Found a really good op-ed piece in LI Newsday, Thurs. Feb 8, pA53 by Robert Reno, "If Jails Are Full, How Much Tougher Can Judges Get?" Some highlights: American Jails are more packed with criminals than ever in history. We know this for sure because every time we count them, it keeps showing the percentage of the population that is in jail has quadrupled in 25 years, is higher than any other civilized nation... [...] It is something of a mystery how so many people got in jail because we have it on the testimony of some leading politicians that knavish judges are freeing criminals in record numbers. Pat Buchanan babbles to anybody who'll listen that federal judges are "an unelected elite," solititous of "criminals, atheists, homosexuals, flag burners, illegal aliens, convicts and pornographers." I don't know why he left out gun molls, blood suckers, snake charmers, pig rustlers, serial blackguards, pyromaniacs, and mailbox vandals... [...] ...There is something more to the point, though, than the disposition of politicians to bay moronically at the moon. If we want a more predictable system in which judicial descisions never surprise us, then we have perfectly good functioning models from which to choose from. Take your pick: China, Cuba, North Korea, Iraq. Any one will do. --- "Mutant" Rob <wlkngowl@unix.asb.com> Send a blank message with the subject "send pgp-key" (not in quotes) for a copy of my PGP key.