Monthly archives: April, 2008

Supremes Allow Lethal Injection for Execution

April 16, 2008
AmericaConstitutionLegal
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The Supreme Court today upheld Kentucky’s use of lethal injection for executions. The 7-2 vote backed the procedures in place in Kentucky, three drugs which some asserted constitute cruel and unusual punishment because they can cause great pain.

From the NYTimes:

”We … agree that petitioners have not carried their burden of showing that the risk of pain from maladministration of a concededly humane lethal injection protocol, and the failure to adopt untried and untested alternatives, constitute cruel and unusual punishment,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in an opinion that garnered only three votes. Four other justices, however, agreed with the outcome.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented.

ABC News tells of instances where the condemned endured prolonged, agonizing deaths:

In Florida, convicted murderer Angel Diaz was executed in 2006. But a medical examiner’s postmortem examination revealed that due to the improper injection of the anesthetic in his case, he had chemical burns on both arms. Experts believe he would have felt extreme pain for 20 to 30 minutes.

In Ohio, Joseph Clark was sentenced to death for killing a gas station attendant. But his 2006 execution was botched. It took him 86 minutes to die while he screamed in pain.

Even his victim’s brother, Michael Manning, watched in horror. “He started to shake his head from side to side,” said Manning. It took a technician 19 tries to insert the deadly intravenous needle.

Manning said what he saw in that execution chamber should not have happened. “I believe in the death penalty, but I side on the constitutionality side of it. The Eighth Amendment says no cruel and unusual punishment, and that’s what I think it was.”

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was dismissive of such facts, again from ABC:

Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia said, “Where does this come from that you must find the method of execution that causes the least pain? We have approved electrocution. We have approved death by firing squad. I expect both of those have more possibilities of painful death than the protocol here.”

The United States stands in strange company as one of few countries in the world that still permit capital punishment. From Ask Yahoo!:

All European Union countries have abolished the death penalty. Any country wishing to join the Union must follow suit. As this map shows, capital punishment is most often found in Asia and Africa, plus the United States.

Countries and territories still using capital punishment include Afghanistan, the Bahamas, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, North and South Korea, Libya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Uganda, and Vietnam.

The U.S. government and its military allow the death penalty. Capital punishment is legal in 38 American states. Meanwhile, these states have abolished it: Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The District of Columbia also doesn’t have the death penalty.

We stand with China, Iraq, Libya, Jordan, Rwanda and Sudan.

Good for us. Scalia must be proud.

Michelle Obama

April 15, 2008
General
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The “Mrs.” just concluded her interview on the Colbert Report.

Michelle did a spectacular job.  What a smart person, and a quick wit standing up to Colbert.

She did a great job.

Good work Michelle.  While we have been concerned over some of the comments Barack has made over the past few days, personally, I’m very happy with the quality of the interview you did on Colbert’s show tonight.

Tax Day 2008

April 15, 2008
General
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Congratulations to all of you who completed your taxes early and already have your refund or have made your joyful payments to the Feds.

Right.

I just signed mine today.  My accountant was very nice asking me to get everything to her earlier next year.

Taxes are soooooooo confusing.  I’m not a Libertarian, but I know enough to know that there is no rhyme or reason to taxes in the United States of America, federal or any state.  It’s a hodge podge, and completely absurd.

At any rate, now that everything is done, we’ll be back on schedule here at Turning Left with more frequent and, hopefully, thoughtful posts.

Looking forward to November 2008, and, even more, January 2009.

Obama, God and guns – Barack was right

April 12, 2008
Barack ObamaDemocratic NewsElections
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Yes, senator, you could’ve handled this one better.

I know Obama did not intend to insult anyone in Pennsylvania, but he played right into the hands of those who parse words for their own benefit.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, and Barack is right.  It was hard as hell watching the steel mills close.  When I was young, we would watch the workers pour slag on the next mountain over from the top of our street.  The glow of the molten stone as it slid down the hillside somehow added to the heat of summer, even though we were a few miles away.

Barack was right.  Some people in Pennsylvania are bitter.  They did not see the middle class prosperity of the 90s.  Instead, they did fall through the cracks.  While the riverfront in Homestead may be thriving, there are many Homestead residents who did not get the new jobs.

The senator from Illinois is right.  Dead on.  People do cling to God and guns when all else is lost.  That is not a slam at religion or the first amendment, nor is it “elitist”, as the senator from New York insists.  While many in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh might be better off, there are plenty of people in the center of the state who never saw the prosperity of the 90s, and they’re hurting now.  They’re especially hurting as gas prices approach $4.00 a gallon.

Something has to give, eventually.  Senator John “McBush” McCain will ruin this country if he wins.  We cannot win Iraq, especially since no one knows what “winning” entails, exactly.  We need to leave, and allow Iraq to move in whatever direction the people there wish it to move.  As Dahr Jamail says, “Many Iraqis have come to believe that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is just as much a dictator as Saddam Hussein was.”

We’ve won nothing, and the people of Pennsylvania will be paying over $4.00 a gallon for gas soon enough.

Look, Obama was right.  Quit the silliness and stop with the election rhetoric.

Here’s what Obama said.  Please read all of it:

Obama in context

 

Here is the larger context of Obama’s comments as reported on the Huffington Post web site.  Please read it all:

“The places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people are most cynical about government … everybody just ascribes it to ‘white working-class don’t wanna work — don’t wanna vote for the Black guy.’ … There were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today — kind of implies that it’s sort of a race thing.

“In a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long. They feel so betrayed by government that when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it. And when it’s delivered by — it’s true that when it’s delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama, then that adds another layer of skepticism,” Obama said to laughter.

“So the questions you’re most likely to get about me, ‘Well, what is this guy going to do for me? … we’ll give you talking points about what we’re proposing — to close tax loopholes … roll back the tax cuts for the top on perent. Obama’s gonna give tax breaks to uh middle-class folks and we’re gonna provide healthcare for every American.

“Our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

“Now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you’ll find is, is that people of every background — there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you’ll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I’d be very strong and people will just be skeptical.”

He’s not being elitist. He’s being honest.  People in Pennsylvania are hurting.  Twist that any way you wish.  It’s the truth.

It’s not the PR, Todd

April 11, 2008
Democratic NewsGeneralRant
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Sometimes I think I could turn this entire blog over to a critique of the Cook County Board and nothing else.

Most of the commissioners are fine people who I respect — Democrat and Republican. While I disagree strongly with Tony Peraica’s conservative social agenda, for example, I have a great deal of respect for his verbal calls for honesty in government. While I don’t quite understand their commitment to Board President Todd Stroger, Commissioners Joan Patricia Murphy and Deborah Sims work hard for those of us in the south suburbs of Chicagoland.

And Forrest Claypool? Well, here’s to what might have been.

President Stroger, your problem is not PR.

When I read earlier this week in the Sun-Times that Todd Stroger was “set to bring on a p.r. consultant, records show, to help improve his image and that of the hospital system he runs,” I just about choked. Of course, I’m not the only one who took notice. From the article:

“Of the multitude of problems facing the health bureau, p.r. is the least of them,” said Jay Stewart of the Better Government Association. “President Stroger should save the money, no matter how difficult that may be for the administration, and let the independent board decide how to use the money on things like actual health care services.”

Stroger already has people who are working the public relations angle:

Stroger’s p.r. staff is larger than that of many other county governments across the country, records show, but it’s hardly the most expensive.

Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan’s communications chief, Lucio Guerrero, makes more than $120,000, though he said he’s also in charge of about a dozen people, heading up outreach and research.

Stroger’s top p.r. staffer, Mullins, is budgeted to be paid $105,059 — and Stroger still employs all of his former spokesmen in other, comparably salaried positions.

“The need for yet another p.r. consultant or staffer for President Stroger is ridiculous,” Stewart said.

Honestly, now, Todd, do you really think your problem is a decided lack of public relations? You do remember shortly after you swore your oath to “support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Cook County Board President to the best of my ability,” you roped off an elevator for your own private use.

Sir, with all due respect, the problem is not a lack of p.r. It’s you.

I’m going to remind you of the 10 tips the Sun-Times offered you at the beginning of the month:

1. Please, don’t hire anybody in your family to fill the job.

2. Nope, not even a cousin.

3. A childhood friend? See above.

4. A national search for the new inspector general does mean looking outside your political home base of the 8th Ward.

5. Ask yourself: “What would my political mentor, Bill ‘The Hog with the Big Nuts’ Beavers, do?” Then do the opposite.

6. Let the inspector hire his or her own staff. Don’t view the 12 new jobs as a political dumping ground.

7. Hire someone familiar with corruption. Familiar, that is, with investigating and prosecuting it, not committing it.

8. The new inspector general will not require the services of a private chauffeur, as do some political big shots. Or a private elevator.

9. Do not brag to taxpayers that the new inspector general is coming in at a bargain salary, then give the new hire a double-digit raise within a year. For reference, see the Chicago Sun-Times, March 24, “Todd’s Cousin Cashes In.”

10. Follow the lead of Mayor Daley. He hired a first-rate inspector general for the city, David Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor. Hoffman’s smart, independent, experienced and beholden to no one. He drives Daley nuts. But he’s a friend to taxpayers.

For too long, county government has been a cesspool of patronage. You see, Todd, that’s what we’re looking at: individuals who take advantage of the tax payers by setting aside privileges for themselves and people they favor. That’s what it’s really all about. Just stop doing that.

Forget the p.r. binge. Just stop all of that and govern. Good p.r. will follow good actions.

Blago The Destroyer

April 6, 2008
Democratic NewsEconomyRant
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Gov. Rod BlagojevichHis intransigence knows no limits. The people of the State of Illinois are hurting. These things are understatements.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do.

Until the next election.

We’re stuck with Blago the Destroyer, the Governor-Who-Won’t.

This is a sad time to be from the State of Illinois. I have had a number of conversations with State Representatives and State Senators about the governor. All bewail and bemoan the fact that Governor Rod Blagojevich simply doesn’t care. He wouldn’t even consider such a silly thing as compromise. His “no-new-taxes” pledge is running Illinois into the ground. The Pledge means no school funding reform.

Blago doesn’t get it that you don’t understand.

After all, he pledged to not raise taxes when he first ran for governor. He won’t raise taxes. He won’t consider creative alternatives for relieving the property tax burden on Illinois residents. He won’t work to ensure that Illinois is no longer 48th in the nation on school funding. He won’t work for equity in school funding, so students at Bloom Trail High School can some day read history books in their library that post-date the Cold War.

He won’t listen no matter what you say. Remember, Blago doesn’t get it that you don’t understand.

Wow. Remember how we all had hope back then? Remember how we actually believed that a Democratic governor would make a difference to the people of Illinois? What were we thinking?

Blago doesn’t care. He’s concerned about what might come next, what office he might run for next, his next fund raiser. School funding reform is not a real concern. Why should he care that Illinois still ranks near last in school funding? Why should he care that school districts like Bloom and Ford Heights have next to nothing while Naperville thrives?

Blago cares about his image. Haircuts are important as well. Must look good for the cameras, after all. But he is absolutely incompetent when it comes to critical thought, struggling to find real solutions to real-world problems and issues.

Lt. Governor Pat Quinn supports recall legislation, saying that Gov. Blago would certainly be a target if this legislation was passed. Blago says he supports the legislation, but his House floor leader, oddly, does not. From the Chicago Tribune:

Though Blagojevich publicly has embraced the concept of recall, his House floor leader, Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville), angrily denounced the bill. Also opposed are Comptroller Dan Hynes and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

Quinn, a Democrat who said he has backed such an amendment for three decades, called the measure an important way to give power to citizens and to keep elected officials accountable.

According to Quinn, based on the number of votes cast for governor in 2006, it would take 418,401 signatures to put a gubernatorial recall on the ballot.

It may be an exercise in futility, but I’m certain signatures could be found in downstate Illinois.

And in the south suburbs of Chicago, where property taxes are choking businesses and home owners.

Blago really doesn’t get it.

During the last election, I attended a rally for the governor. As he passed by, I shook his hand and told him, “Governor, you have to do something about property taxes and school funding reform. Our residents are desperate.”

He gave me the same smirk in the photo above.

“Sure,” he said.

Then he walked away.

(Photo: Gov. Rod Blagojevich at the 2005 Martin Luther King Celebration in Matteson, IL, courtesy eNewsPF.com)

Come on, Todd, Get Serious

April 1, 2008
ChicagoChicagolandDemocratic NewsRant
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I freely admit I was wrong in supporting Todd Stroger for President of Cook County Board. I believed friends locally who told me that Todd would do a great job. I believed them when they told me Todd was good for Cook County, and cared about Cook County residents.

I was suspicious when they insisted that Todd meant well, even after he insisted on a personal elevator in the County Building downtown. I’m not going to throw in, “What was he thinking???”, to paraphrase Blago-the-Destroyer’s campaign line.

Well, here’s the rub: Cousin: Stroger ready to tax again. Thank you to our friends at the Chicago Sun-Times for that wonderful headline. What does that mean? It means that Todd’s cousin, Donna Dunnings, who “took one for the team” and accepted the powerful CFO job with Cook County at a respectable salary, then accepted a 12% pay hike, proclaimed in a speech to the City Club of Chicago, “the county has bigger problems that need even more taxes to tackle.”

Well, that’s just sweet.

“The structural deficit is real and the sales tax is by no means an answer to that,” she said.

So, the county is going to turn to “cost containment,” according to Dunnings, and turn to “other revenues” to make ends meet.

“Other revenues”??? Translation: The Cook County Board will find a new and creative way to tax all of us.

Here is one important fact to remember: Our businesses are already being choked out of the suburbs, running to Will County in the south suburbs. Do Todd Stroger or Donna Dunnings really care about that?

I know some of the logic behind Cook County’s absurd tax structure that makes it so desirable for businesses to run to other counties. Something about business owners who commute from other suburbs to help pay for the infrastructure of Cook County, or something strange like that. Thus, the equalizer.

Look, Todd, and, for that matter, the rest of the Cook County Board: Sit down and act in concert. It’s that simple. We need the Cook County Board to stop blaming each other and act, yes, as a Board. Act in the best interest of the people of Cook County. Help those of us in the suburbs retain our businesses. Stop acting as if the borders of Cook County stop at the borders of the City of Chicago. Stop the patronage politics. We can’t afford it any more. You can’t honestly expect us to believe that the best person for the position of CFO of Cook County happened to be Todd Stroger’s cousin, Donna Dunnings.

Hold each other accountable on the board. Accountability in government is good.

And the rest of us will be incredibly more circumspect in future elections. In fact, those of us who stayed home last election day might show up next time and cast our votes.

Because, yes, we were wrong.