Calling the Bluff, Part 1 - The Plea Deal

"When I am weaker then you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principals; when I am stronger then you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles."

             

-Frank Herbert

Children of Dune

Hey kids, it's me again. Yes, I'm still in Polk County Jail. The game of Chicken is still on, and it looks like it's to the death. 

They made a plea today. 2 years probation, mental reconditioning back to the Matrix (Mental Evaluation AND Mental Treatment... like the drug evaluation, it kinda sounds like they already know what the results of the evaluation are going to be, doesn't it?), 80 hours of community service, restitution (for...what exactly??) Another drug evaluation (and treatment...again, for all the drugs I don't do), VORP, 5 years, no contact order... anything else? No thanks. I think I'd rather go to prison, if that's the end result. 46 months at the most, is what I'm being told. Sure, if I take the deal, I'd be free...but at what cost? First, I'd have 4-3rd degree harassment (convicted), and a 1st degree harassment, stalking and threats on my record. My chances of getting a decent job anywhere? Next to zero. 2nd, with that kind of record, they can keep doing it and doing it, and everytime they arrest me, they can get more and more money. Anytime they don't like what I'm doing, BAM... call out the troops and screw me some more. Nope. Not gonna happen.

3rd, you know the hoop game, Find them mental, keep em coming in for federal funding. Same with the need for drug treatment. And the probation game? No thanks. I'd say 50% or better of the people in jail are in on bogus probation violations.  Again I say, no thanks, I pass.

Finally, why am I doing this again? I'd plea out, and be free...and go home, and give up I'd be letting myself down, I'd be letting my wife down and I'd be letting my daughter down. More than that, I'd be letting America down. Sorry, freedom isn't worth all that.

Moreover, the crooks would win... and there's no way I'll ever let that happen, America. This trial isn't just for us. It's for us all. For my family...for every man and woman I'm incarcerated with...and for every citizen in this county. It's time to stand against those who oppress us, once and for all.

Quit? Are you serious? Whatever it takes America. I think I've said it often enough; I'm willing to pay the price for freedom, even if the price is the loss of my own. Don't quit. Quitting does not equal winning. A plea deal is a cop out. No matter how good it might look to breath the free air again, you're just graduating from a cell to more chains. Most of all, your oppressors win...again. It has to stop, or it's as good as your saying "It's ok to ruin my life...please stop back by and do it again, anytime you like." As ridiculous as what I'm doing might seem now, the war is lost the minute I take their terms. Should a jury of my peers say I'm guilty, then I'll do what I must. And when I'm released, my time will be done, my conscience clear. More than that, when my daughter comes to find me, I'll able to look her in the eye to tell her that I never gave up on her. That, to me?  Makes it all worth it. Pray for them, not for me. They rank in the already damned. I just want my family back. And I won't give up until I get it. Namaste.

Addendum: I won't be taking the plea. I'm taking the risk. My lawyer (stand - by council) believes we have a good chance to beat the whole case back, and come out with one serious misdemeanor, and a little more jail time. Call this taking one for the team.