Just some kid from the Chicago suburbs that moved to the southwest, went to law school, and ended up confronted with shifting ideals. My thoughts...boring and unedited.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

NEW MEXICO REPEALS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT!

As I type this Governor Bill Richardson just concluded signing New Mexico HB 285, which repeals the death penalty in the State of New Mexico. I now proudly reside in only the second state to do away with inhumane and un-American Government sanctioned murder since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated in just a generation ago.

I am speechless.

Friday, March 13, 2009

NEW MEXICO LEGISLATURE VOTES TO REPEAL THE DEATH PENALTY!!!!

The New Mexico Senate voted this after in favor of HB 285, which had cleared the House earlier this session by a healthy margin. The final vote was 24-18, largely along party lines. Prior to this year, all such bills failed to even get a floor vote in the Senate.

Gov. Richardson issued a statement indicating he continues to visit the issue, but has not stated whether he will sign the bill.

Either way, this is a huge step forward from where we were just a few years ago when we argued Young before the New Mexico Supreme Court. Thanks to everyone at the NM Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty and the countless attorneys, support staff and citizens which have worked so hard to see this day. And thank you to the following Senators who voted in favor of this bill, your humanity will be remembered: Eric Griego, Tim Eichenberg, Timothy Keller, Sander Rue, Howie Morales, Gerald Ortiz y Pino, Stephen Fishmann, Peter Wirth, John Pinto, Phil Griego, Dede Feldman, Pete Campos, Linda Lopez, David Ulibarri, John Sapien, Michael Sanchez, Bernadette Sanchez, Cynthia Nava, Mary Kay Papen, Carlos Cisneros, Mary Jane Garcia, Lynda Lovejoy, George Munoz, and Cisco McSorley.

Every once in a while this place makes you damn proud.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

cash for inmates, don't tell me how to spend your money, and give us real judges...

ignored in the important questions of whether octo-mom was going to do porn or whether keeping a chimp as a pet is moronic was one of the biggest flashing neon signs trying to tell us that our criminal justice system is broken...pennsylvania judges sending juveniles to jail for a little cash under the table. two judges were shipping kids to jail that had no business being there because the private prison company that ran the place wanted bodies to fill the beds so they could milk the tax payers for more money. kids lives were destroyed so the bottom line could be fatter and the judge's vacation sunnier. we should still be talking about this, not where octomom got the money for a big house. we should be taking note that when you have a for-profit prison industry it creates incredibly perverse and counterproductive incentives - lock 'em up and throw away the key. our priorities got so incredibly fucked up with the bullshit "war on drugs" and "crack down on crime" that we created a multi-billion dollar industry with an interest in rising crime rates. let that sink in. our fucked up system is not interested in protecting the community, rehabilitation, responsibility, etc...it is interested in money. we created a huge money machine with an interest in squashing any talk of responsibly addressing issues of crime and drug use in our communities. and now we would rather talk about some crazy bitch that wanted a giant family for weeks on end. god help us.

speaking of wasting tax payer money...the financial sector is now starting to say they don't want the capital injection afterall. at least not if we get to tell them how to spend our money. (not that they had any problem with telling you that their loan to you had to be spent in a certain way). my favorite, signature bank of new york is going to give back the money because it doesn't like the idea of limiting executive pay. that's right - they don't want the $120 million if they can't spend it on bonuses. and now lots of banks are chiming in that they want to refund the money rather than deal with the strings attached to federal funds (the same rules that we all abide by when getting federal funds). which raises the question...why the fuck did they get the money in the first place? if they can manage without it, why are we pissing our tax dollars away on them? are they really so devoid of humanity that they wanted the money to cover bonuses rather than keep families in their homes? maybe it is time for a bank holiday...

hidden beneath all the huge moves that this administration is taking (and while the Man might not be pleased with them actually doing something, us regular ass folk are quite pleased that someone is willing to take a risk on our behalf once every 80 years or so) is the fact that the president will begin to appoint judges to the federal courts. and with this knowledge I have a simply plea...give us real judges. compromise on whatever else the fuck you want (except maybe the bullshit brain-dead failed tax cuts cure all philosophy of the elephantile class), but absolutely refuse to compromise on the courts. pack the fuck out of them. add judgeships everywhere as much as you can. throw the youngest, most liberal, thurgood marshall mold jurists you can find into those slots. and start with the 10th circuit...because they have lost their damn minds up in denver. and when you are done...on your way out of office, appoint yourself to the supreme court please. god knows we could use a mind like yours on the bench for the next 20 years.

thank god the ghansta's back...

Thursday, March 05, 2009

blind adherence to friedman, the dow's measurement, our shock doctrine, and actual crime...

the other day I was perusing a column, and for the life of me I cannot remember the bonehead that wrote the thing. while it could easily have fallen into another of the countless examples of talking heads that got a finance or econ degree and therefore thought they knew something (although had they ever bothered to take a simple western history class they would have clearly seen everything they were taught as gospel was a repeated historical failure), it jumped out at me as the prime example for the inherent lack of logical analysis from anyone with an MBA. the first section repeated the "I'm the last guy to want to the government to take a role in the economy...so if I say it might need to be done, even briefly, then you should listen." at the same time, it was yet another ode to the free market and the brilliance of friedman. and then...the author described how he felt we got into this mess where the unthinkable might have to be done. except his main target of wrath and blame were regulators that did not do their job of regulating. from that point on I waited for evidence of the simple epiphany that the writer apparently missed...if we got into a big mess because the government did not take an active role and do its part then maybe taking the government completely out of the equation is a bad idea to begin with. but no...never got there. still adhered to the free market mantra of those idiots that think friedman was a genius and not just the latest regurgitator of crap from the dumpster of history. see, there is a simple problem with the "free" market - it is called human beings. we are scum. we will fuck it up.

which brings me to another point. meet the press last week had a panel discussion on the economy and recovery and bla bla bla (side note - david gregory has been a pleasant surprise in one on one interviews...but when it is a panel he is an utter disaster). so gregory asked a question about the president's policies with a false premise - mainly that the people don't believe in them because the DOW continues to fall. ford had a perfect opportunity to score huge points...and hinted at it, but did not go all the way, instead arguing as if the DOW measured what you and I think of things. it doesn't, it never did. the DOW measures what the richest assholes that have been bleeding us dry for centuries think about things. and yes, they are scared because the era of their bullshit stolen wealth may be finally ending (again). when was the last time your investment decisions had any impact on the market? now when was the last time the stock market was outrageously and falsely high yet your income was completely stuck and your bills were rising? it is a crock of shit, this "ownership" society they tried to sell to you. you didn't own shit, they owned you. it was an excuse to take your hard earned money and siphon more and more of it up to them. but the market was high so they told you not to worry...and bill clinton convinced you he wasn't the most effective republican president of your lifetime.

as things collapse the stimulus bill and other actions being taken by the white house seem to be full of things of questionable stimuli. but for the most part, they are all damn good ideas that we should have implemented decades ago (or just not dismantled decades ago). and whether or not they end up stimulating the economy (which, let's face it, is next to impossible when the only thing you "make" anymore is bullshit ideas that failed), I say cram it down our throats. give them a taste of their own medicine...its like klein's shock doctrine for lefties. and if it is either this or forcing me to privatize everything that is public...I'm all for going this way while we burn.

the ICC indicted hassan al-bashir, the first time a sitting head of state has been the subject of an ICC warrant for war crimes. (of course you may not know because your morning news show carried a year old 911 call from octomom or some crazy lady that didn't get her mcnuggets). somewhere, tennyson is smiling...

For I dipt into the Future, far as human eye could see,

Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;




Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,


Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales;




Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew


From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;




Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,


With the standards of the peoples plunging thro' the thunder-storm;




Till the war-drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle-flags were furl'd


In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.




There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,


And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.