Oh No... Not Again...
...In the ad nauseum replayed words (...more or less) of Reverend Wright:
"No... Not 'God Bless 'Them'... 'God Dam* Them!...'".
Well...
Chalk another violent and unnecessary death of a Priceless and Incredibly Beautiful Wild Creature of Nature to those Stupid, Self-Centered, Brutal, Egomaniacal, Clueless, Self-Destructive... (...Nix that)... Globally-Destructive HOMO-SAPIENS!
(I'm a little annoyed.)
Why?
****BREAKING NEWS****
A big local News Event around here (San Francisco Bay Area) is the appearance of a mountain lion in a Hayward, CA residential area.
It's the second appearance of one of the big cats showing up amidst houses and fenced yards in two weeks.
The first wild wonder didn't fare too well.
It found itself cornered by the local police and.... Well, what else do the police do when facing a situation that's not in their handbook... it was shot to death in a barrage of handgun bullets.
My first thought was... "Where the hell were the Fish and Game people with their tranquilizer guns?"
Sadly - I've since found out - Fish and Game wouldn't have blinked.
With this new appearance-
The announcement heard on all the local news stations goes something like this:
"Another mountain lion was spotted in a Bay Area neighborhood yesterday. Fish and Game experts have been called in to set traps for the animal and residents have been told to stay in their homes, not to approach the cat if they see it and to call 911 if they do."
I have a few issues with these statements.
First:
What they don't tell you (and what I found when I looked at the video on the screen) is this...
The aforementioned "neighborhood" isn't a well-established, concrete jungle where the only 'wildlife' people "spot" are scavenging pigeons and the occasional rodent (usually around fast-food restaurant dumpsters)... No.
This is, apparently, a sparsely-populated outcropping of urban sprawl that's only just begun creeping into the rolling, green, tree-dotted hills that have been home to mountain lions and all kinds of wildlife for Hundreds of Years.
A Thump On The Head to whomever wrote that news script being recited.
If you looked at the video that the film crew shot...
You'd see that the TRUTH of the situation is NOT that the mountain lion (a 2-3yr. old 90-lb. male youngster) has wandered into our 'civilized' society... No.
The TRUTH is that the so-called 'civilized' society has wandered into the mountain lion's territory and is now crying "Wolf!"... or "Mountain Lion!"
And... What about Fish and Game?
Don't wait for them to come to the rescue of the poor creature.
They're gunning for it, too. Two baby goats are missing/assumed killed and the mountain lion is being blamed. For that reason, Fish and Game are planning on trapping it and then "euthanizing the animal". Fish and Game have been quoted as saying that, "Trapping and releasing the animal is not feasible."
"...Not Feasible?!"...
What the hell?
It only weighs 90-lbs.... I could move it!
The humans are the ones who are tresspassing in it's territory. This means that it can't be too far from home and they wouldn't have to go too far.
Which is EXACTLY why it showed up there...
And probably why they don't consider it "feasible" to release it back into the wild. People will be continue to tresspass further into the hills and continue to be shocked to find wildlife... So, why bother relocating it... It'll just end up in trouble again.
People keep moving into and claiming what were formerly wild-only areas and then act shocked and awed when the long-time residents come by to check them out.
Not only that, if they are raising small livestock in open, unprotected areas with no herding dogs to protect them...
Well, duh!... It's a Mountain Lion! You've moved your clan into where the big cat's relatives have been living, mating and hunting small, furry animals for generations!
Now... Who's the TRESSPASSER?
These Human-Wild conflicts are the perfect preface to a Serious Global Crisis that's been irking me for a long time.
Human Beings are quick to decide when, in their eyes, a population of a particular wild species has gotten too big and needs to be reduced. They then will either kill off a certain number of those animals themselves or let hunters do it.
They've missed one. The One Super-Sized Population that Human Beings urgently need to look at is their own. They need to recognize and admit that it's teetering on ridiculous... if not self-and-globally destructive and take decisive steps to begin controlling it.
Ignoring the immediate and urgent Global Threat is begging for big trouble.
People have started and will start wars for the planet's resources - especially the finite ones.
Shortages of Food; Clean, drinkable water; Healthy soil able to grow crops; Endless demands for Energy; Air that's safe to Breathe... We're only seeing the faintest of hints at what problems might develop... and the top contributor to these problems is uncontrolled human population growth.
Case in Point:
For example: When I see those obnoxious commercials from Christian Children's Fund... you know the ones... They are filmed in a poverty-stricken slum in Brazil. The kids are skinny and barefoot and digging through landfill... The old, white man on the screen is asking for you to help support one of the countless children in the same horrible predicament... Incredibly, at one point, he starts to refer to the potential child you send financial support to as, "... your child."... I hate that. It's manipulative and a lie.
I want to see Christian Children's Fund using some of it's resources to really help poor families and provide Family-Planning Information and Birth Control options to people who need it and/or don't have access to/can't afford it.
Here's my contribution: They can call it The Christian Condom Fund!
Oh, in another related item...
If you have to tell someone that they shouldn't approach a Mountain Lion, Grizzly Bear or any other Wild and Dangerous Animal... Humanity Does Not Need Them!
I'm not kidding. Whether or not it sounds harsh, it's the TRUTH.
Mother Nature, God or Who/Whatever Created All That Is... Included in Her/His/Their Creation a little Fact of Life called: "Survival of the Fittest". This is why carnivorous predators choose to hunt the weak members of a herd... A Bonus: It makes the gene pool of the herd Healthier and Stronger. A Win-Win situation!
Well-meaning and/or lawsuit-fearing human beings have totally screwed this part of the Divine Plan up.
I feel the same about safety labeling on things...
Like plastic bags...
If someone doesn't have enough common sense/survival instinct to know that a plastic bag is not a toy... We don't need them and we don't need their common sense-lacking genetic contribution in the gene pool.
(Please note: I am talking about adults, not children.)
Thanks... I've needed to get that off my chest for a long, long time.
Peace.
L.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
CERN Collider Collision May Create Black Hole That Destroys Us... Or not...
"Hola!" (...In honor of my Madre, who is learning Espanol.)
I stumbled upon the following article... The title alone is enough to make one want to... well, uh... never mind.
Let's just agree that it's excessive and, in all honesty, belongs on the cover of one of those grocery checkout rags with their stories of hybrid dog-boys and perpetual celebrity deathbeds... not The Boston Globe.
I believe that the author of the article chose to use that title because it lays out in the open a very real fear that a fair number of people have regarding an upcoming scientific experiment that involves smashing two protons together at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland.
Those people who are feeling various degrees of fear and dread about the event are concerned because - in smashing the protons and releasing their bits and pieces - due to Einstein's E=mc{+2} - one could theorize that a large amount of mass in a little space could result a black hole.
That would be bad... and not just for Switzerland and France.
The author offers several logical-sounding reasons in an effort to debunk the belief that the experiment might result in the creation of black holes, saying such thoughts are completely 'irrational'.
... These rebuttals include the 'argument' that... well, basically that there's no reason to fear the creation of black holes because... (drum roll, please) Black Holes still only exist in theory... They aren't REAL.
... Whoa, wait a minute... he's right! No one has ever brought one into the classroom in a brown paper bag for 'Show-and-Tell'...
You've got be kidding me!
If Black Holes don't exist (and I'm not insisting that they do)... well, then, NASA and numerous other people with access to the most powerful telescopes known to humankind have been wasting a lot of time mapping them and announcing each new one discovered.
The author's first couple of arguments might have been somewhat re-assuring to a few people... even to me.
But, when he offered up the 'Silly people...Black Holes are only theoretical' argument as a reason that we should not worry that some whack-a-doo scientists - who obviously have yet to learn that: "Just because you can do something... doesn't mean that you should!" (Like the transgenic-obsessed idiots who make small furry animals that glow in the dark.) - ... that was when I started to both laugh and really worry.
May those CERN (Mad) Scientists decide not to tempt The Fates in such a foolish endeavor... (Hey, if "it happens everyday, all around us..." as the author claims... Why re-create it in a large collider?)
... Or, may they fail fabulously... for all of our sakes.
* If those of us who are concerned about things like this are labeled 'irrational'... so be it...
I'd rather be called irrational, err on the side of caution and Live... than be conceited, 'rational' and possibly cause the obliteration of everything.
Peace.
L.
P.S.- Then again, I might just be tired... Buenos Noches!
From: The Boston Globe
Ask Dr. Knowledge
Will New Collider Create Black Holes That Destroy Us All?
(insert heavy sarcasm)
April 21, 2008
The Large Hadron Collider is a particle accelerator collider being built at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, or CERN, straddling the French-Swiss border near Geneva. It should be completed and ready to start producing data sometime this summer. In it, scientists will be able to smash protons travelling at more than 99.99 percent of the speed of light with protons traveling in the opposite direction at the same speed.
Protons are actually pretty complicated objects, made of little bits and pieces, and in a collision of two protons it can happen that two of the little pieces find themselves very close together. Those pieces carry a lot of energy, and due to Einstein's E=mc{+2} one might imagine that a lot of mass in a little space could lead to a black hole.
The odds of this actually happening are pretty much zero for several reasons. First of all, the theorists who worry about such things happening make assumptions that the energy needed to make a black hole is vastly less than what we would expect in the real world as we know it. This possibility only arises in theories with what are called "large extra dimensions," and there is no evidence at all that these describe reality.
A second reason: Black holes, strictly speaking, are theoretical constructs. Nobody has ever seen a black hole. Things that are black hole candidates are objects which are known to be small and to have very high masses, but if one is very honest, there are a lot of problems with the black hole concept, and we don't yet know for sure that they really exist. One particularly vexing problem is that time is predicted to slow down as one approaches a heavy object, so that bits of matter falling into a heavy collapsing object actually take an infinite amount of time to fall in from the point of view of an observer outside.
A third reason is that while we physicists are all excited about the collisions to take place at CERN soon, such collisions take place all the time on Earth, the moon, and everywhere else due to ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. In other words, the experiments people worry about at CERN have been going on now and then at random all over the place for billions of years, and things seem to be fine!
Dr. Knowledge is written by physicists Stephen Reucroft and John Swain, both of Northeastern University. E-mail questions to drknowledge@globe.com or write Dr. Knowledge, c/o The Boston Globe, PO Box 55819, Boston, MA 02205-5819.
I stumbled upon the following article... The title alone is enough to make one want to... well, uh... never mind.
Let's just agree that it's excessive and, in all honesty, belongs on the cover of one of those grocery checkout rags with their stories of hybrid dog-boys and perpetual celebrity deathbeds... not The Boston Globe.
I believe that the author of the article chose to use that title because it lays out in the open a very real fear that a fair number of people have regarding an upcoming scientific experiment that involves smashing two protons together at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland.
Those people who are feeling various degrees of fear and dread about the event are concerned because - in smashing the protons and releasing their bits and pieces - due to Einstein's E=mc{+2} - one could theorize that a large amount of mass in a little space could result a black hole.
That would be bad... and not just for Switzerland and France.
The author offers several logical-sounding reasons in an effort to debunk the belief that the experiment might result in the creation of black holes, saying such thoughts are completely 'irrational'.
... These rebuttals include the 'argument' that... well, basically that there's no reason to fear the creation of black holes because... (drum roll, please) Black Holes still only exist in theory... They aren't REAL.
... Whoa, wait a minute... he's right! No one has ever brought one into the classroom in a brown paper bag for 'Show-and-Tell'...
You've got be kidding me!
If Black Holes don't exist (and I'm not insisting that they do)... well, then, NASA and numerous other people with access to the most powerful telescopes known to humankind have been wasting a lot of time mapping them and announcing each new one discovered.
The author's first couple of arguments might have been somewhat re-assuring to a few people... even to me.
But, when he offered up the 'Silly people...Black Holes are only theoretical' argument as a reason that we should not worry that some whack-a-doo scientists - who obviously have yet to learn that: "Just because you can do something... doesn't mean that you should!" (Like the transgenic-obsessed idiots who make small furry animals that glow in the dark.) - ... that was when I started to both laugh and really worry.
May those CERN (Mad) Scientists decide not to tempt The Fates in such a foolish endeavor... (Hey, if "it happens everyday, all around us..." as the author claims... Why re-create it in a large collider?)
... Or, may they fail fabulously... for all of our sakes.
* If those of us who are concerned about things like this are labeled 'irrational'... so be it...
I'd rather be called irrational, err on the side of caution and Live... than be conceited, 'rational' and possibly cause the obliteration of everything.
Peace.
L.
P.S.- Then again, I might just be tired... Buenos Noches!
From: The Boston Globe
Ask Dr. Knowledge
Will New Collider Create Black Holes That Destroy Us All?
(insert heavy sarcasm)
April 21, 2008
The Large Hadron Collider is a particle accelerator collider being built at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, or CERN, straddling the French-Swiss border near Geneva. It should be completed and ready to start producing data sometime this summer. In it, scientists will be able to smash protons travelling at more than 99.99 percent of the speed of light with protons traveling in the opposite direction at the same speed.
Protons are actually pretty complicated objects, made of little bits and pieces, and in a collision of two protons it can happen that two of the little pieces find themselves very close together. Those pieces carry a lot of energy, and due to Einstein's E=mc{+2} one might imagine that a lot of mass in a little space could lead to a black hole.
The odds of this actually happening are pretty much zero for several reasons. First of all, the theorists who worry about such things happening make assumptions that the energy needed to make a black hole is vastly less than what we would expect in the real world as we know it. This possibility only arises in theories with what are called "large extra dimensions," and there is no evidence at all that these describe reality.
A second reason: Black holes, strictly speaking, are theoretical constructs. Nobody has ever seen a black hole. Things that are black hole candidates are objects which are known to be small and to have very high masses, but if one is very honest, there are a lot of problems with the black hole concept, and we don't yet know for sure that they really exist. One particularly vexing problem is that time is predicted to slow down as one approaches a heavy object, so that bits of matter falling into a heavy collapsing object actually take an infinite amount of time to fall in from the point of view of an observer outside.
A third reason is that while we physicists are all excited about the collisions to take place at CERN soon, such collisions take place all the time on Earth, the moon, and everywhere else due to ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. In other words, the experiments people worry about at CERN have been going on now and then at random all over the place for billions of years, and things seem to be fine!
Dr. Knowledge is written by physicists Stephen Reucroft and John Swain, both of Northeastern University. E-mail questions to drknowledge@globe.com or write Dr. Knowledge, c/o The Boston Globe, PO Box 55819, Boston, MA 02205-5819.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
This Might Hurt A Little: Supreme Court OK's Lethal Injection In KY Case
(From: www.nytimes.com)
Supreme Court Allows Lethal Injection for Execution
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: April 17, 2008
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Kentucky's method of execution by lethal injection, rejecting the claim that officials there administered a common sequence of three drugs in a manner that posed an unconstitutional risk that a condemned inmate would suffer acute yet undetectable pain.
*****
Today's news that the Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's method of executing those on death row is big news here in California. There has been an unofficial hold on state executions for about a year now, as states waited for the High Court's decision on the practice of execution by lethal injection. (The method used by 35 of the 36 states that allow for the death penalty.)
The challenge wasn't so much to the consititutionality of lethal injection as it was to the details of the injection's administration. The appeal was brought on by two men on Kentucky's death row, each of whom were convicted of double murders.
My feelings about capital punishment have changed over the years. In my first year of college, in a Reasoning and Critical Thinking class, I chose to write a paper in support of capital punishment. But, I didn't know then what I know now. Since writing that paper, I've researched and studied the arguments for and against it at length. I understand - as best I can - wanting blood to be spilled for blood that was spilled. We all have heard the horrific and gruesome details of countless violent crimes committed against innocent men, women and children. Believe me, when I hear about a woman or child being raped and murdered and dismembered, I fantasize about how I would like the guilty piece of shite to be dispatched. It's easy to understand the feelings of the victim's loved ones to feel that the only justice would come from the death of the guilty... and that seeing them executed is still letting them off easy.
But, I also now know that the penalty of death is the sentence handed down more often to people of color than to white defendants, for similar crimes.
And, with the development of DNA evidence being able to be examined and compared, there have been a great number of cases where someone on death row has been found to have been wrongly convicted, and the actual perpetrator identified.
So, my present feeling is that, unless we truly know, without a shadow of doubt, that the person facing execution is undeniably the person who committed the crime(s), then I believe we should refrain from executing them.
Then, there's the common sense statement that - if you keep your emotions in check - makes complete sense: "You cannot teach people that killing is wrong by killing them."
That said...
I can't help but be somewhat annoyed and incredulous at the gall of convicted murderers (with DNA evidence) who, like a recent death row inmate at San Quentin, complained (through their ambulance-chasing mouthpiece lawyer) that just because they might experience some degree of pain during their execution... that we should not execute them (the "cruel and inhuman punishment" cry).
My response is simple:
There are numerous occasions when you or I or anyone has been at the dentist or being seen by a doctor...
and have been informed by the dentist, doctor or nurse that, simply put: "This might hurt a little."
And, it did hurt... sometimes a little and sometimes a lot... but, hey, we get over it and go on with our lives.
In the case of death row inmates, in the 'death chamber', about to be executed...
What the Hell? Those carrying out the death sentence should just inform the convicted that "This might hurt a little."... and get on with it. The person is being executed... for heinous crimes. Execution isn't a medical procedure that they are going to wake up from in a few minutes and then yell, "Damn! That hurt a lot!". They will be gone.
And it will have been a lot less painful than some of the methods of execution that I've imagined for them.
Peace.
L.
(From: www.mercurynews.com)
Executions in California Could Resume With Supreme Court Ruling
By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow lethal injections for death row inmates affirms California's capital punishment procedure and would allow executions to resume.
They have been on hold for two years because of legal challenges in federal and state court.
"I will continue to defend the death penalty and the will of the people, and I am confident that California's lethal injection protocol will be upheld," the governor said in a statement.
The Supreme Court voted 7-2 Wednesday to reject a challenge to the execution procedure in Kentucky, which uses three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates.
California is among the roughly three dozen states that uses a similar procedure. Executions have been delayed in California because of similar arguments claiming the drugs might not always work as intended, leaving inmates to die a painful death.
California has the nation's largest death row, with 669 convicts awaiting execution, including 15 women and 654 men.
In February 2006, California corrections officials halted the execution of convicted rapist and murderer Michael Morales hours before he was to be put to death.
Attorneys for Morales had challenged the three-drug sequence California used for its lethal-injection procedure one month before his scheduled execution.
They wrote that if the drugs were not administered properly it could leave Morales "paralyzed but
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conscious and suffering death from ... burning veins and heart failure."
In response, U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel recommended that the state monitor the execution with two anesthesiologists. One would be in the execution chamber and another nearby to make sure Morales was unconscious before the two remaining drugs were injected.
Morales' execution was delayed for a day and ultimately canceled after the anesthesiologists refused to participate because of ethical concerns.
"There has been a de facto moratorium," said Seth Unger, a spokesman with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling opens the door for us to proceed with the Morales case in California."
The next step is a hearing in Fogel's courtroom in San Jose, scheduled for June 12. At that time, the judge could set a schedule for reviewing the state's proposed execution procedure.
In December 2006, he ruled that California's procedure was so badly designed and carried out that it was likely to cause pain and suffering.
Since then, the state has taken a number of steps to address the concerns, including building a better-lighted death chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
Corrections official submitted a new execution plan, but it was invalidated last fall by a Marin County Superior Court judge.
Attorney Brad Phillips sued the state in Marin County, home to San Quentin, on behalf of two condemned inmates. Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor agreed with Phillips that state prison officials had failed to gather public comment and take other required steps in forming their new execution plan.
The state is appealing the Marin County ruling. In the meantime, Unger expects the lethal-injection case before the federal court in San Jose to proceed.
David Senior, one of Morales' attorneys, said he expects the federal judge to delay a decision until California state courts resolve the pending administrative challenge.
"California may ultimately choose a procedure which is completely different from the state of Kentucky's," he said.
No judge in California has scheduled an execution since the one was halted for Morales, who was sentenced in 1983 for the rape and murder two years before of 17-year-old Terri Winchell in a Lodi vineyard.
"There are four people who have basically exhausted all their appeals ... and for whom we could set dates once the Morales litigation is resolved," said Gareth Lacy, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office.
State attorneys reviewing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Kentucky case preliminarily believe it also will end challenges to California's procedure, Lacy said.
Supreme Court Allows Lethal Injection for Execution
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: April 17, 2008
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Kentucky's method of execution by lethal injection, rejecting the claim that officials there administered a common sequence of three drugs in a manner that posed an unconstitutional risk that a condemned inmate would suffer acute yet undetectable pain.
*****
Today's news that the Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's method of executing those on death row is big news here in California. There has been an unofficial hold on state executions for about a year now, as states waited for the High Court's decision on the practice of execution by lethal injection. (The method used by 35 of the 36 states that allow for the death penalty.)
The challenge wasn't so much to the consititutionality of lethal injection as it was to the details of the injection's administration. The appeal was brought on by two men on Kentucky's death row, each of whom were convicted of double murders.
My feelings about capital punishment have changed over the years. In my first year of college, in a Reasoning and Critical Thinking class, I chose to write a paper in support of capital punishment. But, I didn't know then what I know now. Since writing that paper, I've researched and studied the arguments for and against it at length. I understand - as best I can - wanting blood to be spilled for blood that was spilled. We all have heard the horrific and gruesome details of countless violent crimes committed against innocent men, women and children. Believe me, when I hear about a woman or child being raped and murdered and dismembered, I fantasize about how I would like the guilty piece of shite to be dispatched. It's easy to understand the feelings of the victim's loved ones to feel that the only justice would come from the death of the guilty... and that seeing them executed is still letting them off easy.
But, I also now know that the penalty of death is the sentence handed down more often to people of color than to white defendants, for similar crimes.
And, with the development of DNA evidence being able to be examined and compared, there have been a great number of cases where someone on death row has been found to have been wrongly convicted, and the actual perpetrator identified.
So, my present feeling is that, unless we truly know, without a shadow of doubt, that the person facing execution is undeniably the person who committed the crime(s), then I believe we should refrain from executing them.
Then, there's the common sense statement that - if you keep your emotions in check - makes complete sense: "You cannot teach people that killing is wrong by killing them."
That said...
I can't help but be somewhat annoyed and incredulous at the gall of convicted murderers (with DNA evidence) who, like a recent death row inmate at San Quentin, complained (through their ambulance-chasing mouthpiece lawyer) that just because they might experience some degree of pain during their execution... that we should not execute them (the "cruel and inhuman punishment" cry).
My response is simple:
There are numerous occasions when you or I or anyone has been at the dentist or being seen by a doctor...
and have been informed by the dentist, doctor or nurse that, simply put: "This might hurt a little."
And, it did hurt... sometimes a little and sometimes a lot... but, hey, we get over it and go on with our lives.
In the case of death row inmates, in the 'death chamber', about to be executed...
What the Hell? Those carrying out the death sentence should just inform the convicted that "This might hurt a little."... and get on with it. The person is being executed... for heinous crimes. Execution isn't a medical procedure that they are going to wake up from in a few minutes and then yell, "Damn! That hurt a lot!". They will be gone.
And it will have been a lot less painful than some of the methods of execution that I've imagined for them.
Peace.
L.
(From: www.mercurynews.com)
Executions in California Could Resume With Supreme Court Ruling
By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow lethal injections for death row inmates affirms California's capital punishment procedure and would allow executions to resume.
They have been on hold for two years because of legal challenges in federal and state court.
"I will continue to defend the death penalty and the will of the people, and I am confident that California's lethal injection protocol will be upheld," the governor said in a statement.
The Supreme Court voted 7-2 Wednesday to reject a challenge to the execution procedure in Kentucky, which uses three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates.
California is among the roughly three dozen states that uses a similar procedure. Executions have been delayed in California because of similar arguments claiming the drugs might not always work as intended, leaving inmates to die a painful death.
California has the nation's largest death row, with 669 convicts awaiting execution, including 15 women and 654 men.
In February 2006, California corrections officials halted the execution of convicted rapist and murderer Michael Morales hours before he was to be put to death.
Attorneys for Morales had challenged the three-drug sequence California used for its lethal-injection procedure one month before his scheduled execution.
They wrote that if the drugs were not administered properly it could leave Morales "paralyzed but
Advertisement
conscious and suffering death from ... burning veins and heart failure."
In response, U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel recommended that the state monitor the execution with two anesthesiologists. One would be in the execution chamber and another nearby to make sure Morales was unconscious before the two remaining drugs were injected.
Morales' execution was delayed for a day and ultimately canceled after the anesthesiologists refused to participate because of ethical concerns.
"There has been a de facto moratorium," said Seth Unger, a spokesman with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling opens the door for us to proceed with the Morales case in California."
The next step is a hearing in Fogel's courtroom in San Jose, scheduled for June 12. At that time, the judge could set a schedule for reviewing the state's proposed execution procedure.
In December 2006, he ruled that California's procedure was so badly designed and carried out that it was likely to cause pain and suffering.
Since then, the state has taken a number of steps to address the concerns, including building a better-lighted death chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
Corrections official submitted a new execution plan, but it was invalidated last fall by a Marin County Superior Court judge.
Attorney Brad Phillips sued the state in Marin County, home to San Quentin, on behalf of two condemned inmates. Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor agreed with Phillips that state prison officials had failed to gather public comment and take other required steps in forming their new execution plan.
The state is appealing the Marin County ruling. In the meantime, Unger expects the lethal-injection case before the federal court in San Jose to proceed.
David Senior, one of Morales' attorneys, said he expects the federal judge to delay a decision until California state courts resolve the pending administrative challenge.
"California may ultimately choose a procedure which is completely different from the state of Kentucky's," he said.
No judge in California has scheduled an execution since the one was halted for Morales, who was sentenced in 1983 for the rape and murder two years before of 17-year-old Terri Winchell in a Lodi vineyard.
"There are four people who have basically exhausted all their appeals ... and for whom we could set dates once the Morales litigation is resolved," said Gareth Lacy, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office.
State attorneys reviewing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Kentucky case preliminarily believe it also will end challenges to California's procedure, Lacy said.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Moon as Moron's Mausoleum... An Obscenely Bad Idea.
This is Our Moon.
This is A Mausoleum.
Any Questions?
This item is from both the "Someone Should Make A Law" File and the "Epitome of Idiocy" File...
I recently learned that there are a growing number of companies (for profit ones, of course) who will be offering customers/schmucks who cough up $10,000 the "Offer of a Lifetime"...
Well... the "Offer of Your Deadtime" might be more accurate.
For that chunk of (chump) change - any/everyone who would sign up for this is a 'chump', in my humble opinion - companies with names that sound like pharmaceutical sleeping pills, like "Celestis", will (or so they claim) send a gram of your beloved/hated one's cremated remains - inside a metallic tube - to be blasted into space on a rocket and then crashed/landed on the surface of our Moon.
Let me repeat this, in case you missed it...
These crap-for-brains companies want to launch unknown numbers of rockets into space... wasting a helluva lot of (toxic) rocket fuel and adding to the already disgusting amount of man-made space junk that is currently orbiting and - sometimes - falling back down to Earth... just so they can make money off of morons/marks who are blessed with way too much green stuff and lacking in functional
gray matter.
Before they do this... I have a few questions:
1) How many rockets/landers will they be launching/crashing?
10...100... 1000... or as many as the surface of the Moon can be covered with?
2) Will there be a discount for senior citizens?... For student's?
What about for working-class people without money to burn?
3) In lieu of a mish-mash of the deceased's dust... Do I have the option of blasting a particular body part of the deceased to the moon?
4) Is anyone over-seeing these programs?
How about regulation? How do they plan to assure the safety of those of us 'left behind'?
And, lastly...
5) Who the F*@% Gave Any Person or Company Permission To Use The Moon as a MAUSOLEUM?
Jeez, people!
This is The Moon! Our One and Only Satellite! It has no twin. And there are no other celestial bodies even remotely close enough to us that we can actually reach and stand upon... not that we should do that too often, either.
Are we going to let some greedy, Moon-Mauling SOB's trash our beloved La Luna and plaster the lovely lady's surface with what is - in all honesty - LUNAR LANDFILL?
OMFG!... I Hope Not...
If they do this... I may just decide to go vigilante after all.
Peace.
L.
(From: www.abcnews.go.com/.)
Company Offers Moon as Final Resting Place
Mar 27, 2008
LOS ANGELES (Reuters)
The moon could become a final resting place for some of mankind thanks to a commercial service that hopes to send human ashes to the lunar surface on robotic landers, the company said on Thursday.
A California company can turn the final frontier into your final resting place.
Celestis, Inc., a company that pioneered the sending of cremated remains into suborbital space on rockets, said it would start a service to the surface of the moon that could begin as early as next year.
(Actually, their alleged plan is to blast only one gram of the person's cremated remains to our once pristine and sole satellite... One gram of cremated remains is less than 1% of the average person's remains, which usually weigh 3 to 5 lbs.)
The cost starts at $10,000 for a small quantity of ashes from one person.
Celestis president Charles Chafer said his company reached an agreement with Odyssey Moon Ltd. and Astrobotic Technology Inc., to attach capsules containing cremated remains onto robotic lunar landers.
Odyssey Moon and Astrobotic are among private enterprises seeking to land a robotic craft on the moon and conduct scientific experiments. The cremation capsules would remain on the moon with the lunar landers when the missions were complete.
Chafer said he expected about 1,000 capsules containing ashes to be launched on the first lunar mission, expected in late 2009 or early 2010, and about 5,000 on future flights.
"The moon is a special place," Chafer said, adding a half dozen people had already signed up for the service.
"For many people, it would be a romantic notion to look up into the sky and see the moon and know that your mom or dad or loved one is up there memorialized."
In the past 11 years, Celestis Inc., a unit of Houston-based Space Services Incorporated, has sent the ashes of hundreds of people from 14 nations into space, including U.S. astronaut Gordon Cooper and "Star Trek" actor James Doohan, who played chief engineer Scotty in the popular TV series.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, Editing by Frances Kerry)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Help Save The Haight Ashbury Food Program!
I live in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury District.
I LOVE my neighborhood.
It has a long and colorful history... Some might say "Psychedelic".
One of the things I've cherished about its history is the solid record of the immense compassion and social activism of the Haight-Asbury's residents.
From Dr. Smith, who founded the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic in the 1960's; to the Haight Ashbury Food Program, founded in the 1980's; to the Haight Ashbury Youth Outreach Team... my little microcosm could teach the rest of the world a great deal about Tolerance, Compassion and Integrity...
Well, it could do that up until rather recently.
A few years ago... Stupid and unjust internal politics and a $ Million Dollar embezzlement by the CFO at the Free Clinic's home office have led to many long-term health providers leaving (They are Truly Incredible People... I know this because I worked with them for a year) and to the organization having to sell off some of its properties... at a loss.
Not only that... Thanks to their shenanigans... The "Free Clinic" has been put into the position of having to ask clients - who are there because they have no health insurance and no money - to help offset the cost of their visit.
They've also had to shut down some of the desperately needed services they provided to San Franciscans in need.
The Free Clinic itself has been such a Godsend to so many people for decades...
It's really very sad to see how so few out of touch people in upper management have done such a f'd up job of things as to put the Clinic in the hard spot it's in.
Mind you, Dr. Smith had nothing to do with these problems.
I feel very bad for him. He's had to watch his selfless gift to San Francisco get beaten up and driven into the ground.
NOW...
There's the Haight Ashbury Food Program.
It was founded in the early 1980's.
They've not only provided homeless and housed people who couldn't afford good food with hot meals that tasted great, along with salads and... even dog food for their dogs (These were Incredible People, too!)...
They had a program where they would teach people how to cook and to run a kitchen, thereby providing them with the skills to possibly find work and no longer be homeless!
They had a varied menu and they served the meals every weekday from 11am to 1pm from inside a church on Waller Street.
There's this Great Lady named Judy who's worked there for many years.
She is a woman of endless kindness, compassion and motivation to help those in need.
She's still there... But the Program is in Dire Straits... and I do mean Dire.
Ahh, the Good Ol' Days!
(Sniff...sniff...)
Suddenly and without any warning, I heard this week that the Program is in Trouble with a Capital "T".
They are no longer serving sit down meals to the many homeless and hungry people who've come to depend upon this resource for a genuinely healthy meal and some friendly faces.
A reliable source - who knows the disheartening details - tells me that they have been handing out bag lunches instead... and doing so only three days out of the week, instead of five.
That's not all, folks!
I was shocked to also learn that HAFP had shut down the Chef's Training Program weeks ago... although the HAFP website - as of 04/09/08 - doesn't acknowledge this glaring omission.
My source informs me that these destructive and despicable changes have occured only after some NIMBY Infiltrator named Michael got himself elected as Executive Director of the twenty-five year old Program (just over one year ago.).
My source tells me that Michael has been flying around the country, going to meetings and lectures... portraying himself as Super-Duper Non-Profit Executive Guy... whilst the Haight-Ashbury Food Program he's Corrupt Captain of has been cruelly (and criminally?) neglected and secretly Strangled To Death.
Our mensch Michael gets paid $60-something,000 dollars a year for his 'service' to the community.
(What %@*&-ing service?!... Destroying the Food Program?! You gotta be Kidding!)
I also hear from my source that Michael says the Program is out of money... But, when compassionate community members/residents and community-minded local businesses stepped up and offered to finance the Program (More Incredible People who've likely been members of our Community longer than Michael)... He Turned Them Down!!
Apparently, Michael wants to shut down the Program this Friday (04/11/08)... he apparently has claimed that he intends to move it to another (unknown) location and to re-open it at another time...
(Like WHERE, Michael? Seriously. If he's allowed to close it down... re-opening is Not Likely to Happen.)
There have also been claims made that the Wonderful Hamilton Church that has been home to the Program for years and years wants the Program out and off of it's property...
When inquiries were made as to the veracity of these claims...They are refuted by the Church.
(Basically... It was a LIE.)
Then, there's Dear Saint Judy...
My source says Judy was told that, if she played nice and kept quiet until Friday...
She'd recieve a month's severance pay...
(Grrrr!)
I think Judy's been with the Program for a decade or two...
Regardless...
Judy deserves much better... The Enlightened Souls who founded the Program deserve much better... My Neighborhood deserves much better... and the many men, women and children (... and dogs) who have and do rely on 'the soup kitchen' for sustenance in a very harsh world Really Deserve Much Better!
How Dare some damn gentrifying Yuppies or Intolerant Boobs move into OUR NEIGHBORHOOD -
A Neighborhood that has long sought to help ease the suffering of those less fortunate, instead of treating them like shit on their shoes -
and then decide they can't stand the sight of homeless people (and don't you dare complain that they 'smell'... since it was some long-time homeless hater's facist widow that got the only shower service available to them in our neighborhood shut down.)...
And they've realized that complaining to the police doesn't seem to work 'cause wasting officers' time making homeless people keep moving doesn't get rid of them...
So, they decided, "Eureka! I'll just join the Boards of various neighborhood service organizations and drive them into the ground from the inside!"
Talk about "Evil-Doers" and "Enemy Combatants"!
I Hate those people.
If you don't like Our Colorful Neighborhood with it's housed and un-housed residents...
DON'T MOVE HERE!
Peace.
L.
P.S.:
PLEASE HELP Stop The (Permanent) DEMOLITION Of THE HAIGHT ASHBURY FOOD PROGRAM By Some Utterly-Heartless and Morally-Bankrupt, NIMBY NINCOMPOOPS!
Please Call/Write/Cajole//Twist the Arms of/Apply Pressure To:
Mayor Gavin Newsom:
City Hall, Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: (415) 554-6141
Fax: (415) 554-6160
Email: gavin.newsom@sfgov.org
Michael Scribner (the "Michael")
Executive Director
michael@thefoodprogram.org
The President of HAFP: Jennifer Sramek:
jenn@ideaseed.com
or (415)370-3292
Also...
Take A Stand Against Intolerance and NIMBYism and Grab As Many People As You Can And Come to the Hamilton Church (In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. At Waller Street and Belvedere.) on FRIDAY (Tomorrow!) at 11 am to PROTEST This Despicable Attempt to Destroy Forever Another Life-Saving Community Resource that Feeds Hundreds of People in Need!
Thank YOU So Much!
Peace.
L.<
I LOVE my neighborhood.
It has a long and colorful history... Some might say "Psychedelic".
One of the things I've cherished about its history is the solid record of the immense compassion and social activism of the Haight-Asbury's residents.
From Dr. Smith, who founded the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic in the 1960's; to the Haight Ashbury Food Program, founded in the 1980's; to the Haight Ashbury Youth Outreach Team... my little microcosm could teach the rest of the world a great deal about Tolerance, Compassion and Integrity...
Well, it could do that up until rather recently.
A few years ago... Stupid and unjust internal politics and a $ Million Dollar embezzlement by the CFO at the Free Clinic's home office have led to many long-term health providers leaving (They are Truly Incredible People... I know this because I worked with them for a year) and to the organization having to sell off some of its properties... at a loss.
Not only that... Thanks to their shenanigans... The "Free Clinic" has been put into the position of having to ask clients - who are there because they have no health insurance and no money - to help offset the cost of their visit.
They've also had to shut down some of the desperately needed services they provided to San Franciscans in need.
The Free Clinic itself has been such a Godsend to so many people for decades...
It's really very sad to see how so few out of touch people in upper management have done such a f'd up job of things as to put the Clinic in the hard spot it's in.
Mind you, Dr. Smith had nothing to do with these problems.
I feel very bad for him. He's had to watch his selfless gift to San Francisco get beaten up and driven into the ground.
NOW...
There's the Haight Ashbury Food Program.
It was founded in the early 1980's.
They've not only provided homeless and housed people who couldn't afford good food with hot meals that tasted great, along with salads and... even dog food for their dogs (These were Incredible People, too!)...
They had a program where they would teach people how to cook and to run a kitchen, thereby providing them with the skills to possibly find work and no longer be homeless!
They had a varied menu and they served the meals every weekday from 11am to 1pm from inside a church on Waller Street.
There's this Great Lady named Judy who's worked there for many years.
She is a woman of endless kindness, compassion and motivation to help those in need.
She's still there... But the Program is in Dire Straits... and I do mean Dire.
Ahh, the Good Ol' Days!
(Sniff...sniff...)
Suddenly and without any warning, I heard this week that the Program is in Trouble with a Capital "T".
They are no longer serving sit down meals to the many homeless and hungry people who've come to depend upon this resource for a genuinely healthy meal and some friendly faces.
A reliable source - who knows the disheartening details - tells me that they have been handing out bag lunches instead... and doing so only three days out of the week, instead of five.
That's not all, folks!
I was shocked to also learn that HAFP had shut down the Chef's Training Program weeks ago... although the HAFP website - as of 04/09/08 - doesn't acknowledge this glaring omission.
My source informs me that these destructive and despicable changes have occured only after some NIMBY Infiltrator named Michael got himself elected as Executive Director of the twenty-five year old Program (just over one year ago.).
My source tells me that Michael has been flying around the country, going to meetings and lectures... portraying himself as Super-Duper Non-Profit Executive Guy... whilst the Haight-Ashbury Food Program he's Corrupt Captain of has been cruelly (and criminally?) neglected and secretly Strangled To Death.
Our mensch Michael gets paid $60-something,000 dollars a year for his 'service' to the community.
(What %@*&-ing service?!... Destroying the Food Program?! You gotta be Kidding!)
I also hear from my source that Michael says the Program is out of money... But, when compassionate community members/residents and community-minded local businesses stepped up and offered to finance the Program (More Incredible People who've likely been members of our Community longer than Michael)... He Turned Them Down!!
Apparently, Michael wants to shut down the Program this Friday (04/11/08)... he apparently has claimed that he intends to move it to another (unknown) location and to re-open it at another time...
(Like WHERE, Michael? Seriously. If he's allowed to close it down... re-opening is Not Likely to Happen.)
There have also been claims made that the Wonderful Hamilton Church that has been home to the Program for years and years wants the Program out and off of it's property...
When inquiries were made as to the veracity of these claims...They are refuted by the Church.
(Basically... It was a LIE.)
Then, there's Dear Saint Judy...
My source says Judy was told that, if she played nice and kept quiet until Friday...
She'd recieve a month's severance pay...
(Grrrr!)
I think Judy's been with the Program for a decade or two...
Regardless...
Judy deserves much better... The Enlightened Souls who founded the Program deserve much better... My Neighborhood deserves much better... and the many men, women and children (... and dogs) who have and do rely on 'the soup kitchen' for sustenance in a very harsh world Really Deserve Much Better!
How Dare some damn gentrifying Yuppies or Intolerant Boobs move into OUR NEIGHBORHOOD -
A Neighborhood that has long sought to help ease the suffering of those less fortunate, instead of treating them like shit on their shoes -
and then decide they can't stand the sight of homeless people (and don't you dare complain that they 'smell'... since it was some long-time homeless hater's facist widow that got the only shower service available to them in our neighborhood shut down.)...
And they've realized that complaining to the police doesn't seem to work 'cause wasting officers' time making homeless people keep moving doesn't get rid of them...
So, they decided, "Eureka! I'll just join the Boards of various neighborhood service organizations and drive them into the ground from the inside!"
Talk about "Evil-Doers" and "Enemy Combatants"!
I Hate those people.
If you don't like Our Colorful Neighborhood with it's housed and un-housed residents...
DON'T MOVE HERE!
Peace.
L.
P.S.:
PLEASE HELP Stop The (Permanent) DEMOLITION Of THE HAIGHT ASHBURY FOOD PROGRAM By Some Utterly-Heartless and Morally-Bankrupt, NIMBY NINCOMPOOPS!
Please Call/Write/Cajole//Twist the Arms of/Apply Pressure To:
Mayor Gavin Newsom:
City Hall, Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: (415) 554-6141
Fax: (415) 554-6160
Email: gavin.newsom@sfgov.org
Michael Scribner (the "Michael")
Executive Director
michael@thefoodprogram.org
The President of HAFP: Jennifer Sramek:
jenn@ideaseed.com
or (415)370-3292
Also...
Take A Stand Against Intolerance and NIMBYism and Grab As Many People As You Can And Come to the Hamilton Church (In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. At Waller Street and Belvedere.) on FRIDAY (Tomorrow!) at 11 am to PROTEST This Despicable Attempt to Destroy Forever Another Life-Saving Community Resource that Feeds Hundreds of People in Need!
Thank YOU So Much!
Peace.
L.<
Monday, April 07, 2008
This Just In: Free Tibet Climbers on Golden Gate Bridge
11 am Monday, April 7, 2008.
This Just In...
Coming to You Live from San Francisco...
In an utterly AWESOME act of Civil Disobediance...
Three members of Students For A Free Tibet have scaled some suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled two banners.
This act follows several others in and around the Olympic Torch Relay as it approaches its only stop in the US - here in San Francisco - protesting and bringing attention to China's decades-long Occupation of Tibet (which includes a particularly slow method of genocide via saturation: By relocating large numbers of Chinese citizens into Tibet.).
Many others are also working to bring to the world's attention China's refusal to use its considerable influence to stop the slaughter in the Darfur region and its long record of Human Rights abuses
The Banners read:
"ONE WORLD ONE DREAM FREE TIBET" - In Giant White Letters
and
"FREE TIBET 08" - In Giant Black Letters.
They also have the colorful and beautiful Tibetan Flag.
Hannah, Laurel and Dwayne are currently still tethered to the vertical suspension cables about 500 ft. above the road, which is about 500 ft. above the SF Bay.
This should make the international news!
Goddess Bless Them!
And our Blessed Right of Free Speech and Expression.
Gd knows... if they did this in China... they’d probably have been shot down and all film footage of the event destroyed.
A spokesperson for Students for A Free Tibet has said that the activists on the bridge are experienced climbers.
Northbound Bridge traffic was halted in the far right lane, just beneath the climbers.
At one point, some Bridge workers in a bucket of some sort were raised on some cables to the first banner. They continued to slowly approach one of the climbers who then quickly climbed even higher.
Dear Golden Gate Bridge Authority:
When you have a situation like this... with experienced climbers tethered to the Bridge cables... Please Do Not endanger them, yourselves or those below by trying to yank them off... Just wait for them to come down... they will eventually... It’s not like their going to take flight and escape being taken into custody...
Although... It would be Cool if they did!
This must be quite an embarrassment to the California Highway Patrol and the Golden Gate Bridge Authority... As it was pointed out by a local newswoman, "How did they manage to get this far in this post-9/11 environment of supposedly increased security?"
The local authorities don’t really have a good answer... at the moment.
According to a CHP spokeswoman, the CHP apparently only realized what was going on when they responded to reports of local news helicopters buzzing the bridge.
Dear CHP and GGBridge Authorities:
I understand this sensational public protest must be highly embarrassing to you... Please do not beat the protesters/climbers up once they climb down.
Thank You.
The spokeswoman said that the CHP patrols the bridge and will probably increase their patrols...
I’d suggest that they look up once in a while... something I’ve noticed that not many people ever do.
Peace.
L.
This Just In...
Coming to You Live from San Francisco...
In an utterly AWESOME act of Civil Disobediance...
Three members of Students For A Free Tibet have scaled some suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled two banners.
This act follows several others in and around the Olympic Torch Relay as it approaches its only stop in the US - here in San Francisco - protesting and bringing attention to China's decades-long Occupation of Tibet (which includes a particularly slow method of genocide via saturation: By relocating large numbers of Chinese citizens into Tibet.).
Many others are also working to bring to the world's attention China's refusal to use its considerable influence to stop the slaughter in the Darfur region and its long record of Human Rights abuses
The Banners read:
"ONE WORLD ONE DREAM FREE TIBET" - In Giant White Letters
and
"FREE TIBET 08" - In Giant Black Letters.
They also have the colorful and beautiful Tibetan Flag.
Hannah, Laurel and Dwayne are currently still tethered to the vertical suspension cables about 500 ft. above the road, which is about 500 ft. above the SF Bay.
This should make the international news!
Goddess Bless Them!
And our Blessed Right of Free Speech and Expression.
Gd knows... if they did this in China... they’d probably have been shot down and all film footage of the event destroyed.
A spokesperson for Students for A Free Tibet has said that the activists on the bridge are experienced climbers.
Northbound Bridge traffic was halted in the far right lane, just beneath the climbers.
At one point, some Bridge workers in a bucket of some sort were raised on some cables to the first banner. They continued to slowly approach one of the climbers who then quickly climbed even higher.
Dear Golden Gate Bridge Authority:
When you have a situation like this... with experienced climbers tethered to the Bridge cables... Please Do Not endanger them, yourselves or those below by trying to yank them off... Just wait for them to come down... they will eventually... It’s not like their going to take flight and escape being taken into custody...
Although... It would be Cool if they did!
This must be quite an embarrassment to the California Highway Patrol and the Golden Gate Bridge Authority... As it was pointed out by a local newswoman, "How did they manage to get this far in this post-9/11 environment of supposedly increased security?"
The local authorities don’t really have a good answer... at the moment.
According to a CHP spokeswoman, the CHP apparently only realized what was going on when they responded to reports of local news helicopters buzzing the bridge.
Dear CHP and GGBridge Authorities:
I understand this sensational public protest must be highly embarrassing to you... Please do not beat the protesters/climbers up once they climb down.
Thank You.
The spokeswoman said that the CHP patrols the bridge and will probably increase their patrols...
I’d suggest that they look up once in a while... something I’ve noticed that not many people ever do.
Peace.
L.
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