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Ron Smith's Something to Say Weekday Mornings 6:50AM rsmith@wbal.com The Damage They Do: Can it be fixed? July 26, 2002 Ron Smith's Something to Say (July 26, 2002) It’s hardly news that American society is paralyzed by fear of rampaging lawyers and their ruinous penchant for suing the crap out of anybody and everybody. We know that the legal system has become an instrument for legalized extortion. We know that ordinary people understand that the potential exists for turning all sorts of annoyances into a personal financial windfall through the sleight of hand of tort law. We know that judges...

Ron Smith's Something to Say Weekday Mornings 6:50AM rsmith@wbal.com England and Gun Control -- What a Mess July 2, 2002 Ron Smith's Something to Say (July 2, 2002) Modern times have seen an ever-escalating effort on the part of Western governments to disarm their people. Gun control laws depriving individuals of their right to self-defense have gone terribly wrong if we are to believe that they have been enacted with public safety as their actual purpose. Armed crime has been skyrocketing in England and Wales ever since the government, with the Dunblane massacre as a rationale, virtually outlawed private ownership...

Ron Smith's Something to Say Weekday Mornings 6:50AM rsmith@wbal.com You Lose June 28, 2002 Ron Smith's Something to Say (June 28, 2002) Judges aren’t immune to public opinion, as is once again proved by the instant backtracking performed by Judge Alfred T. Goodwin of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Within hours of outraging the overwhelming majority of his fellow citizens by declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, Judge Goodwin decided, without comment, to put his decision on hold, perhaps anticipating that his ruling would be quickly overturned on appeal. Funny, isn’t it, how this particular ruling riled the...

Ron Smith's Something to Say Weekday Mornings 6:50AM rsmith@wbal.com A Law Unto Themselves May 21, 2002 Ron Smith's Something to Say (May 21, 2002) After an FBI agent shot Joe Schultz in the face eleven weeks ago, we remarked that the investigation into this mistaken shooting would drag on until either until we all forget what happened or until some kind of plausible deniability could be cooked up by the feds. Here’s a little update on the case of the unarmed Pasadena man mistaken for a bank robbery suspect and shot by Christopher Braga, an agent armed with an M-4...

The Boy Scouts were Right May 15, 2002 Ron Smith's Something to Say Baltimore is again making national news; this time because a young man shot a Roman Catholic priest he says once molested him. The shooting of the Rev. Maurice Blackwell by 26-year-old Dontee Stokes, a barber, appears to have been sparked by all the publicity about the sex scandal eating at the Roman Catholic Church. A sidebar story in this morning’s Baltimore Sun quotes a friend of the gunman relating what he thought was nothing more than a casual remark by Stokes that it was “messed up with...

Ron Smith's Something to Say Weekday Mornings 6:50AM rsmith@wbal.com We got the answer April 17, 2002 (April 17, 2002) Two weeks ago, a columnist remarked we would shortly know who runs American/Israeli Mid East policies – America or Israel. As Secretary of State Colin Powell returns from his bizarre “peace” mission, the answer is clear to the whole world – Israel is the tail that wags the American dog. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon basically thumbed his nose at President Bush’s demand he withdraw his forces “without delay” from their West Bank incursion. The attitude, reinforced by most of the...

I Explain March 19, 2002 Ron Smith Something to Say (March 19, 2002) Several of my listeners have expressed their disappointment with my comments on our current “war” strategies. They are patriotic Americans who are convinced of the righteousness of the Bush Administration’s response to the atrocities of September 11, 2001. Judging from their calls and e-mails, they cannot abide my lack of enthusiasm over the course of these momentous events. By way of disclaimer, understand that in no way do I object to the idea of hunting down and killing those responsible for the attacks on us. This is...