Tag: injustice

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Common Sense crime and punishment nannyism responsibility

First, Do No Harm

Annette Bosworth

I wish Annette Bosworth were my doctor. Since she lives and practices medicine more than1300 miles away, in South Dakota, that’s not to be.

Sadly, the question to be answered, officially, is whether Dr. Bosworth will be permitted to provide medical care to anyone in her state. Following convictions on 12 felony counts pertaining to petitions she circulated, the South Dakota Medical Board has asked Bosworth to surrender her license.

Today, Annette appears at a hearing before the medical board regarding the ultimate resolution of her status to legally practice medicine. Announcing she would fight to try to save her license, Dr. Bosworth declared, “I just can’t give up.”

No one seems to doubt that she is a caring and capable physician. At her sentencing, Judge John Brown noted the many letters he received supporting her, mostly from patients, concluding that, “you did good work.”

Even Attorney General Marty Jackley, who prosecuted her, agreed: “I join in the court’s recognition coming from those that know Dr. Bosworth best, her medical patients, that she is capable of helping them. . . .”

“It’s just a terrible shame,” offered her attorney Robert Van Norman, “for her, for all of us, in a rural state, to lose permanently this woman’s talents.”

It’s difficult to remain optimistic, given that Dr. Bosworth and the state medical board have clashed again and again over the years. Yet, if the board follows the “do no harm” principle of medicine, they’ll not prevent Dr. Bosworth from regaining her license and again providing the highest quality of care to the people of South Dakota.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Annette Bosworth

 

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crime and punishment general freedom ideological culture national politics & policies

Robert Reich Makes Common Cause With Police State

Police State Apologist, Facebook, Robert Reich, collage, photomontage, Paul Jacob, http://cognitivebiasparade.prosite.com/, political, politics

Common Cause says its job is “Holding Power Accountable.” Robert Reich is the pre-eminent “people’s progressive” propagandist of our time, promoting himself as on the side of underdogs and against corporate power structures.

After the Wisconsin John Doe probe was judicially squelched, last week, Reich promoted Common Causes’s official reaction, insisting that “Corruption — even the appearance of corruption — erodes our democracy. Corruption of our system of justice undermines strikes at the heart of our government.”

This is the Common Cause take:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently ended the investigation of possible illegal activity between Scott Walker’s 2011-2012 recall campaign and outside special interest groups.

Four of the justices of the court were the beneficiaries of dark money spent in their behalf and which was the heart of this case. They should have recused themselves and did not.

Robert Reich enthusiastically reiterated Common Cause’s demand for adoption and practice of strict judicial “recusal rules.”

Hmmm. No mention that a federal judge had also ordered the investigation shut down, but that ruling was stayed awaiting state court resolution.

No mention, by either Reich or Common Cause, of the methods the prosecutors used in this case, the gag rules and secrecy, the official attempt to squelch public discussion.

Also no mention of the pre-dawn raids, complete with SWAT teams, barking dogs, and pointed guns, as if the political activists (targeted for unsubstantiated campaign finance rule breaches) were violent drug dealers or terrorists.

The lack of mention of those tactics suggests not merely a lack of interest in the real rule-of-law questions, but also an acceptance of those tactics . . . when applied to political enemies.

That is worse than mere corruption.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Police State Apologist

 

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crime and punishment general freedom ideological culture

Bosworth Sentenced

Dr. Annette Bosworth

Last week, Judge John Brown sentenced Dr. Annette Bosworth, a neophyte candidate for U.S. Senate from South Dakota, to twelve concurrent two-year prison terms . . . to be suspended provided she successfully completes three years of probation, pays the cost of her prosecution, and performs 500 hours of community service providing medical care to the poor.

Note: that final punishment is what she has been doing on her own for years, and is sort of why she is in this mess in the first place.

The case isn’t an innocent person being unjustly accused. I’ve met Annette Bosworth; I’m proud to call her a friend. But she wasn’t exactly innocent. She got bad advice and made a faulty decision to sign as the circulator of petitions when not every signature was affixed in her presence.

That’s a mistake. It shouldn’t be a felony.

The bigger issue? The over-the-top prosecution. Attorney General Marty Jackley’s heavy-handed, multi-felony approach sends a chilling message to anyone in South Dakota considering political participation.

More ominous is the apparent long-running personal feud between Jackley and Bosworth. In a statement after her sentencing, Jackley declared that Bosworth had “crossed the line of exasperation.”

But it is South Dakotans who should be exasperated with the AG: “Jackley had said before her sentencing,” the Capitol Journal reported, “that he might recommend prison time depending on Bosworth’s attitude after conviction.”

Meanwhile, State Rep. Steve Hickey, a chief Bosworth accuser, appears to have committed her same sin: signing a petition as circulator and not witnessing each signature. Jackley hasn’t bothered to investigate, but defensively told reporters, “I’ve never said that I won’t look into it.”

Tellingly, Mr. Hickey just resigned his seat in the legislature.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Dr. Annette Bosworth