Re: Olympic Marathon

I was astonished this morning when I read that
the Greek courts had already tried Horan, and
sentenced him to _no_ time in jail. It seems to
me that assault and battery should be punished by
at least 30 days, almost anywhere.

The only explanation I can think of is, perhaps,
the Greek authorities were trying to be lenient
with the foreign visitors.

I would have thought it would be more appropriate
to set a few examples. Competitors will be safe
from these attacks only when the punishment is severe
enough that the kooks decide not to do them...

Steve

Quoted message said:

I was astonished this morning when I read that
the Greek courts had already tried Horan,

They probably knew he'd leave the country and not return anyway.

Quoted message said:

and
sentenced him to _no_ time in jail.

Amazing! Reminds me of the cop who was arrested for diddling 6 kids he was
supposed to be *counseling*. When arrested he not only had illegal kiddie [censored]
in the cruiser, but was wearing an electric butt plug. Oh wait, it gets better.
So when the [censored] goes to court he of course cops a plee, and the judge not
only lets him off with no jail time, BUT GET THIS, sentances him to work with
abused children!!! Gee, a child molester that's ordered to work with kids as
part of his probation! Unfuckin real what some of these idiot judges do.

Quoted message said:

It seems to
me that assault and battery should be punished by
at least 30 days, almost anywhere.

I think I have to agree. Any A&B that is unprovoked, nevermind the olympics,
should get jail time. He'd be very popular in a kilt, in jail, in a country
where anal sex is the norm.

Quoted message said:

The only explanation I can think of is, perhaps,
the Greek authorities were trying to be lenient
with the foreign visitors.

I don't know why.

Quoted message said:

I would have thought it would be more appropriate
to set a few examples. Competitors will be safe
from these attacks only when the punishment is severe
enough that the kooks decide not to do them...

I doubt a real kook stops to consider the consequences.

Quoted message said:

who was arrested for diddling 6 kids

Typo, it was 36 kids.

"Steve Hansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was astonished this morning when I read that
the Greek courts had already tried Horan, and
sentenced him to _no_ time in jail. It seems to
me that assault and battery should be punished by
at least 30 days, almost anywhere.

The only explanation I can think of is, perhaps,
the Greek authorities were trying to be lenient
with the foreign visitors.

I would have thought it would be more appropriate
to set a few examples. Competitors will be safe
from these attacks only when the punishment is severe
enough that the kooks decide not to do them...

Steve

I was astonished he was even there, given the history on
this guy in terms of disrupting events. How many red flags
does one need to put out?

cheers,
--
David (in Hamilton, ON)
www.allfalldown.org
www.absolutelyaccurate.com

"SwStudio" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Steve Hansen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I was astonished this morning when I read that
the Greek courts had already tried Horan, and
sentenced him to _no_ time in jail. It seems to
me that assault and battery should be punished by
at least 30 days, almost anywhere.

The only explanation I can think of is, perhaps,
the Greek authorities were trying to be lenient
with the foreign visitors.

I would have thought it would be more appropriate
to set a few examples. Competitors will be safe
from these attacks only when the punishment is severe
enough that the kooks decide not to do them...

I was astonished he was even there, given the history on
this guy in terms of disrupting events. How many red flags
does one need to put out?

I agree, but I can't figure out how the officer following on a mountain bike
didn't defuse the situation before it became a problem. He is a highly
trained observer, on the course for the sole purpose of preventing such an
incident, and didn't see a man in a bright clothing cross 3+ lanes of
traffic and a median. Even the spectators reacted faster than he did. The
only possibility I can come up with is he was untrained fitness wise and
knackered from the 20+ mile ride.

--
Work quietly and humbly to realize your delusions of grandeur. -- Mark
Helprin

El Paisano said:

The
only possibility I can come up with is he was untrained fitness wise and
knackered from the 20+ mile ride.

Sort of, he did look untrained. But he didn't look knackered. He just
looked bored, like some kids do when they are playing outfield in little
league baseball.

The entence Horan got didn't make any sense because the guy who jumped
in the pool during the diving competition was sentenced to 5 months
because he had history of similar stunts. Horan basically comitted an
act of terrorism, Lima said he thought the guy was going to stab or
shoot him. I blame the Olympic security people for not having more
guards around the lead runners, Horan should have been intercepted as
soon as he entered the road. I think Baldini would have still won, he
looked too strong over the last few miles. I'm glad Lima hung in there
and won a medal and his finish was nice to see.

David Dunn

Quoted message said:

Horan basically comitted an
act of terrorism,

Get a life you republican [censored]!

SwStudio said:

I was astonished he was even there, given the history on
this guy in terms of disrupting events.

I would agree on the sentiment but not the practicality. How would you
go about screening every single individual along the roadside?

steve common said:

SwStudio said:

I was astonished he was even there, given the history on
this guy in terms of disrupting events.

I would agree on the sentiment but not the practicality. How would you
go about screening every single individual along the roadside?

The court had a way of making sure that he was not there,
after the previous attack, but let him off easy.
The court in Greece had a way of making sure that he would
not be at the next one -- but they let him off easy.

When a court eventually gives him a jail sentence
for one of these assaults, it will guarantee he
doesn't do another one for a while. It will also
give him time to decide that the few seconds of fun
are not worth the cost.

Steve

steve common <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I was astonished he was even there, given the history on
this guy in terms of disrupting events.

Quoted message said:

I would agree on the sentiment but not the practicality. How would you
go about screening every single individual along the roadside?

He should´ve been and could´ve been stopped before he
entered Greece the way known and convicted soccer
hooligans are denied entry before a big tournament
or an international match. The appearance of his name
in a passenger list should´ve made the computer
displays of Hellenic Customs beep like mad.

(That the threat of real terrorism was perhaps more
acute doesn´t IMHO free the security services from the
responsibility to keep the less harmful threats in mind
as well.)

Besides, unless he somehow managed to disguise himself
as a normal-looking spectator and/or appear only at the
last moment before his attack, the failure to spot such
a conspicious individual and to act correctly upon an
observation of what obviously should be regarded as a
potential threat is quite inexplicable and unpardonable.

(My feelings here are perhaps unusually strong for such
a mild-tempered person as I am, but I´m seriously [censored] that the incident essentially robbed Baldini of the
full glory of his Olympic victory; there´ll always be
people who´ll claim that he wouldn´t have won or that
it isn´t at all certain he would´ve won without it.

I´m perhaps also "unduly concerned" about this, because
I feel a sort of a national respectability to make sure
that nothing of the sort will happen next year in Helsinki.
Not that it´ll much depend on whether I´m terribly angry
here or not...

Anders (who thinks osteopathy is quack, but it works)

In article <[email hidden]>, steve common
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

SwStudio said:

I was astonished he was even there, given the history on
this guy in terms of disrupting events.

I would agree on the sentiment but not the practicality. How would you
go about screening every single individual along the roadside?

In the UK we have some problems with football hooligans (an
unrepresentative minority). When there are major international football
tournaments, convicted hooligans are required to hand in their passports
at a local police station to prevent them from travelling to the
tournament and causing trouble. Maybe this guy should have been made to
do the same.
--
Mel Rimmer

"Anders Lustig" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

(My feelings here are perhaps unusually strong for such
a mild-tempered person as I am, but I´m seriously [censored]
off that the incident essentially robbed Baldini of the
full glory of his Olympic victory; there´ll always be
people who´ll claim that he wouldn´t have won or that
it isn´t at all certain he would´ve won without it.

Nicely said! Maybe his next attempt will another formula one race but
at night - splat! 😉
-DF

Quoted message said:

He should´ve been and could´ve been stopped before he
entered Greece the way known and convicted soccer
hooligans are denied entry before a big tournament
or an international match.

Sure, they should screen everyone at the border, you'd be getting in to the
country around 2010.

Quoted message said:

The appearance of his name
in a passenger list should´ve made the computer
displays of Hellenic Customs beep like mad.

Oh of course you dumbass, they always flag SERIOUS criminals like assault and
battery people, while overlooking mad bombers.

Quoted message said:

That the threat of real terrorism was perhaps more
acute doesn´t IMHO free the security services from the
responsibility to keep the less harmful threats in mind
as well.

So they're Supermen now? X-ray vision, mind readers...yeah ok.

Quoted message said:

Besides, unless he somehow managed to disguise himself
as a normal-looking spectator and/or appear only at the
last moment before his attack, the failure to spot such
a conspicious individual

Gee, millions of people from all over the world are there, I guess a guy in a
kilt would stand out, and they should've recognized his pic from the Interpool
memo warning that men in kilts are dangerous.

Quoted message said:

My feelings here are perhaps unusually strong for such
a mild-tempered person

And strong for a [censored] too!

Quoted message said:

but I´m seriously [censored]
off that the incident essentially robbed Baldini of the
full glory of his Olympic victory;

Pure conjecture. He never would've won it anyways.

Quoted message said:

Anders (who thinks osteopathy is quack, but it works)

Glad you added this on, it clearly shows that your brain cells are
non-functioning.

"steve common" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

SwStudio said:

I was astonished he was even there, given the history on
this guy in terms of disrupting events.

I would agree on the sentiment but not the practicality. How would you
go about screening every single individual along the roadside?

I would imagine the Olympic budget would allow the monitoring
of known event agitators like this and not allowing them access to
the event, if not the entire country, during the Olympics.

cheers,
--
David (in Hamilton, ON)
www.allfalldown.org
www.absolutelyaccurate.com

Quoted message said:

I would imagine the Olympic budget would allow the monitoring
of known event agitators like this and not allowing them access to
the event, if not the entire country, during the Olympics.

Then you'd imagine wrong idiot.

Quoted message said:

I would imagine the Olympic budget would allow the monitoring
of known event agitators like this and not allowing them access to
the event, if not the entire country, during the Olympics.

Then you'd imagine wrong idiot.

Steve Hansen said:

It will also
give him time to decide that the few seconds of fun
are not worth the cost.

Again I agree with the sentiments behind your suggestion but the idea of
giving a lesson (or at least the lesson you *believe* you're giving) to
anyone who is past 10 years old, if not less, is already of dubious
worth.

When that person has, lets say, an unorthodox mental equilibrium or an
altered perception of reality, you may as well "[censored] in a violin", as
they say here. If the guy has serious religion too... ouch (insofar as
this isn't a restatement of the previous sentence; no offence meant)

The point I was after is that you cannot individually control people in
crowds of the kind watching a major city marathon and that there is no
other way to completely eliminate the risk of incidents such as the one
we're discussing.

OK the guy had a track record. But the first time he did one of his
stunts, on what basis would you have wanted to stop him from being
present?

[email hidden] (Anders Lustig) wrote:

I was angry too.

Quoted message said:

The appearance of his name
in a passenger list should´ve made the computer
displays of Hellenic Customs beep like mad.

True. Or maybe there was someone really dangerous in the airport at the
same time? Or is it because Ireland and Greece are both part of the EU:
Are customs still an issue for EU nationals travelling between EU
countries?

Or it's perhaps just a consequence of the incomplete cooperation between
EU police forces' information systems on such "lesser" matters and that
there exists no link between national police computer systems?

Let's just hope that the said systems aren't stupidly-programmed and
aren't full of "subjective" information, rumours and the like, when they
finally *do* start sharing all, cf the American who was wrongly linked
to the Madrid bombings by over-zealous (euphemism) CIA/FBI data-mining
techniques.

It all boils down to the same old argument: do you deprive everyone of
some liberties in order to foil an extra few individuals who _may_ abuse
those liberties?

Quoted message said:

Besides, unless he somehow managed to disguise himself
as a normal-looking spectator and/or appear only at the
last moment before his attack, the failure to spot such
a conspicious individual and to act correctly upon an
observation of what obviously should be regarded as a
potential threat is quite inexplicable and unpardonable.

I would have agreed, had I never seen skinheads in the 60s, punks in the
70s etc or those greek palace guards and their (Monty Python) silly walk
http://www.bootsnall.com/images/eu/aug04gre1.jpg

Also remember that greek (and other) national costumes were being worn
all over the town, because people where partying. What was so weird
about a kilt? What criteria could be used to judge "normality",
especially in such a festive context?

Quoted message said:

Anders (who thinks osteopathy is quack, but it works)

I'll let you know, around Sunday lunchtime, if it worked (again) for me
too :-)