Some great songs in rock breach the topic of time, do they not? There's "Time Is On My Side" Rolling Stones, "Time of the Season" Zombies, "Time For Me To Fly" REO (umm, thinking about that one...ok you're in), "Time After Time" Cyndi Lauper (good Lord what was I thinking?... scratch that one), and of course, the ageless "Time" by Pink Floyd. We played that one at open mic last week. Could probably go on and on for all time (tee-hee, I am so witty!), but will stick with my first thought instead.
Lets throw a couple of facts out there and see if you can connect the dots. Fact 1: Trial is set for William Balfour, who is the notorious killer, scratch that, alleged killer of Jennifer Hudson's family in 2008. Fact 2: The City of Chicago recently announced a settlement with protesters of the Iraq war that were arrested in 2003. Fact 3: Trial begins on Monday for Mario Casciaro, accused in the 2002 murder of Brian Carrick of Johnsburg. Not too difficult to see the connection here is it? Just why in the hell does it take so long to do anything in this country?
Even in cases of apparent obviousness, year after year, and in one case here a decade go by, while lawyers strut like peacocks before judges and committees, prancing and pontificating, confusing and cajoling, all in an effort to pad their billable hours, so they can go home and upgrade that BMW to the new one that parks itself. But 10 years to bring a man to trial for murder? What could possibly take 10 freakin' years? How cold is that trail now? How many lawyers bought a new house in that span that was paid for by the parties involved? We found Saddam Hussein, and 3 years later he was hanging by a rope. One of the most notorious killers of our time went from one hole in the ground to another in less than a third of the time it took a bunch of suits to put together enough evidence to bring an accused man to trial in this country.
And those are the key words, "this country." Besides our tortoise-paced justice system, everything in this country takes forever. Our elections seem to span a generation. Raise your hand if you are already sick of the word "Romney". And we haven't even gotten past the primary yet. Medical approval of new drugs is usually measured in decades. How many times do you read of a new drug or treatment that could save lives now, only to be held up forever by the exhaustive process of FDA approval. I'm sure people with fatal illnesses would take their chances at life with something that might work. Even the 55mph speed limit is unique. Really, you don't want to get off on that tangent. And did you ever try and get something done with the federal government? Fugetaboudit. We are doing a project for the US Army right now, and every little step is like an eternity. Or go ask any naturalized citizen how long it took them to become one.
But 9 years to decide that giving money to a bunch of protesters was the right thing to do? Some 1,600 years ago the Greek philosopher Sextus Empiricus wrote: "The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small." That was a long time ago, (again, that irrepressible wit...how do I do it?). Today we say, "The wheels of justice grind slowly." I'd like to amend that to, "The wheels of the United States have fallen off a cliff, and they are forming an exploratory committee to choose between Sears Auto Center or Just Tires to buy new ones." Maybe I missed my calling as a slogan writer.
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