Thursday, April 12, 2012

There is something that has always bothered me about what Texas Governor Perry stated during the debates.

Q: Your state has executed 234 death row inmates. Have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent?


PERRY: "No, sir. I've never struggled with that at all. The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place--when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court of the US, if that's required But in the state of Texas, if you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you're involved with another crime and you kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas, and that is, you will be executed."

As long as the death penalty is a focus. Why is it that murder of an adult does not carry the brevity of any other murder unless there is another crime involved? Why the incremental degree of difference in the Texas law? They have record numbers of executions, but, I found that reality odd. Why is an adult murder not treated the same and execution an exemption?



by Doug Miller / KHOU 11 News

khou.com

Posted on April 12, 2012 at 6:27 PM
HOUSTON—Rev. Jesse Jackson is calling (click title to entry - thank you) for the repeal of all the nation’s “stand your ground” laws and is sharply criticizing the castle doctrine that applies in Texas.
“These laws incentivize vigilantism,” Jackson said. “Take the law into your own hands, kill or be killed.  That’s beneath the civility of a great nation.”
Jackson’s remarks at a Houston church came on the same day as the first court appearance of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with murdering teenager Trayvon Martin in a racially charged Florida shooting.  Meanwhile, new details emerged in court papers....

Perhaps in Texas any murdered adult is seen as contributing to the act as if incited. Even with that 'institutional doubt' added as a measure in the society in Texas, there is that much of a difference?

Well, we know what will happen after November 2012 when the GOP demands "Stand Your Ground" for the entire country, now, don't we?


Campaign grows to expand Stand Your Ground gun laws nationwide (click here)

  • Article by: ERICA GOODE , New York Times
  • Updated: April 12, 2012 - 9:54 PM

  • Wisconsin state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, a Democrat, who says the state's so-called Stand Your Ground statute was a substantial victory for the National Rifle Association in the Midwest, where guns have a less central place say than Texas, outside the State Capitol in Madison, Wis., April 4, 2012.

No one had yet heard of a Florida teenager named Trayvon Martin when a group of Wisconsin Republicans got together last year to discuss expanding a self-defense bill before the state Legislature.
The bill, known as the Castle Doctrine, made it harder to prosecute or sue people who used deadly force against an intruder inside their house. But the Wisconsin legislators, urged on by the National Rifle Association in a series of meetings, wanted it to go further. They crafted an amendment that extended the bill's protections to include lawns, sidewalks and swimming pools outside the residence, as well as vehicles and places of business....


Maybe in Texas murder of an adult carries less brevity of the death sentence, because, anyone can easily own and carry a weapon and it is a matter of the luck of the draw and/or the foolishness not to 'conceal carry.' 


The wild west returns.


Caucasian men in any election cycle will vote to prove their power and strength over reason any day of the week.

I hope Kim Jong Un will see the rocket failure as an opportunity to change the course of his people.

The monies used to build and operate the missile in North Korea was best spent on improving the conditions, health and education of his people. 


He would be admired to change the course of his country to greater benevolence and peace.

I think it was a wise decision by George Zimmerman to change attorneys.

Ridding himself of two lawyers centered on protecting the "Stand Your Ground Law" would have proved to be a liability to him.


I doubt knowing the new attorney was a commentator for Casey Anthony really carries much brevity either.


The point is, George Zimmerman is well represented and there should be confidence in that decision, so the outcomes should be just without question.


I believe the Special Prosecutor is doing excellent work for Trayvon Martin.



The Associated Press


...O'Mara took on the job (click title to entry - thank you) Wednesday, the day that a special prosecutor filed a second-degree murder charge against George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer who says he shot the unarmed teen in self-defense.
Before he was a legal expert at the trial of Anthony, who was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, O'Mara had a 27-year career pursuing self-defense cases, among others, but none that made headlines beyond the state line. Attorneys who know him used words like self-effacing and deliberate to describe him.
"He is not someone who is going to loud-talk or try to be bossy," said defense attorney Randy McCLean. "I think he comes across as knowledgeable and confident."...
This isn't a made for Hollywood anything. I believe George Zimmerman is taking his actions and his defense with great seriousness.


It was kinda strange, too. The guard standing next to Zimmerman resembled him. It was interesting, that's all. The guard's picture is not above, except for his shoulder.

Real Clear Politics has the President's Job Approval Rating at +0.8

And the Presidential Race with President Obama with a 4.3 point favored.


It is quite a road to November. It should be interesting.

Election 2012: Senate, House & Governor Races (click here)

(Senate, House Races Ranked in Order of RCP Likelihood to Switch Party)





Congressional Job Approval (click here)

It is up from 9 to 13. 



Mr. Hudson of the "Atlantic Wire" has it just right and what I have said for years unending.

John Hudson  
604 Views  
1:09 PM ET

While military analysts are belaboring the launch's geopolitical consequences, it's easy to lose sight of what North Korea is paying to "monitor weather" patterns. Sometime between now and Monday, Pyongyang will launch its "Unha-3" rocket but it will have cost hundreds of millions of dollars and tons of food to make that happen....

When a country has used it's national resources for building nuclear capacity and looking to the world for sympathy for its people there is hardly any reason to allow such aspirations to continue.

The leaders of North Korea no more suffer for their militarization than those of major countries that have such capacity, but, the people are an entirely different story.

It is way Nuclear Non-Proliferation is paramount to peace and prosperity globally. If there are no nuclear threats and resources can finally be used for the benefit of the people, the world has a real shot at being a reasonably decent place to live. 

...Money Pyongyang is also spending a significant amount of money on the launch that could be going to its people. Today, we found out what he damage is. The Daily Telegraph has gained access to documents that reveal the country is spending $850 million on the launch, which could feed millions of North Koreans. "The cost of the rocket, revealed in restricted documents seen by The Daily Telegraph, would have been able to buy 2.5 million tons of corn of and 1.4 million tons of rice – helping to alleviate poverty for millions." To put those numbers into context, the U.N. estimate for North Korea's entire harvest of cereals this year is 5.4 million tons....

If that ludicrous reality isn't enough, there is the fact if North Korea actually tried to launch against South Korea or Japan, it would prove to do itself more physical damage with radiation poisoning that it could not recover from.

Assad is unwilling to let normalcy return to the streets of Syria.

7:17PM BST 12 Apr 2012

...Residents of Syria's major cities (click title to entry - thank you) reported a downturn in violence as a ceasefire came into effect on Thursday morning, though there were sporadic outbreaks which both sides blamed on each other.
But Mr Annan backed the major activist groups who claimed the regime had failed to honour its promise to withdraw troops and tanks from towns and cities. He told the UN security council by video from Geneva that he wanted it to authorise its own monitoring mission to supervise the ceasefire
He also challenged the council, including the regime's key allies Russia and China, to issue a formal demand that it comply with the demand to withdraw troops
Russia said it would back the monitoring mission, which has also been agreed by Syria and is likely to be approved by a security council resolution on Friday. The first team of observers might leave by the weekend, according to reports...

Zimmerman is dangerous. I don't believe anyone can dispute that unless every American should be tracking down suspicions with a loaded gun.

...Zimmerman was not arrested at the time because police believed his claims of self-defence, enraging Martin's family and sparking six weeks of mass protests in central Florida and elsewhere.

"I would like to get him out. I need to get him out to assist me in going over all the evidence and preparing our defence," said O'Mara, who met his new client for the first time on Wednesday evening.
"He is stressed. He's tired. He's been through a lot with the way this case has been handled to date. I'm just hoping that his mental health stays well and that we can move forward in getting this case figured out."

Zimmerman has been held in protective custody since his arrest on Thursday, with his brother Robert declaring that the family was disappointed by the severity of the charge....

Ms. Fulton has a right to reconcile her grief in whatever way she like. She lost a son and she cannot conceive of anyone seeing her son in a way that would cause his demise. If she wants to reconcile herself to the fact Trayvon's death was an accident, then so be it. That does not relieve the judicial system of any responsibility for the truth and the fact Trayvon is dead by what very well may be a horrible and liberal Florida gun law. That remains to be seen.

My sympathies to Trayvon parents, they have been brave beyond any expectations through all this. I found Ms. Fulton's words very healing yesterday and I expect that is what she intended. Trayvon had a great mother.

...Earlier on Thursday, Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said she believed that the shooting was "an accident".

"One of things I still believe in is a person should apologise when they're remorseful for what they've done," she told NBC's Today show.

"I believe it was an accident. I believe it just got out of control and he couldn't turn the clock back."

Mitt Romney opened this subject and there is absolutely no reason to villian of any woman commentator.

The FACTS are completely clear, Ann Romney has lived a life as a wife and homemaker along with being an adjunct to her husband's aspirations.

I think that rounds out the description of her career option nicely.

As per Ann's role with Mitt, he referred to her as the expert at his side on woman's issues and tried to have a spin into the economic doldrums of the country with an adjective of WOMEN in front of this.

The fact is that Ann Romney is no more an expert on the economic dilemma's of the Working Class, Middle Class, Lower Class, Poor or any other CLASS the Upper Class can think of than the moon is made of green cheese.


Some women would envy her position and believe it or not there are those of us that DO NOT.


The fact of the matter is Mitt Romney is a Male Chauvinist and there is absolutely no doubt what so ever about that. He deferred any expertise regarding women to his adjunct in life, his wife. That is the epitome of Chauvanism at its pinnacle. 


Additionally, somehow the 'stay at home Mom' is coined as the 'ULTIMATE WOMAN.' HELLO? When are men and women in the USA going to lose that guilt trip? HUH?


Ann Romney was a 'stay at home, Mom." Whoopee. A woman that contributes to the economic stability and wealth of her family does ALL the balancing acts as Mrs. Romney and more. Women in a career or a job can hold their heads high in the ability to act in more than a role of child rearing and housekeeping and volunteer at the local benevolence enterprise in town.


Women that add to the economic stability and wealth of their families through a career or a job should be highly esteemed in a society that CHRONICALLY discriminates against them. 


Why was the Lilly Ledbetter Act even necessary and why wasn't it achieved until President Obama entered office? 


The economic ANALYSIS of women is not the only deception Mitt Romney is engaged with either. At the beginning of this recession in 2007 the downturn in housing was significant and the GOP did NOTHING while Paulson roamed China on the government's dollar.
The impact at the beginning of the 2008 Great Recession removed large numbers of men from the job market. The construction sector crashed big time and housing sales stagnated. So, Mitt needs to look for FACTS and not SPIN, but, in any of his public addressed all I have heard is political propaganda and not much else. 

Ann and Mitt are welcome to be Ann and Mitt, but, in relating to me and my peers they can forget about it on nearly every venue of life!

Working Women should never be demonized and those that uphold that reality in their female commentary should never be villianized!

As far as pity for her physical trials, then she can walk a mile, because I too am a breast cancer survivor and suffer from a chronic illness. GET OVER IT !

And I raised two wonderful sons ALONE.

The attacks on Hilary Rosen are absolutely no different than the attacks on Democratic women over time.

Ann Romney is typical of the GOP's idea of ideological.


Democratic women have been attacked by the GOP when it comes to being a working mother for as long as I can remember.


Women are SUPPOSE to be dependents to their men and be supportive of their loving darling of a husband. It is why there is no room for gays in the GOP. How can they put forward the IDEALS of "The traditional family" if there are two men or women in the picture.


OLD. VERY OLD IDEAS OF PERFECTION. BIBLICAL, EVEN!


Ann Romney uses Twitter to fire back at Democratic strategist who says mother of five hadn't worked a day in her life (click title to entry - thank you)


Hours after she was insulted by a Democratic operative, Mitt Romney’s wife on Wednesday launched a Twitter feed and struck back.
The brouhaha was set in motion when Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen suggested Ann Romney has never held a job.
“His wife has actually never worked a day in her life,” Rosen said on Anderson Cooper’s “AC360” show on CNN. 
“She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing in terms of how do we feed our kids, how do we send them to school and how do we — why we worry about their future.”
Ann Romney’s new Twitter feed — @AnnDRomney — popped up two hours later, along with her sharp response.
“I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work,” wrote Romney, 64....



Ah, the modern day Granny, she tweets!


Did Ann Romney go to college or did she move immediately to the Joining Room along with her peers before she was 21 years old?


Ann Romney is so good looking for her age. I am trying to think of her peer group. I don't know, maybe Martha Stewart. NO, no, no, she has a career. Maybe, oh I don't know??? Hmmmm.....


I can't think of one. Ahhhhh, the perils of the ONE PERCENT Granny!


I know one, the Former First Lady, Mrs. "W" Bush. Oh, wait, she was a librarian.