Quote from link #1. "Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said he did not know what exactly was done in the way of stepped-up security, but said the deputies were receptive to their request. Dreher said that there were no other officers other than the female deputy assisting with taking Nichols to court. The law requires that defendants on trial not be handcuffed as they enter the courtroom, to make sure the sight of cuffs doesn't unfairly influence the jury."

I see this as withheld information on the part of Howard and whoever passed the law.  Who's being held responsible?  And still the link was not proof the female deputy was unqualified.  Simple lack of numbers = not proof of a PC conspiracy.

Reese:  Political correctness and incompetence example No. 1 is the rule that prisoners must not be shackled lest it prejudice the jury. Luckily, the jurors weren't present, but if they had been, watching a prisoner shoot a judge and a court reporter would certainly be more prejudicial than seeing him in handcuffs. I expect even the incompetent people in Fulton County will change that rule.

Agreed, but this is not a race issue, it is a "criminals having more rights than necessary" issue.  Sure it's PC alright, but not a damning one in favor of race or gender, just criminals.

Reese:  Political correctness and incompetence example No. 2 is assigning a female deputy to escort an unshackled prisoner to the courtroom. Feminism is an ideology, not a description of reality. A 51-year-old, 5-foot-tall female was no match for a 6-foot-1-inch former college linebacker. He attacked her and took her gun. What in God's name would anyone expect to happen?

The proof would be that the female deputy was actually allowed to slide through the physical on the entrance exam.  If the physical requirements are too lenient in favor of the female, then this needs to be seen in writing.  A whistleblower from the inside would also be acceptable.  If the physical requirements are just too lenient period, then it's not an issue of gender.   

Furthermore, a 51-year-old, 5-foot-tall male is obviously no match for a 6-foot-1-inch former college linebacker either. 

The crime here is that she was flying solo in the first place.  That's it.

Reese:  For a little bit of history, most law-enforcement agencies used to have height and weight requirements for male officers. Then a federal judge decided that that was treating women unequally.

I read this as nothing but a variant of the liberal "some say" statement. 

Get me the name of the federal judge and you got the win.  Even a man of the same age, height, and weight of Nichols would have a difficult time taking him down quickly.  This is clearly an issue not only of numbers, but also of time. 

I believe Nichols would have taken the same risk to get to the gun if he had the time to do so.  Barrring that his deputy was freakin' Walker Texas Ranger, then a 1-on-1 struggle would have given him that time he needed.    

Reese's article weighs more heavily in favor of pure incompetence, which knows no bias, and merely infers the PC as an arbitrary attachment.  <--- So regardless, it needs more work.  

Ditto Boortz:  Anyone who thinks that the political leadership of Atlanta searched far and wide for the absolute best possible person to lead the department, irrespective of questions of color and politics, needs help. 

I would surely feel that Neal is right on this one, but this is still inferred.  Has any of these policies changed since the incident?

In my opinion, the Doug Powers article makes the best case.  But still, this is inferred.  And it still doesn't make the case that women and minorities are allowed to slide through.   

Powers:  Police and security holsters have two or three separate steps involved in order to remove a weapon. Brian Nichols obviously was familiar with these steps, or else the weapon wasn't properly secured by the security officer. 

Was there a follow up investigation that proved either way?  

Sorry RD.  All I see is a fair case for Political Correctness supporting criminals, but nothing in the case of race or gender.

-PJ 

"Trake: Your lofty convictions are another blemish on the rump of congregational sectarianism." -Tumbler 5/15/07