Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Opinion

Sage
Views

By Smokey Briggs

Dear Smokey: Helpful advice
from the common sense perspective

TROUBLED in IDIOTVILLE, U.S.A.

Dear Troubled, you have obviously never bothered to open a history book of any kind. And yet, you probably have a voter's registration card.

Let me update you just a bit. Nelson Mandela is a communist and was a terrorist. Yes, a terrorist, who used the same tactics to gain his political ends in South Africa as do the Islamic terrorists of today.

That is why the South African police locked him up. You see, the internal conflict in South Africa transcended the bounds of race and delved into the realm of political belief - like almost all conflicts between human beings.

Given his communist beliefs and personal history, it should be no surprise that he feels a brotherly kinship with Saddam Hussein. Birds of a feather, you know.

As for our European neighbors — why would any sane person give a hoot about what anyone in Europe thinks? Europe's only accomplishments in the past 100 years have been the spread of the twin diseases of socialism and communism combined with spasms of butchery unmatched by any other period in the history of man.

In my humble opinion, all of the sane people emigrated long ago.

However, if you value the opinion of Nelson Mandela, anyone associated with the United Nations, or any European government, then you may be an excellent candidate for moving to France.

If you decide to stay in the U.S.A. please take a few moments and read a bit of history before you punch out a chad in the next election.

Dear Smokey: One of my long-time friends and I were watching the television news when a segment about the Houston dentist who ran over her husband after finding him at a hotel with his girl friend was aired. My friend is divorced and she actually cheered for this horrible woman. I was horrified. How can I tactfully point out that this woman is a murderer and nothing can justify killing another human being and not endanger our friendship? - BRAINWASHED in Lalaland, U.S.A.

Dear Brainwashed: First, television news is not news. Second, get real. The only thing wrong with what Dr. Clara Harris did to her husband when she backed her Mercedes over him is that she did it in public and got caught. Our laws have been wrong for years. When two people get married the vow says, "Until death do us part." If one partner catches the other one cheating then the parting has already taken place so she or he is simply setting things right by helping out with the death clause that should have already been fulfilled.

Our world would be a far better place if it were okay for a spouse to show up at the courthouse with her no-longer-breathing husband (or vice versa), with a note that says "cheated on me" pinned to his shirt, and leave him on the steps for the yard crew.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Smokey Briggs is the editor and publisher of the Pecos Enterprise whose column appears on Tuesdays. He can be e-mailed at: smokey@pecos.net

Our View

Real tort reform

It is a shame….

It is a shame that so many good projects and good ideas go undone these days because of the specter of a lawsuit.

Today, people are afraid to be involved in the simplest of events because of the fear of being sued on the off-hand chance someone is injured during or at the event.

People are afraid to let events happen on their land or at their home. People are afraid to serve on boards of not-for-profit organizations and clubs. People are afraid.

That is a real shame.

We pay a heck of a price for that fear.

President Bush is currently championing tort reform _ mostly tort reform as it pertains to the medical profession, but tort reform all the same.

Unfortunately, tort reform is a double-edged sword. It sounds like a great idea but the devil is in details.

How do you reform personal injury law so that frivolous lawsuits are sorted out from the righteous without dropping a few righteous lawsuits through the cracks?

It is a tough, if not impossible, task.

A better approach would be reforming the jury system.

The saying is the law profession is that juries are comprised of 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.

It is no secret that personal injury attorneys (and many of their brethren) prefer the ignorant and the gullible for jurors.

Why?

Because if you cannot make your case with good facts, then you must appeal to emotion, and the ignorant and the gullible are your best candidates.

It was not a jury of persons filled with a solid work ethic, common sense and a knowledge of the world that awarded a sack full of greenbacks to the person who spilled McDonalds' coffee in her lap and claimed not to know the coffee might be hot.

It was a jury made up of morons. Maybe well-intentioned morons, but morons non-the-less.

The same holds true for juries who find cigarette companies liable for selling cigarettes, and plastic bag manufacturers liable for selling plastic bags.

These are the people who are responsible for a legal atmosphere that prompts gun makers to print "read instructions before use" on a firearm and for fuel companies to write "not for human consumption" on the gas pump.

So, lets really have some tort reform.

Lets leaven the bread of the jury with a dash of common sense.

It would not be complicated.

First, raise the pay of jurors to a realistic sum so that the self-employed do not pay an unfair penalty for serving.

Next, make it a felony to fail to appear for jury duty.

Then, severely restrict the ability of lawyers to manipulate jury selection. Allow the judge to ask a few pertinent questions to weed out the obviously prejudiced potential jurors and then take the first 12 - no if's, and's, or but's.

Make a jury a true cross section of the citizenry - plumbers, farmers, engineers, college kids, brick masons, nurses, teachers …..

That would be tort reform.

Your View

The evils of firearms, alcohol and tobacco

Recent editorial about the GA store operator gunning down two, would-be, armed robbers; despite their obvious differences, they had one thing in common; they both possessed firearms. I'm certain this brings a smile to the faces of the gun-pushers.

Evil as armed-robbery is, the greater evil, by far, is the plague of firearms (and FAT) that has bedeviled this country for far too long; from hand-guns to the likes of the .223 used by the D.C. area snipers. Whoopee! Say the gun-pushers!

And firearms are but a third of the filthy plague "FAT" that has helped bring down a hellish-type ruination upon this nation. F.A. and T. are all three evil inventions, but when mixed together as they are in this nation they add to their evilness by leaps and bounds! They multiply one another!

As for F. (firearms) they know "if you've got a gun, you'll use it." - Ever know of anyone who buys A. (alcohol) or T. (tobacco) and doesn't consume them? - It's the very same with firearms, if you've got one, you'll use it.

This FAT is pushed upon our children from birth; these child molesters and the government have known this for far too long.

And, oh, yes, some of the FAT-devils operate inside the "law"; but the law is good only if it is used lawfully and the FAT pushers wave the American flag with both hands, but they're not Americans; they don't even speak American! Try to talk to them and they say: "We don't understand you! Here, speak through our bank accounts!"

FAT's deal in death for financial gain; if FAT's be lawful then why not first degree murder? God willing, these FAT's will soon go into the second-death where they belong.

W.M KENNEDY
Pecos

Return to top

Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net

Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
We support Newspapers in Education
Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise