BELOW EVEN PUERTO RICO

This is shameful. (4.00 / 1)

Words fail me.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Mon Oct 15, 2007 at 20:50:23 PM CDT

How can this not be a violation of the Constitution of the United States? Dammit! (4.00 / 1)

When I was growing up, Dragnet was a popular prime-time TV show, which I nearly never missed.  Each week, Sgt. Friday, and Bill Gannon, his trusty partner, caught their man (or woman, occasionally).  They always read them thier Miranda rights - "You have the right to remain silent - if you do not remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.  You have the right to an attorney - if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for you."  There were other rights, but those are the ones that stuck with me.  Especially the one about the right to an attorney - even at that tender age I could see that the district attorney had the police on his side.  So, for better or worse, part of my Civics education was Dragnet, and the right to an attorney.  I'll bet I have a lot of contemporaries who learned the same thing. And in fact, by this standard line from Dragnet, many Americans learned of their right in the Sixth Amendment to the "Assistance of Counsel for [his] defence." 

Oh, and by the way - this Constitutional Right benefits law enforcement as well.   So long as citizens believe that the law is on the side of innocents, who remain innocent until tried by their peers, citizens will come down on the side of the law.

So, after all this rambling, my point is that Alabama needs to provide for  "You have the right to an attorney - if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for you."

These are the dues that must be paid to belong to America. 

That is all. 

"The War in Iraq is not the disease. The War in Iraq is a symptom. Arrogance is the disease" - Bill Richardson

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by: herding old cats @ Mon Oct 15, 2007 at 21:56:01 PM CDT

when a tie with mississippi... (4.00 / 1)

...is an improvement...well, that's not good.

"...i have to quote marx here: groucho and chico were having a debate..." --barney frank

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by: fake consultant @ Tue Oct 16, 2007 at 02:32:11 AM CDT

Here's a link (0.00 / 0)

To the 51st in the nation statistic.

http://www.alabar.or...

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Tue Oct 16, 2007 at 12:35:41 PM CDT