While the date on this is May 2nd, I simply have to quote, almost word for word, Chapter 61, from a book wrote over 30 years ago, with the same title, “Insanity and Parole.” In 30 years, I haven’t changed my mind. The name of the book is “I Hold These Truths,” and as I write this, one of these, plus two others I have written, “Consequences,” and “Three Feet to Silverton,” are on Amazon. E-Bay has “Consequences.” “Three Feet Toi Silverton” is a little booklet about the Durango and Silverton Railroad I wrote in 1974.
“Like the so called “insanity” plea, parole should go the way of the dodo bird, and fast. Everyone knows if you threaten a child with punishment for some transgression, you should follow through with it. Telling a child something, and not meaning it, is an invitation to disaster, if you want your kids to grow up to be decent, law abiding, productive citizens. What is the point in telling criminals that they will get five years in the slammer, if it doesn’t mean that at all, but much less? Where is the sense in releasing a criminal before his sentence is up? If you want to put him away so he won’t be a danger to society, and punish him for the damage he or she has inflicted on innocents, let’s say what we mean and mean what we say. If the law says ten years, then it should be just that. Ten years, not five years, and not even nine years and fifty-one weeks. Why should there be laws controlling jail time anyway?
“I’s a game brilliantly played by judges and lawyers. A game telling the players a word doesn’t really mean what it says. Yes, means no, and long means short. Almost as if we don’t speak the same language. Should there be any laws proscribing prison terms? Can’t a judge decide on each case, and mean what he sentences? All criminals are not the same age, have the same personalities, history, influences, and situations, and no law can take any or all of these into consideration. Some judges are harsher than others, just like we are all different.
“Who cares whether the culprit was ‘insane’ or not? Did the victims suffer less? If a drunk driver kills an innocent, was he temporarily ‘insane?’ There is nothing in our Constitution mentioning or inferring anything like ‘insanity’ or ‘parole.’ Who is to judge ‘insanity’ anyway? Psychiatrists? I have never, in my memory, known a normal psychiatrist. Why should parole or insanity pleas, exist in the first place? Neither has anything to do with the Constitutional guarantee of no unjust punishment. Both are total frauds, which are continually exploited by clever lawyers and gullible judges. Should a murderer be any less reprehensible and pay a lower price if he is a mental midget or supposedly has a screw loose? Even if he or she was insane, temporarily or permanently, and they murdered, committed arson, or ay criminal act, shouldn’t they be punished. To Quote Gilbert and Sullivan, “Let the Punishment Fit the Crime.”
“Charles Manson, I am sure, is insane, but why does he still live? Because of pitiful, weeping, bleeding heart, liberal, do-gooders, who have convinced their representatives to abolish capital punishment, and let criminals free because of parole and insanity. We step on cock roaches, set mouse traps, and call exterminators to do their job of eradicating all sorts of bothersome or even deadly members of the animal, snake, insect, or other conglomerations. Why is it wrong to put to death a babbling murderer, or for that matter a murderer who wasn’t out of his or her mind? Lately, a sheriff in Texas advised potential victims of robbery or murder to: “Shoot to kill and save a lot of court cases.” It’s pretty cheap to execute, and especially if endless appeals were denied, but it costs a Harvard education every year to imprison a felon.”
One would think that since the buck seems to be declining in value about 10% a year, a governmental process known as *inflation;” it would be smart to get out of dollars and into real, historic money. Lots of people are, and I suspect that’s why there is such a delay in silver. I wish our supplier would build a new mint. At least you can lock in the price now, and patiently wait for delivery. Gold is a lot faster, and requires 1/77th as much storage space. A client of mine had 175 ounces of gold delivered to him Friday, and it weighed about ten pounds. That dollar amount of silver would require a pickup truck probably. Silver has often been called “cheap gold.” Both are hedges against information and silly governments around the world.
And speaking of governments, is there any one more deserving of having his head cut off than Putin? Putin, is responsible for maybe a million deaths, and billions of property damage to a peace-loving nation. Putin thought Ukraine should be joined to Russia as part of his desire to resurrect the Soviet Union. Either he is crazy, a brutal killer, purely evil, despicable, or a combination of all of them. Why does he still exist? Because he has closed all the newspapers not favorable to him, owns and controls all the radio and TV stations, and tries to see to it than the Russian citizen doesn’t know what he is doing, and has done. Here’s an idea. Have printed billions of brochures in Russian, complete with pictures and truths of his actions, and have them dropped all over Russia by the millions. Maybe from super high altitudes. Then they may know what their bastard leader is doing to their nation, its reputation, and responsibility for a trillion-dollar liability. Someone has to pay for what he has done.
-Don Stott, don@coloradogold.com