-Queda.  Getting through security is not too bad, they’re so busy making sure everyone dumps out their water bottle and has the correct size sandwich baggies that they easily overlook us.  If they do examine you closely, be sure to threaten a discrimination lawsuit. That usually does the trick.  And don’t worry if you screw up and the bomb doesn’t detonate, because you’ll never have to say a thing in The Great Satan’s generous legal system.  If released, you may return immediately to us and rejoin the mission, or if imprisoned, you may pray continually for our cause.

Welcome aboard flight number…

After being briefed on the findings of the security reviews that he ordered on the failed panty-bomber on Christmas day, Barack Obama has figured out how to make it safer to travel the used-to-be-friendly skies.  In a press conference this afternoon, Obama gave his 24,374th speech since assuming the Presidency to assure the public that he really (really!) is doing his job.

He said that our government failed to connect the dots to prevent a known terrorist from boarding a plane inbound to the United States and attempting to detonate a bomb. It was the shortcomings of our intelligence agencies, and their inability to connect the dots that allowed Abdulmutallab to board a plane in Amsterdam with a bomb in his underpants.

Even though our intelligence agencies had info on al-Qaeda’s presence in Yemen, they did not aggressively follow up on and prioritize particular streams of intelligence related to a possible attack.  This contributed to a failure of analysis and connecting the dots across the intelligence community.  Which in turn led to shortcomings in the watch system that failed to place the man on the no-fly list.

Since it was not a failure to collect the intelligence, but to integrate the intelligence, the President came up with a four part plan for other people to do their job better.

Step 1: The intelligence community should assign specific responsibility on high priority threats. Not just some of the time, but all of the time. Clear lines of responsibility will lead to clearer communication.

Step 2: When threats to the United States are identified, they should be spread rapidly and widely.

Step 3: They must strengthen the analytical process, including how the annalists examine the intelligence gathered.

Step 4: They must strengthen the criteria for adding people to the watch list and no-fly list.

Obama stated, “My new reforms will help our intelligence community do its job even better, and protect American lives.  Even so, we need security at our airports and borders and through our partnerships with other nations.”  He also told us that it will require significant investments into this area- including 1 billion dollars in new systems and technologies, more baggage screening, more passenger screening, and more advanced explosive detection capabilities.  I think that it’s been proven time and again with education, with the automobile industry, with the banks, with poverty, and with so many other things that the solution is not to throw money at a problem.  It never works.

The President said, “In the never ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary.  That’s what these steps are designed to do…We are at war… war against al-Qaeda…and we will do whatever it takes to defeat them.”

President Obama is blaming the intelligence community of the United States for the attempted attack, but it’s politically correct over-thinking and the lack of common sense that led to Abdulmutallab boarding that plane.  Less intellectual intelligence and more smarts please.  That’s what will keep terrorists off of our planes.  Not a billion dollars worth of nekkid body scanners.

If we will do whatever it takes to keep our citizens safe, why is airport security wasting time confiscating my bottled water, instead of profiling passengers that fit the description of al-Qaeda operatives?

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. -Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution

I bolded the part that’s relevant to this post.  That bold part?  “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”  That is what we call eminent domain.  It sounds boring, but it’s not.  One of the things that makes American uniquely America is our right to our property.  Hopefully you only know from watching shows like CSI (or my favorite of the moment- Castle) and not from experience, but cops need a warrant to search someone’s private property.  That’s the due process part of the amendment.  Can you imagine the violation and abuse of power if any law enforcement agent could come into your home and search it for whatever, whenever?  Hopefully, we’d still have some good guys in law enforcement, but don’t you think that sort of job would attract criminals?  That’s why we have due process of the law.

What about the private property being taken for public use?  That means that if a local government needs to build a courthouse, a school, a road, or some other public facility, and the best place to do it is on property owned by a private citizen, the government may not seize that land without just compensation.  A few years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court redefined what constituted “public use” of property in the landmark Kelo versus City of New London case.

Ms. Susette Kelo was a divorcee living in New London, CT, in a century old home that she had bought after her divorce and fixed up herself.  In 1998, she read in the newspaper that Pfizer Corp, the privately owned pharmaceutical company, was going to build a $300 million global research and development center in the area, and that her home would be bought out for a municipal redevelopment plan.  She said, “I read that residents in Fort Trumbull were going to be bought out of their properties and that those who refused to sell were going to be taken by eminent domain. That’s how it all started. I read about it in the newspaper.”

Ms. Kelo’s neighbor’s eventually accepted the money and moved out, and one by one, their houses were torn down.  But Ms. Kelo refused to be bullied by a government that would take her property for the benefit of a giant corporation.  Her case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of New London.  The majority opinion of the case was that, ” a city may claim private property under the Fifth Amendment so long as it does so as part of a clear economic development plan intended to benefit the community as a whole.”

So basically, the Supreme Court ruled that a government may seize the property of individual citizens whenever they feel like it’s a good idea.  I’m sure that’s exactly what the founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the Constitution after winning a revolutionary war against the oppressive British government (insert sarcasm here).

That was in 2005.  There has been more than enough time to see the dramatic economic improvements promised by the Pfizer Corp and the city of New London.  So what’s going on in New London these days?  Has it prospered with the redevelopment?  The city and state spent $78 million of tax-payer money to bulldoze the area in preparation for the hotels, condos, and strip malls that were to bring job creation and economic prosperity to the area.  Four years later, the site sits undeveloped.

In November 2009, Pfizer Corp. announced that it would be shutting its R & D center in New London, and transferring the 1,400 people working there to another facility.  The promised economic boom fell flat before it ever even got off the ground.  Ms. Kelo was forced to leave her home so it could be bulldozed and redeveloped into a wasteland of weeds and broken dreams.

What does this prove?  I don’t know if it proves anything, but it is yet another example of the Midas touch of government when it messes with the affairs of private citizens.  That is if Midas had turned everything he touched to chicken manure instead of gold.  I take that back.  At least chicken manure is good fertilizer.  What good is a vacant parking lot where Ms. Kelo’s home once stood?

About 30 years ago, film director Roman Polanski plied a 13 year old girl with champagne and drugs, stripped her down for a “photo shoot” in a hot tub, and then proceeded to rape and sodomize her.  He pled guilty to the entire thing in hopes of a plea bargain, but felt that the judge would throw him in jail for 100 years, so he fled the country.  Last weekend, he was arrested in Zurich, and he now faces extradition to the United States. He was not arrested sooner because he’s been living in France all this time, and apparently the French government doesn’t mind if confessing pedophiles roam the streets.  In fact, they celebrate it, and are ticked off that he was arrested.

The ladies of The View discussed the situation on Monday, debating whether or not it was really rape-rape.  After all, it happened a very long time ago, and Polanski is a very gifted filmmaker.  And the girl’s mom was in the building at the time (doesn’t this fact make it even more gross?).  And even though she was drunk and drugged, and even though she said no, she was aware of what was happening-so was it really rape-rape?  Whoopie Goldberg said, “He was not charged … I know it wasn’t rape-rape. I think it was something else … but I don’t believe it was rape-rape.”

I didn’t know that there was such a thing as fake-rape.  Anytime a 44 year old inebriates a 13 year old with alcohol and drugs, and then has sex with that 13 year old-it’s rape.  Oh ok.  Drugs and alcohol don’t even have to be involved.  It’s still rape.  Real rape.  Rape-rape.  I can’t stand that there are people like Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese calling for Polanski’s release.  Seriously?  The dude RAPED a child!  That’s not something to just brush under the rug.

It seems that there is finally a subject to unite conservatives and liberals.  Aside from a few of the Liberal Elite, almost every American is outraged by the reverence for Polanski.  Even the super liberal National Organization for Women has slammed him and his defenders.  “He’s a criminal. He is a convicted criminal pedophile,” said Terry O’Neill, president of NOW. “How dare Roman Polanski think he could get away with this. I believe he has banked on men — powerful decision-makers — who are more intent on protecting rapists than children. This is the world Polanski is exploiting. It’s outrageous.”  Who knew that the vast majority of Americans were against rape?

All of my liberal friends (yes, I do have them) are upset.  One friend in particular sometimes refers to herself as Bizaro-Jenny since our political views are pretty much as opposite from each other as you can get.  Here’s what she had to say about Polanski:

I am shocked at the number of people that are supporting Polanski. It isn’t like he is coming back for a trial and could still be innocent. He pled guilty to raping a 13 year old girl. He has had an active arrest warrant for 30 years. When you pled guilty you know that the judge doesn’t have to go along with the plea agreement. There have been allegations that their was judicial misconduct but the solution to that isn’t to flee the country.

Polanksi disgusts me and I won’t watch any of his films.

Whoopie, Martin, Woody, and all the rest of you that think that it’s acceptable for a grown man to rape a half grown child, simply because he happens to be rich and famous- please pull your heads out of your hineys.  The only thing your dismissal of Polanski’s heinous crime does is make us wonder what skeletons you must have hidden in your closets.  What misdeeds have you covered up in your past, if the rape of a child is an excusable crime?

If conservatives and liberals can unite over the Polanski rape case, what’s next?  Agreement on health care?  Gun rights? Drilling for oil?  Well, one step at a time.

Last night I watched in horror as President Obama slandered police officers as racist and stupid.  He said, “Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in own home[sic],”  in reference to an incident last week regarding the Cambridge Police Department and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates.  Apparently Gates (who happens to be black) didn’t have his house keys, so he decided to break into to his own home.  A neighbor saw him and called the police.  The police showed up, and asked Gates for his ID, presumably to establish residence.

Sounds like a funny story to tell over cocktails, doesn’t it?  Too bad he wasn’t in his bathrobe, that would’ve been even funnier!  How often does someone almost get arrested for breaking into their own house?  Unfortunately, this did not turn into an anecdote for cocktail parties.  According to the police report filed by arresting officer James Crowley, upon being asked for proof that he actually lived there, Gates threw a tantrum saying, “NO I WILL NOT,” and “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACK MEN IN AMERICA!”

He was then placed under arrest.  But not for breaking and entering.  He was placed under arrest for disorderly conduct, which he clearly displayed.  So no, the Cambridge Police Department did not act stupidly, as President Obama declared, but were acting prudently to protect the public.  Isn’t that a police officer’s job?  Investigate suspicious activities and arrest people when they violate the law?  Let’s see… someone reported a man breaking into a house, and the police investigated the situation.  Ok, so far so good.  The police found the man inside the house, and asked for his identification.  Is that still ok?  The man then refused to cooperate with the uniformed police officers, and threatened them, saying, “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”  The police then arrested the man for disorderly conduct.  What exactly did the Cambirdge Police do that was stupid, Mr. President?

As if the President hadn’t already done enough to damage the moral of law enforcement everywhere by his flippant comment, he continued to malign police officers as not only stupid, but racist as well.  “What I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately,” Obama said. “That’s just a fact.” 

Maybe, just maybe, a disproportionate amount of African-Americans and Latinos are stopped by law enforcement because a disproportionate amount of them commit crimes as compared to other ethnicities (like Asians, for example).  As the Prez says, That’s just a fact. 

Apparently I wasn’t the only American upset by Obama’s stupid and racist remarks.  Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said this morning, “Let me be clear, he was not calling the officer stupid…at a certain point the situation got far out of hand.”  Yeah, like maybe when the suspect refused to cooperate with the police, and acted in a belligerent and threatening manner.  Obama not only called Sgt. Crowley stupid, he implied that police officers everywhere are stupid, and racist to boot!

Since Obama likes to make such a big show of apologizing to countries across the globe on America’s behalf, it shouldn’t be too difficult him to personally apologize on his own behalf to Sgt. Crowley, to policemen and women everywhere, and to his constituents for his own stupid decision to make such a stupid remark.