THIS IS ONE OF THE HAPPIEST DAYS OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!

The first comprehensive look at California’s administration of the death penalty in 30 years has produced a study concluding that the state’s administration of the death penalty is “close to collapse” and would require either lots of money or changes in sentencing laws “to end decades of delay and dysfunction.” Here’s the story, from the LA Times.

The main report did not advocate abolishing the death penalty but did note that California could save more than $100 million a year if the state replaced the punishment with sentences of life in prison without possibility of parole. The report concluded that death-row prisoners cost more to confine, are granted more resources for appeals, have more expensive trials and usually die in prison anyway.

According to the story, the time from death sentence to execution in California is 20 to 25 years, compared with the national average of 12 years, the commission said. The state spends about $138 million a year on the death penalty and has executed 13 people over the last three decades, the commission said.

The commission learned of “no credible evidence” that the state had executed an innocent person but said the risk remained. Fourteen people convicted of murder in California from 1989 through 2003 were later exonerated. Six death row inmates who won new trials were acquitted or had their charges dismissed for lack of evidence.

Still, all were not of the same mind on the study. In one of the study’s dissents, five law enforcement commissioners complained that the majority was “seeking to undermine public confidence” in the death penalty and that the report “unmistakenly reveals a personal bias” against capital punishment.

I wish I could take off work so I could read all of the decisions that came out this week….

I’m not even finished with the DP Kennedy Louisiana..i got diverted with the Giles decision, which I spoke about with Carlo’s atty whom argued that exact confrontation clause issue early June in front of the OKC SC.

giles: Giles v. California that the California Supreme Court’s theory of forfeiture by wrongdoing is not an exception to the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause because it was not an exception established at the nation’s founding.

2nd ( TMAC was right with this one) :”A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

wow

***** i wish i could have an instant translator that would read me the decision as we go biking… that would be soooo GLORIOUS!! … although i think i would get into an accident when i get upset at something…id wave my arms up and  GO    OH  OUUU !!!

From Nicholas Kristof writing in Today’s Times:

The dirty little secret of the Iraq war isn’t in Baghdad or Basra. Rather, it’s found in the squalid brothels of Damascus and the poorest neighborhoods of East Amman.

Some two million Iraqis have fled their homeland and are now sheltering in run-down neighborhoods in surrounding countries. These are the new Palestinians, the 21st-century Arab diaspora that threatens the region’s stability.

Many youngsters are getting no education, and some girls are pushed into prostitution, particularly in Damascus. Impoverished, angry, disenfranchised, unwanted, these Iraqis are a combustible new Middle Eastern element that no one wants to address or even think about.

American hawks prefer to address the region’s security challenges by devoting billions of dollars to permanent American military bases. A simpler way to fight extremism would be to pay school fees for refugee children to ensure that they at least get an education and don’t become forever marginalized and underemployed.

We broke Iraq, and we have a moral responsibility to those whose lives have been shattered by our actions. Helping them is also in our national interest, for we’ll regret our myopia if we allow young Iraqi refugees to grow up uneducated and unemployable, festering in their societies.

. . .

It’s among the largest humanitarian crises in the world today,” said Michael Kocher, a refugee expert at the International Rescue Committee, which recently published a report on the crisis. “It’s getting very little attention from the Security Council on down, which we feel is scandalous and also bad strategy.”

It’s easy to blame the surrounding countries, such as Jordan and Syria, for not being more hospitable to Iraqis. But those countries have, however grudgingly, tolerated the influx despite the burden and political risk.

Iraqi refugees are hard to count but may now amount to 8 percent of Jordan’s population of six million. The average Jordanian family, which opposed the war in the first place, is now bearing a cost that may be as much as $1,000 per year for providing for the refugees.

In contrast, last year the United States took in only 1,608 Iraqis. European countries have done better, but they believe that America created the refugee crisis and should take the lead in resolving it.

“Apathy towards the crisis has been the overwhelming response,” Amnesty International said in a report last week.

We have already seen, in the case of Palestinians, how a refugee diaspora can destabilize a region for decades. If Jordan were to collapse in part from such pressures, that would be a catastrophe — and the best way to prevent that isn’t to give it Blackhawk helicopters, but help with school fees and school construction.

If we let the Iraqi refugee crisis drag on — and especially if we allow young refugees to miss an education so that they will never have a future — then we are sentencing ourselves to endure their wrath for decades to come. Educating Iraqis may not be as glamorous as bombing them, but it will do far more good.

Notice only a national consensus test was used by the majority. No mention of international standards (which Kennedy has been known to use in decisions outside the eight amendment - i.e. Lawrence v. Texas).

Other than believing that the death penalty in general is cruel and unusual punishment (think Justices Brennan, Souter, Breyer, and Marshall’s previous decisions), I have to agree that under established Eighth Amendment jurisprudence the majority’s opinion is not well-reasoned and extremely broad.

Though when it comes to Cruel and Unusual punishment–more than any legal test regarding national consensus or trends — I really believe that most Justices are inclined to apply the “gut test.” For a deeply Catholic man like Justice Kennedy, I think he has reservations of permitting executions period. In this case, I think he is stretching the facts concerning the national consensus to reach an outcome where he is not sanctioning an expansion of death. Legally, he probably knows he is wrong. Morally, he probably feels he is right. I know I would feel quite torn if I had to make this decision.

]]> http://tmacwright.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/supreme-court-in-5-4-decision-strikes-down-law-imposing-death-for-child-rape/feed/ http://tmacwright.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/the-programmers-guildwowspeculation-of-their-involvement-in-the-fragomen-incident/ http://tmacwright.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/the-programmers-guildwowspeculation-of-their-involvement-in-the-fragomen-incident/#comments Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:54:17 +0000 carustol http://tmacwright.wordpress.com/?p=216

Also speculation as to posing as governmental officials to check U.S. recruitment techniques…

What these cats believe :

The right to practice in one’s chosen profession is a Constitutional liberty [Gibson v. Berryhill, 411 U.S. 564, 571 (1973)] that is violated by visas that force Americans to train their foreign replacements or otherwise result in displacement by foreign workers.

Part of their mission :

“Nonimmigrant Visas: H-1B/L-1

While the U.S. lost about 500,000 tech jobs between 2000 and 2003, Congress admitted about 500,000 foreign tech workers on nonimmigrant visas: L-1 and H-1B - resulting in the displacement of over one million American workers. These visas provide no protection to U.S. workers, as employers are not required to consider U.S. applicants as a condition of obtaining H-1B visas. Even with record unemployment and new graduates unable to find work, Congress continues to flood the job market.

While protecting Citizens is among the most important roles of government, the U.S. Congress has knowingly violated the liberty and property interests that 500,000 Americans had in their chosen profession by allowing them to be displaced by foreign workers. Many highly skilled U.S. workers now work at Wal-Mart and Borders Books, while their jobs have been given to foreign workers.”

wow- THIS IS CRAZY! 65,000 visa # hasnt been changed by congress since 2003 (WHEN THE # ACTUALLY WENT DOWN!)…this guild group is disregarding the fact that audits have increased by more than 70% and that prevailing wage is still a must , which makes U.S. workers more desirable since employers wont have to comply with a floor of minimum prevailing wage salary. Even if its 200 bucks a year less…that saves…atty fees and the pressure of potential audits/violations.

wow

it feels like its almost mirroring the U.S. policy on illegal immigration….passsed 369-to-197 vote, with 107 abstaining

- detention held up to 18 months

- Bar on re entry into the EU of 5 years

But apparently, they had to all give in if they wanted a uniform Immig. policy. 2 countries can opt out of the restriction.

Anyways, amazing how immigration just seems to be everywhere now a days…scary.

Protesters outside the European Union office in Madrid on Tuesday denounced immigrant detentions and deportations.

The AP–which profits by organizations paying license fees for its stories–is defining its policy on how to deal with the legions of bloggers that use large quotes of their articles when summarizing their stories.

While reproduction of full articles (oops …) is rarely necessary for commentary, quotes are surely needed to promote the open discussion, free media, and flow of information that the Fair Use Exception is designed to promote and is crucial to a democracy (just look at the effect bloggers have had on closed nations by spreading information).

Everyday Andrew sums up the best news articles about the campaign on his Newsweek blog: (i.e. http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/06/17/the-filter-june-17-2008.aspx). Will similar summaries be permitted under the new AP policy? It sounds like the answer is no — a link alone will be allowed — to avoid taking quotes out of context. Will personal archiving be permitted (there is a case dealing with Xeroxing that suggests that the Fair Use doctrine does not extend to archiving)?

Of course, no matter what the AP’s ultimate policy, the looming question will be how will the AP enforce its policy and prevent infringement? By sending cease and desist letters to each individual blogger that quotes a bit too much of an article? By only pursuing the commercial bloggers? By using technology? (i.e technology that detects searches blogs for quotes and sends cease and desist letters)? By suing the large blog providers to take down or block sites that infringe on the AP’s articles? Lets hope the AP takes their time in crafting its policies, considers the dangers of curbing the free flow of information, and avoids the pitfalls of the RIAA (in policing the reproduction of music and movies by attacking college students and other individuals).

Either way, I have an easy solution. No Quotes. No Links. Just lots of paraphrasing. Its like 7th grade English class all over again.

The United States has been an affluent nation since its founding. But the country was, by and large, not corrupted by wealth. For centuries, it remained industrious, ambitious and frugal.  No longer.

As detailed in a new report “For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture,” the deterioration of financial mores has meant two things. First, it’s meant an explosion of debt that inhibits social mobility and ruins lives. Between 1989 and 2001, credit-card debt nearly tripled, soaring from $238 billion to $692 billion. By last year, it was up to $937 billion, the report said.

Second, the transformation has led to a stark financial polarization. On the one hand, there is what the report calls the investor class. It has tax-deferred savings plans, as well as an army of financial advisers. On the other hand, there is the lottery class, people with little access to 401(k)’s or financial planning but plenty of access to payday lenders, credit cards and lottery agents.

The loosening of financial inhibition has meant more options for the well-educated but more temptation and chaos for the most vulnerable. Social norms, the invisible threads that guide behavior, have deteriorated. Over the past years, Americans have been more socially conscious about protecting the environment and inhaling tobacco. They have become less socially conscious about money and debt.

The agents of destruction are many. State governments have played a role. They aggressively hawk their lottery products, which some people call a tax on stupidity. Twenty percent of Americans are frequent players, spending about $60 billion a year. The spending is starkly regressive. A household with income under $13,000 spends, on average, $645 a year on lottery tickets, about 9 percent of all income. Aside from the financial toll, the moral toll is comprehensive. Here is the government, the guardian of order, telling people that they don’t have to work to build for the future. They can strike it rich for nothing.

Payday lenders have also played a role. They seductively offer fast cash — at absurd interest rates — to 15 million people every month.

Credit card companies have played a role. Instead of targeting the financially astute, who pay off their debts, they’ve found that they can make money off the young and vulnerable. Fifty-six percent of students in their final year of college carry four or more credit cards.

Congress and the White House have played a role. The nation’s leaders have always had an incentive to shove costs for current promises onto the backs of future generations. It’s only now become respectable to do so.

Wall Street has played a role. Bill Gates built a socially useful product to make his fortune. But what message do the compensation packages that hedge fund managers get send across the country?

The list could go on. But the report, which is nicely summarized by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead in The American Interest (available free online), also has some recommendations. First, raise public consciousness about debt the way the anti-smoking activists did with their campaign. Second, create institutions that encourage thrift.

Foundations and churches could issue short-term loans to cut into the payday lenders’ business. Public and private programs could give the poor and middle class access to financial planners. Usury laws could be enforced and strengthened. Colleges could reduce credit card advertising on campus. KidSave accounts would encourage savings from a young age. The tax code should tax consumption, not income, and in the meantime, it should do more to encourage savings up and down the income ladder.

There are dozens of things that could be done. But the most important is to shift values. Franklin made it prestigious to embrace certain bourgeois virtues. Now it’s socially acceptable to undermine those virtues. It’s considered normal to play the debt game and imagine that decisions made today will have no consequences for the future.

Should hate speech be protected? An issue resolved in America, but at odds with the rest of the World.