The Coalition of the Swilling

You and Major Dad seem to attract these types, don't you?

his trial attorneys were inexperienced and nearly guaranteed his conviction

Funny how all the, oh, I don't know, let's call it "evidence", shall we, seemed to play no part in his conviction...

If you hobnob with a broad section of society, it makes you a much more interesting person.

Heh. Good story THS. I was at a Slavic Department party in grad school one time on the third floor of an apartment building. I passed up on the opportunity to crash there and wandered home, a little inebriated (but much less so than in the party had been in the USSR). Next morning while fighting the hangover I notice my host on the morning news, standing next to a dumpster. Turns out the building super (with keys to all the apartments) was a serial killer, and had been dismembering a body in the basement while we drank. They found the body parts in the dumpster the next morning and arrested him, but the people who crashed there felt a little weird knowing he could have some in at any time that night with his key.

The guy was a real cut-up, huh, John?

I'm not sure how you're blaming the Rosie and the Supremes, since he's currently on death row. They can, of course, be blamed for all the overturned death sentences.

And by the way, you can blame the appointment of Bird on Jerry Brown, who will almost certainly be our next Attorney General. Feh.

Okay, I won't. He's still around and major dad and I figured he was part of her handiwork at the time.

And appointed? Wasn't she elected (or was it an interim thing?), because I remember when she FINALLY got herself UN-elected...

Thanks for the update, Sis. Dave can correct me if I get some details wrong here, but Calif SC judges are appointed by the governor (approved by the legislature, I think) but unlike the feds, they can be recalled, which is what happened to Bird in the 80s.

I'll never forget one fawning obit for her sorry ass. This idiot praised her for the way she let her morality guide her decisions - translated: she did not care what the law said, she substituted her own superior feelings.

That's why I respected Pat Brown as governor and attorney general; he opposed the death penalty but followed the law, unlike his brat kid.

Ah so. Not being a registered CA voter until the Clinton election, I only registered what I read in the Register (Orange County, that is.)

...unlike his brat kid.
I was pregnant with Ebola and down at NRMC Long Beach for an ultra-sound. After a very trying, extremely long morning, it was over and done with and I was free to go. In the parking lot I passed by one of those cranky WWII veterans' vehicles filled with crap and festooned with stickers. But it provided the howl of the day, as the newest one on the rear windshield said:

If it's Brown, flush it!

HAHA! That's great!

I do think Jerry did an okay job as mayor of Oakland (somewhere along the line, I think he got bitchslapped by reality) but AG is most emphatically NOT a job he is qualified for, given his opposition to the death penalty and willingness to flout the law on it.

If this is topic non gratis around the Swilling I will gladly drop it - but I'm curious so I'll ask: Why is it wonderful for a DA or AG to flout the law if one opposes the death penalty, but horrible if a doctor or pharmacist does so in re abortion?

It's only 'wonderful' in someone's eyes if they agree with the action taken. If they think the applicable law should be upheld, then your opinion would be different.

Let me add ~ I'm from the school of "you don't like it (the law), change it ~ DON'T break it."

Hello! My name is Stela and I'm 28 years old.
If Richard Ramirez kills someone of your family you wanted his death? I believe the answer is YES. And if Richard Ramirez was someone of your family (father, son, cousin, etc) you also wanted his death? I believe the answer is NO. You know what I mean? It's easy to judge and condemn someone that doesn’t mean anything for us right? Anyone of your family could be one criminal you know that? Do you really want the death penalty? We don't have the right punishment for a criminal like Richard Ramirez. His death is not the solution. I'm really against the death penalty. I know that Ramirez committed horrible crimes and have to be punished but with his life? That it's justice? And how do you know if Ramirez change? People change!

P.S. I speak about Richard Ramirez but when I made it I speak also about all the criminals on death row.

Hi Stela. I struggle with the death penalty. I know it's one of those things that you can't go "oops! Sorry!" about. And my faith causes me to believe in the ultimate redemption of mankind. But when someone is this evil, this fallen; when someone has done such horrors and brutality upon other human beings in such a premeditated, cruel and inhuman way, then I believe such a person is beyond hope of human redemption.

And if Ramirez were my brother I can assure you I would insist upon being the one who pulled the switch on the electric chair.