Joe Bageant

Jury nullification is commoners' province

Dear Joe:

As a practicing attorney I must respond to your tale of your friend Stokes (Old Dogs and Hard Time). First, the vast majority of lawyers and judges in this country are just as appalled at the hijacking of our system of "justice" as are you and your readers. Stories like that of Mr. Stokes are now just every day occurrences in courts all over the country.

The cause of this is the legislature. During the 30 years of my practice, Congress and the state legislatures have propounded the largest, most mind numbing plethora of rules and regulations with such draconian penalties that practically everyone is risking their freedom for violation of something or other all the time.

Old Dogs and Hard Time

The following is an expanded and rewritten version of Joe's reply to a letter from a reader, "A sex offender and his sick dog".

By Joe Bageant

Late at night through my window by the computer I can see my neighbor Stokes bicycling at 10 p.m. to the local convenience store to buy groceries. Not only is that an expensive way to feed one's self, but it is the only way for old Stokes to cop some grubs without getting thrown in jail. Seriously. As a convicted sex offender, he is not allowed to come in proximity with young women in a supermarket checkout line. Nor is he allowed to visit a park, or even his own grandchild, even though he is not a child molester by the court's own admission. He is not allowed to drink a beer. In fact, he is not even allowed to read Playboy Magazine.

A dozen or so years ago Stokes, now 66 with a gray ponytail, an altogether gentle soul who labors under the illusion he looks like Willie Nelson, (and even has a framed photo of Willie on his wall to invite comparison), got caught by police in a, shall we say, "a vehicular sexual incident" with a married woman. They were both drunk. Big deal. That happens in beer joints. To make a long story short, by the time they got to court the lady's testimony was that it was all against her will, which being a married woman, solved a lot of problems for her. That resulted in Stokes being convicted as a sex offender while his public defender all but slept through the trial.

Advice to a young journalism student

Dear Joe,

I came across your site via Counterpunch and now come here daily, either to read the latest post or browse older essays. I find your writing breathtaking and, as a youngish writer myself, inspirational. "Audacity of Depression" bowled me over. After I read it, I had to stand up from my desk and pace the room. I wanted to write a response directly to that piece, but I found in the following days that the responses posted to your site pretty much echoed my thinking.

On later reflection, one thing I noticed was that the more I read news, the more depressed I became. If I totally ignore it, I feel pretty happy and optimistic about things in my life. I'm less apt to play with my dog or phone a friend if I've spent a couple of hours reading the news. As a journalist, do you find news easier to deal with, or do you find you have a similar reaction? Does writing and being heard help to exorcise the helplessness which I think is a key part of that depression?

Victims, suckers, marks, money on the hoof

Joe!

As a Brit living in Sweden, I am following your observations with interest, and with despair starting to see the same phenomena in Europe coming slowly.

However, that is not at the top of my mind just now; it's Die Hard 4 with Bruce Willis. We rented the DVD last night and I sat down to watch it at the request of the youngest member of our family.

At one point, the baddy looks up the personal details about the hero John McClane (played by Willis) on government computers. This New York cop of Irish origin, had no retirement plan, his personal economy was ruined, and he was divorced from his wife and estranged from his daughter.

Breaking the Beer Barrier

This is the advance text of a presentation by Joe Bageant at the National Conference On Media Reform June 6-8 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Joe is scheduled to give the presentation Saturday, June 7, 4:30-6:00 p.m. in Room 212-B. His participation in this conference is sponsored by WorldNewsTrust.com.

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By Joe Bageant

Hello fellow members of the liberal media conspiracy. I'm happy to be here at the annual gathering of our secret cells.

Here's my question: Why can't progressive media ever learn to communicate in redneck and born again bubba? I would guess that a lot of you are thinking, "Why would anybody want to?" One answer is the election of George Bush -- but there are many others. For example, a third of all Americans live in the geographic South and over 50% live in the "cultural south" -- which is to say places with white Southern Scots-Irish values -- places such as western Pennsylvania, central Missouri and southern Illinois, eastern Connecticut, northern New Hampshire -- and others we never think of as Southern. When you look at people in what has come to be called the red state heartland, most of their values are more or less traditional white Scots-Irish values.

Cheaper to rent slaves than own them

Joe,

In your reply to the letter "A sex offender and his sick dog", what are you talking about holding the middle class responsible for Stokes' troubles? It's true that perverted sexual ideology increases the oppression of the population, as well as making prison slavery more profitable, but the problem is not fundamentally perverted sexual values or even prison slavery but rental slavery. And this is fostered by the ruling class and their professional agents, not some mythical Middle Class.

The current gangster fascism of the Bushites is driving the American people into the ground for solid economic reasons that benefit the owners of corporations and banks. As Al Gore stated among his customary ideological bullshit in The Assault on Reason:

"[Elements of the Bushite] coalition ... are deeply concerned, for example, that government programs to provide health care, housing social insurance, and other financial support will adversely affect work incentives. They are also opposed to the minimum wage, 40 hour week, safety laws, consumer protection ... " Etc. etc.

A sex offender and his sick dog

Hey Joe,

Your recent letter from the noodle guy reminded me of how vicious is the cycle of poverty in this country. I worked for years with delinquent kids and their families, later with families in child welfare. In the absence of pure evil, the driving force in much of what brought those folks into the system was poverty.

Sometimes that poverty was the result of drug use or a mental illness, but more often it was the result of no help in life, ever. I don't mean government help, I mean the kind of help that each of us ought to have as children. It would be lovely if we all had caring, nurturing, functional, productive parents, but we don't. For many people brought up in the absence of those things, just getting the basic foundation for a successful life is a monumental struggle: poor protein intake in infancy can harm the brain, an environment without enrichment limits development, a rigid school structure applied to a child who's maybe never had structure is a recipe for disaster.

Ramen noodles with bits of fried egg

Joe,

I have read some of your writing and I believe that you are correct in that working stiffs and the unemployed poor don't stand a chance in making it in America anymore. It is the same thing in Michigan and Texas, and any other state as far as I can guess.

Heck, just trying to keep up with groceries, gas and utilities is a burden. Never mind car payment, car repairs, insurance and property taxes. Foreclosures are way up and people are helpless in their fight with city and county tax officials.

Here in San Antonio, Texas they want to convert freeways into toll roads. And, they are building expensive schools where up to 40% of the kids don't graduate.