Perfection.

I am (likely) supporting Obama in 2012.

...and not just because this "Made in the USA/Birth Certificate" Mug is awesome.

But, it is.

Support the 2012 Campaign and Get a Mug.

Halloween Fashion Pt. II

I realized this morning that I hinted at my halloween costume for this year in previous posts, but never updated you darling readers on the final project...  I was the Tea-Party!  My other favorite thing about halloween (aside from the fashion-bonanza) is that it falls on the weekend before general elections.  And politicians never fail to provide fodder for costume.  In fact, while at a bar in Austin over halloween weekend, I ran into another 'Tea-Party'.  Kid. You. Not.  His costume was... okay... but he definitaly did not allow his costume to consume his entire week-before-halloween like I did.  Without further ado, here's the masterpiece...

Sadly, some of these people won their races...

Until next halloween, stay creative and stay political!

Pause for Thoughts

"...nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

At least two executions are scheduled in America this week.  One in Texas and one in Utah.  

In Utah, they're planning to execute Mr. Ronnie Lee Gardner by firing squad.  Yes, you read that correctly, firing squad.  CNN tells us that "the marksmen fire from a distance of 25 feet.  The inmate is blindfolded and strapped to a chair with a target pinned to his chest."  Scarily, Mr. Gardner would not be the first to be executed in Utah using this method.  Read the story here.  As it stands, Utah courts have said that Mr. Gardner is too late with his appeals and have refused to commune his sentence.  His last hopes now remain with the Supreme Court.

In Texas, Mr. David Powell is set for execution by lethal ejection today, June 15th.  He has been on death row since 1978 for murdering a police officer at a traffic stop.  (Info from here).  Since 1978 he has been sentenced to death THREE different times (due to appeals, remands, and overturning of sentences).  His latest appeals have highlighted how Mr. Powell has been a "model prisoner" on death row and that he is no longer a threat to society.  News reports (of varying different tones) can be found in the Dallas Morning News and the Austin American Statesman.  For Mr. Powell as well, the Supreme Court is his last hope.

As I often ask myself, I think we must all ask now "are these pictures and stories of a system that works?"

Summer Reading

As one who is new to the commuting life, I am slowly finding my daily travel routine.  Initially, I was going to include barbri practice questions during my to and fro, but quickly learned that I lack the requisite concentration.  Thankfully, I have a stack of books I've been meaning to read for quite some time and I have found that they fill the time quite efficiently and wonderfully.

Last week I started the recently-published Scalia biography by Joan Biskupic.  It is phenomenal and absolutely fabulous.  Whereas "celebrity" biographies can be either hit or miss (but rarely hits) this one is thoroughly entertaining.  I am slightly convinced that this has nothing to do with Ms. Biskupic's writing (although fine), but everything to do with the person that Associate Justice Antonin Scalia is.  I am only 100 pages in, but am already so enlightened as to why Scalia is such a larger-than life figure and why he has decided some cases the way he has decided them.
Bottom Line: it's a great read that I encourage you all to buy!

News-a-Palooza Wednesday.

Goood Morning!  Coffee is brewing and the sun is up.  Today is going to be filled with packing and cleaning, but I'm totally okay with that.  But before we get to all that, let's peruse some of the news (and that little phrase will now be used on 'abounding luxe') floating around the interwebs.

First up: Not so much a news piece, but a great, great video that Heather posted on her facebook wall the other day.  It comes to us from Afghanistan, from the 1st Batallion 6th Marines.  I too often forget that, regardless of anyone's political aversion to war, there is indeed, a war being fought.  I need to be reminded that far too many soldiers are being taken from their families for long stretches of time, and that some soldiers have been taken forever.  So here is this incredible video showing our phenomenal soldiers who are too far from home

Second up: The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that S.F. cops' pasts could jeopardize convictions.  The Article claims that more than 80 city police officers have "criminal histories" that were withheld and not disclosed by the city Prosecutor's office in cases where these officers testified against defendants.  I woke up to this story on CNN this morning.  They were interviewing both a spokesperson from the DA's office and Jeff Adachi, San Francisco's Public Defender.  Things got heated.  The DA spokesperson bashed Adachi (and his office) for making a big deal out of nothing and said that this was just a drop in the bucket of motions that are filed day in/day out that clog up prosecution and hinders their office.  (AL opinion: see now, this whole filing of motions is not to hinder prosecution, but to make sure everyone gets a fair trial.)  Adachi was adamant that this evidence should be turned over to defense teams under the auspices of Brady v. Maryland and because of previous crime lab tampering on some of those in the SF Police Dept. (AL opinion: I understand where Adachi is coming from in some cases, and I'm certain that there are some "dirty" cops, BUT- is a widespread look into every officer's past ok? Is it really relevant? Material? Exculpatory? I don't know.)  Read the whole story here:  Photo from Suzuki Lea/The Chronicle.

Last Up: The nomination of Elena Kagan to replace Stevens Supreme Court seat.  Everyone knew she was on the short list.  Apparently she's a brilliant legal mind (Obama says one of the best in the Country) but, has never served as a judge.  She's the first in nearly four decades who would join the bench without prior judicial experience.  Admittedly, I don't know much about her.  I was kind of pulling for Diane Wood based on her record as a phenomenal (in my opinion) judge on the 7th Circuit bench.  In order for us all to learn a bit more about Kagan, let's read this list of news outlets' early opinions on the Nomination:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/us/politics/11court.html?scp=1&sq=Elena%20Kagen&st=cse

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2010/05/12/snow.kagan.profile.cnn?iref=allsearch

http://volokh.com/2010/05/10/preliminary-reflections-on-the-kagan-nomination/

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ad.VnbMMTBwU

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=atGglhLfuhME

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11801

This last link is my fave, of course.  Enjoy reading.  Enjoy your coffee!  More fun posts to come later in the day.

Drill, baby Drill

It's been a few days since the oil rig explosion that has sent more oil into the Gulf of Mexico than the Exxon Valdez poured off the coast of Alaska some 20+ years ago.  Estimates now are that the oil is larger in area than the island of Puerto Rico.  In the wake of this undeniable environmental disaster, so many questions are unanswered--- who's fault is this? what really happened? what's going to happen? how much is this going to cost to clean up? is the oil going to reach the shore? what happens if it does.

Sadly, many of these questions, although being batted around, have no conclusive answers.  This morning I watched a piece with George Stephanopoulos and Tony Hayward (the CEO of BP).  Two parts of the interview were truly unnerving.  First, after the spill, BP asked fisherman it hired to sign waivers of liability.  Hayward stated that it was just a form contract and that he was looking into it and that the signing would stop.  Second, Hayward refused to take responsibility for the explosion.  Hayward said that the explosion and the spill were not BP's responsibility.  Well, surely there is some responsibility, here, right Tony?  Hayward answered, "the oil."  How does that work, Tony Hayward?  You have no responsibility for the rig, the workers on the rig, or the going-ons of the rig, but you have responsibility for the oil.  I guess that works well when you get to cash in on the black gold.

Obama set BP straight by saying, "Let me be clear, BP is responsible for this leak. BP will be paying for the bill."  I wonder what Hayward has to say to that.  Perhaps people wouldn't be so anti-capitalism if they actually saw some semblance of compassion, remorse, and apologies from CEOs instead of semantics and refusals to accept responsibilities.  Perhaps corporate responsibility shouldn't be an oxymoron anymore, especially for BP and Mr. Tony Hayward.

Too Similar for Comfort.

(from CNN) -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed the state's immigration bill into law. It is considered to be among the toughest legislation in the nation. The bill requires police in her state to determine whether a person is in the United States legally, which critics say will foster racial profiling but supporters say will crack down on illegal immigration.The bill requires immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times and requires police to question people if there is reason to suspect that they're in the United States illegally. It also targets those who hire illegal immigrant day laborers or knowingly transport them.The Republican governor also issued an executive order that requires additional training for local officers on how to implement the law without engaging in racial profiling or discrimination."This training will include what does and does not constitute reasonable suspicion that a person is not legally present in the United States," Brewer said after signing the bill.Brewer also stated, "As committed as I am to protecting our state from crime associated with illegal immigration, I am equally committed to holding law enforcement accountable should this stature ever be misused to violate an individual's rights." She added that the law would probably be challenged in courts and that there are those outside Arizona who have an interest in seeing the state fail with the new measure."We cannot give them that chance. We must use this new tool wisely and fight for our safety with the honor Arizona deserves."What does the Arizona law do?Previously, officers could check someone's immigration status only if that person was suspected in another crime.Arizona's law orders immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times and requires police to question people if there's reason to suspect they're in the United States illegally.It also targets those who hire illegal immigrant laborers or knowingly transport them.

...Compare With...


The Reich Citizenship Law stripped persons not considered of German blood of their German citizenship and introduced a new distinction between "Reich citizens" and "nationals".
Hitler made a speech before the Reichstag in Nuremberg, introducing the laws and their alleged motivation, before the laws were formally read and proposed for adoption by Göring, the President of the Reichstag:
...Bitter complaints have come in from countless places citing the provocative behavior of Jews...a certain amount of [conspiratorial] planning was involved....[To prevent] vigorous defensive action by the [Aryan] people, we have no choice but to contain the problem through legislative measures....it may be possible, through a definitive secular solution, to create a basis on which the German people can have a tolerable relationship with the Jews.... This law is an attempt to find a legislative solution....if this attempts fails, it will be necessary to transfer [the Jewish problem] ... to the National Socialist Party for a final solution.
Legal discrimination against Jews had come into being before the Nuremberg Laws and steadily grew as time went on; however, for discrimination to be effective, it was essential to have a clear definition of who was or was not a Jew. This was one important function of the Nuremberg laws and the numerous supplementary decrees that were proclaimed to further them.  Their passports were required to have a large "J" stamped on them and could be used to leave Germany - but not to return.  They had to produce them upon request.
From September 1941 all Jewish people living within the Nazi empire, including Germany, were required to wear a yellow badge, which had been required in Poland (under German occupation) beginning in 1939.