Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Justice in the mock democracy

Justice in the U.S. - where the mock democracy shows its true colors.

This, from a NYT story today about the new policy of the Justice department to, well, sorta almost seek almost sorta sometimes criminal indictments against criminal banks on leap years perhaps, under some unnamed future president:

"For one, banking regulators are likely to sound alarms about the economy. HSBC avoided charges in a money laundering case last year after concerns arose that an indictment could put the bank out of business. In the first interest rate-rigging case, prosecutors briefly considered criminal charges against an arm of Barclays, but they hesitated given the bank’s cooperation and its importance to the financial system, two people close to the case said."

But we are on that money launderin', y'all - if it involves, say, a black male in Alabama. Consider this, the 22nd year in jail of Clarence Adams. Adams was 23 at the time of his arrest - a first time offender. However, even the defense couldn't deny he was black. Oh oh. Here is what he did, according to the summary contained on the PBS frontline site:
"The boys who testified against Aaron were his friends from high school and his first cousin with whom he grew up in Alabama. Aaron introduced his friends, who were involved in dealing drugs, to people he knew in Baton Rouge who were also involved in drugs. He drove them from one city to the other, accompanied by his cousin, and was paid $1,500 for his help."

For that 1500 dollars, Aaron was sentence to three life sentences in Federal prison. Of course, he could be pardoned. The Bush administration was urged to - even by the judge in Aaron's case. But it didn't. The ultra ultra ultra liberal Obama administration has... done nothing, even though the case is now pretty well known. So a bank goes scott free, laundering millions for drug dealers, and a man is going to die in prison because he is black and because he introduced two parties dealing drugs for 1500 dollars. 
Doesn't it make you feel all good inside, the way we are protected from evil by the American government?


ps - according to a study from Pro Publica, the racial breakdown of pardons shows that four whites are pardoned for every black - just to make you feel extra good inside about the situation in our post-racial country.

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