QUITMAN, GA (WALB) - 12 former Brooks County officials were indicted for voter fraud. The suspects are accused of illegally helping people vote by absentee ballot. Notice there's no party given?
State officials launched an investigation after an unusually high number of absentee ballots were cast in the July 2010 primary election. "As a result of their grand jury findings 12 individuals were indicted in that particular matter and we will be trying that case in a court of judicial law instead of a court of public opinion so that will be pending this next year," said District Attorney Joe Mulholland. Golly. I wonder what party they belong to?
The defendants include some workers in the voter registrar's office and some school board members. They are Angela Bryant, April Proctor, Brenda Monds, Debra Denard, Lula Smart, Kechia Harrison, Robert Denard, Sandra Cody, Elizabeth Thomas, Linda Troutman, Latashia Head, and Nancy Denard. Probably Whigs is my guess...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2011 11:32 ||
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Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has said he will no longer permit capital punishment in Oregon, because he is deeply disturbed over two executions he authorized more than a decade ago. He now prefers that murderers be sentenced to prison for life.
Oregonians seem divided on the issue, in referendums twice outlawing capital punishment and twice supporting it. Voters most-recently legalized the death penalty on a 56-44 vote in 1984.
Prosecutors have long complained that convictions have been blocked for decades in long transit through the court system, yet efforts for reform and to expedite the process in the legislature have stalled.
The governor's decision now means that five states will no longer execute. The others are Illinois, New Mexico, New York and New Jersey, for various reasons.
#1
Executions will continue in the streets, homes and businesses without due process. Meanwhile the citizens of the state will also continue to lock their doors and windows at night, avoid certain parts of towns, and worry after the sun goes down about the safety of their children. Who really rules? Who really exercises the ultimate power? Who dares testify against thugs and gangs when they and not the state readily apply such power?
#2
The death penalty doesn't work because it takes too long to put them down that folks really do forget the victims. Politicians are notoriously wobbly and have too many opportunities to derail things.
I would suggest a prison for murders that has no cable, no visitation, no frills. More like the man in the iron mask than what we have these days. Then the prisoner will have lots of time to think about what they did without possibility of parole or escape or rape.
#3
In this particular case, there is a fairly easy solution used in other states: that the governor cannot involve himself unless asked to by the state board of pardons & paroles.
With some jiggering by the state legislature or a public referendum, this could include stripping the authority to intercede in any procedural way by the governor, so he could not just "halt executions", because of his personal neurosis.
#4
The death penalty doesn't work because it takes too long to put them down that folks really do forget the victims.
It just takes a different form. That's what vendetta is about [see Romeo and Juliet]. It happens in the hood and elsewhere today. Someone gets killed. No witnesses or informants. A couple days or months later, someone else gets the 'payback'. The common term is street justice. What the self worshiping ruling class can't grasp is that they are surrendering authority and legitimacy of the government to other agents to render to the people some form of justice they believe they can't get from the prince or state.
#5
there are currently 30 inmates sentenced to die in Oregon. Twenty-nine are housed at the Oregon State Penitentiary. One is housed at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla. All inmates sentenced to death have been convicted of Aggravated Murder. Oregon voters reinstated the death penalty in 1984. Since then, there have been two executions. Douglas Wright was executed by lethal injection on September 6, 1996. Harry Moore was executed by lethal injection on May 16, 1997. Before Wright, the last inmate to be executed was LeeRoy Sanford McGahuey in 1962, the method used being the gas chamber. Oregon uses only lethal injection for executions.
Wright was sentenced to death for luring three homeless men to a remote area of Wasco County with a false promise of work, and then killing them. Wright later admitted killing a fourth man, Anthony Nelson, a Makah Indian. Shortly Before his execution, Wright confessed to the abduction and murder of Portland, Oregon 10-year-old Luke Tredway, committed in 1984.
It is not like there is a question about the guilt or severity of the crimes.
Prison officials had been preparing for the Dec. 6 execution of Gary Haugen, who also had waived appeals. Haugen was serving a life sentence for fatally bludgeoning his former girlfriend's mother, Mary Archer, when he was sentenced to death for the 2003 killing of fellow inmate David Polin, who had 84 stab wounds and a crushed skull.
My questions are:
Is the governor upholding and carrying out the law?
Is there justice for the victims and there families?
#6
That being said, in past I have proposed that the way out of this and other federally created dilemmas would be a constitutional amendment establishing a Second Court of the United States, a jurisdictional, not constitutional, court, just subordinate to the SCOTUS, but superior to the federal district courts.
It would, in effect, take over the duties that the US senate abrogated with the 17th Amendment, and would have an organization much like the senate, with two state judges from each state, *appointed* (only) by each state legislature, in parallel terms with their senators.
Its function would be a "court of the states", to decide if any of the 8,000 cases appealed from the federal district courts to the SCOTUS every year (the great legal bottleneck), originally sent up on constitutional grounds by any of the 3,600 federal judges, should *not* be considered at federal jurisdiction, but returned to state jurisdiction, as *their* business to decide.
The sole original jurisdiction of the 2nd court would be to handle all lawsuits between the federal government and the states, giving the states first crack at deciding who was right, not the federal courts.
Importantly, while most business of the court would be by a random panel of non-involved states, which is how it is done in federal courts, if the majority of the full court found against either federal jurisdiction or in favor of the states against the federal government, while the decision could still be appealed to the SCOTUS, the SCOTUS would have to cite "exact text" from the constitution to overturn their decision.
This means no interpolation or extrapolation from the constitution, or judicial precedent, or "common practice" by the federal government would suffice. Unless it is written down in the actual text of the constitution, and clearly, the states win.
And if 2/3rds of the 2nd Court agreed, then the subject could not be appealed to the SCOTUS at all, thus establishing the 2nd Court as the equivalent of a much safer version of a permanent constitutional convention.
This would strongly swing the balance of power from the federal government back to the individual states for many years, and severely erode the size and power of the federal government, but in an orderly and methodical manner.
As far as the death penalty goes, this would be a means to tell federal judges with agendas to "butt out" of state death penalty cases unless there was a real and serious constitutional issue involved. No more nitpicking over minutiae, and no more dictating to states how judges personally and whimsically wanted the death penalty enforced or not.
#7
Tell the Govenor that he now has to walk through the Bad sections of the Capitol, alone,Unarmed, and at Night.
The new Governor May see things differently.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/23/2011 17:09 Comments ||
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#8
Interesting idea, 'moose. But it adds another layer of complexity, and it's still too centralized for my taste. The 50 states were supposed to be laboratories in which each gets to try its own approach, and maybe change if they see another state is doing it better. Wouldn't simply repealing the 17th Amendment accomplish many of those goals?
#9
FTA: Oregon's constitution gives Kitzhaber authority to commute the sentences of all death row inmates, but he said he will not do so because the policy on capital punishment is a matter for voters to decide.
Main point I want to make is that Kitzhaber can instantly commute all current valid death sentences, but refuses to do so despite his moral qualms. His 'reasoning' makes no sense. He is trying to force a legislative change by leaving the affair hanging.
I agree that non-judicial executions will continue at street level. The electorate's trust in gov't looking out for their best interests is already fading fast.
Livestock farmers are demanding a change in the nation's ethanol policy, claiming current rules could lead to spikes in meat prices and even shortages at supermarkets if corn growers have a bad year. But central planning is ever so much more efficient...
The amount of corn consumed by the ethanol industry combined with continued demand from overseas has cattle and hog farmers worried that if corn production drops due to drought or another natural disaster, the cost of feed could skyrocket, leaving them little choice but to reduce the size of their herds. A smaller supply could, in turn, mean higher meat prices and less selection at the grocery store.
The ethanol industry argues such scenarios are unlikely, but farmers have the backing of food manufacturers, who also fear that a federal mandate to increase production of ethanol will protect that industry from any kind of rationing amid a corn shortage.
The subject of debate is the Renewable Fuel Standard, a 2005 law requiring the nation to produce 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2012. The standard was changed in 2007 to gradually increase the requirement to 36 billion gallons by 2022.
While a $5 billion-a-year federal ethanol subsidy is scheduled to expire this year, the production requirement will remain, unless it's changed by Congress.
That has other corn consumers worried that if production falls and rationing is needed, ethanol companies will be exempt. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently reduced its estimate of this year's corn crop because of flooding in the Midwest and drought in the southern plains, and corn reserves are expected to fall to a 20-day supply next year. A 30-day supply is considered healthy.
At the same time, the price of corn for livestock feed has risen from an average of just over $3 a bushel in 2006-07 to an average of more than $6 this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2011 11:33 ||
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#1
You forget, the drought in Texas has caused The deaths of tens of thousands that were to be fed, add that into your calculations?
Hmmm, there's feed aplenty.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/23/2011 17:02 Comments ||
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#2
$5 billion-a-year federal ethanol subsidy
There is the crux of the problem. Without that, no one with a pocket calculator would be turning corn into ethanol.
[Those who disagree] may not like the language, she told The Washington Post, but the truth is what I said. Im a devout Catholic and I honor my faith and love it . . . but they have this conscience thing [that puts women at risk.] This tells me all I need to know about The Wicked Witch of the West's conscience. She doesn't have one. She shouild be ex-communicated.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/23/2011 17:00 ||
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#1
She bears false witness and uses the government to steal. She is one of the most Un-Godly of public figures. She uses God to push through her destructive and stupid programs.
#2
She is excommunicated by her very actions,latæ sententiæ according to Canon Law. The problem is her bishop is gutless when it comes to forbidding communion for her while in a state of mortal sin. And she is definitely bringing scandal upon the Church with her actions qnd claims of Catholicism, which itself calls for sanctions against her, up to and including formal ferendae sententiae excommunication.
The woman is an absolute idiot when it comes to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and her claim to be "good Catholic" are absolute trash given her rejection of the authority, dogma and magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church which is quite clear on the matter of abortion.
Nancy Pelosi is a liar. Simple as that - and an evil one as well given she is attempting to lead others astray with her lies - and force Catholics to participate in mortal sin under penalty of law by removing conscience protections for healthcare workers who refuse to participate in elective abortions, euthanasia or sterilizations. (That's the "conscience thing" that she refers to in her warped mind).
Two Republican Illinois politicians say Chicago-style politics are dominating the state and they have a solution.
State Reps. Bill Mitchell of Forsyth and Adam Brown of Decatur have proposed separating Cook County from Illinois and creating a 51st state. Never happen. They'll never give up the Springfield boodle... More important, they need the Downstaters to finance all the largesse Cook County has voted itself...
WAND-TV in Decatur reports the representatives held a presser Tuesday in Decatur to talk about their proposal.
Brown said Chicago is overshadowing the rest of the state. Mitchell says families in other parts of the state believe Chicago is "dictating its views."
They've proposed Cook County, which is the second most populous county in the U.S., to become one state and the other 101 counties in Illinois to become another.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2011 09:08 ||
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#1
Why not make it a Federal District, like Washington?
#3
That's actually something of a better idea. Make Cook county an "autonomous county" within Illinois, so it has "self rule", and is no longer part of Illinois politics.
They can offer them a deal. No more State taxes or regulations, in exchange for no more State money or control.
It would probably be a success as these things go, and could give several other states ideas.
#4
We already have a 'home rule' provision in the Illinois constitution. That's how Chicago and a couple other big cities get away with what they do.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/23/2011 12:52 Comments ||
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#5
Even better, because it just means modifying an existing situation to cut Cook county out of the loop. Basically saying that, "Since you rule yourself, rule yourself. Not us."
#6
I like the NW Pakistain approach. Making it a state gaurantees 2 more senators and at least 1 congressman for the Dems and they don't even have to pretend to be honest.
#9
Really no need to go that far. There are some other things that can be done to dilute the skewed impact of a large metro in a state:
1. Eliminate winner take all primaries and divide delegates according to their percentage of the vote in the state. That allows candidates favored by rural areas to collect some delegates and prevents the candidate favored by the primary metro from carrying the entire state.
2. Change the way presidential electoral votes are distributed. You get two electoral votes for the candidate that carries the statewide majority (corresponding to the two electoral votes representing the at large Senate seats held by a state) and one electoral vote per US House district carried by a candidate. That way rural districts can see electoral votes go to their candidate. I believe Pennsylvania was contemplating such a system, don't know if they enacted it. It would also make the electoral vote system more closely match the popular vote and make it much more difficult for a candidate to win the popular vote but lose the electoral vote.
President Barack Why can't I just eat my waffle? Obama was heckled today as he gave a speech in New Hampshire about the state of the U.S. economy.
Days after the First Lady faced a chorus of boos as she honoured U.S. troops in Florida, Mr Obama, trailed by Occupy Wall Street protesters, dashed into the politically important state for his speaking event at Central High School in Manchester. There, he stood face-to-face with those calling themselves 'the 99 per cent' fighting economic inequality.
But as he began, activists drowned out his remarks, chanting: 'Over 4,000 peaceful protesters have been incarcerated while "banksters" continue to destroy the American economy.'
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2011 09:04 ||
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#1
Remember what happened when Mao's Red Guard started to get out of hand?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Two Republican Illinois 
