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« September 2007 | Main | November 2007 »
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - 16:53:29
Gang bang
That headline is not my descriptive, but that of another blogger characterizing the pile-on that was last night's Democratic debate. Moderators and opponents both piled on front-runner Hillary Clinton. And, fair or unfair, she didn't help herself with answers that avoided simple declarations on several issues
So today, for better and for worse politically, she decided to back the driver's license bill for immigrants in New York. We long ago backed a similar measure here for many good reasons, including that fact that it encourages immigrant workers to get insurance.
She also picked up a big union endorsement. Will she get some sympathy for the gang attack? Or is Hillary simply disqualified from sympathy votes?
(The video is from the Clinton campaign.)
The perils of blogging -- and open line
Sorry, other duties have been calling today. And I'm going to have to hit the road to Helena early tomorrow for a funeral. So activity may continue to be sporadic. But I thought I'd mention something my wife, Ellen, related to me.
An acquaintance stopped her in a coffee shop yesterday to express regret at reading on the blog about the apparent end to our marriage. What? Ellen asked.
The acquaintance said she thought she'd read here about my encountering a burglar in the house after coming home late with a girlfriend.
No, my wife explained. Though I write the blog posts, that one about the burglary was not about my own exeprience, but that of someone else. Besides, Ellen added, nobody else would have me. (What a kidder.)
I thought I'd mention this in case somebody else had drawn a similar conclusion, though I didn't think I'd been unclear. It is a hazard of the blog form, however, and my own haste. Things can often be expressed more clearly and with fewer typos. Everybody needs an editor. Many readers have been happy to fill that role. And I appreciate them.
And my wife of 31+ years.
ALSO: Readers have made this an open line. Good idea.
Give him life
Vertis "Sinister Wayz" Clay was given a life sentence today by a federal jury for killing Darryl Johnson. Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty for Clay, who was hired along with another man to rob and murder Johnson. Johnson was shot, bound, blindfolded, threatened with a hot iron, sodomized with a broomstick and repeatedly cut with a knife, the U.S. attorney said. His throat was slit and ultimately he was killed by a close-range .38 shot to the back of the head. Clay produced witnesses who told a more positive side of the defendant during the sentencing phase of the case.
Acting U.S. Attorney Jane W. Duke said: "Darryl Johnson died a tortured death that was akin to something you would see in a mobster movie, not something you would expect to happen in Arkansas. My heart goes out to Mr. Johnson's family because they will forever be haunted by the brutal way in which he was taken from them. I can only hope that this conviction and sentence gives them some solace."
He was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to use a firearm during a drug trafficking offense and first drug murder with a firearm in a drug trafficking offense.
Death Row update
Betsey Wright, who wrote last night to object to Arkansas's push to continue executions while federal courts consider the constitutionality of lethal injection, writes to say a court has granted a stay of the Nov. 8 execution of Arkanas Death Row inmate Don Davis. She adds that it's time for state officials to stop pushing for executions until courts have decided this issue.
She writes: "The challenge to lethal injection has nothing to do with whether Don and others will be executed. They will be. The issue is only whether the government will inflict torture in addition to death."
UPDATE: A sound response from Attorney General Dustin McDaniel:
“The Attorney General will not appeal Judge Wright’s entry of a stay of Don Davis’ execution. Many commentators and state officials have speculated that the United States Supreme Court has recently been entering stays of various executions around the country in order to allow it time to consider the Kentucky case regarding the constitutionality of the lethal injection process. Last night, the Supreme Court stayed an execution in Mississippi just moments before it was scheduled to take place. Although the Supreme Court still has not specifically said so, the Attorney General believes that ruling sends the clear signal that the majority of the Court intends to stay all executions until the Kentucky case is decided. Accordingly, the Attorney General does not believe an appeal of the stay is warranted. Furthermore, the Attorney General will neither seek to lift any pending stays of execution nor request additional execution dates until the United States Supreme Court issues a ruling in the Kentucky case.”
Consumer protection
A bill co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Pryor to beef up the Consumer Product Safety Commission -- over objections of the Bush administration -- is advancing. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is fighting this, which should clearly illustrate that Pryor is on the side of the angels.Huckabee lies
Re: Wayne Dumond. And a gullible press stenography pool types it up. Some bloggers can read, if the AP cannot.Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - 19:30:32
Leverage: Will it be used?
We've been down this road once before. When Dillard's sought cheaper municipal finance to get a bond issue to build a headquarters on Cantrell Road, I suggested that city officials should use the occasion of the company seeking favors to wn a few concessions. Didn't happen. A deteriorating building that the company once occupied blights Capitol Avenue. And the city also missed a chance to work with Dillard's for right of way for the River Trail, a great asset to the city that someday will provide a 14-mile loop from downtown to the Big Dam Bridge and back on both sides of the river.
That's a long runup to say it's leverage opportunity time again:
The Episcopal Cathedral School, across Cantrell from Dillard's, will appear before the LR Planning Commission Nov. 8 for approval to expand the campus east across North Street for a new elementary school. (No, we're not here to talk about the impact this school will have on the venerable Cathedral School downtown or even its potental impact on the thriving, public Forest Park Elementary up Cantrell Hill.. Let them build their school on this lovely campus where nothing much once stood.)
But Episcopal has been an impediment to a good path for a critical segment of the River Trail. As it stands, the trail must take to the sidewalk in front the school, alongside a very heavily traveled state highway, rather than a better path, such as skirting the back of the property. The new plan, I'm told, makes no new provision for the trail on the plat for the new school. If the school needs approval of a plat, let's see if the city can win a little accommodation for the thousands of recreationists -- and, who knows, maybe even bike commuters -- who will use this trail if the city blazes a useful path.
Trail advocates intend to be heard on this issue. Listened to? We'll see.
UPDATE: Lots of good discussion, photos and more on a bikers' website.