Can Arnold Save America?

Arnold Schwarzenegger, as Governor of California, has an obligation to protect its citizens from harm. Will he protect Angel Raich? The Associated Press reports:

A woman whose doctor says marijuana is the only medicine keeping her alive can face federal prosecution on drug charges, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The ruling was the latest legal defeat for Angel Raich, a mother of two from Oakland suffering from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments who sued the federal government pre-emptively to avoid being arrested for using the drug. On her doctor’s advice, Raich eats or smokes marijuana every couple of hours to ease her pain and bolster her appetite.
[...]
The Supreme Court ruled against Raich two years ago, saying medical marijuana users and their suppliers could be prosecuted for breaching federal drug laws even if they lived in a state such as California where medical pot is legal.
Because of that ruling, the issue before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was narrowed to the so-called right to life theory: that the gravely ill have a right to marijuana to keep them alive when legal drugs fail.

Raich, 41, began sobbing when she was told of the decision that she was not immune to prosecution and said she would continue using the drug.
”I’m sure not going to let them kill me,” she said. ”Oh, my God.”

I don't think any case provides more conclusive proof that our Constitutional system has been overthrown than the Gonzales v. Raich decision of two years ago. When Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court all conspire to ignore the Constitution - in this case the Commerce Clause and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments - then the system doesn't really have the "checks and balances" needed to safeguard our liberty. The federal government has no legitimacy.

Arnold shouldn't let the federal government kill Raich. If I'm the Governator, I announce that Raich and others in similar circumstances will be protected from federal arrest by whatever it takes: round-the-clock state police protection, the California National Guard, Arnold's own fists, whatever. Federal agents who try to arrest her will themselves be arrested for attempted kidnapping, and the federal prosecutor who ordered the arrest will himself be arrested for conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

A young woman's life is at stake - a mother of two. What greater, more honorable cause is there than to save her life? By defending her, Arnold would be defending the Constitution, and by defending the Constitution, Arnold would be defending her. Go for it, Arnold! You can crush the girly-men in at the White House and Justice Department, and all of America will cheer you on.

Times Change

In one episode of the 1970's series Hawaii 5-0, Dano ("book him, Dano"), while off-duty and after having a couple of beers, shoots and kills an apparently unarmed kid (Dano claims he had a gun). He is publicly denounced by name by a radio commentator, charged with first-degree murder. He turns himself in. Obviously, McGarrett and the rest of his team try to find what really happen to get him acquitted.

What's so unusual about this plot? Thirty years ago, nothing. These days, it is more than probable that the a cop in a similar situation would be see his name kept out of the paper, be put on paid leave, and suffer through an "internal investigation" that largely blames the kid and maybe slapping the cop on the wrist.