So unless you haven’t seen a TV, heard a radio, or had access to the Internet in the last 24 hours then you’ve probably encountered the media splurge of the latest sensational celebrity death. Pop star Michael Jackson and pin up Farrah Fawcett both died yesterday.

As we finished up our deadline work this morning I thought just about everyone had seen enough of the stories, having placed a number of AP articles in the paper and then navigating through most of the major news network sites this morning, who wouldn’t be?

I was surprised to see the entire office spring into an usually intense water cooler discussion, as co-workers and interns came out from their desks or peeked over their cubicles, to put in the two cents over what they remembered. I couldn’t resist putting in my own.

I was surprise to find such a strong following of Jackson lovers. He was a little before my time and I’m starting to wonder if maybe I haven’t given the man enough credit.

For the my part I met Jackson in the early 90’s and later. If you’re familiar with the singer’s history I don’t think you’ call it his best of times. Pedophile allegations, outdated music, and a freaky personal appearance, was all I absorbed unfortunately.

As for Farah I can’t say I remember much more than she was on the cover of one of my first playboy magazines, which I swiped it from an inattentive relative in junior high.

It was strange gauging the different memories and opinions of people born over the last five decades and how the media has impacted an iconic person’s legacy, depending on which generation they grew up in. Something’s are forgotten and others over exaggerated.

The thriller video however is timeless.

I think it’s a good thing to tell the brighter side of a person after they pass on and I’m sure in the pending, week long, media blitz to follow will beat every horse in the herd to death before it’s over.

Regardless of how anyone perceived them, you have to give credit to the sheer volume of gossip, sensationalism and controversy stimulated by their lives and deaths.

RIP

I don’t even know where to begin. How about a quote from a personal inspiration of mine, Martin Luther King Jr.

“How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others? The answer lies in the fact that there fire two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’”

Now I know Dr. King was talking about the unjust laws of civil segregation but I bet he’d be the first to recognize that the injustice of a punishment can far exceed a the crime’s.

Thursday a federal judge jury fined a 32-year-old Minnesota woman $1.9 million for downloading 24 songs worth 99 cents a piece from the internet, illegally.

The woman has four children and a husband. Without a doubt their financial lives are ruined. Her spouse will be equally affect financially, the children’s futures now lost, they will spend the rest of their lives paying it off.

Shame on the jury for being lulled into such a complacent state to find any conceivable way to go along with such a blatant injustice. No matter what direction they received from the judge or the law they shouldn’t have agreed to the sentence.

The corporate monsters that were no doubt instrumental in this case are not interest in recouping the money but rather sending the headline message to all those out there still downloading songs at this woman’s, and her family’s, expense.

The verdict is more criminal than the crime ever was. I’d encourage everyone to ignore these laws and continue downloading whatever music they want in protest to the verdict.

These laws designed to halt the large commercial copyright infringements of corrupt distributors and should not have been turned so viciously against a single individual consumer using the illegal site for recreational purposes. She was not even turning a profit at the artist’s expense.

That’d be like charging people who litter $500,000 fines for dropping a cigarette bud and blaming them for the effects of global warming. Not that I disagree with making littering illegal, in fact I despise litters but one can’t ignore the drastically exaggerated punishment and the wrongfully placed blame being laid on a single person playing such a small role in the grand scheme of its deterioration. The same is true with the average person seeking downloads for music. There is a level of culpability here just not to the tune of 1.9 million dollars.

Just because there may be a legal argument or law to condone chopping off a person’s hand for stealing a piece of bread doesn’t mean it’s justice.

For more about this story cut and paste these links into your web browser

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/business/media/19music.html?ref=media

or

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/18/minnesota.music.download.fine/index.html

With the decision of Steven Dutcher not to run for Chenango County Sheriff there are few others on the “short list” and of those few I’ve spoken with in private corners, none seem very enthusiastic about the prospect of running.

Require by the federal Hatch Act, all candidates would have to abandoned their current jobs to run in an election.

Many do not enjoy the prospect of leaving their positions and currently enjoy their law enforcement roles. Although argumentative, the office of sheriff is also more of a political role as it is any other.

I hate a democracy which functions on a “lack of options” algorithm. So as it has looked for nearly a decade now the old guard is simply going to appoint its next representative.

Undersheriff Ernest Cutting is an incredible candidate for the office, with the backing of the republican party, his administrative experience and family roots in the local community, it is difficult to imagine a more intimidating opponent.

Dutcher is adored by his local constituents and seen as a popular, personal public figure by those who know him. His apprehension over leaving the Greene Police Chief’s post, which he has helped to define, is a serious political sacrifice for just for an opportunity to run. His decision not too is an understandable to say the least.

After the last round of local elections, two years ago, both the Sheriff, DA and a number of other incumbents ran totally unopposed.

I’d just like to see more political options for the voters in the area, not because I ‘d like to replace our current leaders, but I like the idea of keeping those in power on their toes.

I do believe that there are people you can look in the eye and based on what they’ve chosen to stand for you can call them mortal enemies.

One of those enemies are religiously based militants who kill in the name of their god known as fundamentalists.

The headline rise in the Af-Pak (Afghanistan Pakistan) conflicts involving the Taliban and al-Qaeda left me pondering the type of enemy we are facing and how we should handle them.

Meeting people in a politically hostile environment, such as during conflict and in war time, is sort of like walking into a room with two people carrying loaded guns. Sometimes it’s pointed at you and sometimes you may have to point yours at someone else. I believe honest and productive dialogue is certainly preferable to violence.

Through such discussion the parties might even learn to lower their threats and weapons. However I don’t believe in trusting anyone enough to put the gun down completely. Although I believe that life and peace are important parts of a negotiation they are not the sole priorities.

It’s not so much as believing that their are things worth dying for but rather that there are things worth fighting for.

Some acts demand necessary and violent reactions out of sheer survival. In case of nations it often means the survival of a principle or a material gain. Deciding what principles to spend lives on isn’t easy but among them are the ones forming the foundation of our democracy and the same ones that protect our way of life.

They include accepting diversity let it be cultural, religious, ethic or gender based, all should be respected so far as they do not disrupt or infringe on the rights of others. Another is judicial equity, no matter your rank, status or wealth all people should be subject to the same rule of law and entitled to the same civil rights.

A third cause worth human life is maintaining a free, rational society based on intellectual debate, disagreement and practical compromise.
Although there may be others these three should certainly be on any list.
These principles are where the confrontational lines between republic and fundamentalism are often drawn in blood.

In particular Islamic Fundamentalism. A theocratic system of government solely based on the strict interpretation of a religious document, in the case of Islam, the Koran. A book not too unlike the old Christian Testaments, written thousands of years ago and ripe with examples of violence, bigotry and slavery.
Fundamentalism interprets the text literally, on a level unparalleled in American society.

To put it in perspective this would be like Christians taking the old Testament recommendations to an extreme by lynching gay couples in the street and stoning women who’ve had sex out of wedlock to death. Some might encourage such attitudes on talk radio programs but for the most part it is all bark and no bite in civilized society.

The Taliban and al-Qaeda are groups actively involved in spreading this ultra-conservative belief through violence. After September 11, 2002 it’s easy for anyone to hate such foes but in time that trauma may pass.

We should not forget where the real heart of evil beats, and that it is intertwined with the beliefs of Islamic Fundamentalist.

Notions of extreme sexism, that include the torture and mutilation of woman for offense as mundane as traveling without a man’s permission. Their strict adherence of education reaches no scope beyond the words found in the Koran, actively destroying any alternative views, essentially promoting blind faith and ignorance. There is no organization on earth farther from our way of life, nor more dangerous to it.

Islamic Fundamentalism places a cheap value on human life and they are not big fans of compromise or social progress. They do believe in spreading their word of god and influence however. They have no qualms with utilizing suicide bombers so just imagine what they might do with a nuclear arsenal.

Can you imagine any first world nation operating more belligerently? Even if America were to decide not to be enemies with such cultures they would still decide to be ours, they have too because we threatening everything they stand for. They also threaten everything we stand for.

So if there must be a fight before you cast your leverage one way or the other take a long hard look into the eye of the enemy and ask yourself if you could ever live in a community with such a person. Could you stand by and witness such abuses all in the name of cultural tolerance. I would rather fight.

This morning I stepped into the office and one of the first things I found was a fax with a note scribbled on it.

It asked if someone could come to Smyrna and take a picture of its local residents participating in the Relay for Life event, Paint the Town Purple. It’s not that uncommon.

Often the Evening Sun receives requests from a variety of people seeking our photography skills. I appreciated the interest but the camera wasn’t invented yesterday. Just about everyone I know has a digital camera and an e-mail so why not take a picture and send it into the Newspaper.

We’d love to go and do it all ourselves but realistically it just isn’t possible. So grab your camera, snap a picture, paste it into an e-mail and then send it to us.

We’ll be grateful and trust me you’ll be drastically increasing your odds of getting some coverage in the local paper. It’s a good idea to include not just a picture but a brief description of what the picture is, including the people who are in it, when it was taken, and why.

Also a contact number would be great. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to get an e-mail seeking our services that’s void of a name or phone number.

Just some helpful inside Newsroom hints.

So President Barack Obama released the Bush administration’s dirty little torture secrets Thursday. In the memos CIA operatives received direction from the Office of United States President to ignore standing domestic and international law in violating the most fundamental human rights of prisoners.

The document goes as far to authorize the threatening of prisoners’ families in order to make suspects comply with their interrogators demands.

Obama also released Thursday that he would not seek the prosecution of CIA members who followed these directives.

Ironically this is going on while in an unrelated case the United States is working to extradite a suspected Nazis prison guard for crimes he allegedly committed 66 years earlier. Couldn’t one argue that he was just following directives too?

You can and should hold people accountable for their actions. Soldiers and secret agents are caught in a tough spot when it comes to following immoral orders but honestly I have little sympathy for them. A human being is not a machine and there are always options. Loyalty is often confused with integrity but they’re not the same thing.

I do understand the line of thinking in moving forward and focusing on those creating illicit policy rather than those who enforced it. In that regard I give Obama great credit because although he offered to spare the torturers he hinted that the attorney general would looking into those who implemented the policies.

I despise all the people who were directly involved in making these shameful acts a part of my country’s history. CIA operatives, U. S. soldiers, even past presidents, any and all who conspired to torture and kill another person, without trial or charge, are traitors everything America stands for. National extremism and sanctified violations of civil rights are as dangerous to the people of this country as any act of international and domestic terrorism.

One of my favorite movies Paul Newman said it best in ‘Cool Hand Luke.”

In the movie Luke returns home after fighting heroically in World War II and his free spirited nature lands him in prison. While there he suffers abuse at the heavy hands of the conservative prison administrators.

As he’s being moved to solitary confinement a likable character playing a guard turns to Luke and says, “Sorry, Luke. I’m just doing my job. You gotta appreciate that.”

Luke: “Nah… calling it your job don’t make it right, Boss.”

In the last three days we’ve experienced almost every possible weather pattern New York State has to offer. Yesterday’s temperature rose enough that you could bask in the sun without a jacket and feel enveloped by it’s warmth. Today we have the miserable, it’s raining- it just stooped raining- oh wait it’s raining again, kind of day. Tomorrow or later this weekend meteorologist are actually saying snowfall may be in our midst once again.

I love spring, as a matter of fact it’s my favorite season. The warming days that smell of wet earth and bright green budding life constantly beckon me to appreciate mother nature’s changing beauty. The down side are the times where mother nature has her throes of transition and regression like that past few days. Still, I appreciate the dark dreary days of sogginess because they ease my nagging conscious. It’s OK to stay inside with the girlfriend all day or waste my the hours in front of the boob tube. How can you feel guilty, I mean just look at how miserable it is outside.

So cheers to days like today which on the surface seem grim. Grab a good book, movie or whatever thing you had promised yourself you do and enjoy it because in all likelihood there isn’t anything better to do.

So in a rare occurrence, a random post on the Evening Sun forum contained accurate information that was only a few hours old. Forum poster Strongman712 said a gas well exploded in the Earlville area at 5 a.m.

Jessica Lewis and I followed up on the posted forum topic, expecting some over exaggerated happenstance by calling local fire and emergency officials in Chenango, none of which had a clue to what we were talking about. Our skepticism grew.

So in a last effort to see if there was something to the post I called the Madison County Sheriff’s Office to see if maybe something happened on their side of the boarder- and that’s exactly what happened. So thank you, Mr. Strongman712.

Although reporters rarely get an opportunity to work together at a scene Jessica and I both traveled to the remote rig in the far reaches of Lebanon. It took me about 20 minutes scrolling through online maps to find the local roads that mapquest refused to admit existed. But after painstakingly searching about every inch of the Town of Lebanon a quarter mile at a time on the computer I found Soule and Chamberlain Road, the two mentioned by the Madison Deputies.

Jessica being an Otselic Valley country native navigated us to the road and we just simplly drove along it until we saw the emergency closed road sign and the fire trucks.Other than the Eaton Fire Chief Rick Stoddard I can’t honestly say the emergency crews or the gas company’s personnel were very helpful at the scene. The firefighters told us that Nornew told them we weren’t allowed at the scene and that we might even have to leave the roadway if Nornew wanted. I tried to imagine how Nornew had the right to tell me anything or order the fire department around.

One Eaton volunteer even said that the pipeline could blow up at any time and kill us all right where we were standing and on those grounds, the company could basically makes us do what they wanted. He’s lucky I didn’t quote him in the story. Obviously the gas well wasn’t the only thing blowing hot air because if the company’s operations were truly that volatile than the public has truly been misled.

Nornew declined to meet with us at the scene and instead referred us to spokesman Dennis Holbrook. Later I called Holbrook and was impressed with his openness with the incident. He answered all the questions I had and explained in-depth the companies operations and the injuries. I applaud their transparency and willingness to work with the press and the public.

So Jessy and I left the scene not able to see anything but a muddy road leading into the woods. We decided to see if perhaps one of the neighboring property owners might be able to tell us who owned the well and maybe they’d allow us on the land for a photograph. We came across a farm house and were met by a kind and talkative gentleman named Don Johnson.

He told us about how the sound of the explosion woke him up at 5 a.m. The interview took place on his front lawn with the flickering gas well fire peeking between the trees. The fire could be heard making a loud roar even though we were hundreds of yards away. After first considering to climb up on a silo for a good photograph, Don suggested I climb the hill for a better view. So I ran up the hill with my most powerful lens and took the best pictures I could. Less than an hour later, the fire was put out.

Jess and I then drove back to the office. It was fun.

According to the New York State Department of Labor, one in every ten people who are eligible for employment are unemployed in Chenango County. At first glance I thought- “wow that’s a high number,” but as I dwelled on the thought I started to wonder – are nine out of ten people actually seeking employment? Are nine out of ten people actually employable?

The answer I come to is maybe. I hear a lot of complaints over the welfare and social programs sponsored by our government, and I hear even more groaning over the types of people that utilize them.I’m not sure where I stand, but it’s a fact that some types of personalities are prone to settling into state-sponsored lifestyles as a choice instead of hiring themselves out as labor.

I wonder, can we really blame these people who milk the system? Imagine: I’m getting $200 a week without working from the government, but if I got a full-time job then maybe I could get $300 or more a week –  oh, but wait, I’d be losing my eligibility for all those other medical and assisted living programs, which would probably fall at an expense greater than the $100 extra I’d collect.

Not to mention that adapting one’s lifestyle from social program dependency to productive member of society in a competitive workforce can be very intimidating and a blunt force culture shock.

The system certainly needs to be reviewed and revamped.

I get it, so can we blame some people? Of course we can.

This point of view is interesting, even practically understandable but let’s not forget the part about being a social parasite. If you can work, if you are able, and you choose not to simply because it’s too hard or it’s just easier not to, fine … but accept the fact that you’re essentially contributing nothing to our society; in fact you’re an active handicap to it.

If you want a job, you can find a job. The limits of employment are often restrained by only two factors -both attributed to the job seeker: what job can I do and what job am I willing to do? The latter is the largest inhibitor for most people.

Since I was 16 years old, I’ve been a baby-sitter, gas station attendant, video store clerk, department store cashier, waiter, bus boy, press operator, teacher’s aide, lab technician, bus monitor, fork truck operator and a newspaper reporter. Don’t get me wrong, life sucks when it’s 2 a.m. and you’re mopping floors at a gas station, but at least when you get home at the end of the night, you’re making a living. 

The only true way to measure one person against another is by judging their relative level of potential against their commitment of effort.

In this regard those milking the system, even to small degrees, fall last. It hurts society, it hurts the perception of those individuals who actually need the aid and worst of all, it’s a signature mark of an individual lacking any sense of honor or community.

The strain and tension of a murder trial is unlike anything I could described.
It’s graphic, depressing, exciting, interesting, intense, draining, boring and climatic.

This last case marks the end of the second full murder trial I’ve had the opportunity to sit through, beginning to end.

Above all I love getting the whole story, the entire story, so full of information that it would take a book to convey the entire breadth of the experience and the information contain within.

It’s a strange experience for a reporter, talking to the mother of victim one day to the wife of the accused the next. Hearing every grim detail, facts and images so graphic that I am not even allowed to present them to the public without censorship and discretion.

But in the courtroom those two factors are mute when compared to the search for the truth. Thankfully the absence of a jury in this trial spared many in the court from having to view the images of the slain 12-year-old girl on a medical table during autopsy or the pictures of the bloody crime scene. Already I feel I’ve revealed too much and been too graphic but these types of things are common in a murder trial courtroom.

The photography of violence may have been absent from the public’s eye in this case but not the detailed descriptions from the medical, forensic and investigative experts.

Listening to Forensic Pathologist Dr. James Terzian for example describe the victims injuries on the stand including, multiple fractures- a broken sternum, all the rids, skull, face and femur, to name a few.

Or hearing long and detail explanation on the medical investigation into possible sex abuse evidence.

It can be difficult at times because often the most relevant information is buried deep in gruesome facts.

Watching George Ford Jr. take the stand was an incredible experience. To see a man with everything to lose desperately attempt to convince a judge they’ve got it all wrong.

To watch a prosecutor, who by the way is under the complete and utter opinion that the defendant is a murderer, tear into him on the stand with the victim’s family and police investigators in the crowd. I can’t even imagine what the experience must be like for District Attorney Joseph A. McBride or Defense Attorney Randal Scharf.

When the end of a long saga comes, like it nearly has in this case, I’m always left mulling the experience over in my mind for weeks after.

It’s been a privilege to be able to bring it to the public through my writing and words. I hope my enthusiasm and passion in witnessing these events has been properly prescribed though them.

The end has finally come may peace follow it for the sake of the Somers’ family.