God Bless America!! You go chant 'USA USA USA' you go support your troops you go lay a wreath and collect socks to make care packages. Me? I will not.
Our government is about to ruin you financially, does more dick wagging than any other nation and cannot for the life of us not butt in to other countries happenings. Doubt me? Count the number of warships surrounding Syria right now and the 8,000 'heroes' who signed up to protect you…
Aside from the joy of patriotism your government is there to help in international conflict on a personal level as well. This is why fans and humans signed a silly petition asking the government to intervene on behalf of Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe. He was jailed for manslaughter over the summer stemming from a fan death years earlier in the Czech Republic.
By law a petition submitted to US Authorities shall have response within thirty days. But this is rock and roll and 105 days later Michael Posner throws us this bone, This guys salary is your tax dollar and he needs an assistant if it takes that long to issue this weak of a response.
Posner simply noted the facts of the situation and added that the White House expects Czech authorities to act in a “generally fair” manner.
The statement reads: “We appreciate your inquiry about the case of D. Randall Blythe, who was released from detention in the Czech Republic on August 3, 2012, and returned to the United States shortly thereafter.
“Mr. Blythe has publicly stated his intention to return to the Czech Republic to face trial for the alleged manslaughter of a Czech man at a concert in 2010. He recently told MTV, ‘It’s the correct thing for me to do… this poor young man’s family deserves some answers.’
“Pending Mr. Blythe’s trial, we cannot discuss the details of his case. We are closely monitoring the progress of his trial.
“The Department Of State noted in its 2011 Human Rights Report that in the Czech Republic, ‘The laws provide for the right to a fair trial, and the independent judiciary generally enforced this right.’
“We expect that the Czech government will make all efforts to ensure a fair, transparent, and timely trial for Mr. Blythe, and guarantee full protection of his legal rights under Czech law and his welfare.
“If you would like to know more about what the Department of State does for U.S. citizens overseas, please visit our website at Travel.State.Gov. General information on U.S. human rights policy is available at HumanRights.gov.”
The petition calling on the White House to help Blythe was signed by its 25,000th supporter, named as Cory D of Columbia, SC, on July 25 – meaning a response was due on August 24.
Oh what's a few months delay right? I love the 'generally fair' designation not too fair mind you just not enough unfair to leave a stain.
Last week the singer was indicted on a charge of manslaughter, but according to Czech legal processes that doesn't’t yet mean he must attend a trial. But lets face it- he's going to be called.
The band has auctioned off its possessions and is going in to round two of selling off its stuff to support the Blythe defense fund but again I will say that there is NOTHING Randy can do other than stay away from the Czech Republic. There is no hope of freedom on this one. If he cannot garner the support of his own country to at least support in his defense we may as well just stone him now.