death by technicality, a clinton (but no bill), the meaning of colbert ’08, and no to paul...

the supreme court has agreed to hear a case which might lead to the end of the barbaric practice of lethal injection...a process which would violate law if it were used to put a rabid animal to sleep, but passes as "humane" for human beings. in the process, they have sent a signal to the nation that government sanctioned murder by injection will not occur until they hear the case. a mississippi death row inmate was within 30 minutes of death, having eaten his last meal, when the supremes stayed his execution pending the outcome of arguments and their decision. but here is the interesting bit of the story...berry was almost executed on a technicality. in a rather disturbing way, I find this tidbit rather amusing...the punishment and personal responsibility crowd always cry out that people escape prison or death "on a technicality" (which typically refers to the protections of the bill of rights...fourth amendment, fifth amendment, sixth amendment, fourteenth amendment...you know, technical shit we shouldn't bother with)...so I wonder if they were just as outraged when a man was almost killed on an actual technicality. see, berry had gone through appeals, and recently filed an action to stay his execution and question the legality of lethal injection. the district court told him to suck it...because it was "untimely filed" (imagine going to mail a letter a day late and being told you have to die for it). then, the 5th circuit agreed with this ridiculous logic...that any appeal concerning core constitutional rights could be "untimely"...especially given the supreme's decision to review the issue. finally, the supreme court stepped in with only minutes to spare...avoiding death by technicality. god help our society.

I did not catch the debate the other night...I figure why bother watching a bunch of corporate backing, "free" market loving, militaristic schmucks climb all over each other to show wealthy "contributors" how much they will screw the common man for $100,000 plate dinners. however, I did manage to catch hilights and read up on the disaster that was hillary clinton. so now we are seeing - perhaps finally waking up to the fact - that she is, a clinton. she'll say whatever it takes to get into the white house...and then feed us policies we don't want after the fact. sure, all politicians are worthless shitbags (and the fact that so many of us feel that way is a sad commentary on the state of our democracy)...and hillary is no exception just because she has a vagina (yes, I would love to see a woman be president...just not this one), but the new democrats, exemplified by the clinton clan, are some of the worst. they turned out to be better at being conservatives than conservatives...but at least bill could convince us he was genuine. hillary is a scumbag, her positions depend more on poll numbers and dollar signs than any convictions or sense of right and wrong, and she is completely unable to hide it the way bill could. in the end...she's just another clinton...but she ain't no bill.

steven colbert is running for president...in one state. he has some support (more than the governor of my fair state)...and the pundits are all weighing in. some are worried about campaign finance laws, some are worried that "legitimate" candidates will lose votes, some are claiming he is making a mockery of presidential politics and serious issues - and those people have completely missed the point. campaign finance laws? they don't mean a thing...and if you have any doubt, look at policies and programs supported by the supposed "left" party - financialization, globalization, militarization. Big Money has a death grip on everyone, even if it has to be a little more cunning about it. "legitimate" candidates? nobody voting for colbert would vote for any of the worthless shitbags considered "legitimate" - which is why they would vote for colbert. there is one legitimate candidate...he's from ohio...he'll never get the nod. making a mockery of presidential politics and serious issues? the process itself is a mockery of presidential politics and serious issues...the corruption and influence of money has turned presidential politics into a sham of democracy that really does not hold much meaning. colbert is showing us this...and some are listening...but most aren't hearing.

ron paul continues to frighten the crap out of me. seemingly sane people are claiming he is a breath of fresh air and has a strong plan for this country. these same people are forgetting that pat buchanan espoused the exact same vision for america about a decade ago...he was laughed out of the race. you think bush is bad? paul is a step beyond. "but he'll bring the troops home" you say. and I agree, it is time to seriously scale back our military presence in countless nations around the world. but he wants to completely draw back into a shell and disengage from the world entirely. isolationism didn't work too good the last time...we can lead, let's just do it without predator drones. seriously listen to ron paul...he is so conservative he scares the conservatives. every public program that you will ever benefit from in your life would be gone if he had a say in it. we would become not "one nation, under god" - but millions of loners, on our own without help...just hope you don't get sick, or your company goes under, or you ever make a poor decision, because in the world of ron paul - too fucking bad. that he is considered a "legitimate" candidate shows me just how far gone we are as a society and a nation.

I would say it's in God's hands...but God doesn't always have the best god damn plans now does he?