Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?



Did you know his trial is over?
 Did you know he was sentenced?
 Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV or Radio?


Didn't think so!!!



Everyone should hear what the judge had to say...

Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.

 Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had anything to say.

His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah, defiantly stating,... “I think I will not apologize for my actions,” and told the court “I am at war with your country.”



U.S. District Court Judge William Young then delivered the statement quoted below in sentencing "shoe bomber" Richard Reid to prison.

It is noteworthy, and deserves to be remembered far longer than he predicts. I commend it to you and to anyone you might wish to forward it to.

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January 30, 2003 United States vs. Reid.

Judge Young:

"Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General.

On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutive with the other. That's 80 years.

On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years consecutive to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 for the aggregate fine of $2 million.

The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.

The Court imposes upon you the $800 special assessment.

The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further.

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statues. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence. Let me explain this to you.

We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is all too much war talk here. And I say that to everyone with the utmost respect.

Here in this court , where we deal with individuals as individuals, and care for individuals as individuals, as human beings we reach out for justice, you are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier gives you far too much stature. Whether it is the officers of government who do it or your attorney who does it, or that happens to be your view, you are a terrorist.

And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not treat with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I know warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal guilty of multiple attempted murders.

In a very real sense Trooper Santigo had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and where the TV crews were and he said "You're no big deal." You're no big deal.

What your counsel, what your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today? I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing. And I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you. But as I search this entire record it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose.

Here, in this society, the very winds carry freedom. They carry it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely.

It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf and have filed appeals, will go on in their, their representation of you before other judges. We are about it. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden, pay any price, to preserve our freedoms.

Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. Day after tomorrow it will be forgotten. But this, however, will long endure. Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America, the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done.

The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged, and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. You know it always will.

Custody Mr. Officer. Stand him down."

How much of this Judge's comments did you hear on our TV sets?

Please pass this around. Everyone needs to hear what the judge had to say. Feel free to cut and paste this post into an email and forward it to all your contacts or email them a link to this post-- either ay let's get the word out!

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois – Abraham Lincoln got a present Thursday for his 200th birthday — or, technically, 319 million presents.

The U.S. Mint released a redesigned penny to mark the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. The Mint plans to start out by producing 319 million of the new coins.

The front of the redesigned penny is the familiar image of Lincoln in profile. The back shows him delivering a speech outside Illinois' Old State Capitol, where he served as a legislator, delivered a famous speech on slavery and ran his transition office after being elected president.

This is the third of four new pennies honoring Lincoln this year. His birthday was Feb. 12, but the event is being celebrated all year long.

The earlier pennies showed the Kentucky log cabin where Lincoln was born and a scene of him reading as he took a break from splitting rails in Indiana. Officials say they've produced 1.3 billion of the first two Lincoln coins.

The fourth penny, to be released in November, will celebrate Lincoln's time as president.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Old State Capitol to see the coin released and buy up rolls of shiny pennies.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, called pennies "a common coin, the most common of all" and said they are a fitting tribute for a president who accomplished great things despite his common origins.

But the penny has also been criticized as nearly useless now that inflation has sucked away so much of its value. The Mint says it costs 1.4 cents to produce a penny, which has led to calls for discontinuing the coin or at least switching to less expensive metal.

The Lincoln pennies, though, follow the Mint's successful programs to generate public interest in coins by issuing quarters commemorating each state and dollars honoring the presidents.

Joel Iskowitz designed the new penny for the Mint, a process that took months of research, sketches and reviews.

"Nothing in my career as an artist or in the course of my life as an American citizen has meant any more to me than getting this selection," Iskowitz said. "It's kind of daunting, to tell you the truth."

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by Ed Pearce, KOLOTV.com

In my right hand I held a pair of dimes. Small change. Hard to think what they'd buy today.

In my left a small silver coin stamped "twenty cents". As legal tender it's the equivalent of the dimes. When it was minted it was worth slightly less than $4 dollars in today's money and might have bought a modest meal. Today it's worth a half million dollars, perhaps more.

A half million is what Reno coin collector and dealer Rusty Goe paid for the coin at auction recently, his second try at an elusive and expensive prize.

"I told my wife, even if we have to hock the house we're going to get that coin," says Goe. He says he was prepared to go much higher to $750,000 and says some experts think it may be undervalued at that amount. He says one puts it at a cool million.

What makes this small silver coin worth that amount? Two words: rarity and competition.

Ten thousand of these coins were struck at the Carson City mint in 1876. Unpopular with American consumers the denomination was discontined and most were melted down. Goe figures there are maybe 18 out there. Their rarity the obvious reason for the value and in the world of coin collecting scoring coins like this are like finding the Holy Grail. But Goe says it's much more than that.

"Once you learn the history of how they were introduced into our monetary system. And then you hear the back story of how the coins came down to us over the last 133 year, you begin to see how important they are. These are relics from the past. These are like small, little antiques."

Goe admits to a special attraction for coins produced in the Carson City mint which operated between 1870 and 1893. "Ask any collector if they have a Carson City coin. If they don't they'll say, no but I'd like to."

Goe owns Southgate Coins in Reno and as a dealer will probably eventually sell it. He'll make a profit. Five years ago he sold a one of a kind Carson City dime for a million. Today it's worth three and a half times that.

Business decisions like that can wait. For now Goe says, he's just enjoying the experience.
"
Just to be able to take possession of it was just such and exciting event, You know it goes way beyond the monetary value of it. It's such a special privilege."

Sadly, few ever get to see coins like this. Goe's 20-cent coin is not on public display. We were treated to a special viewing. It is safely locked away in a secure, undisclosed location.

We felt privileged just to see and hold it.

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