Chupacabra Report
When it got out that the Harris County District Attorney was sending mash notes to his secretary via e-mail, the Pharisees of the local GOP dropped him like a hot potato, lest he besmirch the whole slate of holy Joe bible- beaters they’re running next fall. The big problem to me is that the county is paying her $75,000 a year and giving her a car to drive and gas to put in it. Here are some excerpts from a couple of great letters to the Chronicle on the subject:
“Regarding Lisa Falkenberg's column on Chuck Rosenthal's political demise, while I agree with her assessment of the Republican Party's internecine cannibalism in the face of shrinking numbers and right-wing bloodletting, Rosenthal is the sole author of his fall.
His apology for being a fallible human being is disingenuous. Would he have shown any compassion for the fallible human beings he so zealously prosecuted? Did he ever show sensitivity to extenuating circumstances, such as mental disease or questionable DNA tests by a discredited crime lab within his purview?
Did Rosenthal think he could bully his way into another term after showing he has different standards for himself and for others? Obviously, he did, considering all his macho posturing until Wednesday.
So the public Puritan is "hoist on his own petard." As Hamlet also almost said, "He did make love to this employment. He is not near my conscience."
Sanctimony coupled with hypocrisy and arrogance gets what it deserves.”
-IRA J. BLACK
Houston
“Now that Harris County will be getting a new district attorney, would it be too much to ask that they require their staff, first and foremost, to ask: "Is this person guilty?" rather than "How can we convict this person?" The difference between the two mind-sets is enormous.
Prosecuting the innocent through any means possible or bullying them into accepting a plea bargain (a common occurrence in misdemeanor cases) in order to clear cases is an all-too-common injustice these days. Ruining the life and finances of an innocent person is never justifiable.”
-TIM BARNETT
Baytown
posted by Julia B. @ 3:51 AM
2 Comments:
Judge Hoarse,
Gulp. Uhm, you'll notice on the scales of justice one side is a little larger than the other.
LD
Here’s another:
Five years ago, Chuck Rosenthal argued before the Supreme Court that "Texas has the right to set moral stan-dards" (Oral Arguments, Lawrence v. Texas, 2003). It was strange to hear him argue more recently for the pro-tection of the private e-mails associated with his extra-marital intimacies in light of his earlier assertion that "there is no protected right to engage in extramarital sexual relations," drawing the line of privacy instead "at the marital bedroom."
As tempting as it is to pontificate about reaping what is sown, motes in eyes, eligibility to cast the first stone and the judgment of judges, perhaps it would be more constructive to pause and reflect on the limits of codify-ing morality in the first place.
PHILLIP LYONS JR.
professor of criminal justice, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home