Debbie Schlussel: Desperate But Not Serious: Airport Box-Cutter Smuggling Muslim Gets Probation
Remember Benjamin Baines, Jr.?
He's the 22-year-old man, who in February, was caught trying to smuggle a box-cutter--concealed inside a book--onto a plane at the Tampa International Airport, along with his Koran, several Islamic books, and rap lyrics he wrote.
Well, here's more evidence we simply aren't serious about enforcing the law. Baines was sentenced to a year of probation by Federal Judge Judge William J. Castagna (a Jimmy Carter appointee--figures)
A refresher on Baines from back in February:
When searching the backpack, a security officer found a book titled "Fear Itself." The book was hollowed out, and the box cutter was inside.After Baines was read his rights, he said his cousin had cut away the pages to make the hollow section in the book. Later, reports state, he said he had hollowed it out himself to hide money and marijuana from his roommates.
Baines told officers he was moving to Las Vegas and forgot the cutter was in the book.
Officers found books in the backpack titled "Muhammad in the Bible," "The Prophet's Prayer" and "The Noble Qur'an." He also had a copy of the Quran and the Bible.
Jimmuh's Judge Castagna apparently fell for Baines' claim that he is "a good kid" who learned from his mistake and will check his bags more carefully, next time. Check out the photo above. Does it look like this was the case of innocently "forgetting" you had a knife in your bag? Hello . . .?
Yes, his mistake: he got caught. He learned: Next time, don't get caught, and leave Koran at mosque.
Absurd.
He faced six months in jail and will now do zero. Do you think if you or I tried to smuggle a weapon into an airport and onto a plane that we'd get such light treatment?
Only if we were carrying a Koran.
Let's hear it for yet another "successful" prosecution of the War on Terror by the Bush non-Justice Department.
Posted by Debbie on July 25, 2008 01:15 PM to Debbie Schlussel