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The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

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Kepler said:
Kos is the left wing equivalent of the WSJ editorial page.

I'm sure there's a left equivalent of WND, but I haven't seen it yet. (It might be really fun, actually.)

Anyway, try reading the hypos below. Some of them are pretty interesting thought experiments in hoisting the Roberts majority by its own pe****.
Click to expand...

Most of them are just a lefty's idea of revenge porn in a legal setting.

And daily kos is at least National Review level of derp. WND may be a bit of a stretch as a comparison, but not as much as you'd think.
 
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Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

unofan said:
Most of them are just a lefty's idea of revenge porn in a legal setting.

And daily kos is at least National Review level of derp.
Click to expand...

I agree NR and Kos are an exact match -- they're doing exactly the same task. That's a much better example than WSJ, you are right.

Point taken about the "gloating" in the descriptions, but after all that's all but impossible to avoid when we're talking about a Court that is wrapping a specific religious agenda in the language of religious "freedom" to get around that pesky Establishment Clause. Like I said, Kos isn't there to help people decide, it's there for people who have already decided and want to act. I'd love to see a better analysis of test cases for business owners from unpopular religions using Hobby Lobby to cram their agenda down their employees' throats. That might turn the little fridge light on in conservatives' minds that this was actually a terrible decision for them, long term.
 
Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

The death penalty, like abortion, should be rare but legal. Even my wife, a public defender, agrees with the death penalty.

Especially these days where we have DNA evidence that can conclusively link people to crimes (in fact, I'd be fine saying a DNA link would be required for death penalty cases).
 
Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

unofan said:
The death penalty, like abortion, should be rare but legal. Even my wife, a public defender, agrees with the death penalty.

Especially these days where we have DNA evidence that can conclusively link people to crimes (in fact, I'd be fine saying a DNA link would be required for death penalty cases).
Click to expand...

The problem in California is a death row bigger even than Texas', and almost nobody ever gets executed. If you've got it on the books and sentence people to the punishment, then you have an obligation to carry it out from time to time. Otherwise, take it off the books and forget about it.

I've mentioned before about the interview I did with an ACLU lawyer as the execution of Ronald Clark O'Bryan approached. He had poisoned his 11 year old son with Halloween candy (and gave poisoned candy to several other kids in the neighborhood to divert suspicion) for the insurance money. Mr. Cantu of the ACLU was making all of the customary arguments against the death penalty but allowed during a break that he wouldn't mind awfully if Texas gave that POS a hot shot. They did. A case, incidentally, with no DNA and only circumstantial evidence.
 
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Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

Kepler said:
I agree NR and Kos are an exact match -- they're doing exactly the same task. That's a much better example than WSJ, you are right.

Point taken about the "gloating" in the descriptions, but after all that's all but impossible to avoid when we're talking about a Court that is wrapping a specific religious agenda in the language of religious "freedom" to get around that pesky Establishment Clause. Like I said, Kos isn't there to help people decide, it's there for people who have already decided and want to act. I'd love to see a better analysis of test cases for business owners from unpopular religions using Hobby Lobby to cram their agenda down their employees' throats. That might turn the little fridge light on in conservatives' minds that this was actually a terrible decision for them, long term.
Click to expand...

Not for me. As long as they've got those machines in gas station men's rooms.
 
unofan said:
The death penalty, like abortion, should be rare but legal. Even my wife, a public defender, agrees with the death penalty.

Especially these days where we have DNA evidence that can conclusively link people to crimes (in fact, I'd be fine saying a DNA link would be required for death penalty cases).
Click to expand...

I disagree. On purely conservative economic grounds the death penalty makes no sense and is too costly.
 
Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

ScoobyDoo said:
I disagree. On purely conservative economic grounds the death penalty makes no sense and is too costly.
Click to expand...

The counter argument is it would be a lot cheaper if we just gassed them without any appeal. In and out in 12 days, like Iran.

We can solve this easily. Keep the death penalty, but if further evidence exonerates an executed prisoner, we gas the governor who signed the order. Put some skin in the game.
 
Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

ScoobyDoo said:
I disagree. On purely conservative economic grounds the death penalty makes no sense and is too costly.
Click to expand...
Agreed that the cost of the process to get someone to execution, with all the years of appeals and all, costs far more than simply incarcerating them for life, at least from what I've read in the past.

I'm not into killing folks in general, whether they are heinous criminals or unborn babies. Plus with the death penalty there is the problem of making mistakes and once you kill 'em, you can't correct the mistaken conviction. Sometimes "oops" is far from sufficient.
 
Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

unofan said:
The death penalty should be rare but legal. Even my wife, a public defender, agrees with the death penalty.
Click to expand...

I would disagree with the concept of a death "penalty." That is too much like "revenge" for my squeamish taste. One would hope we would aspire to be more civilized than that.

That being said, there are circumstances in which I think it would be grossly unfair to expose any prison guard to danger with certain high-risk criminals (e.g., the Hannibal Lector character). Some people are just too dangerous to incarcerate, no matter how many precautions are taken. Putting those few people to death is the least bad alternative.
 
Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

Here is a pleasant and welcome "unexpected" (I would NOT say "unintended") consequence of a recent SCOTUS ruling:

Atheists are now starting to deliver invocations at public meetings.

a handful of atheists around the country ... are scheduled to give invocations before local-government meetings.

At the same time, several town boards that had done away with prayers that include references to specific faiths are trying to revive them.

The groundswell is a reaction to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May that sanctioned prayers before meetings of the town board in Greece, N.Y. The court rejected arguments that the overwhelmingly Christian prayers gave preference to one faith and violated the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from establishing an official religion.

The decision was a blow to nonbeliever activists, but it also created an opportunity. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the 5-4 ruling, emphasized the importance of inclusion, holding the town to a policy that permits "a minister or layperson of any persuasion, including an atheist," to give the invocation.
Click to expand...
 
Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

FreshFish said:
I would disagree with the concept of a death "penalty." That is too much like "revenge" for my squeamish taste. One would hope we would aspire to be more civilized than that.

That being said, there are circumstances in which I think it would be grossly unfair to expose any prison guard to danger with certain high-risk criminals (e.g., the Hannibal Lector character). Some people are just too dangerous to incarcerate, no matter how many precautions are taken. Putting those few people to death is the least bad alternative.
Click to expand...

When a Texas jury convicts in a capital murder case it then has to decide on the punishment. One of the questions that jury must answer is whether the convicted person will continue to be a threat (a la Hannibal Lector). If the panel answers in the affirmative to that question and others, it is obligated to impose the death penalty.

I recall a case where two individuals were convicted by separate juries of the same capital murder. One sentenced to death the other to life without parole. The anti-death penalty crowd was all over this one, until it was revealed the guy sentenced to die had previously been convicted of killing. . .his brother.
 
Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

My favorite tard is the Canadian chain of "late evening" stores, which translates as "Couche Tard." Kind of sounds like a more pejorative term for a couch potato, which often comes in handy...
 
Re: The Power of SCOTUS V: The Final Frontier

LynahFan said:
My favorite tard is the Canadian chain of "late evening" stores, which translates as "Couche Tard." Kind of sounds like a more pejorative term for a couch potato, which often comes in handy
Click to expand...

And then there's this.

Edit: no there isn't, because I don't know how to concatenate a URL and obviously I can't use the actual one because of the censor.
 
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