Blackberry
15th November 2003, 02:47
From Melbourne Indymedia (http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2003/11/57596.php):
What do President Bush and a bank robber have in common? They both said that God made them do it!
AN armed robber who claimed he believed God authorised him to rob banks because they were evil yesterday lost his appeal for freedom.
Gregory Eric White, 45, told a jury he robbed five banks between 1997 and 1999 because he believed that was the way to achieve salvation.
White admitted holding up five banks, three TAB outlets and a petrol station and stealing nearly $70,000 between August 1997 and December 1999.
In August 2001, a jury found him guilty of nine counts of armed robbery.
The next month another jury found him guilty of conspiring in January 2000 to commit an armed robbery on an Adelaide jewellery store.
White was sentenced to a minimum of 15 1/2 years' jail, with a maximum term of 19 1/2 years.
Yesterday Victoria's Court of Appeal unanimously rejected White's appeal against his convictions on the nine armed robberies.
However, it quashed White's conviction on the conspiracy to rob the Adelaide store and ordered a new trial.
The court reduced White's sentence to a minimum of 13 years with a maximum of 17 1/2 years.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0...5E13762,00.html (http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7863983%255E13762,00.html)
Here are Bush's exact words, quoted by Haaretz: "God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me, I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."
http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd06302003.html
=====
The similarities end there. It seems that if you're not part of the ruling classes, the 'God made me do it' line does not hold up too well.
What do President Bush and a bank robber have in common? They both said that God made them do it!
AN armed robber who claimed he believed God authorised him to rob banks because they were evil yesterday lost his appeal for freedom.
Gregory Eric White, 45, told a jury he robbed five banks between 1997 and 1999 because he believed that was the way to achieve salvation.
White admitted holding up five banks, three TAB outlets and a petrol station and stealing nearly $70,000 between August 1997 and December 1999.
In August 2001, a jury found him guilty of nine counts of armed robbery.
The next month another jury found him guilty of conspiring in January 2000 to commit an armed robbery on an Adelaide jewellery store.
White was sentenced to a minimum of 15 1/2 years' jail, with a maximum term of 19 1/2 years.
Yesterday Victoria's Court of Appeal unanimously rejected White's appeal against his convictions on the nine armed robberies.
However, it quashed White's conviction on the conspiracy to rob the Adelaide store and ordered a new trial.
The court reduced White's sentence to a minimum of 13 years with a maximum of 17 1/2 years.
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0...5E13762,00.html (http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7863983%255E13762,00.html)
Here are Bush's exact words, quoted by Haaretz: "God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then He instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me, I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."
http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd06302003.html
=====
The similarities end there. It seems that if you're not part of the ruling classes, the 'God made me do it' line does not hold up too well.