Rep. Cynthia McKinney dodged a bullet when a grand jury wimped out and refused to indict her for her assault on a Capitol Hill police officer.
The Greek philosopher Thrasymachus once observed, "Justice is simply the advantage of the stronger." Some empirical realities never change (ask Mary Jo Kopechne's family).
The rules ARE different for the ‘privileged classes'.
McKinney is ‘privileged' as an anointed ‘royal' member of Congress.
She is ‘privileged' as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
She is ‘privileged' because she is a female member of Congress.
She is ‘privileged' because she is a loud, rude, confrontational Democrat.
Once upon a time, a black woman in a white man's world suffered prejudice, discrimination and diminution. Today, she holds all the cards (most significantly, the ‘race card').
McKinney's conduct was both inappropriate and illegal. An average sixth-grade student could figure that out, but a D.C. grand jury apparently could not. She admitted hitting a police officer who tried to stop her from entering a House office building.
The grand jury had been wringing their hands and looking at their feet since shortly after the March 29 incident. Notwithstanding all the talk about race and conduct of lawmakers and those tasked with protecting them, this ‘resolution' is a travesty.
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U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein said, "We respect the decision of the grand jury in this difficult matter," demonstrating that he is as gutless and impotent as the cowards of the grand jury. He apparently also relishes the procedural ‘plausible deniability' the grand jury has offered him for cover.
Horace Walpole said: "Justice is rather the activity of truth, than a virtue in itself. Truth tells us what is due to others, and justice renders that due. Injustice is acting a lie." The grand jury's McKinney decision was, for sure, "acting a lie."
This incident also provides further evidence of the chronic double standard in that 87 square miles surrounded by reality in the District of Criminals.
I guarandamntee that if ANY Republican had laid hands on a member of the Capitol Hill police, the mainstream media, the liberal Democrats and even assorted police organizations and unions would have gone apoplectic demanding a pound of flesh.
This was an opportunity squandered by McKinney, the Congressional Black Caucus and Democrats. McKinney could have/should have offered a sincere, profuse mea culpa. She should have apologized to the officer, voluntarily entered anger management classes and acted contrite. She did not.
The apology that was offered (a week after the incident) was "I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all, and I regret its escalation, and I apologize." McKinney said that on April 6. "There should not have been any physical contact in this incident."
What ‘misunderstanding'?
Congress critters are supposed to wear a lapel pin identifying them as ‘privileged'.
McKinney was not wearing her pin.
She had recently changed her hairstyle.
The officer did not recognize her and ordered her to stop (a lawful order).
McKinney copped an attitude and ignored the uniformed officer.
When the officer attempted to restrain her, she pimp-slapped him.
She could have/should have identified herself. SHE chose the inappropriate response to what she perceived (incorrectly) as an affront. SHE was WRONG!
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (who knows something of justice and injustice) said: "Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice." McKinney embraces elitism and a warped, corrupted conscience.
Cynthia McKinney is a mean-spirited, argumentative hypocrite. She has made a career out of the inappropriate, and routinely and chronically engages her pie hole before engaging her gray matter. This time she used her hands to illegally resist the lawful order of a uniformed officer.
Congress recently displayed uncommon common sense by removing Rep. William Jefferson after FBI agents found almost a hundred grand in bribe money in his freezer. However, that same collection of Congress critters is incapable of rendering the same common sense to McKinney.
The Greek tragedian Aeschylus noted that justice "shines" in the homes of the humble and disadvantaged, but "the gold-spangled mansions where the hands are unclean she [Justice] leaves with eyes averted." Which is precisely what happened with the McKinney grand jury.
Geoff is an author and talk show host. He is a ninth-generation commissioned officer in the U.S. armed services, a former Green Beret and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. Geoff hunts down the stories the rest of the media ignore and exposes them for public scrutiny. He is also Editor of CalNews.com.