We can assume that budget negotiations are going well and that state business is moving along swimmingly. Things must be in good shape if Governor Pawlenty has the time to spend grandstanding about the imminent return of Sara Jane Olson, a/k/a Kathleen Soliah, to Minnesota.
Let's stipulate that Soliah would need to take a dozen Dale Carnegie courses to rise to the level of pond scum. There is no doubt that her crimes as a member of the infamous Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s were horrible and that the murder of Myrna Opsahl was a particularly despicable crime. I also get that she was not exactly remorseful over the crimes she committed and that most of her champions are annoying self-congratulatory leftists.
Soliah has served her sentence. Her family lives here. If she causes any trouble, there's a phalanx of St. Paul cops who will be ready to whisk her off the pokey at a moment's notice. Unless there is a statutory reason that she should serve her parole in California, there's no good reason to keep her out of the state. The best way to deal with Kathleen Soliah is to let her fade into the obscurity she so justly deserves. And self-congratulatory proclamations from our side of the aisle are just as odious as they are from the Left.
Two caveats: if Soliah so much as makes a peep about politics, ridicule and scorn are very much in order. And if she attempts to market any memoir or another of her adventures in Jacobin cooking, all proceeds should go directly to the Opsahl family.
10 comments:
What was Pawlenty's stated reason for making the request, I wonder?
She should also be prosecuted for all of the laws she broke while on the lam here, including but not limited to, voter fraud, tax fraud, and anything else that can be made to stick.
I wonder too, Amanda.
Anonymous,
Not a bad idea in theory, but probably pretty tough in practice. I don't know if she legally changed her name or not, so it's not clear that she committed any fraud. She was a fugitive from justice, but not a convicted felon at the time, so my guess is that she could vote, if indeed she did vote. I'm guessing someone is probably investigating such things. The other thing to remember is that the statute of limitations may have run on some of the things you're imagining, too. It never runs out on murder, which is why she was brought to justice in California.
I think I'm ready to call it square.
I didn't sympathize with her story when she was finally captured and I didn't appreciate the local DFL's embrace of her and their attempts to minimize the serious offenses she committed. Nor do I downplay the seriousness of her intent and participation back in the day. I was satisfied, however, to see her ultimately convicted and for the political smokescreens to get hosed down.
The fact is, she has done a significant amount of time and absorbed a (justified) amount of public humiliation. Points have been made. I don't feel our community is a more dangerous place with her in it, and I don't expect a wave of police bombings or bank robberies.
If she wants to come back here, be with her family, and live a quiet, invisible life, I'm in favor of that.
Ditto what NW said.
i'm starting a petition to parole the rest of our criminals to MN, as well.
and another thing:
just where is Symbio, and did it's people ever achieve independence?
Gino,
Does that mean when you come to see us in Minnesota, you're bringing Charles Manson with you?
NW and Ben,
That's the right way to look at it, I think. This case, and the matter of what is happening with the AIG firestorm, have me thinking about equal protection and singling out specific people for abuse. We're in a really dangerous place right now. More soon.
Myrna Opsahl is not available for comment.
All true, RH. I wish California had locked her up for longer, but they didn't. My larger concern is that we're wasting time on this matter for no good reason. There's a lot of that going around these days.
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