State officials seek to resume executions in Calif Read more

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Death row inmate Albert Greenwood Brown on Tuesday morning was handed a “death warrant” — the first such document delivered in more than five years — informing him his execution has been scheduled for Sept. 29.

Around the same time, Marin County Superior Court Judge Verna Adams was indefinitely extending the ban on executions in the state, saying “unless and until” she says otherwise, the prohibition remains in effect.
Prison officials said they will respect the judge’s order if it is still in effect Sept. 29, but said they are forging ahead “operationally” as if the execution will occur as schedule.

New lethal injection procedures prison officials said went into effect Sunday are at the center of a long-simmering debate that came to a head Tuesday over whether to resume executions in California, which have been on hold since early 2006.

Prosecutors said new procedures adopted because of a death row inmate’s lawsuit allow for the resumption of executions without the judge’s approval. Christine Gasparac, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jerry Brown, said the office will appeal Adams’ order.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton said Albert Brown was served with his “death warrant” at 11 a.m. Tuesday for the Riverside County rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl abducted on her way home from school in 1980.

Thornton said prison officials continue to prepare for Albert Brown’s execution despite the judge’s order.
Deputy Attorney General Michael Quinn said Tuesday officials will soon seek to schedule the executions of five other inmates, including Michael Morales of Stockton. Morales was within hours of receiving a lethal injection for the rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl when U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel in 2006 halted his execution. Fogel ordered prison officials to revamp the state’s lethal injection procedures in response to Morales’ legal challenge alleging cruel and unusual punishment.

Since then, officials have constructed a new death chamber at San Quentin Prison and rewrote the execution procedures in 2007. Morales and another death row inmate, Mitchell Sims of Los Angeles, filed a separate lawsuit in Marin County in 2007 alleging the new procedures should be subjected to public comment and the state’s time-consuming regulatory adopting process. A judge agreed and barred executions until the state properly adopted the new lethal injection regulations.

On Sunday, prison officials said those new regulations took effect.
But the judge, siding with the death row inmates, said no executions can go forward until she formally

Rolling Stone Goes Behind the Scenes of 'Mad Men'

Rolling Stone magazine's special television issue takes readers behind the scenes of AMC's Emmy-winning show 'Mad Men.'

In this season's opening scene, an interviewer asks Jon Hamm's character, "Who is Don Draper?" In a sense, 'Mad Men' is creator Matt Weiner's attempt to figure out this question for himself.

"If Rob Lowe had been cast in the part, it would have been different," says Hamm, on the set in LA. "There was no backstory with me."

"I fly very low on the radar," says Hamm of his celebrity status. "Mark Twain said it: 'I'd rather say nothing and be thought an idiot than open my mouth and remove all doubt.' Another Missouri boy, Mark Twain. The petulant, s**tty movie-star mentality -- that burns out pretty quick."

Go behind the scenes of 'Mad Men' with Rolling Stone after the jump!

Man Slits Throat In Court After Receiving 40 Year Sentence

» by Danielle Canada

A Texas man slit his throat in a court room after being sentenced to 40 years behind bars.
47-year-old Marcial Anguiano took the stand Tuesday hoping to be sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to aggravated assault for cutting his niece with a butcher knife
District Judge Larry Mitchell says he decided against probatio however, noting the man's five previous stints in prison.
He tells the Associated Press,

“He looked up at me kind of quizzically and said, '40 years? And I said, 'Yes, 40 years'…Anguiano immediately pulled out the razor blade and "put it to his throat hard, and blood started gushing out.”

Mitchell says court room bailiffs rushed over to the defendant and escorted him to a holding cell until paramedics arrived.
Bailiffs say they previously noticed the man holding something in his right hand and confiscated a thin razor from a safety blade.
The second blade however went unnoticed.

Reihan Salam Says Glenn Beck Comparable to Malcolm X, Messages Meant to Terrify Mainstream Liberals

Posted by Janet Shan
Glenn Beck is being compared to Malcolm X by the Daily Beast's Reihan Salam saying his message was meant to terrify mainstream liberals and shed politics for a message for spiritual uplife. Really? Glenn Beck scare mainstream liberals? Wow that's a stretch of Salam's imagination. I think Malcolm X just did a 360 degree flip in his grave. Here's an excerpt from the article:


Glenn Beck’s weekend speech was reminiscent of the radical 1960s black separatist leader: Both terrify mainstream liberals and shed politics for a message of spiritual uplift.

As hundreds of thousands gathered in Washington, D.C. for Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally, one couldn’t help but notice a powerful nostalgia for an America that is slipping away. In her remarks to the crowd, Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and conservative folk hero, said, “we must not fundamentally transform America, as some would want,” a not-so-veiled reference to President Obama and his allies. Instead, “we must restore America and restore her honor,” a message that resonated with a crowd that by all accounts was overwhelmingly white and Christian, with large numbers hailing from rural areas and small towns. Palin, like Beck, was talking about a spiritual restoration, a return to time-tested virtues that had been celebrated by the more homogeneous America of the past, in which non-traditional families were stigmatized and relatively rare, church attendance was far more common, and the dominance of Anglo-Protestant culture was unquestioned.

But as most of those who attended Beck’s rally understand in their bones, that world is gone. And President Obama, for all his efforts to expand the reach of the federal government, has had very little to do with this deep transformation. Rather, the country has long since been transformed by powerful demographic and economic forces that very much threaten what we might call Glenn Beck’s America.

Sorry, but I am having a hard time putting Glenn Beck in the shoes of Malcolm X, who was a thoughtful and methodical man.

ICE Lets Businesses Off Easy When Illegal Workers Identified

The Houston Chronicle says the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency often turns a blind eye when it identifies suspected illegal immigrants working at businesses. It said ICE inspectors found that a California company had 262 employees — 93 percent of the workforce — with “suspect” documents on file. At an Illinois service company, auditors found dubious documents for nearly 8 in 10 of its 200-plus employees. Inspectors examining records at a Texas firm found suspicious paperwork for half of the 107 employees on the payroll. But the companies didn’t pay a penny in fines. None of the employers was led away in handcuffs. ICE didn’t even issue them a formal warning.

Instead, they were instructed to purge their payrolls of illegal immigrants. Armed with assurances that the employees with suspect documents were fired — or, in the Texas case, “self-terminated” — the ICE auditors closed the cases. The cases are just a few examples included in ICE’s internal records on its audit initiative, an enforcement program launched last July. In the past, ICE had faced criticism for raiding job sites and rounding up illegal immigrants for deportation, but not necessarily building cases against employers. With the audit initiative, ICE aims to scrutinize the hiring records of more businesses and impose “tough” and “smart” employer sanctions. But ICE audit records show the agency has, in many instances, failed to punish companies found to have workers with questionable documents.

Gov. Paterson Signs Domestic Workers’ Rights Bill, NY Gives Illegals Worker Rights & Overtime Pay

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson 

Illegal aliens in Arizona who were deported to Mexico in July 2010, near the Nogales Port of Entry in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, via KTAR)

Translation: domestic worker = illegal alien.
From Associated Press, NY governor signs domestic worker rights bill:

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. David Paterson has signed into law the nation’s first extensive domestic workers’ rights measure, saying it corrects historic injustices.
The law will guarantee overtime pay for domestic workers, as well as time off and protections against sexual harassment.

There are an estimated 200,000 domestic workers in New York City. An advocacy groups claims there are frequent reports of spoken or physical abuse by employers, and two-thirds of the workers said they never received overtime pay.

Statewide, there are another 60,000 to 70,000 domestic workers, most of them female immigrants.

Paterson signed the measure Tuesday in Manhattan.

Sweetness & Light weighs in:

Now if only Mr. Paterson could correct the historic injustice of these people living here illegally and getting all of our country’s benefits without paying any of the costs.

More NYC lunacy, reported in May 2010 by New York Post:

An illegal immigrant with a long rap sheet got a $145,000 parting gift from New York City taxpayers before he was deported, after a federal judge ruled his civil rights had been violated when he was held too long on Rikers Island.

Federal rules allow local law enforcement to detain suspected illegal immigrants for 48 hours after their criminal cases are resolved, to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement a chance to pick them up and move them to federal facilities.

Former Brooklyn resident Cecil Harvey, 55 — backed by an immigration-rights advocacy group — argued that his rights were violated when he spent more than a month in a Rikers holding pen before being transferred to ICE.

Harvey was shipped to his native Barbados in October 2007; the city settled his civil suit late last year.

The landmark settlement has prompted the Correction Department to dump scores of illegal immigrants on the streets, since federal officials often fail to pick them up within the required two-day window.

It’s heartwarming to see that New York City no longer has an unemployment or deficit problem and can handsomely reward illegal aliens… way to go, Big Apple!

Obama Declares End to Iraq Combat ...

September 1, 2010

Obama Declares End to Iraq Combat

U.S. President Barack Obama declared the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq (WashPost) in an Oval Office speech. Obama emphasized the "huge price" the United States paid in the conflict, which lasted for more than seven years, resulted in the deaths of 4,400 of the 1.5 million troops who served there, and cost $740 billion. Obama called former president George W. Bush before the speech and emphasized bipartisanship in the war effort, noting that the "greatness of our democracy" was "our ability to move beyond differences" to "confront the many challenges ahead."

He shifted from remarks on withdrawing combat troops to the war in Afghanistan and the economy, making clear he intends to begin disengaging from Afghanistan next summer (NYT). The tone of the speech was modest and embraced the surge in Iraq by drawing parallels to the escalation in Afghanistan (Politico).

Many Iraqis questioned the decision of the United States to leave the country without a government or a secure state. In a national address Tuesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hailed the U.S. departure as "a landmark in the Iraqi people's long, hard struggle for freedom and dignity" and said Iraq "today is independent" (LAT).

Analysis: A Wall Street Journal blog compares the reactions to Obama's speech from the Weekly Standard, the New Republic, the Atlantic, and the Daily Beast.

A New York Times editorial said "there was no victory to declare last night, and Mr. Obama was right not to try."

In an interview with journalist Jane Arraf says Iraqis worry that political stalemate, widespread corruption, and weak domestic security forces will plague their country if the U.S. pulls out completely next year.

Read the text of Obama's Oval Office address.

Michael Douglas Says His Throat Cancer Was Caused By Drinking

Michael Douglas believes his throat cancer was caused by drinking alcohol. Unfortunately, it is being said that the disease in at an "advanced state". I am so sorry for his family.

"I've got cancer. I found out about three weeks ago. It's throat cancer.
“I smoked cigarettes and I drank and this particular type of cancer is caused by alcohol drinking."

Michael opened up to David Letterman about chemo:

“It's intense, and so they've got to go at it. You’d like to be down at stage one, but it has not, the big thing you're always worried about is it spreading, I am head and neck, nothing's gone down, and the expectations are good.
"I would hate to say, but right now, it looks like it should be 80 per cent and, with certain hospitals and everything, it does improve."

The ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ star admits he is in pain from the treatment.

“It hurts, it comes and goes in waves. It knocks you out really hard.”

Wishing him a speedy recovery. Hopefully the chemo will be effective.
Photos by WENN.com

Joe Miller Set to Win Alaska Senate Primary

by Publius

Sources in Alaska have informed Big Government that the trend in the count of absentee ballots makes it virtually impossible that Sen. Murkowski will overtake Joe Miller in the GOP Senate Primary. A trusted and well-placed operative told BG:

It’s over.

Sources have also revealed that the Murkowski campaign is scheduling a conference call this afternoon (Alaska time) with her entire campaign team to discuss next steps. There is additional information we hope to be able to publicize soon. Stay tuned for updates.

UPDATE: Sen. Murkowski has tentatively set a press conference for 10pm EDT.

New Jersey’s $400 Million Gaffe Provides A Lesson for Lawmakers

By Richard A. Lee

When a clerical error seemingly costs a state $400 million in federal education funding, there are plenty of lessons to be learned.

Some of those lessons are obvious. As I learned in my very first newspaper job, you can never proofread an item too many times. Secondly, if you plan to make a bold public statement, make sure the facts are on your side, especially in today’s environment where advanced technology makes it possible to keep permanent electronic records of communications that previously were left to the frailness of the human brain.

In New Jersey, the value of each of these lessons was illustrated when the state missed qualifying for a federal Race to the Top grant in August. New Jersey lost points on its grant application by reporting budget figures for the wrong years in one section of the form. Had that question been answered correctly, the state would have had enough points to be awarded the $400 million grant. Hence, we have an expensive lesson in the value of proofreading.

As for the second lesson: First a video released by the U.S. Education Department contradicted New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s statement that the state attempted to provide the correct information after the error was discovered, but the federal agency refused to accept it.  Then, after Christie fired state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler for misleading him about what had transpired, Schundler produced emails that seem to show that the information he provided to the Governor’s Office was accurate.

It will take a while to sort all of this out, and we may never know which version of what is being said is correct. The simple lesson here is to speak honestly at all times. In the real world of partisan politics, however, the lesson is to look before you leap and be cognizant of the fact that videos, emails and other electronic records – which may contradict your version of the facts – are easily retrievable today.

Bu there is an even more important lesson to be learned from this debacle – and it comes from the reaction of our public officials, Democrats as well as Republicans.

Instead of focusing on what the loss of $400 million means for education in New Jersey and how we can best move forward without the monies, the initial reaction has been “Who can we blame?”

With an error of this magnitude, it is easy to understand why people are looking for a scapegoat. And from a political perspective, the choice of scapegoats is understandable too.

Christie, a Republican, took aim at the President and the bureaucracy in Washington. “When the president comes back to New Jersey, he's going to have to explain to the people of the state of New Jersey why he's depriving them of $400 million,” he said at a news conference before the U.S. Education video was released.

Why not take aim at the Democratic President if you’re a Republican governor whose name is being bandied about as a potential national candidate? Especially with the President’s poll numbers sinking as the mid-term elections approach?

Meanwhile, New Jersey Democrats have been hammering away at Christie ever since The Star-Ledger first reported the gaffe that resulted in the state missing out on the federal funds. As subsequent events unfolded, they picked up extra ammunition and stepped up their attacks.

Again, from a political perspective, the strategy makes sense. Since he took office in January, Christie has been winning most of the partisan battles in Trenton. He also has been faring well in public opinion polls. The funding blunder provided Democrats with one of their first real opportunities to put a dent in the Governor’s armor.

Democrats, who hold majorities in both houses of the Legislature, have made it clear that they intend to keep the issue in the public spotlight. Assembly and Senate committees both plan to hold public hearings that could prove embarrassing for Christie and his administration.

But the value of the upcoming hearings should not be measured in terms of political winners and losers. Instead, the true value lies in learning what went wrong so that steps can be taken to prevent the reoccurrence of such a costly error. After all, it is the school children of New Jersey who are the real victims here, and they deserve assurances – from both Democrats and Republicans – that every possible step will be taken to prevent them from being shortchanged again.

# # #

Richard A. Lee is Communications Director of the Hall Institute of Public Policy – New Jersey.