“political sensitivities”

That’s the logic and reasoning the Obama administration is giving in ruling out prosecuting those who have justified, approved, or administered torture in the Bush administration. In recent days, we found out that back in 2002, two of the 9/11 suspects were tortured hundreds of times, and that the information we got from these people was completely worthless. A key author of the torture memos is a Federal Appeals Judge now.

So, we know that torture doesn’t work, except perhaps as a means of revenge, and that the current administration isn’t going to do anything about those who committed these terrible acts.

Looking back is exactly what a criminal investigation of any kind is about. Do we say to other criminals that we want to “look forward, rather than back” and not investigate or prosecute?

Saying that we will not torture in the future yet not doing anything to make amends to the world for the torture that already occurred is essentially legalizing torture. It’s saying that “oops, my bad” when you break the window, but not paying to fix it. It still leaves a broken window.

Shame on President Obama for taking the foolish and cowardly way out of this terrible mess left by the previous president. This decision is not going to improve out standing in the world, and will just go to make him an accomplice in the crime.

TAKE ACTION: lobby your Representative and Senators to investigate, to request a special prosecutor, to impeach, to do whatever is necessary to get the Obama administration to do their job.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change on medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law.

That would be a departure from the policy of the Bush administration, which targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in California even if they complied with that state’s law.

“The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law,” Holder said in a question-and-answer session with reporters at the Justice Department.

Medical marijuana advocates in California welcomed the news, but said they still worried about the pending cases of those already in court on drug charges.

California law permits the sale of marijuana for medical purposes, though it still is against federal law.

This move is welcome and far overdue.  In a similar vein, Tom Ammiano’s bill in the California Legistlature, the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act, would make California the first state in the nation to have both a progressive and libertarian public policy toward California’s largest cash crop.  If passed as introduced, an estimated $1 Billion in new taxes could come to the state’s coffers, as well as more money for drug abuse prevention, education, and treatment.  Marijuana would be treated in a fashion similar to alcoholic beverages.

It’s about time the governments woke up to the fact that the War on Drugs has been an utter and absolute disaster for the world.  Violent crime surrounds the illegal drug trade, as well as the prosecution of otherwise law-abiding citizens, and by bringing this underground economy to the light of day, crime would be dramatically reduced.  When’s the last time you heard about a shooting between rival distillers or distributors?  I’d say sometime around 1920 to 1933 when the Eighteenth Amendment was in force.

The legislation replaces lethal injection with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Faced with the reality that our system for imposing the death penalty can never be perfect, my conscience compels me to replace the death penalty with a solution that keeps society safe,” Mr. Richardson said at a news conference in the Capitol.

via Death Penalty Is Repealed in New Mexico – NYTimes.com.

Thank you, New Mexico, for joining the civilized world in repealing the barbaric and completely fallible death penalty.

Mehserle, 27, was taken into custody in Douglas County, Nevada, said Deputy Steve Velez of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. The arrest was also confirmed by David Chai, chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums.

Mehserle was arrested in connection with an investigation by the Oakland Police Department into the shooting of Oscar Grant, 22. An Alameda County judge signed an arrest warrant, and Mehserle surrendered without incident, authorities said.

Douglas County sheriff’s officials refused to disclose what crime Mehserle was accused of committing in the arrest warrant. Deputy Velez said Sheriff Ron P. Pierini would make a statement on Wednesday.

This trial needs to be brought to a speedy beginning.  There’s not really much to debate – the entire world has seen Mehserle shoot Grant.   But is it murder or something else?  That’s for a jury to decide.

The victim, Oscar Grant, was face down, handcuffed on the cold, hard concrete platform floor, with an officer kneeling on his back or neck. The shooting officer draws his gun out of his holster, stands up, and shoots at essentially point blank range. But then look at the expression on his face: he looks down at his hand holding the gun, and the look on his face is one of shock, dismay, mortification. The officers don’t immediately call for medical attention, though. They flip the guy over onto his back, and at that point, the train upon which the videographer was filming takes off.

So, I don’t know what was in Johannes Mehserle, the now-former officer’s mind when he did this. But there are some good questions here, like why on earth does someone carry their gun and their taser right next to each other where the possibility of mistake is so high? Why did he draw his gun to begin with, even if he thought it was his taser, as he claims? The man in custody was handcuffed and face-down, and the other officer was kneeling upon him. He didn’t need to be electrocuted nor shot.

I don’t know if he meant to commit murder, but he did shoot an unarmed, defenseless man. Mehserle needs to go to jail for a good long time.

Current Mood:  angry

Minneapolis attorney Tom Kelly said Thursday they concluded that the state Supreme Court would not accept a petition for further review of the case, so it would be a futile exercise. He says that means the legal wrangling in the case is over.

I feel kinda sorry for the guy.  He could have been an out of the closet, well-adjusted gay man.  Instead, he bowed to societal pressure and married a woman and had children.  I can understand that sensibility, being a gay man who also married for a time before coming out of the closet.  But, as”Saint” Harvey Milk said “If a bullet should go through my head let that bullet destroy every closet door.”
Step out of the closet, Larry, and into the light of truth.  You’ll be a much happier person as a result.

When a people believe they have the right to deny civil rights to one group of people, the government takes that idea more steps further.  In a free society, this child would have never been questioned without an advocate present.

Thomas Jefferson was right: 

The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exclusions and incapacitations are removed.

Current Mood:  angry

The pre-Palin police chief in Wasilla has demonstrated that the town paid for these evidence gathering kits.  During Palin, though, these were removed from the budget until she was forced to put them back in by a new state law.  The law was passed specifically in response to Palin’s policy.

Here is yet another example of Palin’s religious beliefs influencing her public policy making – ostensibly, this was about budget priorities, but budget priorities show the moral priorities a leader values.  Trying to make the victims of crime, or their insurance company, pay for a government function is immoral – it’s extortion. Pay for play for crime victims is wrong, and it shows why Palin is a poor choice for VP.

And since it shows Palin’s poor moral record, it also casts a bad light on McCain’s judgement and leadership.