Reflections by Kris

They’ve got to be joking .

A California woman who escaped from a Michigan prison more than 30 years ago and remade her life as a suburban mother of three is "extremely uncomfortable" back behind bars and wants to move the case through the courts as quickly as possible, her attorney said Monday.

Susan LeFevre, now 53, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1975 for conspiracy to sell heroin and sales of heroin to an undercover police officer. Aided by her grandfather, she escaped her Michigan prison in 1976 and has been living a holly-jolly life as a wealthy suburban mom in San Diego, CA.

The law caught up to her in April of this year and she is now serving 5+ years of the original drug sentence. In addition, she is facing additional charges related to her escape.

I guess we are supposed to feel bad for someone who can’t do their time:

"She's extremely uncomfortable.” ... "There's nowhere she can go to be alone. There's nowhere she can go to get peace," the attorney said.

Poor baby. She sold heroin, plead guilty in 1974 and was sentenced as the law dictated at that time. Mr. Swor is vowing to get that original sentence overturned, as it was “cookie cutter” sentencing that didn’t take into consideration any mediating factors. Susan LeFevre broke the law and plead guilty, believing the jury would show her more leniency if she confessed voluntarily; she was wrong. The judge gave her the same sentence as he did for similar crimes at that time, saying:

“I just hope you do change your own life,” Judge Joseph R. McDonald told Susan LeFevre, according to transcripts of the Feb. 7, 1975, hearing in Saginaw, Mich. “You're a young woman and you can live this down,but you're going to have to pay the penalty.” [emphasis mine]

She never paid the penalty. And she now claims she didn’t know she’d get 10 years for pleading guilty.

Ms. LeFevre’s prosecutor from her original trial, E. Brady Denton, has said recently that if he were the prosecutor in her case today:

…he wouldn't put LeFevre back in prison. Instead, he would allow her to withdraw her plea, have her replead to the same charges, then sentence her under the new Michigan guidelines, which would factor in a prior record, the severity of the crime and what she has done with her life. “I'd give her probation and let her go back and be with her family in California.”

Conversely, Mr. Denton also said:

“There were many other people in her exact same situation who got 10 to 20 years,” Denton said.

It may be true that since her escape she’s lived a model, if illegal, life; indeed even prior to her original trial it seemed she had left behind the world of drugs. Even so, she committed her crime in the 1970s – and she shouldn’t be given a second chance. Other drug criminals from that era paid their dues (as Mr. Denton observed), rather than escape and live a fantasy life.

Why does Susan LeFevre deserve a second chance?

Fit and healthy says the title; at least 50% of it is B.S. right now!

  I’ve gained 5 pounds in the past 6 weeks or so. Five. Pounds .

I feel disgusting, yet I find it nearly impossible to stop myself. Corn on the cob. Homemade devil dogs at cookouts. Macaroni salad. Chips & dip. Juicy cheeseburgers with fries. All those summer goodies that just lead to further debauchery called popcorn and yogurt-covered pretzels.

The one thing I haven’t done – and I am proud of this – is gone back to my original addiction. That would surely cause me to fall off the wagon for good. Otherwise, my willpower has gone on vacation.

GACK!

I am most displeased with myself – as I have no one else to blame, much as I’ve tried to find someone else to take the fall for this – and I must, repeat must get back on track. Else I’ll have nothing to wear as the seasons change.

Thank you ladies! Two members of the US women’s gymnastics team scored gold and silver in best all around gymnastic competition today. Nastia Liukin took the gold, edging out Shawn Johnson by 6 tenths of a point, who took the silver.

Liukin wore a smile that lit up her face as she climbed atop the medals podium and waved to the crowd. She blinked back tears as the gold medal was placed around her neck, but let them flow when the U.S. anthem began to play.

"Standing on the podium and hearing `Olympic champion' next to my name was a dream come true," Liukin said. "Everything pays off at this very moment."

Both Ms. Liukin and Ms. Johnson are far more than rivals on the balance beam:

The gold-silver finish is one that the two girls had talked about, since they find themselves in the unusual position of not only being chief rivals for the most coveted crown in gymnastics, but also friends and, at this Games, roommates. Two teenagers, two competitors, one bathroom. Sounds scary, doesn't it?

They help each other whenever possible, even during the flooding in the Midwest this past spring. Ms. Liukin offered whatever help she could when, just before Olympic trials began, the gym Ms. Johnson used to train in Iowa was flooded.

Oh yeah, and these girls are age 18 and 16. Legitimately.

Well done Nastia & Shawn! Congratulations!!!

I know they are a different country with cultural norms I just can’t fathom. But this is too much.

Omkari Panwar [age 70] and her husband Charan Singh Panwar, 77, from Uttar Pradesh, North India, underwent IVF in a last-ditch attempt to produce a male heir to take over the family's smallholdings, because daughters are not allowed to inherit property in the country.

The elderly couple, who already have two daughters in their thirties, and five grandchildren, were left near destitute after mortgaging their land, selling their buffalo and taking out a loan for the £4,400 fertility treatment, and are surviving on handouts from friends.

However they were overjoyed when Mrs Panwar gave birth to twins - one a boy - in June.

Elderly is putting it mildly. For me, I think it’s ridiculous for people over the age of 60 (at least) to consider having children. The odds don’t favor that they will live to see their child graduate from high school.

What really gets to me about this story is the reasons for the IVF – and the lengths they went to in their zeal for a son. They bankrupted themselves to leave – um what exactly is left – to this son?

I know in the Indian culture women are considered something less than a second class citizen, especially in the outlying districts. They prize their sacred cows more than their women. Then you read things like this:

Speaking as fellow villagers welcomed the jubilant pair back to their home, Mrs Panwar said: "For more than 40 years I have thought God did not think I was fit to produce a boy.

"But fate works in funny ways. It must have been meant to be that I waited all this time."

And you realize how pernicious this really is. This woman is 70 years old and is blaming herself for not having a boy. Um – it’s the man who determines the sex of a child. This is like reading stories about King Henry VIII and his murderous desire for a son.

Even better:

"We paid all this money to the doctors for a son, but now we have the extra burden of another daughter as well."

Imagine how that daughter is going to feel when she realizes that her father was happy enough to die after her birth, knowing full well that:

Mr Panwar said: "I've finally got what I wanted and I can die a happy man now. My wife will look after the babies when I am gone, and after she dies my other daughters will care for them. It will be an honour for them to raise their new brother ." [emphasis mine]

No mention of the honor of raising their new sister.

Animated fireworks. Lip synching. Underage performers.

Sounds like an average day in the life of any reality show you might see on television these days. Except it’s not.

It’s the Summer Olympics and part of what is sure to be a growing list of lies and abuses by the Chinese. Equally culpable is the International Olympic Committee, at least as far as the Chinese women’s gymnastic team goes. Calling those performers women is putting lipstick on a pig.

The latest is offenses against the media. Now, I’m the last person who would actively defend the media, but this really does push the limits:

John Ray, a correspondent for ITN, says he was “bundled away, pushed to the floor and pinned down” before being “manhandled into the back of a police van.” … “They are claiming I tried to unfurl a Tibet banner. I did not at any time try to unfurl a banner and I have never possessed any banner or protest material. I was there simply to report on a demonstration, not to take part in it in any way,” he tells The Guardian.

Despite it’s assurances that members of the media would have unfettered reporting access while they are in China, the IOC responded in typically impotent fashion:

"The IOC does disapprove of any attempts to hinder a journalist who is going about or doing his job seemingly within the rules and regulation," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies tells reporters, according to AFP. "We do not want to see it happening again."

Oooo – bet that had everyone quaking in their shoes.

And the Chinese wonder why attendance is so abysmal…

Kill him. It will never be enough for what he’s done, but Joseph Edward Duncan needs to die.

On June 22, 2005, Duncan left Shasta [Groene] at the camp, taking Dylan [Groene] to a cabin, where he videotaped himself sexually abusing and torturing the boy.

"Heinous, cruel and depraved are tough words in the English language, but none of these words ... fully express the outrage of what you will see," [U.S. Attorney Thomas] Moss told jurors.

After they returned to the campsite, the first thing Duncan did was show Shasta the video, Moss said.

Then, at some point during the next four days, Shasta heard a gunshot and turned to see Dylan clutching his stomach where he'd been hit. She watched as Duncan walked over to Dylan, held the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The gun didn't fire, Moss said, so Duncan reloaded and fired again.

Duncan wrapped the body in a tarp, threw it on the campfire and let it burn until it was reduced to ashes.

Duncan plotted and planned the crime spree he perpetrated on one family. He broke into the Groene house, beat to death 3 of the family members, then kidnapped the 2 children. He remained at large until a waitress in a Denny’s recognized Shasta Groene and called police.

Duncan pleaded guilty to 10 charges of kidnapping and murder. He now enters the penalty phase; since some of the charges are at the federal level; this will be a jury sentencing. Which means the jury will have to see the video.

This man is a monster; nothing could be clearer. He deserves to die. Soon. If somehow the jury doesn’t see fit to sentence him to death, I’m sure his fellow inmates will make sure he doesn’t live very long.

Either way – he needs to die. Now.

Well, Los Angeles has just taken the term nanny-state to a whole new level.

Big-box, home-improvement stores in Los Angeles will have to set aside space for day laborers under an ordinance passed by the City Council on Wednesday. When the ordinance takes effect -- the mayor has to sign it, and most city laws take effect 30 days afterward -- it will apply to stores such as The Home Depot - that have 100,000 square feet or more, or any structure where 250,000 square feet or more of warehouse floor area is added.

The shelters must be easily accessible and include drinking water, bathrooms, tables, seating and trashcans. The stores may be required to work with Los Angeles police in developing a security plan, according to the unanimous vote by the 15-member lawmaking body.

Let’s make a correction to that first sentence. It’s not day laborers folks, it’s illegal immigrants .

Don’t you just love the superciliousness of the City Council, telling these tax-paying businesses what to do with facilities that the City of Los Angeles does nothing to help pay for. All for a bunch of illegal immigrants who have nothing at all to do with these businesses. They certainly aren’t shopping at these stores.

My favorite part about this? The National Day Laborer Organizing Network’s justification for supporting the law:

"It provides for safe and dignified hiring locations where contingent workers can defend their basic rights. It carefully balances the interests of business, residents, day laborers and their employers," said the group's executive director, Pablo Alvarado.

Again, we need to correct that first sentence to read illegal immigrants in place of “contingent workers”. Second, defend their basic rights? What about the rights of the business owners? Don’t they have the right to refuse to provide free services to people who loiter on their property? And the interests of the employers of these illegal immigrants? What are those exactly – the only thing those employers should be interested in is having a good lawyer on permanent retainer.

And given that the City of Los Angeles currently has 11 illegal immigrant hang-outs in the city – funded by the city – why do they feel the need to pressure these businesses to cater to – and condone – the presence of illegal immigrants?

The mind reels.

I have mentioned before that Obama requires people attending his speeches in the U.S. to have tickets. Perhaps, as Buck said in a comment to my post on the subject, Obama just knows how to run a ruthlessly efficient campaign.

Perhaps.

Then again, maybe Obama just knows how to gather his adoring hoardes – to do his bidding. Using the Denver Convention Center to deliver his presumptuous acceptance speech wasn’t good enough for the great Obamessiah – he had to move it to Invesco Field so that 75,000 of his sycophants can worship him.

And is that worship enough for The One? No, it is not.

Many of those who received tickets told 7NEWS they have come with a caveat. Those viewers said the campaign told them they must volunteer six hours for the campaign by Friday in order to get a ticket. "I got a call that if I want the tickets I have to volunteer two shifts of three hours apiece -- for one ticket. If I want two tickets, then it's four shifts of two hours apiece," said Berenice Christensen.

You read that right – people who have received the coveted tickets to Obama’s acceptance speech – are “required to volunteer”. Isn’t that an oxymoron?

According to Obama’s campaign office in Denver…

The Obama campaign insists that volunteering is not a requirement to get a ticket.

They said those who were told they must volunteer must have clicked on the opt-in button for "all-star seating" when they signed up for the tickets. If you click that button, then you are required to volunteer, but you get a better seat.

I wonder how clear that “opt-in” feature was to score that special seating. I’m guessing it was fine print – so fine it didn’t exist.

This just proves what I’ve been saying all along – nothing with Obama will be free. There will be a price for all that he does and says.

OK, so about 4 months ago my blog provider announced they would no longer support IE 6.0 as of mid-July. I do the majority of my blogging using my work laptop; my employer has not upgraded to IE 7.0 yet. And has no plans to do so anytime soon. Given that it's my work laptop, I have no administration rights on the device to upgrade IE or install a different browser.

So - I'm pretty much locked out of my blog. Or so I thought. Once the cutover to the new user interface was complete - I could still use it, even with IE 6.0.  I didn't question it - it worked, right.

Last Thursday, the UI stopped working. I got a nasty error message with no other options.  My provider has been trying to work with me to figure out what happened - and make it work again.

It seems ... they can't. In fact, even if somehow they can make it work again, I'll eventually have the same problem when they do another system upgrade to the UI.

So - I have a decision to make. I do have a laptop at home (I'm using it right now) but time and energy at home is minimal for blogging.  I am investigating my own domain name and a host site to work in the background. But that will take a little time to put together if that's what I'm going to do.

Until I get all this figured out, blogging will be light. 

Please excuse us while we continue to address technical difficulties.

Dammit!