Who2 Editorial Blog
Notes and Commentary from the Editors
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Sara Jane Moore Sprung
The San Francisco Chronicle has an extremely colorful report today on Sarah Jane Moore, who tried to shoot President Gerald Ford in 1975.Moore is finally out on parole after cooling her heels in federal prison for 32 years. She's seen six presidents come and go in that time, though only one other would-be assassin: John Hinckley, Jr., who shot Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Another would-be assassin of the 1970s, Arthur Bremer, was paroled in November.
The Chronicle story includes her lawyer's offbeat attempt to explain Moore's mindset: "Her conduct was sort of a shopping list: 'Take my son to school, shoot the president, pick up my son from school.'"
And there's a bonus photo of Moore looking "like a kind, doting grandmother."
Another strange angle to the shooting: Oliver Sipple, the bystander and ex-Marine who kept Moore from getting off a second shot, sued several newspapers after they revealed he was gay. He lost the suits and was never quite the same.
Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 12:17 PM 
2 Comments:
Almost one year to the day since the passing of Former United States President Gerald Ford, the liberal activist who tried to kill him walks free.
Most people believe that attempting to assassinate a US President should and normally does result in a life in prison for the would - be assassin. Sara Jane Moore is proof that they are wrong. What's more, her prison record is dotted with conduct violations and an attempted escape in 1978.
Another interesting detail of this case is that Sara Jane Moore was successful at convincing a federal judge to block a prison warden from taking away an inmate's cell keys back in the summer of 2000.
So why would would a federal prison's parole board free Sara Jane Moore?
Inmates with life sentences can petition for parole after a staggeringly brief 10 years. This makes it possible to receive a life sentence and be walking the street again in little more than a two-term Presidency.
Presidential assassins can take shots at elected officials, skip two elections and be back in business for more political activism just in time to pop a new President if a parole board so desires.
Moore was released under a federal law that makes parole mandatory for inmates who have served at least 30 years of a life sentence without getting into trouble, according to Thomas Hutchison, chief of staff of the U.S. Parole Commission.
Never-minding the fact that Moore's conduct was not without incidence during her incarceration, the real outrage is that our own laws mandate the release of such prisoners in just three decades. This is good news for the John Hinckley Jr's in our prison system, and the future activists who feel like changing the course of history.
Now Listen To This....
Michigan’s second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony offense where Life in prison is within the mandatory sentencing guidelines for that state.
That's right folks, our laws have become so politically and legally skewed that attempting to blow away a US President is nearly on par in the eyes of the law as an ordinary drunken fling. It's quite an outlandish thought considering many of our own Presidents have been caught up in extramarital affairs.
Danny Vice
The Weekly Vice
http://weeklyvice.blogspot.com
That's quite a story about the Marine vet who was at the scene. It sure makes President Ford look ungracious, and it's a sad tale, but it's fascinating stuff.
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