Warning: This post is not for the weak of heart. Some of you may find the contents of these reports to be very disturbing, particularly if you value liberty and have respect for the dignity and choices of individuals. Be aware that freedom lovers may react to these reports with rapid movements and cries of anguish that could damage nearby breakable objects. In the event this occurs, however, do not immediately call a trial lawyer to begin class action proceedings. That will merely result in the payment of large attorney’s fees, and, as is often the case, the "injured party" (you) will get a nice gift certificate. Instead, vent your frustration in political activism for change.

Thought Crimes: I know it sounds a little like it’s out of George Orwell’s book 1984, but increasingly the federal government is creating new crimes based upon one’s thoughts. The latest is H.R. 1592 which passed the House last week by a vote of 237-180. The idea is to create a new and greater crime if you hurt or kill someone because you hate them…but only if you hate them for a particular reason. In 1994, Congress passed… Read More

A year go, when City Council cnadiate Peter Amundson declared that there should be "No Eminent Domain for Private Gain", other council members scoffed. Yet, he pulled an upset victory. Yesterday,The city of Arcadia approved a city council sponsered measure that bans eminent domain in the redeevolpment area. See the article here. It only got 75% of the vote!… Read More

Lately there are a lot of discussions about the state’s construction of a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison. Perhaps someone who is more of an expert at the death-penalty process can help me out with this query…

I can understand the need for a death "chamber" if you are putting someone to death using lethal gas. I can also appreciate the need for a chamber if you were going to electricute someone. But given that the method of choice these days is a lethal injection, why do we need a ‘death chamber’ at all?

It seems to me that you would just give an inmate something to knock them out (a pill, a powder, an injection), then, perhaps in an infirmary, you would then administer a lethal dose of whatever quick-acting poison is best suited to put the criminal to death.

Why does this require a ‘chamber’ of any kind?… Read More

I just got off a conference call with 120 other people from CA, WA, OR, NM, AZ, and British Columbia. The purpose of the call was to introduce an initiative that the Governors of each of the states and the BC province have begun to regionally address reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through the development of a regional cap and trade market for carbon emissions. In a nutshell, a cap and trade market allows companiesthat exceed government standards in carbon emissions to sell carbon shares to companiesthat fail to meet government standards for reduction of carbon emissions. The Western Governor’s Association is providing assistance to the group, in terms of coordination. The goal for the member states and provinces is to set goals by August of this year, and by August of 2008 have some standards in place that will be enforced state-by-state, as well as regionally. The hope is that the members will adopt California’s motor vehicle emissions standards, and mirror the statutory requirements of AB 32.

While I was on the call, I had a flashback to the Governor’s Climate Change Summit last April in San Francisco. At that time, there were members of the panelwho… Read More

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the "Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act" on a vote of 288 to 133.

What this nobly titled bill does is force American taxpayers to pay reparations to Guam residents who suffered at the hands of Imperial Japan during World War II:

Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act – Recognizes the suffering and the loyalty of the people of Guam during the Japanese occupation of Guam in World War II.

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make specified payments to: (1) living Guam residents who were killed, injured, interned, or subjected to forced labor or marches resulting from, or incident to, such occupation and subsequent liberation; and (2) survivors of compensable residents who died in war or survivors of compensable injured residents (such payments to be made after payments have been made to surviving Guam residents).

66 Republican Congressmen voted for this morally obtuse… Read More

The Giuliani for President campaign is treading on some new ground. While campaign fundraising is an integral (and essential) component of any national campaign for the White House, there is still a natural tendency to ‘wall off’ the fundraising arm of a campaign from the political side. The notion typically is that that fundraising brings IN the resources, and political SPENDS the resources. Well, yesterday Rudolph Giuliani tapped a Californian as a Deputy Campaign Manager, someone who will ‘bridge the gap’ between the finance and political operations.

Ann Dunsmore (pictured to the right) has had a successful career spanning nearly three decades in the world of political (and non-profit) fundraising. Her company, Capitol Campaigns, has a national reputation for their ability to separate donors from their cash on behalf their clients. With offices around California, but also in Manhattan, Ann… Read More

The Giuliani for President campaign is treading on some new ground. While campaign fundraising is an integral (and essential) component of any national campaign for the White House, there is still a natural tendency to ‘wall off’ the fundraising arm of a campaign from the political side. The notion typically is that that fundraising brings IN the resources, and political SPENDS the resources. Well, yesterday Rudolph Giuliani tapped a Californian as a Deputy Campaign Manager, someone who will ‘bridge the gap’ between the finance and political operations.

Ann Dunsmore (pictured to the right) has had a successful career spanning nearly three decades in the world of political (and non-profit) fundraising. Her company, Capitol Campaigns, has a national reputation for their ability to separate donors from their cash on behalf their clients. With offices around California, but also in Manhattan, Ann… Read More

Phayre’s Leaf Monkeys: You probably have never heard of a Phayre’s leaf monkey. Neither had I, until last week, when the House voted on the reauthorization of the spending for the National Science Foundation. Never mind that the bill increased spending in excess of 25% over 3 years. I found 7 specific items of spending that were in the bill to be of particular interest. They were:

-Study the social relationships and reproductive strategies of Phayre’s leaf monkeys -Study of the sexual politics of waste in Dakar, Senegal -Study of the cognitive model of superstitious belief -Research the archives of Andean knotted-string records -Study the accuracy in the cross-cultural understanding of other’s emotions -Research of bison hunting on the late prehistoric great plains -Study of team vs. individual play

Now, I will give the academics the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps all of these studies have some value to academicians and maybe the results are interesting to those who study these areas. That is not the question. The question is whether or not they rise to the level of public need that… Read More