The Republic of T.

I mentioned earlier that I’ve been doing a bit of writing about the GOP candidates for the day job. Those posts are limited to policy issues, usually economic policy. But, like I said in the posts about Newt, there’s a lot more I’d like to get into with these guys that wouldn’t be appropriate elsewhere.

Which brings me back to Rick Santorum. It’s been a while since I posted another edition in this rather long series. I have so little time for non-work-related writing these days, that I seldom write about LGBT issues. (As a result, the hate crimes project is so embarrassingly out of date, that I’ve let the hosting account lapse, and probably won’t bring it back online because at this point I’ll never get it up to date.) Sometimes I question whether I can even be called a “gay blogger,” except as a blogger who happens to be gay, but rarely ever writes about gay issues (anymore).

Alas, between commuting to work, putting in eight hours, commuting back home, having family dinner, spending time with the kids between dinner and bedtime, helping Parker with his homework, putting the kids to bed, sharing the work of keeping the house relatively clean, and then finishing up the hour’s worth of work I bring home, there are just not enough hours in the day. And I’m usually to physically and mentally exhausted to do much of anything with what’s left of the 24 hours in question.

But that’s another post for another day.

It was my work-related blogging that alerted me to a remark Santorum made, comparing gay parents to felons, which inspired me to return to this series.

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Typical, isn’t it? The guy who spearheaded the fight to legalize guns in bars — at least in Tennessee — has been arrested for driving under the influence. That makes two things in his car that were loaded, because he was also packing heat.

A Tennessee lawmaker who was the lead sponsor of a law allowing permit holders to bring guns into bars has been arrested on DUI charges and possession of a gun while under the influence, The Tennessean reports.

Rep. Curry Todd, a Republican state representative from Collierville, was stopped by police in Nashville on Tuesday, failed a roadside sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer, according to court documents.

The newspaper says a loaded Smith & Wesson 38 Special was found in a holster stuffed between the driver’s seat and the center console.

“The subject was obviously very impaired and not in any condition to be carrying a loaded handgun,’ ‘the arresting officer says in his report.

Rep. Curry couldn’t be reached for comment, by the way. I just bet he couldn’t.

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Troy Davis is dead, killed — murdered, some would even say — by the state of Georgia for a crime he may well not have committed.

While many questions remain about the case against Davis, even after his death, there’s one I want to focus on here: Who will be the next Troy Davis? Because someone will be. Our system of justice guarantees it.

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Update: The Supreme Court won’t stop the execution. At this point, if you’re wrongfully convicted and sentenced to die for a crime you didn’t commit, with no more evidence than the state had against Troy Davis, I guess you’re toast.

I reiterate my earlier statement. Tonight, the state of Georgia will kill a man who is very likely innocent. Tonight I am ashamed to be a Georgian.

Update: Checking the news upon arriving at home, I read that the execution has been delayed by an appeal to the Supreme Court. As of 9:42 pm, there is no word yet from the Supreme Court.

Unless something changes between now and 7:00 pm, today I am ashamed to be a Georgian.

“The struggle for justice doesn’t end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I’m in good spirits and I’m prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I’ve taken my last breath.”

~ Troy Davis

Even Republicans are having funny reactions to their last debate. One Huntsman staffer said she’s “sick and sad” over the behavior of the crowd at the last two debates. Funny. “sick and sad” is exactly how some of us would describe that behavior.

Funnier still? Even Rick Perry was “taken aback.” Taken aback? Perry got even more applause for touting his record of 234 executions on his watch as governor of Texas.

Never struggled? Perry’s body count even surpasses that of famed “Texecutioner” George W. Bush, who racked up 152 executions during his term as Texas governor. Perry has managed to beat Bush by more than 80 executions, and will probably make it 100 if he doesn’t end up moving to the White House. And he never struggled with it? Not even once? There is at least one case Perry should have struggled with.

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This story brings back some memories. [Via Daily Kos.]

Police temporarily detained and questioned three passengers at Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport on Sunday after the crew of the Frontier Airlines flight from Denver reported suspicious activity on board, and NORAD sent two F-16 jets to shadow the flight until it landed safely, airline and federal officials said.

The three passengers who were taken off the plane in handcuffs were released Sunday night, and no charges were filed against them, airport spokesman Scott Wintner said.

Frontier Flight 623, with 116 passengers on board, landed without incident in Detroit at 3:30 p.m. EDT after the crew reported that two people were spending "an extraordinarily long time" in a bathroom, Frontier spokesman Peter Kowalchuck said.

FBI Detroit spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said ultimately authorities determined there was no real threat.

It’s not that my experiences have been as intense that what these people experience, but I’ve known for a long time how easily it could have been me, and still could be.

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As someone who watched both movies about the West Memphis Three several times, and read the book about the case, this is fantastic news.

Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin, collectively known as the West Memphis Three, have been in prison since 1993 for the murders of 8-year-old boys Christopher Byers, Steve Branch and James Michael Moore. On August 19, 2011, they have been freed. A live stream of the WM3 public hearing in Jonesboro, AK is below.

The West Memphis Three’s sentences have been converted to 18 years with credit for time served, as well as 10 years SIS (suspended imposition of sentence), which is like parole without the restrictions. The WM3 just have to stay out of legal trouble for the next ten years to avoid returning to prison.

As you read this, Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin are being freed. The convictions of the West Memphis Three were not overturned. Instead, they agreed to what is called an Alford plea.

I walked in the door minutes ago, looked over the hubby’s shoulder, saw the headline and was stunned. It’s probably one of the best endings to this chapter of a long story that almost certainly isn’t over yet.

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It seems like many people in Amy’s life who cared about her had also come to the realization that they couldn’t help her until she was ready to accept help. Again, Russell Brand put it better than anyone else.

When you love someone who suffers from the disease of addiction you await the phone call. There will be a phone call. The sincere hope is that the call will be from the addict themselves, telling you they’ve had enough, that they’re ready to stop, ready to try something new. Of course though, you fear the other call, the sad nocturnal chime from a friend or relative telling you it’s too late, she’s gone.

Frustratingly it’s not a call you can ever make it must be received. It is impossible to intervene.

Amy’s mother, seeing Amy for the last time just a day before her death, seemed to realize that her daughter’s death “only a matter of time.”

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Casey Anthony is free, having been released from prison and whisked away to a secret post-prison life.

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Both Casey Anthony’s defense team and her parents issued statements after her acquittal. Her parents, in their statement, said something that the defense couldn’t say, but might have alluded to: We may never know what happened to Caylee.

Three years later, and we don’t know what happened to this child. Let’s remember there are countless missing children whose names we don’t even know. We don’t know what happened to them either, and may never know. There’s 48 cold cases of missing kids in Maryland alone.

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“If there was any justice in this world…” People usually say that when they believe they’ve witnessed a miscarriage of justice in either the legal or cosmic sense. Someone walks away scott free, though common sense and everything but concrete evidence says they’re guilty. Someone with little to recommend them in the way of talent, intelligence or ambition falls ass-first into good fortune, while others more talented and deserving toil in obscurity. Someone gets way more than their 15 minutes in the spotlight, while others get no time at all.

We’ve probably all said it, after witnessing things like those described above. “If there was any justice in this world,” somebody would be getting what we think they deserve. Of course, we don’t stop to think that “If there was any justice…” is just the flip side of saying, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

And so, we’ve finally come to the end of the Casey Anthony trial…

On the one hand, this doesn’t feel like justice.

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I haven’t written much about it but, crime buff that I am, I’ve been following the Casey Anthony trial pretty closely. The armchair psychologist in me was pulled in by the strangeness of both the accused and he family. Now, it seems there’s going to be a verdict in half an hour.

The 30 minute advance notice has been given for the verdict of the Casey Anthony trial. The verdict will be read at 2:15 p.m.

Court administration spokeswoman Karen Levey today gave reporters covering the Casey Anthony case a rundown of what will likely happen once a verdict is reached in the murder trial.

Chief Judge Belvin Perry will warn those in the courtroom not to express approval or disapproval with the verdict.

Then jurors will return to the courtroom and the foreperson will hand verdict forms to a court deputy. The judge will review the forms and then hand them to a court clerk, Karen Delpilar, to read aloud.

Perry will then have jury members polled individually to confirm that their verdict is true and correct.

If Casey Anthony is convicted of first-degree murder as charged, there will be a 48-hour break before the penalty phase of the trial begins.

If I had to hazard a guess…. (more…)

Who didn’t see this coming?

Last September, megachurch preacher Bishop Eddie Long stood before his congregation at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church a week after gay sex allegations surfaced between him and four teenage boys, and he told members he was going to fight the allegations.

But Long chose not to fight in court. Instead he reached a settlement and paid off the four young men who accused the mega-church preacher of using his power to influence them into sexual relationships with him.
“You can interpret that any way you want, but usually people do not settle cases unless there is some reason to do so,” said former DeKalb County Prosecutor J. Tom Morgan.
Morgan said he is familiar with cases like Long’s.
“They had to reach a settlement if they did not want any statement by the Bishop on record,” said Morgan.

Well.

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I won’t watch a movie if I’ve missed the beginning, and I hate missing endings so much that I won’t start watching a movie I can’t see through to the end. As a writer, the beginning and end are two of the most important parts of the story to me. They answer two important important questions in any story: “How did we get into this?” and “How do we get out of this?”

Monday night, I watched Too Big To Fail — HBO’s eponymous adaptation of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book — from start to finish. Yet, I still ended up feeling like I’d missed the two most important parts of the story: the beginning and the end. Thus, I never got answers to those important questions: How did we get into this mess? How do we get out of this mess?

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The Catholic Church has finally uncovered the “causes” for its long epidemic of sexual abuse.

A report on the putative “causes” of sexual abuse in the American Catholic Church over the past 60 years is set to be released today. The study, titled “The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010,” claims celibacy and homosexuality were not prime catalysts for mistreatment — arguing instead that many priests were unable to deal with the pressures of the “sexual revolution.”

The report was commissioned by bishops of the American Catholic Church, and compiled by scholars at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. It is thought to have cost around $1.8 billion, half of which was provided by the bishops themselves (the U.S. Justice Department’s National Institute of Justice contributed approximately $280,000, according to the New York Times).

Its conclusions will doubtless be controversial; they will please neither those who argue for an end to clerical celibacy — thus supporting a priest’s right to marry — nor those who claim that homosexuals are more likely to abuse young boys (who have, in clerical abuse cases, historically been victimised more than girls) and thus should not be ordained.

Well, yes and no.

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PZ Meyers makes an excellent point about this horrific story.

A young girl was found caged and attempting to eat herself in a mobile home in Virginia, and cops say her parents are responsible.

The malnourished girl, believed to be either 5 or 6, was discovered in a crib that was converted into a makeshift cage after police arrived at the home in Gloucester County to investigate a burglary last week.

The girl’s parents, Brian and Shannon Gore, were arrested and charged with felony child abuse. The mother was also charged with attempted capital murder.

However, the gruesome twosome now faces first-degree murder charges after the remains of what authorities believe to be another child were found buried outside their mobile home

Towards the end of the story we hear from the husband’s ex-girlfriend.

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Via Jack and Jill Politics comes this alert to help find a missing child: 11-year-old Octavius Howell.

Miami-Dade police issued a plea to the public on Saturday to help find a missing 11-year-old child.

Octavius Howell, who is just shy of 5 feet tall and 80 pounds, was last seen Friday at the Madison Middle School at NW 10th Avenue and NW 90th Street.

He was wearing a red polo shirt and khaki pants.

People with information are asked to contact Miami Detective Javier Soto at the Miami-Dade Police Special Victims Bureau’s Missing Persons Unit, 305-418-7201 or 305-476-5423.

The bureau issued a photo of the boy to accompany its alert.

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(Or, An Ounce of Treatment, Pt.2)

I don’ think this is what anyone meant by “Calgon, take me away.” (Ed. Note: I know the bath salts in question are in no way associated with Calgone bath beads or other products. It just seemed like a good line.)

When Neil Brown got high on bath salts, he took his skinning knife and slit his face and stomach repeatedly. Brown survived, but authorities say others haven’t been so lucky after snorting, injecting or smoking powders with such innocuous-sounding names as Ivory Snow, Red Dove and Vanilla Sky.

Law enforcement agents and poison control centers say the bath salts, with their complex chemical names, are an emerging menace in several U.S. states where authorities talk of banning their sale. Some say their effects can be as powerful as those of methamphetamine.

From the Deep South to California, emergency calls are being reported over exposure to the stimulants the powders often contain: mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, also known as MDPV.

Sold under such names as Ivory Wave, Bliss, White Lightning and Hurricane Charlie, the chemicals can cause hallucinations, paranoia, a rapid heart rate and suicidal thoughts, authorities say. In addition to bath salts, the chemicals can be found in plant foods that are sold legally at convenience stores and on the Internet. However, they aren’t necessarily being used for the purposes on the label.

Still, I’m not sure that banning bath salts is the answer.

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Michael Tomasky points to this…

The chief investigator for the sheriff’s department here has for the first time publicly described the brief and gory video clip from a store security camera that shows a gunman not only shooting Representative Gabrielle Giffords just above the eyebrow at a range of three feet, but then using his 9-millimeter pistol to gun down others near her at a similarly close range.

…The crucial video showing the shooting of Ms. Giffords, Judge Roll and Mr. Barber lasts only about five seconds before the gunman steps out of the frame.

At the start of the clip, it shows the “suspect coming from just outside of the frame of the video toward the parking lot,” Mr. Kastigar said. “He goes around a table set up for part of that gathering and walks up to Gabby and shoots her directly in the forehead.” It was not clear from this video, he said, if Ms. Giffords realized what was happening.

The gunman “then turns to his left and indiscriminately shoots at people sitting in chairs along the wall,” he said. The video does not show those people being shot, he said. But quickly the gunman is back in the video, which shows him turning to his right and shooting Mr. Barber, who had been with Judge Roll “standing side by side with the table to their backs.”

…And asks, “Should we see the video?”

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In the aftermath of the tragic Tucson, AZ, shooting that left six dead, and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D, AZ-8) hospitalized, much has been said and written about the degree to which incendiary rhetoric motivated the shooter. However, caustic rhetoric isn’t the real danger.

Like Molotov cocktails, fiery rhetoric is intended to spark fires. But a spark that falls on bare ground quickly burns out. To start a fire, a spark needs fuel. It needs kindling — material that burns quickly and easily — to start and spread a fire. The conditions created by the economic crisis have surrounded us with kindling, awaiting a spark to ignite a conflagration.

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