Thursday, August 04, 2011

U.S. v. Bingham (9th Cir. - August 4, 2011)

Some people decry the "softening" of the United States.  We're weak.  We're flabby.  We've lost our competitive edge.

What better evidence that this is indeed the case than this opinion.  Which proves that even the Aryan Brotherhood is not exempt from this pervasive trend.

The AB started out as a loose collection of similarly-minded (read: racist) prison inmates, with three people at its head -- the "Council" -- who performed very limited oversight and communications roles.  But, like America, it then bureaucratized.  It replaced the Council with a three-person "Commission" that had more direct powers.  It had lower level officials to carry out logistical tasks.  Structure, structure, structure.

What was the result?  The AB used to have a "blood in, blood out" policy.  You had to kill to be a full member, and you left the AB only when you died.  What's the rule now?  You only have to show a "willingness" to kill.  That's what having a bureaucratic "Commission" gets you.  I blame the Democrats.

The latter-day AB even let Arva Ray, an inmate at Lompoc, be a member.  He mishandled drugs.  He disrespected other AB members.  He had -- gasp -- openly homosexual relations.  That's, again, the Democrats for you.  Of course, eventually, the AB killed him.  But did they simply beat him to death?  No.  They tried to kill him with an overdose of heroin!  A virtually fun way to go.  Geeze.  The only saving grace, I guess, being that this wasn't working, so while he was dying, they iced him with a garrote wire.  Old school.  Thankfully.

Oh, sure.  There are lots more murders.  And the responsible AB members get convicted.  But how does the story end?  With the leaders being sentenced to death?  Nope.  Life in prison.

No wonder we're losing to China.