Where's the Outrage?

I object to the death penalty on a number of fronts. First, is it being applied fairly? If not then we have a system problem. Secondly, do high profile cases get different treatment? For example, if someone is accused of killing a highly respected businessman are they more or less likely to get the needle? Thirdly, does the race of the assailant matter? What about the race of the victim? Finally, how often are we wrong? How often have to put an innocent man or woman to death? If the answer is never then the system works well. If the answer is sometimes but we don’t know the number then that’s a problem.

I know that all of these questions are related to fairness. Anyway, the supreme court heard arguments about whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment earlier this week. Even if the cocktail is painful, the pain only lasts a couple of minutes at most. Hell, getting stuck with a needle is painful. I think that the Supreme Court is missing the point. If we are going to be in the business of executing those that “deserve” execution then we need people skilled in field of executions. There should be trained personnel that aren’t doctors or nurses but something else. They should be the ones that decide what drugs to use. They should be the ones who start the IV and administer the drugs. They should have a couple of a couple of years of training after college.

————-

From NYT:

With conservative justices questioning their motives and liberal justices questioning their evidence, opponents of the American manner of capital punishment made little headway Monday in their effort to persuade the Supreme Court that the Constitution requires states to change the way they carry out executions by lethal injection.

Donald B. Verrilli Jr., the lawyer for two inmates on Kentucky’s death row who are facing execution by the commonly used three-chemical protocol, conceded that theoretically his clients would have no case if the first drug, a barbiturate used for anesthesia, could be guaranteed to work perfectly by inducing deep unconsciousness.  (more…)

Scotus listens to lethal injection [ 2:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Legal by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

There are some mysteries in life that I’ll never understand – Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster and Hillary Clinton’s victory.  Pundits are talking about Hillary’s Titanic victory.  People in the Clinton camp were talking about a shake up.  I’m not sure which Hillary Clinton all of a sudden became David and Barack Obama became Goliath.  I do know that many people made up their minds at the last minute but that doesn’t seem to explain it.

Now, I’m going to throw this out there because it is my job.  My job as a blogger is to ask questions.  Were there any voting irregularities?  I have scanned the local New Hampshire papers and I have found not a whiff.

No one has a good answer as to why the polls were so wrong.  A 13 – 15% point swing is huge.  That would be the same as John Edwards winning over both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in New Hampshire.  That’s a huge difference.

I don’t think that Hillary Clinton becoming teary eyed or her performance in the debate made any difference.  Anyway, I need more data.  The exit polling results don’t really do it for me.  I’m looking for some thoughtful analysis because things aren’t fitting together.  Obama had huge enthusiastic crowds.  Clinton’s crowds were okay according to those who were there.

Here’s Hillary Clinton’s victory speech.

Clinton's victory speech [ 11:04 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Election 2008 by ecthompson md
9 Comments »

In spite of what the the talking heads on the boob tube would like for us to believe, live and this race for the White House isn’t simple. It will not be easily explained by exit polls showing more women voted for X or Y. America is complex. This race will be complex.

As I sit in the radiology suite looking at an angiogram of a gunshot victim, I’m stuck by stereotypes and how the MSM would like to label us. They would like to place us into a nice and neat box. For example, I bet most reading this post are thinking that the guy gunshot victim is a drugged out gang banger deserved his fate. Nothing could be further from the truth. This guy has a job and is as clean cut as Clark Kent. So, you never really know.

From the Republican side, it is still very unclear who has an edge. John McCain will appeal to the Republicans who supported the president and the War in Iraq. McCain believes that we should stay in Iraq and it is important to our national interest. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, I believe will fade from view. He may win some primaries but I don’t think that he is credible with anything but the financial aspect of the Republican party. I think that his changing positions will be see by the religious portion of the Republican party as slimy. Mike Huckabee should appear to the religious right. He has the ability to communicate and connect with his audience. If he gets enough money, he should be able to get his message out. Republican voters may flock to him. The problem is Governor Huckabee is that he has very mixed past. He pressured a parole board to left a rapist out of jail. That will not and has not gone over well with the law and order portion of the Republican party. He has little or no foreign policy experience and he seems to trip and stumble whenever he is asked about Pakistan, for example. Fred Thompson. I have never seen a candidate that just seemed to expect that he deserved the nomination without doing any work. He doesn’t seem to want to campaign that hard. He doesn’t seem to have anything brilliant to say. This brings us to the Law and Order candidate (pun intended) Rudy Giuliani. Rudy is the 2001 candidate. He is running because of 9-11. Besides marrying and divorcing wives and making money for himself, I just don’t know what he has done. Why is he more qualified than the mayor of Los Angeles or Chicago? Outside of 9-11 what does he stand for? Ron Paul should not be left out. He is a serious candidate and he does have a following. He represents a significant number of libertarians. He stands for decreased federal government and more local control.

More later.

MSNBC's wrap up [ 4:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Election 2008 by ecthompson md
4 Comments »

I’m not sure why John Edwards hasn’t gotten more traction with Democrats.  He seems to be saying the right things.  He seems to be doing the right things.  He just isn’t getting the support that I think that he should.

Edwards - New Hampshire [ 6:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Election 2008 by ecthompson md
2 Comments »

Barack Obama can be just as inspiring in losing as he was in winning.   “There is something happening in America.”  ” You can lead this nation out of long political darkness.”

Man, he is good.  Just like before, in Iowa, the speech isn’t about him, it is about America and those who want to work for change.

Barack Obama's NH speech [ 13:20 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Election 2008 by ecthompson md
5 Comments »

There are 2 jobs that I’m thinking about looking into – weatherman and the other is pollster.  The weatherman is the only job that I know of that you can be wrong over 50% of the time and still get paid.  The other is pollster.  None of the polls were right.  Not one.  Why?  Who were they polling?  Cats and dogs?  As I mentioned yesterday, the last 2 polls that I saw had Obama with at least a 10 point lead.  (Both CNN and Gallup should be shot.)  It is okay to be wrong.  You know off by a few percentage points.  This was a catastrophic failure.  over the coming days, the smart people try to figure out what happened.  I suspect it was an overwhelming number of independents that showed up.  These independents probably were not taken into account in the original polling.

Anyway, Hillary Clinton was all smiles as she thanked the New Hampshire voters.  Comeback kid was chanted at Clinton headquarters.  Comeback?  She lost one caucus?  Whatever!

John McCain is playing the same theme as he won the Republican primary.  He is having flashbacks of 2000.  He should have known that History never repeats itself.  Therefore, who knows what’s ahead.  The Republican field remains as confused as ever.  Maybe Newt should run after all. 

The real loser has to be Mitt Romney.  He has poured money into New Hampshire as well as Iowa.  He lost both states.  Neither of his losses were close.  He has spent tens of millions of dollars and has almost nothing to show for it.  It seems to me that his greatest appeal should have been in New Hampshire a state that was just next door to Massachusetts where he was governor.  Several of the local editorials ripped Romney for completely changing his positions.  The Michigan primary is on January 15.  Michigan is the state where his father was governor in the early 60s.  It should be a homecoming for him.  If he loses in Michigan he should quit spending his money and pack it in (of course, if he just wants to give away his money he could give it to me.   )

John Edwards received a disappointing 17% of the Democratic vote.  On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee received almost no momentum from his Iowa victory.  He received only 11% of the vote.  Rudy Giuliani, with New Hampshire being only a stone’s throw from New York, can only muster a fourth-place finish with 9% of the Republican vote.  Although it’s not gentlemanly to kick a man when he’s down, Fred Thompson, the savior of the Republican Party, received 1% of the vote.  Ron Paul received eight times more votes than Fred Thompson did.

Tags: Election 2008 by ecthompson md
No Comments »