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Sarah Thacker: Bill Cosby’s Verdict: Racist, Cruel or Just?

26 Sep

bill cosby

sarah thacker

Sarah Thacker is a professional, free-lance writer and staff contributor to Free State Patriot.

September 8, 2018

 

Nearly everyone knows comedian Bill Cosby. He entered our homes through our TV screens, through parental advice books and standup specials. But, although he was a loving, charming man on TV, rape allegations have been circling him for decades. Throughout his trial, evidence was presented to prove these allegations well and truly founded, and that these women did actually experience date rape and sexual assault. And, although the memes on the internet make it commonplace to joke about Bill’s drugging the Kool-Aid or giving someone a pudding pop, what these women endured was no laughing matter.

What’s most shocking to me are the remarks made after the trial. Bill’s wife, Camille, and Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt. They say that the prosecutor used “falsified evidence” against him, and Camille later said that Cosby was doing fine because he knew these were lies perpetrated against him. “You know what this country has done to black men for centuries,” she said.

His spokesperson had even more to say on the subject than she did, surprisingly. He said that this was “the most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States,”. That’s a pretty ignorant statement considering all of the trials that happened during the Civil Rights movement, and even the Salem witch trials, where women were hung simply for being able to read and do math proficiently. But, the man went on, remarkably, and said that the three psychologists that testified against Cosby in court were “white women who make money off of accusing black men of being sexual predators.” He even accused the prosecutors of tampering with a recording of a phone call between one of the victims’ mothers and Cosby.

One of his victims, Janice Dickinson said this in her testimony: “The harrowing memory of the rape continues to this day. I have recurring nightmares, I wake up in fear, I fear the dark. I struggle to discuss this even with my beloved husband of 6 years.” She went on to describe how being raped by an actor in the entertainment business affected her confidence, her career goals, and her job performance as an actress and model. She even moved to Italy to get away from Cosby, so she’d never have to see him again. “But the rape is etched into my soul. Therapy has helped some but it has not helped to restore my innocence. I was never the same. I will never be the same.”

With that in mind, I don’t believe that the verdict was racist. He did not go to prison because he was black. He went to prison because he is a rapist, and he’s a danger to the community. He has affected these women’s lives so deeply that the damage may never be undone, and for that he needed to be punished.

Some people say that because he’s an octogenarian (He’s 81 years old), blind and walks with a cane that he’s no longer a threat to the community and that putting him in prison for 3-10 years is not justice, it’s cruel. But, I say that God works in mysterious ways. “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord.” Sometimes God does not do things as quickly as we would like him to, but if you’re truly evil, he will eventually take his vengeance.

“The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” ~ Psalm 33:5

 

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Sarah Thacker: Understanding Christianity and the Constitution

4 Sep

Christianity and the Constitution.doc

 

 

sarah thacker

Sarah Thacker is a professional, free-lance writer and staff contributor to Free State Patriot.

September 4, 2018

 

I’ve read a lot of peoples’ thoughts on the Constitution lately, and the consensus is that because the word “God” isn’t specifically said in the document, the document itself wasn’t written by Christians and shouldn’t be read that way. I like reading various opinions, but this one is very short-sighted, and I’m going to tell you why in this column. By the end of it, you’ll come away with a better understanding of the Constitution and the people who wrote it.

The first thing you need to look at is the very first Amendment. It covers religious freedom. The very first one! It’s no accident that religious freedom came first. That was very intentional. The Founding Fathers thought it was more important to have religious freedom than free speech, the right to bear arms, or anything else. This is because they came from a place where the government told them which religion they had to practice. Plus, during America’s early years, many states had a state religion, and many people were advocates of a national religion, but they all fought about which one should be chosen. So, it’s easy to understand why freedom of religion was important to them.

Did you know that there are three different references to Jesus and Christianity in the Constitution? One was omitted, but the language is still there. It was in the First Amendment, the one guaranteeing religious freedoms. It originally read:

“All men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that no particular sect or society of Christians ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others.” (Rowland, 1892)

Why was it important to make sure that no particular sect of Christianity was favored? Well, a lot of people assume that Christian is Christian, and don’t take into account that there are hundreds of different varieties. And, there were plenty of protestant sects, even in the 1700’s. This is part of why people came to America to escape religious persecution from England. At the time, there actually was one preferred religion in England: The Church of England. So, that language wasn’t added in there to include every religion, just to make sure that no one type of Christian was given prominence. And, for a long time, it was considered so important that the President actually went to a different church every Sunday so that it wouldn’t appear that he had any favorites. The reason it was removed was the Founding Fathers found it largely redundant. There really weren’t many other religions, or none that they knew of, so of course they didn’t think they needed to include others in the Constitution. It wasn’t a matter of arrogance, so much as ignorance during that time period.

The next mention of Christianity in the Constitution is in Article 1, Section 7.

“If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted), after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it.”

Now, unless you’re a Christian, it’s easy to miss the important part of that section. “Sundays excepted”. Why would Sundays be excepted? If the Founding Fathers meant to exclude Jewish religious observances, it would have said “Saturdays excepted”, or “Fridays excepted” if they were observing Muslim practices. But, they specifically indicated that the President, the government and its operations would cease work on Sunday in observance of Christian practices.

There’s one more mention, and it’s a big one. The Constitution may not say “God”. But you know what it DOES say? “Our Lord”. It specifically says:

“Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven…”

If you’ve read any historical documents, this probably seems commonplace to you. But, there were other ways at the time to record dates and times without using Christian annotations. It gets even better: the term “our Lord” doesn’t refer to any generalized God. It doesn’t even refer to God, the father. It refers to God, the Son. That’s right: there’s a direct reference to Jesus in the United States Constitution!

So, it’s easy to see that Christian concepts were incorporated into our Constitution. It’s important to know that the Declaration of Independence states what the ideals of our country are, and the Constitution provides guidelines and rules about our government. So, if there is Christian language in both, logic dictates that they were intended to form a Christian nation.

And that’s exactly what they did!

“For the kingdom is the LORD’S And He rules over the nations.” Psalms 22:28 

 

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Sarah Thacker: An Overview of the Needle Exchange Program in Huntington, WV.

13 Aug

Is this program actually being effective in reducing drug abuse in Huntington?

sarah thacker

Sarah Thacker is a professional, free-lance writer with a versatile writing style.  Free State Patriot welcomes her youthful, energetic style and versatility to our blog as a regular contributor.

 

NEEDLE PHOTO

If you spend much time walking around Huntington, chances are you’ve seen the new state flower: the hypodermic needle. They pop up in the grass, on sidewalks, in alleys, and in massive heaps in parks. I’ve personally even seen them in the middle of the road, making me wonder how that even happened.

It’s becoming a problem, with children being stabbed by them while playing in public parks and working-class pedestrians stepping on them while walking home from work. Even though it’s become public knowledge through documentaries on national news networks and popular video streaming platforms that Huntington is one of the most drug-addled cities in the United states, there are no documentaries that show where the needles come from.

A lot of people would, understandably, assume that most drug addicts wouldn’t have the money to buy needles. Stereotypically, drug addicts spend their money on their drugs, and when their money is spent, they steal from other people to fund their addiction. So, what do they do when they have their drugs, but not the needles to do the drugs with? That’s a problem that the city and county officials took it upon themselves to solve.

Shortly after Huntington was dubbed the overdose capital of the nation, city officials and the Health Department created a “Harm Reduction Program”, which is colloquially referred to as the “needle exchange program”. It’s goal is to give drug addicts clean needles and supplies so that they aren’t tempted to share needles with other users and spread blood borne illnesses and diseases like Hepatitis C and HIV. There are, what I consider, some outrageous oversights regarding this program.

First, an addict can walk in, and for a nominal fee, receive a handy hype kit. It includes everything that they need to do drugs, except the drugs. Secondly, the term “exchange” is used far too loosely regarding this program. It’s not a 1-for-1 exchange system. If they pay the fee, they can walk in and get more needles without ever bringing any back.

This causes a lot of problems for those of us who live and work in Huntington. It seems that the officials are enabling drug addicts and the drug problem, literally handing them the supplies they need to do drugs and overdose. And then taxpayers must pay for the harm reduction program and the emergency services to help the addicts when they overdose. As of right now, taxpayers are literally paying to keep drug addicts alive, and no one really asked us our opinion about that. And because the program doesn’t use a true 1-for-1 exchange, addicts are leaving needles wherever they’re using, which seems to be in mostly public places.

There are those that argue that without the harm reduction program, disease will run rampant throughout the population. But, it seems to me that most illnesses associated with drug use are blood borne, not airborne. This means that they’re not super contagious. All one should have to do to not catch a blood borne illness from a needle- drug user is to avoid exchanging bodily fluids with them, which seems like a good rule of thumb, in general.

Should we end the exchange program? Probably. But we’ll need to have a solid game plan in effect to combat the drug use, crime and homelessness that drug use and addiction brings with it, and that’s a topic for another article.

 

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