Tide Goes In, Tide Goes Out

Monday's show left me a little bit queasy for many reasons. Maybe queasy is not the right word, but there were segments that were a bit off the beaten track.  First of all was the part about scientists and creatures from the sea and the police. If you go over to Colbert Nation to watch it or if you have it on TiVo or something similar and have not watched it yet, I can help out. When it gets to the part about the police not closing the case because there was not case in the first place and then you hear the quote about "They gave me liquor," you might want to shut your eyes for a bit. Stop watching until after you hear the audience say "EEEEWWWWWW." Then you should watch again when it's about the creature from the sea. That part is good.

More about guns. In Texas , Representative Dan Flynn wants to decrease the number of hours needed for gun safety class from ten hours to four hours. The reason for this is because it can waste a whole Saturday for people that want a gun. And another guy, Kyle Coplen, has a unique idea. He wants to give guns to people in high crime areas. Both these ideas are indeed that, ideas. I expect there will be more news about this in future reports from Stephen.

The guest last night was Kirk Bloodsworth and I loved his tie. But no, he's not some sort of fashion designer who makes really neat silk ties or something like that. It's just that his tie was so appropriate. He spent eight years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. It was DNA that proved his innocence and prevented him from being executed. So yes, he likes DNA. The witness ID in his case said that the perpetrator was 6'5", had curly blond hair and was skinny. When the real guy was caught, he was actually 5'6" and weighed 160 pounds.  I don't know that much about actual investigations of crimes, but it seems that about half the crime shows on TV base their story on having an eyewitness that breaks the case, and the other half base their story on how wrong the eyewitness was completely wrong about the crime that was committed.

But back to the guest. Kirk Bloodsworth has a goal of getting rid of the death penalty in the 33 states that still have it. There's a website, Innocence Project, and there are Faces of Exoneration that you can see. It has the names and brief statements about people who were in prison and were exonerated and released. It was an interesting interview and brought up issues that should be of concern for all of us.