9/11

Ten years ago, a tragedy happened. A nation was stunned at the actions of just a few men (despite what conspiracy theorists would have you believe). What have we learned since then? Are we better for it? And, of course, the ultimate question that dumbs down the entire incident and the events after: Did the terrorists win?

Let's examine this, shall we? Since that day we've been on heightened security, but does this make us safer? Yes and no. Yes, in that we'll probably never have the exact same kind of attack pulled off with such ease. However, no matter how many obstacles you put in the way, if someone wants to do something and they're determined enough and are willing to die trying, eventually one will succeed. Does this mean we should live the rest of our lives in fear? No, but we should remain vigilant (I sound like some McCarthy Era whack job. Next I'll be saying to report on your neighbor's activities).

Of course, people want to know if the "terrorists won" (the reason I put that in quotes is because this isn't a black and white thing you can look at and say whether or not the good guys won, not to say the men who committed this act weren't cold hearted bastards, I just don't like simplifying the whole thing. Feels wrong). On the one hand, almost everyone involved in the plot is either dead or locked away and their influence seems to be waning. On the other hand, we've had to sacrifice some of our comforts for peace of mind when traveling, we've been involved with two major wars, and the economy is in turmoil. So it's for hard to quantify the entire thing into  a "group x won" kinda thing.

My only hope is that now perhaps we can put this chapter behind us. Never forgetting, but not letting it weigh us down either. Let this mark the end of the War on Terror as we march forward to a new age of peace and happiness! Till all are one!

The Court of Public Opinion

So, recently everyone has been talking about the Casey Anthony case. If you don't have some small idea as to what that is....well, you've been living under a rock. The basics:  a child (Caylee Anthony) is found dead and the mother didn't report them missing for thirty one days. You could literally talk for hours on the details of this case....or not. You see, from an evidence stand point, that's it. What I just said was ALL of the real evidence presented, but I'll get back to that later.

Today, after a very lengthy trail, Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murder and guilty of lying to a police officer. 

Now, I'll admit, I haven't kept up with this trail much. All I caught was coverage of people going nuts trying to get into the court room and media commentators saying she was guilty. Of course, since the verdict broke today, I didn't have much of a choice but to get caught up with all of the events from the trail because that is the ONLY thing CNN covered today. 

I saw that emotions were running high with everyone, people screaming that justice had not been done. Everyone was out for blood and this lust was not satisfied. I could try and blame people in the media for this, I know Nacy Grace (whose avian features, such has her beak nose and yellow plumage, frighten the hell out of me) certainly didn't help matters, but I'm not going to use them as a scapegoat either.

It's reasonable that people would feel passionate about this case, it's horrific that a child would be left to rot out in the swamp. However, and this goes out to everyone, you can't let your emotions get the best of you. The fact is, there just isn't any evidence in this case. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. The police don't know when, where, or how Caylee Anthony died. There is no physical evidence linking Casey Anthony to the death. All in all, it's a weak case.

Did she do it? I don't know. Maybe, but then again, maybe not. That's what's called reasonable doubt, which, unfortunately, the Court of Public Opinion™ doesn't need. That court has tried, convicted,and executed her. I know it's cliche to say, "Guilty until proven innocent," but we seem to live by that. We have suspects take the "perp walk". Calling the suspect a perp seems to imply guilt before a trail even gets underway.

I want to leave you with a final thought. Let's imagine that the prosecutors decided to wait to find physical evidence instead of just jumping the gun. Even though the incident happened years ago, there's always the possibility of finding something that was over looked. If they waited and found some damning evidence against Casey, they could have probably convicted her. However, if they find something now, they wouldn't be able to bring her into court. Double jeopardy won't allow them to try her for the same crime twice.