The Border-Patrol Two Deserve Jail (Despite the “hero” propaganda)

National Review ^ | 01/27/2007 | Andrew C. McCarthy

[radar101]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1775363/posts

[radar101]

This tells me BIAS:
Andrew C. McCarthy is a former federal prosecutor

[NapkinUser]

The border patrol agents need to be pardoned and their cells filled with Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila and Johnny "I make Nifond look good" Sutton.

[PRND21]

Americans instinctively think of their agents as heroes because they know most of them are. When we find some who demonstrably aren’t, dispensing with them is not an injustice. It's a defense of honor.

Bump

[JRochelle]

Andy McCarthy is always defending that Patrick Fritzgerald too.

What a bafoon.

[LIConFem]

"...regardless of the fall-out, law enforcement must police itself with integrity. Americans instinctively think of their agents as heroes because they know most of them are. When we find some who demonstrably aren’t, dispensing with them is not an injustice. It’s a defense of honor. "

That much is true, in general. As for this particular case, I don't know what to believe. My first, knee-jerk reaction was outrage at the conviction of Campean and Ramos, and at the seemingly-excessive prison terms they received. But I've since read too many conflicting accounts of the incident to form an opinion now (except regarding the sentences, which I still view as excessive).

[FastCoyote]

The point is not even whether they were corrupt, it is that our government expended inordinately more energy on prosecuting these two agents that it has spent on tracking down illegals. Just about once a week a trailer full of illegals runs off the road and kills ten or twenty. But we've got prosecutors more interested in whether a drug dealer caught a bullet in the but.

Sometimes you have to weigh where you put your effort. Suspend the two, slap them on the wrist, sure. But they were at least on our side.

[NapkinUser]

One wonders why the open border pimps are always the quickest to defend Johnny Sutton and go against Ramos and Compean. It shouldn't be a shocker though.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

uh oh.

Can't Wait for the

"Border Patrol Good, Drug Smugglers Bad"

sheep to weigh in..

[TChris]

I think this is a very well-reasoned and informative article. It's nice to read material from cooler heads once in a while.

[DJ Taylor]

"Myopic border-enforcement activists seem unconcerned about any of these facts."

What a bunch of...spin. This journalist takes the word of a drug smuggler and calls it "facts," and then calls the Border Patrolmen liars when they present their version of the incident. It must be just because I'm not a left wing journalist that I tend to believe the Border Patrolmen.

[righteousindignation]

the only 'shocker ' is that National Review is now treasonous!

[donna]

http://www.constitutionalfreedomfoundation.org/Articles/meaning_of_rights.htm

Excerpt:

Group Rights Breed Disrespect For The Law, And Disrespect Breeds Disobedience

When we create “rights” that only apply to certain groups of people but not to others, we violate a basic rule of law that everybody intuitively senses to be a good and just principle – equal protection and equal application of the law.

When the law treats people differently, the natural by-product is disrespect for the law. Anybody who has ever been subjected to the harsher side of a double standard has sensed the inherent injustice of that treatment. In a free society such as ours, we depend upon widespread voluntary compliance with the law without any need for the application of external force. However, it is unreasonable to expect people to act this way when they see unequal application of the law. More likely, they will develop a scofflaw attitude rather than a compliant one. Thus we risk the long-term health of the legal system when we create “group rights” which, as was discussed earlier, are not really rights at all, but rather some form of selective entitlement bestowed upon one group at the expense of all others.

As the law expands inappropriately and/or out of proportion and consequently, my respect for it generally diminishes, I find myself becoming more aggressive in liberally interpreting particular laws in my favor -- even when I understand and agree with the purposes behind those laws. My attitude tends to become more of : “What do I want and how can I manipulate the law to get my way?” (i.e. a scofflaw attitude) rather than “What does the law require of me? Like everybody else, I need to comply as a good citizen.” (snip)

[misterrob]

And Corsi is a fair and balanced kind of guy and his publication at WND is what serious reporters strive to work for.

[WhiteGuy]

So it appears that the bush justice department has decided that the rule of law applies when an AMERICAN is in the wrong..............................

and is to be ignored when the law-breaker is a foreign invader.....................

the bush legacy.........................?????

[drjimmy]

What a bunch of...spin. This journalist takes the word of a drug smuggler and calls it "facts," and then calls the Border Patrolmen liars when they present their version of the incident. It must be just because I'm not a left wing journalist that I tend to believe the Border Patrolmen.

Uh, you might want to actually read the article, since you seem to have missed the "fact" that it was a jury that unanimously convicted these border patrolmen, not a journalist. And it was a jury that heard testimony and reviewed all the evidence in the case, including from other border patrolmen on the scene, not just taking the word of a drug smuggler. And to top it all off, you call Andy McCarthy a "left wing journalist." Do you have the slightest clue who you are talking about?

[NapkinUser]

Can't Wait for the

"Border Patrol Good, Drug Smugglers Bad"

sheep to weigh in..

So what is your opinion on the U.S. border patrol? And what is your opinion on people who smuggle illegal drugs into this country? Please tell us.

[badbass]

Sometimes you have to weigh where you put your effort. Suspend the two, slap them on the wrist, sure. But they were at least on our side.

This is kind of how I look at it as well.