by Diane Dimond on October 31, 2011
Can There Be Too Much Sunshine?
Every state has laws that govern the public’s access to government records. From New Mexico to North Dakota – Alabama to Alaska – each have varying degrees of these so-called Sunshine Laws. The media loves Sunshine Laws because they allow easy access to information. But many on the other end of the equation don’t feel so “sunshine-y” about having their business or personal information revealed to the public. There is no state more liberal in doling out government information than Florida — nicknamed the Sunshine State — and in my opinion their Public Records Law has now put some of their own citizens at risk. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on September 26, 2011
A Great American Past-time - Taking Pictures
The scene is repeated across America millions of times each year. Citizens raise their cameras to snap a picture and immortalize what they see. Taking photographs is as much of the American fabric as driving a car.
But since 9-11 that right has begun to erode like so many others: walking unencumbered onto an airplane; living without the multitude of leering surveillance cameras; gaining entrance to a public building without showing identification.
I get the reason for all the cautious security, I honestly do. I think our country is still under the threat of a terrorist attack. But some of those with badges tasked with monitoring the threat overstep their bounds in the name of national security. I can’t get over the feeling that every time they over-react the terrorists – who are determined to change our freedom loving way of life – win. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on September 12, 2011
Store Surveillance of Mother With Baby in Bag
It has happened again and it breaks my heart.
A young mother in Hendersonville, North Carolina walked into a grocery store recently clutching her boyfriend’s hand on her left and a big heavy looking shoulder bag on her right – a bag that nearly scraped the ground as she walked.
The teenager headed straight for the store’s ladies’ room and stepped inside. When she re-appeared on the grocery’s surveillance video exactly four minutes later she had exchanged her red sun dress for a pair of slacks and a blouse. Her bag was casually slung over her shoulder looking a whole lot less heavy.
Within hours a store employee cleaning the restroom found a dead newborn baby in one of the stall’s trash cans. The 9-11 call to police was painful to listen to as another worker gasped between sobs and begged for help for the dead baby.
Whoever abandoned the little girl had just committed a felony. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on September 5, 2011
Health Care in Prison? It is Constitutionally protected
TThey are charged with breaking laws or victimizing fellow citizens. We respond by making sure they get a lawyer – often on the taxpayer’s dime. If they plead “not guilty” we stage expensive trials for them so they can provide evidence to a judge or jury. If convicted, they are imprisoned.
So, after all that do we have an obligation to provide prisoners with any and all medicines they might need to keep them healthy?
While so many Americans are struggling to meet health insurance and prescription costs – services for prisoners constantly increase. And make no mistake about it, America has so many incarcerated people we are spending boat-loads of money on convicts’ medical care. Their services cannot be cut. But health care programs for the general public have been cut back time and time again. [click to continue…]
by Diane on August 29, 2011
The Day America Changed Forever
As anyone who hasn’t been living on the moon knows the 10th Anniversary of the horrific September 11th attacks is fast approaching.
I, for one, don’t want to hear about it. I really just want to stay in bed all day and bury my head under a pillow.
That doesn’t mean I won’t commemorate the anniversary – because I most definitely and painfully will. But the media drum beat toward the date has already begun and it has put a pit in my stomach the size of a grapefruit.
There are at least 40 different TV specials planned over the next few weeks leading up to the awful date of September 11th. Each of the top three networks – ABC, CBS and NBC has a big boffo special planned, plus extra coverage on their early morning and evening news programs. CNN has no fewer than four separate documentaries on the 9-11 attacks scheduled. The National Geographic Channel plans to devote a full week to its coverage. Countless other cable channels have their own 9-11 plans. And, of course, just wait till you see the onslaught of coverage from your local news stations. I predict it will be non-stop as the date approaches. [click to continue…]
by Diane on August 22, 2011
Time To Hear From You!
Some of you have been delighted with me. Some of you want to strangle me. So this column is dedicated to your thoughts about my recent musings on crime and justice in America.
It’s your turn to vent.
No column lately generated as much heat as the one about women caught up in repeated domestic violence that refuse to press charges. I told the story of a New York police officer who lost his life responding to a victim’s 12th call for help. I concluded, “Society cannot remove an adult woman from a perilous domestic situation. She must walk out on her own resolved to find a better way of life.” [click to continue…]
by Diane on August 14, 2011
It's Not Illegal For An American To Pray
Today let’s talk about what’s not a crime.
In a country that was founded on freedom of religion, it is not a crime to pray.
It’s not a crime to publicly pray to the deity of your choice. It’s not a crime for someone who holds public office to pray. It’s not a crime to be a politician and also host a public prayer meeting.
But after a recent spate of indignant media coverage I wouldn’t blame you if you thought there was something wrong with Texas Governor Rick Perry’s participation in what was called “The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis” held in Houston. [click to continue…]
by Diane on July 18, 2011
Future President of France or Rapist?
The first order of business for a man accused of rape is to discredit the accuser. If he can paint her as promiscuous or having some sort of shady background the strength of her charges will diminish. This doesn’t, of course, mean the man is innocent but the more dirt that can be dug up on the woman the better his prospects are for acquittal.
This is the way it has always been and the way our legal system allows these types cases to proceed – smear the accuser and you might just get away with it.
Another ugly little secret about pending rape charges is that if the defense team can’t scare the woman away by telling her what they’ve discovered about her past, they then approach prosecutors. [click to continue…]
by Diane on June 13, 2011
Dr. Kevorkian Helped Us Think About Death
Hardly a day goes by that I don’t remember holding my stricken mother’s hand as she laid on a special hospital bed we had set up in her living room. It was there she took her last breath. Almost every day I think about how my father died in the bedroom of the home he loved so much. Both my parents passed away exactly how they lived – on their own terms.
They wanted no heroic measures to prolong their lives and they adamantly told me – their only child – that they did not want to die in a cold, impersonal hospital room. They made me promise to abide by their wishes. And just in case, they signed a living will putting it all in writing.
I thank Dr. Jack Kevorkian for that. He started the national dialogue about death that opened up the topic for discussion in my household. [click to continue…]
If the Supreme Court Says Its Constitutional...
Saying, “I told you so,” is not becoming. So I won’t say it.
But I will remind folks of all those columns I wrote about the need for states to do something proactive about the problem of illegal immigration since members of the United States Congress have repeatedly fallen down on the job.
Frankly, I stopped writing about it because I figured anyone who was interested in the topic had already formed an opinion and nothing I would write would change any minds. Also, because there was the hate mail I got after I refused to call people who enter this country illegally “undocumented workers.” [click to continue…]
