What a Load of Religious Based Crap
There ought to be a law. But there isn’t.
So, religious hucksters like 89 year old Harold Camping continue to operate monumental con-jobs that bring in multiple millions of dollars in donations from gullible people.
In case you missed the details: Camping’s latest Doomsday prediction stemmed from what he described as an intricate mathematical formulation taken directly from numbers in the bible. As he figured it, all good and righteous Christians would be taken up to heaven 722,500 days after Jesus’ crucifixion – on May 21 at 5:59 pm. (He didn’t bother to say which time zone would be hit first) The rest of the world’s population, his outlandish prophecy promised, would be left to suffer five months of cataclysmic earthquakes and other biblical tribulations until the whole planet ceased to exist sometime on October 21st. [click to continue…]
by Diane on April 25, 2011
Best Way to Curb Youth Crime - Get to 'Em Early
So often in this space I write about terrible things being done to – and sometimes by – the children of America. From sex trafficking to bullying, it is easy for a crime and justice writer to get mired in the all the negative surrounding our kids.
This time let’s concentrate on the positive.
Any child psychologist will tell you young people crave attention, structure and discipline. Any cop on the beat will tell you there are plenty of kids who just don’t get it at home. Their parents are either too busy working to pay the bills or their parents can’t pass it on because they never got it themselves. [click to continue…]
by Diane on April 4, 2011
DNA Technology Has Graduated
What if I told you there was a powerful crime fighting tool that could help find, convict and put away violent criminals that most of our 50 states are NOT using? Your first question would likely be “Why not?!”
That’s what I’d like to know.
We all get how important the discovery of DNA has been in identifying rapists, murderers and other criminals over the years. But DNA technology has now graduated and for the most part states just haven’t kept up.
Colorado has been leading the way on a technology called Familial DNA Search. Crime scene scientists and police investigators who have used it swear by its usefulness. Colorado has offered up special computer software it developed along with its experts to train others to use the new forensic technology – for free. [click to continue…]
by Diane on March 28, 2011
Abused Women Must Speak Out & Get Out
Oh boy, am I ever going to take heat for this. But it must be said.
There are some women caught up in the awful throes of domestic abuse who are to blame. Domestic abuse occurs because they allow it.
The women of whom I speak stay when they should leave. They repeatedly call police to come to their rescue after their partner’s anger erupts. Then, they repeatedly refuse to press charges. These abused and humiliated women forget the panic they felt at the moment they scrambled to the phone and dialed 9-11 for help. They imagine they can’t possibly make it in life without their abusive mate. They’re caught in a terrible cycle of co-dependent violence. [click to continue…]
by Diane on March 21, 2011
Japan - Tragedy of Biblical Proportion
Another tragedy born of Mother Nature – this time a 9.0 earthquake and a gigantically devastating tsunami in Japan – and it seemed the whole world held its breath as we stopped to watch what would happen next.
Countless thousands of souls have been lost, potentially deadly nuclear power plant leaks topped the headlines and it left the rest of us to wonder – What can I do to help? Variations on that goodwill question blasted over television, radio, the Internet and became “the” topic of discussion.
Also wondering what could be done in the aftermath were the criminals who slither into action at times of heartbreaking calamity. Almost immediately after riveting pictures of the destruction in Japan appeared unscrupulous scammers began plotting how to divert your charitable donations. [click to continue…]
by Diane on March 14, 2011
Time to Re-Think?
I
’m against the death penalty.
Until I’m not.
Mention a criminal who has sexually abused or murdered a child and I waver. Show me a terrorist who wants to kill Americans because we don’t share his religion and I vacillate. Catch a stone cold cop killer and I think if we don’t punish the murderer to the fullest we allow the very fabric of our nation’s security to unravel.
Yet, with all that said, there seems to be a built in contradiction to killing a killer, don’t you think? [click to continue…]
by Diane on March 7, 2011
Prisoners Committing Tax Fraud - To the Tune of Multiple Millions!
At prisons across the country all incoming mail is opened and checked for contraband before the prisoner ever receives it. What would be considered mail tampering on the outside is standard operating procedure in a prison.
Amazingly, however, outgoing prison mail is mostly just bundled up and shipped out via the U.S. Postal Service with no inspection. The only exception is if a particular prisoner is under suspicion for some sort of criminal activity.
That’s a shame because this failure to monitor mail is the first weak link in a chain of inmate tax fraud that’s been going on for years, according to government investigators. In just the 2009 tax year, for example, prisoner inspired IRS fraud cost you, me and every other taxpaying American at least 39 million dollars. [click to continue…]
by Diane on February 28, 2011
Guns on College Campuses - Okay With You?
W hen your children go to college what do you pack to send with them?
You probably include their clothing, some sheets and towels, a laptop computer and maybe a small refrigerator or microwave.
But, how about a gun?
Don’t be shocked. It’s not that far fetched. And guns could be coming to a college campus near you.
In the aftermath of several campus shootings in recent years and the gun fueled violence in Arizona that killed 6, wounded 13 and incapacitated Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, there is a movement to give older college students and their professors the right to carry weapons onto campus.
It is already the law in Utah where students at all public colleges are allowed to carry a concealed gun if they have the [click to continue…]
by Diane on February 21, 2011
Where To Cut? Where To Cut?
The president has now put forth his $3.73 trillion budget with its recommended deep spending cuts. And, the other politicians in Washington – those who represent us on Capitol Hill – have begun the traditional partisan bickering over what is acceptable and what is not. Many go at this monumentally important task focused on making the other party look irresponsible instead of pinpointing which cuts would be best to get our country back on a firm fiscal track.
Some wring their hands and moan that one proposed cut or another is “just a drop in the bucket.” They ignore the fact that lots of drops are needed to fill up a bucket. [click to continue…]
by Diane on February 14, 2011
Teen Killers - Some Deserve Life W/O Parole
I goofed. I thought I had researched it thoroughly enough but the response to my last column showed me I did not. Consider this my mea culpa.
The column was about the number of juveniles we sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) on charges of murder or accessory to murder. I quoted a Human Rights Watch report that placed the number of “children” sentenced to LWOP at 2,574. I questioned how America’s international stance on human rights squared with our “routinely toss(ing) kids” into prison for the rest of the lives.
As comments to the column rolled in I realized I had only written one side of the story. [click to continue…]
