I was summoned for jury duty yesterday to New London's (Connecticut) Superior Court. I haven't been in very many other courtrooms, for any reason, so I don't know how superior it is but I was pleased with the accommodations. I'm not going to tell you about the jury selection process we had to go through (imagine American Idol without Randy Jackson but with William Hung) or who was picked and why those who weren't didn't get selected for a lot of reasons to include I'm not supposed to.
Perhaps jury duty across these United States is like The Spanish Inquisition only with fewer soutanes. Considering how hard people struggle to get out of it, I can't blame you for thinking it must be horrible. And yet the right to a trial by a jury of one's peers is one of out most cherished Constitutionally protected rights. At least until now. It was a day where I didn't feel very cherished, let me tell you.
Especially since while I'm sitting in the courthouse waiting for whatever is supposed to happen next, unlike the folks I got an eyeful of in the colorful jumpsuits riding in the camp bus (they tell themselves) who don't want anything to happen next except for the present to remain the future just as it is, the Kapital Kids, the men and women we've elected to head to Washington D. C. are at it again.
We should have driven a second stake through its heart, but the Stop Online Piracy Act (and the sabotage and subversion of a stunning number of personal rights as collateral damage) has reared its ugly head again, this time put into play by the President of the United States who vowed the last time to NEVER let it return. Never is a word, perhaps like "sex" fifteen or so years ago for which the White House has a sliding definition. With apologies to Scully and Muldur, once again we need to fight FOR the future. You can do your part by signing this online petition.
Some people, it seems, will only keep their promises while we watch them. I guess we'll need to start sleeping in shifts or we'll end up in some deep sh*t. Go ahead and turn in, I have the first watch. You can use the rest.
-bill kenny
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