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: A Public Defender's Life in Alaska

So, every once in a while I just hit a brick wall as a Public Defender. It all just feels so helpless and frustrating. From the place I work, to the clients and the general state of the law itself. Take for example, this case. http://www.vpr.net/npr/132869081/ When the Supreme Court allows this it will mean that ALL the cops will have to do to kick down your door and put a gun in your face is say they heard a toilet flush. Maybe smelled pot. Yeah, yeah, say I am overreacting. The implications are staggering. There is a slow grind in this country from freedom to a police state. Look at this example. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110110/us_yblog_thelookout/students-as-young-as-six-ticketed-by-police-in-texas-schools Kids as young as 6 being dealt with by the police. Yeah, yeah, blame the parents. But the point is that it is seen as OKAY for the cops to deal with kids. I don?t want the police anywhere near my kids. Ever. But in today?s America it is okay to let the police deal with parenting issues. The whole thing is so frustrating. And yet there is nothing that can be done. It is helpless. The noose tightens and most people are too busy drinking Bud Light and watching American Idol to even care. Sometimes I wish I didn?t care. That my blood pressure didn?t rise when I watched America slowly disintegrate. I wish I still didn?t think America was such an amazing place that I am lucky to live in. It is almost worse to watch something so beautiful be defiled and degraded in the way that it is. From TSA searches to warrantless entry to police in our schools and in our faces, homes and lives, this country is getting worse every day. I wish on days like today that I could leave it all behind. Be rich enough to move my kids somewhere and spend the rest of my life watching them grow up without being afraid for their future. Alas, I will be at work tomorrow. Instead of listening to the Liberty bell ?ringing?, I will listen as she gives one last exhausted and terrified tinkle??

Full post as published by A Public Defender's Life in Alaska on January 13, 2011 (boomark / email).