Robert Kennedy, Camarillo, California, USA

robertk@cipcug.org

Thank you for #21.

I had a much needed laugh reading "The Old Old Story" by Terry Jeeves.

Your further adventures with DUFF was appreciated. You are to be congratulated for producing an excellent report.

The commentary by Tim Kirk along with his art was great.

Mike Resnick's comment that Guy outdid himself editing the program book for Noreascon IV was an understatement. As I indicated in an e-mail to Guy - he, Rose-Marie, and Geri Sullivan are to be congratulated on a magnificent job. Mike's comment about our "Governator" and changing the Constitution to allow naturalized citizens to run for President was right on. Leave the Constitution as it is that to become President a person must have been born here. Mike's comment about JFK and Bush got me to thinking too.

Where were the weird pictures of Guy and Rosy (p. 39) taken?

At the Lord of the Rings exhibit, demonstrating the simplest of the special visual effects used in Fellowship: a simple trick of perspective! See "The Galactic Route", my Noreascon 4 report, on the website. By the way, I understand that exhibit is traveling the country - due in Houston this summer. See it! See it! See it!

Sheryl Birkhead's "How Far Will Water Run Uphill?" reminded me of 1980 when I had to bail out my Mother's basement. Very exhausting work (and I was 25 years younger); but nothing like what Sheryl went through.

Richard Dengrove's "The Moon Hoax of 1835" was interesting and I don't remember hearing about it before.

E. B. Frohvet: I am honored that you remember meeting me at Chicon 2000.

Hank Reinhardt: It was the Federal Marshals Service that murdered Sammy Weaver, not the BATF. The BATF was the instigator of both Ruby Ridge and Waco. But, it was the FBI that finished them both off. There are a number of excellent books covering Ruby Ridge and Waco. If you would like a list, contact me.

{Side note to Guy: Both Laurence H. Tribe and another lawyer whose name escapes me at the moment [both certified members of the Left] have stated that what was done to snatch Elián González was unconstitutional.}

Dr. Craig Hilton: When I first read your "he may be a liar, but he's our liar!", I thought you were talking about Bill Clinton. A number of years ago Democratic Senator Kerrey from Nebraska (no, not the guy from Massachusetts), said that Clinton is "an unusually good liar." (Joseph [Bob] R. Kerrey, holder of the Medal of Honor.) A psychologist on the Oprah Winfrey's show said that you can't believe anything Clinton says. And he was convicted of perjury. Also, I believe he had his license to practice law revoked.

Guy Lillian: So, you say that the adversarial legal system worked in the McMartin case. Yes, their freedom was saved (finally) after a number of years, not taking into account the woman who died in jail. The charges were ridiculous. But, as I said, their lives and livelihood were destroyed. Then there's the boy down in Temecula, California who the police badgered into confessing that he murdered his sister when he was innocent. (Sadly, I've forgotten his name.) Then there are the satanic ritual cases and the false memory cases. All in all, it doesn't leave me with a lot of faith in our criminal justice system.

But it should! These stories show that our system can find our too-human mistakes and correct them. Imperfect we are, imperfect it is, but it's still the closest approximation to justice that our species has yet attained.

Having served on jury duty six times, I realize that it is impossible to really judge a case unless one has watched it live throughout the complete case or one is on the jury. Nevertheless, I was not surprised at the Not Guilty verdicts in the Robert Blake case. One count was 11-1 for acquittal and the judge dismissed the charge. From what I had read in the paper it seemed to me that the prosecution case was not strong. I was expecting a Not Guilty or a hung jury.

All this leads me to the idea I had a number of years ago (and subsequently learned that I'm not the only one) that there should be verdicts replacing Not Guilty. They are Not Proven and Innocent. Not Guilty does not necessarily mean Innocent. It can mean Not Proven.

"The Best Speech I Never Gave" - Outstanding!