The Rule of Law

Dear Friend of Justice,

Last Sunday I received a phone call from my friend "Kevin." (See my posts of March 14th and 17th.) He was finally given one of the three books I had sent him -- Painless Reading Comprehension. The two books destroyed by the prison were thus Painless Writing and Painless Poetry. The numeral 2 had been written on the contraband slip. But I hadn't given this too much thought. I hadn't assumed that all employees of the Massachusetts Correctional system could pass a math proficiency test.

As expected, I have heard nothing back from Superintendent Murphy. If I don't hear something by the end of the week, I will write again to the Commissioner, with a cc to Representative Rushing and Senator Jehlen. Rushing is my state rep. And Senator Patricia Jehlen is the one member of the Massachusetts legislature who has shown past concern about Massachusetts injustices.

"Kevin" told me that he had heard that the officer who had destroyed the books had contrabanded property belonging to a total of 115 prisoners during the same week. It was his last week as a property officer before being promoted to IPS (Internal Perimeter Security). I have no way of verifying this information, of course.

I will wait a week or so and try to send him one of the books again. As I mentioned before, the Painless series was designed for use in high schools.

This morning I discovered another way in which I had been the victim of arbitrary government power.

In the fall of 2006, my partner, Jim D'Entremont, took me to Sweden. The main objective of the trip was a visit to the mountain village that my grandmother had left as a little girl late in the 19th century. It was a wonderful trip, and we were treated like visiting royalty by distant cousins I met for the first time.

On the way back, we spend a few days in Iceland where for the first time we experienced wonderful Icelandic lamb soup. After coming home, we went looking for recipes on the internet. We discovered that a key ingredient was an herb mixture containing herbs native to Iceland -- such as Arctic thyme and bog bilberry. You don't find such things on the shelves at Star Market, Whole Foods, or Trader Joes.

After a lot of googling, I found a source within Iceland. Ordering it was expensive, partly because you pay for the postage by the kilo. But I ordered a small jar of the herbs over a year ago with no problem.

Recently we ran out and I decided to order two small jars. I waited and waited for them to arrive. I contacted the company, who supplied me with the tracking number. I discovered that "Your item is being processed by United States Customs." This processing has been going on since March 12th.

U.S. Custom Agents can seize anything they want. They don't have to give reasons. They can hold your property indefinitely. And there is no appeal. They have the same kind of absolute authority given to correctional officers.

The law is what they say it is. It's for national security. And to protect the children.

While I was fuming about all of this, I received a phone call from a friend, telling me that the Boston Globe had published an obituary for John O'Brien. (See posts of March 6th and March 9th.) Here is the link:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/03/25/john_obrien_playwright_with_sharp_wit_and_keen_conscience/?p1=email_to_a_friend


John was a teacher with a terrific love of learning. And he had enormous compassion for prisoners and ex-prisoners. He would have been horrified by what was done to "Kevin." And he would have made a real pest of himself trying to right that wrong. I wish I had his kind of spirit.

John would also have been amused by the idea of U.S. Custom officials trying to get stoned by smoking a mixture of Arctic thyme and bog bilberry.

-Bob