Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Wow, what a long time

I have been very busy with life, so I haven't posted in 6 months. I see that PDDude hasn't posted either.

I am very burned out with being a deputy public defender. I used to enjoy the job, but now I don't. Suffice to say that I am an employee, and an employee who has been taught to fear for his job. Very sad that it has come to this.

There was a time when I didn't care. But now I have kids to support. A mortgage to pay. I have to conform to what the bosses want. I have come to realize that I must do exactly what they say, or I will be fired. It isn't about protecting my clients. It is about satisfying my bosses.

I believe that this country, and the State of California, are at a very crucial stage. Our legal system is melting down. The current budget crisis is goign to get worse and worse because it is the natural result of a defective system. We require an informed and motivated citizenry to make our democracy work. But we are overwhelmed on the one hand with ill-informed older people who "think" they understand what is going on, but really don't, and a swelling population of illegal aliens who have no say in the system. The poor are rapidly forgetting that that they have the power to vote, the illegals have no power to vote, and the old white guys who still have sway want something that is impossible to get - a rollback to the 1950s. we have a system that is beset with gridlock and preyed upon by those wealthy interests, such as banking and insurance industries, and the prison-industrial system, who can control our state government with a pittance of corrupt dollars. The disconnect is amazing.

Okay, enough whining, I guess. I still hate those old-style liberals who would constantly moan about things but would never actually try solve them. How about some predictions:

Predictions #1: The budget crisis will get worse. The only way to save our system is to honestly re-think how we do just about everything in Calfornia. Too long we have allowed ourselves to think "the little things don't matter." They do. WE CANNOT AFFORD THREE STRIKES - IT IS KILLING US. I was against Three Strikes before it was popular to be against it. I have railed against Three Strikes for moral reasons and for fairness reasons. Now we are actually closing schools to feed the beast. It's time to re-think crimes, sentencing, prisons, jails, mental health as it relates to crimes, the works. We cannot afford the system that we have, and destroying our future to keep people locked up is madness.

Prediction #2: The feds will not be able to get california to release inmates. In a way, it is a blessing. The anti-federal government attitude is going to harden the already bankrupt Republican Party in california, further alienating them from normal people. The 9th Circuit just ordered the release of 45,000 prisoners within 2 years. Count on the state to appeal, and the U.S. Supremes to REVERSE. It will be 5-4, but it will be reversed. And this is a good thing. Because then the State will be forced to solve this crisis.

Funny thing about crises - they often make the impossible possible. At some level too many people are actually worrying about services in California. Like Schools. Or libraries. Or electricity. Or garbage collection. Or health care. The costs of these things are set to spiral out of control in the next few years. We will have to fix these things. And in doing so, I think that it will make us stronger as a State.

Dennis R. Wilkins
The Guest Blogger

3 comments:

g said...

courts building in Los Angeles(Clara Folz.)

Judges are committing ex partes(witnessed by many public defenders) and an innocent person is being destroyed for reasons that might involve Californias governor(he has the same lawfirm as the false accuser) Four judges have ruled in ways that adhere to no law or sense and they all were appointed by the Governor. One is Villagrossa’s sister. She is completely corrupt and her clerk won’t even file the defendant’s motions. In desperation, the prosecutor is now trying to have the defendant declared “incompetent” though this is so obviously crazy that many Public Defenders are up in arms. This doesn’t tell the whole tale but please look at this file and the minutes for th is case 8CA10541.

Anonymous said...

The juxtaposition of two things Public Defender Dude says is very telling of the schizophrenic thinking I see in many of those who support illegal aliens to the disadvantage of US citizens. First PD Dude expresses his concern for his own family"s basic needs "... I have kids to support. A mortgage to pay." But PD Dude doesn't seem to care about US citizens whose basic needs are negatively impacted by the very presence of illegal aliens in this country. Then PD Dude incredulously goes on to say, "... the illegals have no power to vote...." Under what political theory of a Democratic Representative Republic, the political system we live under in the US, do people illegally in the country become active participants in that system? PD Dude is part of that very small by loud portion of the body politic who believe that illegal aliens are here and because they are a major profit center for businesses, they should be treated not just as equal to US citizens, but as super citizens.

Instead of PD Dude's views of what we should do nationally and in California, it's about time we Democrats knocked off the warm and fuzzy crap and realized the most devastating blow to the American poor and working class has been the saturation of the manual labor sector by an illegal workforce large enough to populate a small country.
 And Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, “the employers caused them to come”…well, arrest them too. And Sure, Sure, “they just come because they want a better life for themselves and their family” …This is also the wish and desire of virtually every human being on planet Earth. (Hence the need and development of immigration law.) And of course, ” But it’s hard for poor Foreigners to immigrate legally” …Well of course it is. If it wasn’t, the manual labor sector would become saturated very rapidly and cause tremendous amounts of competition for the domestic working class.
Immigration Law is not “Mean” “Racist” or “Incompationate” …It is a necessity to control the ebb and flow of massive amounts of Humanity while insuring no one sector of labor becomes saturated, Or the domestic population overwhelmed.

Dennis Wilkins said...

This is a brief response to what Anonymous wrote, re: illegal aliens.

I was trying to point out, in as polite a way possible, that having a large portion of our population as illegals is bad for us politically. Illegals are unable to vote. They have little political and/or economic power. They depress wages for other workers. When they get stepped on by the police, or by employers, or by anyone for that matter, they can say little about it, for fear of being deported. This is bad for everyone.

Why should illegals do what ordinary citizens do, when they are only going to get stomped for it? I believe that a democratic society should be composed of OWNERS - period. Everyone - rich, poor, smart, dumb, short, tall, etc., so long as they are 18 and are a citizen, has the right to vote. Voter apathy kills our society.