It's Injection Time Again

One of my biggest objections with those on the right is their raw support for capital punishment (not all).

It seems to me that the the wrong focus, recently, was pressed upon the Supreme Court for review. I agree with John Holdridge, director of the A.C.L.U. Capital Punishment Project. It is not the method of execution that should have been reviewed, but the issue of “poor people getting lousy lawyers.”

Let me add, prosecutors whose zeal overwhelms their ability to discern right from wrong should be removed from their posts immediately. Witness the case below.

The court-appointed trial lawyers for Mr. Hoffman, convicted of killing a jewelry store owner during a robbery, were not told that the main witness against him had been paid for his cooperation and was given immunity from prosecution and a reduced sentence for bank robbery. Mr. Cheshire said that a copy of the district attorney’s notes was altered to conceal those facts before they were provided to the defense for discovery. Mr. Hoffman was released in December.

(...)

The man who prosecuted Mr. Jones, however, does not concede that the defendant was innocent. The prosecutor, G. Dewey Hudson, said that he still believed that Mr. Jones was involved in the murder, but that he could not retry him because crucial witnesses had died and one had recanted.

“It has taken 15 years for the court system to make the determination that Mr. Jones’s original counsel was ineffective,” Mr. Hudson said in a statement released Friday. “As a result of this delay, the State has been severely handcuffed in its obligation to prosecute Mr. Jones for the murder of Leamon Grady.”

Handcuffed in its obligation to prosecute? I thought Mr. Jones was already prosecuted successfully. What Hudson really means is the state was handcuffed in its obligation to “execute.”

So much for the Constitution and the right to a fair trial. Come to think of it, be very frightened because the state of Wisconsin just elected a judge who thinks much like Mr. Hudson.

Explanation for Two Ambitious Men

I didn't have to wait long. Even Xoff was put off by the juxtapositioning of the pictures of Scott Walker and Adolph Hitler. Unsettling, huh?

Of course I was not really comparing the two. For as much as I dislike Scott Walker's politics, I suspect down deep he is a decent person, loves his family, etc. But the reaction was interesting. Nothing was said. I merely stated that both men were ambitious. What is not true about that statement?

And yet, the contrast of the two pictures elicited in a very short time visceral reactions. Tell me that the Gableman campaign did not know exactly what they were doing when they juxtaposed a picture of Justice Butler next to that of a sex offender who also happened to be the same race as Butler?

Apologies to anyone offended. However, apologies from every single conservative blogger, lawmakers and quasi-journalists who ignored the real fact that race did play a role in that ad should be forthcoming as well.

Ongoing discussion at Whallah where this post and the previous one were cross=posted.

Supreme Injustice

Comment from Mike Gableman in today's JournalSentinel regarding his victory on the Supreme Court race:

"I recognize this is not a moment of individual victory . . . it's a victory for all the people across this state, all the good people who are dedicated to seeing justice done," Gableman said.

Ah yes. And then there are the rest of us, those not as good who constantly yearn for injustice. What an ass.

Faux Outrage of the Week

Considering that I don't have the time to spend on this blog as I used to or would like, naming this piece Faux Outrage of the Week might seem presumptuous ... it likely won't come out weekly though if I did have the time I can guarantee that material for this award would be ample from our mirthless friends on the extreme right side of the cheddarsphere.

Anyway, this inaugural award covers the lather Owen Robinson at Boots & Sabers worked himself into over a post by Michael Mathias. Proving that a sense of humor is not something you are born with, Robinson self-righteously took offense at Mathias' posting of the following picture.


Below the picture, Mathias added the following.

I’d say this photo is proof positive that Gableman is going to be captive to the state's most extreme special interests should he be elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

I laughed. So did James Wigderson (pictured on the far left), proving that not all righties are hopeless lost causes. It was a funny caption to the picture, certainly not one to be taken seriously. Except perhaps by those afflicted with a serious case of pretentiousness like Robinson (far right in picture) and Fred -- Mr. Outrage -- Dooley (second to left). FYI: That's Judge Gableman standing between Dooley and Robinson. No word yet on whether he was offended, though I'm surprised he managed to survive the blasts of hot air coming from the defiled duo.

Anyway, I was directed to Robinson's blog and read his retort. I was amused by this.

Furthermore, what is Mathias’ definition of “extreme special interests?” The three bloggers appearing in that picture are just that - bloggers. The only extreme special interest that I represent is myself and my family. Am I not allowed to speak to candidates and tell them my opinions about things? If I do so, does that make the candidate beholden to me? If Mathias speaks with a candidate will that candidate then be beholden to him? Of course not. It’s a ridiculous claim.

Yes, it would be a ridiculous claim, if that claim had ever been made. And even if it had, it would not be nearly as ridiculous as the huffing and puffing that Robinson resorts to. Are you serious, Owen? This coming from the man who previously and melodramatically lamented that he has not been able to shed his blood for his country (er, join up). This from the man who famously claimed foul play by Democrats during Copiergate, only to discover later that he had been played like an out-of-tune instrument. Chill out.

Then there is Fred. The arbiter of all that is good and holy, Saint Fred comes down on Mathias with a splat, kind of like dough hitting the baker's kneading table. Unaware that he has been rolled, Fred proves that the ability to fathom sarcasm is directly related to the abilty to jerk a knee. In other words, if you're a partisan right-wing jerk like Fred, sarcasm will always be an assault on your beliefs. Witness his response in the comment thread.

Michael, you are an idiot.

A picture of anyone talking to anyone does not prove anything.

Chances are if you aranged a party and 45 active people showed up Judge Gabelman would be more than happy to talk to you.

He might even have his picture taken with you.

Huh? Aside from the rude name-calling (yeah, Fred never does that) that series of sentences could only have been written by someone who takes himself way too seriously. Keep in mind, too, that in previous communications, Fred has written he can't understand why lefties find it necessary to attack "normal" and "ordinary tax payers" like himself. The inference being that somehow the rest of us don't quite add up.

Lastly, space is reserved for our favorite Clown Prince, the ever profound mangler of syntax and the rules of grammar, Chris, formerly of Spotted Mouse 2. Revel in his wit and proclivity!

Ah the typical and ever so predictable asshat Mike “Oh I was only joking” excuse

He does this all the time he takes shots at people and when called out right away does not have the guts to stand behind what he said.

Instead he tired to play it off as a “joke”

the best way to handle this asshat it to either give him the finger(worked for me) or just ignore him in the end he really is not worth any of our time

Most entertaining from that passage is the revelation that Chris has given himself the finger at least once in the past. We can't help but wonder where Chris' finger wound up and did it taste rosy?

Anyway, to Owen, Fred and the redoubtable Chris ... the first F-Bomb of 2008.