ACLU Violates Civil Rights Of Death Row Inmate

That would be his desire for the execution to go forward.

You should know about the debate on executions going on right now, and whether lethal injection is “cruel and unusual” punishment. If you aren’t aware … it’s time to read up.

Start with the José Ernesto Medellín case, and then read the Heliberto Chi case.

Essentially what we have is 51 foreigners , that have been convicted and sentenced to death in the US, may not have their sentences carried out because of the 1963 Vienna Convention. President Bush is also throwing his weight around in the matter, and Texas seems to be standing alone in fighting for their right to execute convicted criminals.

The Vienna Convention states that people arrested abroad should have access to their home country’s consular officials. Many of the foreigners (illegals) are arguing that they were not granted access to their country’s consular officials. Keep in mind that many have confessed to their crimes of rape and murder.

As a result of these cases we have the ACLU, and other groups opposed to the death penalty, challenging the Constitutionality of lethal injections. Many executions across the country have been halted until the U.S. Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of lethal injections.

Obviously we have several problems with the current situation. State’s rights are being violated, this is not a Constitutional issue, and we have international law infringing upon American sovereignty.

The Vienna Convention has no power over internal US affairs, and foreign nationals are NOT permitted under US law access to their consular officials. The US Supreme Court ruled on this very matter last year.

Stating that American law outweighs an international treaty, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that foreign criminals held in state prisons did not have a right to reopen their cases if their rights under the Vienna Convention had been violated.

The 6-3 ruling spares state prison officials a major headache. If the high court had ruled the other way, thousands of state inmates who were not U.S. citizens could have sought to have their convictions reversed.

The international treaty, drafted in 1963, seeks to protect foreigners, including Americans traveling or living abroad. It requires that officials notify the home-country consulate when a foreigner is arrested or held for “pending trial.”

Despite its clear terms, police and prosecutors in the United States have failed to notify foreign criminal suspects that they have a right to the help of their nation’s consulate.

Two years ago, the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, took up an appeal from the governments of Mexico and Germany. The court, based in The Hague, ruled that the treaty gave individuals a right to reopen their cases if they did not get the proper notification.

But the Supreme Court said Wednesday that it was not bound to follow that ruling.

As you can see … the Supreme Court has already ruled on this issue, and they ruled that US law trumps an international treaty … as it should.

Why this case is being reheard is beyond me, but Phyllis Schlafly thinks it has something to do with the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Now for the ACLU (NV chapter) violating the rights of a death row inmate.

William Castillo was sentenced to death in 1996 for bludgeoning to death an 84 year old retired teacher as she slept. He then robbed her house, left, returned, and burned it down. He would later confess to the murder, and was sentenced to die this month by lethal injection. We waived his right to appeals, and accepted his fate. Castillo requested that the ACLU and the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty not stop his execution, but his request was ignored for pure ideology.

Nancy Hart of the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty and Richard Siegel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada said the Pardons Board has the authority to halt Castillo’s lethal injection pending a U.S. Supreme Court review of such injections.

Nevada uses the injection method being reviewed by the court, Hart and Siegel wrote, adding that executing Castillo might put the state “in the untenable position of having to explain why it felt compelled to rush an execution before the Supreme Court was able to rule.”

“The state of Nevada should not be executing any of its prisoners, ‘voluntary’ or not, while the U.S. Supreme Court is deciding whether the method violates the Constitution,” they wrote.

As you can see, they didn’t give a damn about what Castillo wanted. It’s even more laughable that the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty asked people to “write to Gov. Jim Gibbons on behalf of William Castillo!” Even though he opposes their stance on capital punishment.

Their assertion that NV uses the same method under review by the US Supreme Court is false. Nevada uses double the formulation strength being challenged in the Supreme Court.

State Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said that Castillo will get double doses of the three drugs normally used in executions. He said that the change ensures that Castillo should “go out instantly” and not experience “any kind of discomfort.”

Skolnik also said the double dose makes the Nevada method different than the Kentucky method of lethal injections, which is the subject of the U.S. Supreme Court review.

That means that if the US Supreme Court rules that the Kentucky method of lethal injections is unconstitutional … it would not apply to Nevada anyway. The Supreme Court has not issued a halt to all executions in the US anyway, and therefore Nevada would not have to “explain why it felt compelled to rush an execution.”

Their arguments are insensitive and false, but they worked.

Convicted killer William Castillo was 90 minutes away from death by lethal injection Monday night when the Nevada Supreme Court stepped in and issued a stay to allow more time to consider legal issues raised by the ACLU of Nevada.

Castillo had his final meal, and was sedated already when the order came down. Also, two of the victim’s family members had come to town to witness the execution. I doubt the ACLU will reimburse them for the time and cost of their trip.

Something else had already taken place as well. Castillo’s mom had said her final goodbye to her son … only to be called later that he was not executed. You’d think Castillo and his mom would be relieved, right? Well, you’d be wrong.

News 3’s Jesse Corona spoke exclusively to Castillo’s family and found they are not happy about the execution being halted.

His family says he had already refused any more legal action on his behalf and that he was ready and willing to die.

“Not that I want my son to die, but I had to accept my son’s decision,” said Castillo’s mother.

Mrs. Castillo says her son told her that he would refuse any more appeals filed on his behalf to stop his execution two months ago. She says it was the most difficult thing she’s ever had to do but her son told her he wanted to take responsibility for his actions and die like a man, so she agreed to respect his wishes.

“I had to accept this, and these people come along and yank that from us?” she said.

Now I don’t have sympathy for Castillo, but I do for his mother. It is impossible to imagine what she is going through. Not only does she discover that her son is a monster, but she had to come to terms with his death. Now she has to get a lawyer and fight for her son’s right to be executed.

“When I hung up that phone, my son died. According to the state he was going to die 8:30 but my son died at 7 when I said goodbye,” she said.

Castillo had already ate his last meal and taken the pre-execution sedative and was ready to die.

“His first words were, mom this ain’t right. Get a lawyer, get someone out there to help us that was not right they had no business being here.”

On top of all that … she says that the ACLU is far more cruel than the methods they are arguing against.

Mrs. Castillo says what the ACLU did to her family was itself cruel and unusual.

She’s right, and I hope she sues the hell out of the ACLU.

Mrs. Castillo, like me, is convinced the ACLU’s move was a publicity stunt.

Mrs. Castillo also said that she thinks the last minute stay of execution by the ACLU was really a publicity move for the organization, and not about the issues they say it was about. She says if the ACLU’s motivations were pure, they would have requested a hearing last week.

Again, she is right. Requesting a hearing the week before would have saved a lot of grief for the Castillo family, and the victim’s family. Instead of requesting that hearing, however, the ACLU was polluting every news agency with their rhetoric on the situation.

The ACLU told News 3 Thursday that they have a lot of sympathy for everyone affected by what happened, but they say the issue was not about any one particular individual on death row, but instead was about the constitution.

Oh really?

So Castillo’s desire to die after being convicted, and sentenced to death, was about the Constitution? Even though the Constitution gives states the right to enforce capital punishment, and even though the method of execution being used for Castillo is not the method being constitutionally challenged in the Supreme Court? Give me a break!

This is further illustration of the ACLU’s hypocrisy. Why, you ask. Because the ACLU has long fought for the right to die, and they’ve used constitutional arguments to support their efforts.

“Each of us should have the right to die in a humane and dignified manner. The exercise of this right is as central to personal autonomy and bodily integrity as rights safeguarded by this Court’s decisions relating to marriage, family relationships, procreation, contraception, child rearing and the refusal or termination of life-saving medical treatment,” said Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU’s National Legal Director.

That was in 1997.

• In 2001 the ACLU supported the right of Robert Wendland’s wife to take him off of life support.
• 2005 showed another case when the ACLU supported the right to die for Harold Folley in New Mexico.

You get the point … I don’t need to go on.

So why is it that the ACLU supports the right to die for some, but not those who were sentenced to death? The answer … their political agenda. The ACLU has an agenda to get rid of the death penalty, and in their list of priorities that agenda is more important than the right to die or state’s rights.

Thus, the American Civil Liberties Union violated the civil liberties of one William Castillo even though they swear they exist only to uphold such civil liberties.

Our Stores Are Open For Business!

This post is sticky … scroll down for new posts.

I finally decided to just go for it, and open a shop at Cafe Press. I’m starting with the free shops until I get things rolling with my designs. So I have a few shops, and each one is dedicated to a specific design. I’ve wanted to make my own clothes for a while now, and I finally have an excuse to go through with it.

I figured I would start small, and only offer a couple of inexpensive (yet funny) items. Right now there is three shops total. Below you will see only one example of the merchandise available with the design shown. Below each item is a link to the shop that features that design on a variety of products. I hope you enjoy them, and feel free to make requests.

Visit the “This WMD” shop.

Visit the “Salad Is Murder” shop.

Visit the “Cow Fart” shop.

Some of the designs are better on light or dark backgrounds. If you would like a design on a black shirt, but it is designed for a white shirt, let me know. I will be happy to change the design, and put it on the product color of your choice.

NAACP Says Halloween Display Is Racist, Family Forced To Remove It

Warning: The following post will contain some strong language not usually present in my writing, but I am super pissed about this. I have removed letters of certain words, but felt it was appropriate to warn those of you who are regular readers. I’m usually not this personal or confrontational, but given the past couple of weeks with similar stories an aggressive response was warranted.

Update: I have added a poll at the top right of this site. Let us what you think of the display. Is it racist, or not?

Photo Courtesy Of The Daily Record

So much for the NAACP actually becoming a respectable organization again. I had hope for a while there because they had been settling down a bit. The NAACP “seemed” to be getting away from the Jackson/Sharpton ideology. Oh well, it looks like they are back in full force.

The NAACP, along with a couple of oversensitive neighbors, blew a simple Halloween decoration waaaay out of proportion.

The Star Ledger:

Chesla Flood couldn’t believe her eyes. A hangman’s noose circled the neck of a black-hooded, jeans-clad dummy suspended from the chimney of a house in Madison.

Flood called her mother, Millie Hazlewood, who reported the Halloween display to police. She wasn’t the only one. Police went to the property at least three times starting Sunday, and even the mayor asked the homeowners to take down the figure.

The police took time out of their day to harass a family for Halloween decorations, multiple times? The mayor even requested the family take down the decoration? What in the hell is this world coming to that you can’t put a commonly used Halloween display up? I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a hangman’s noose as part of Halloween decorations, haunted houses, and even my own decorations. These people are acting like this is the first time this has been done. When, in fact, it’s somewhat of a traditional display.

So is this the first time this family has used the noose?

D.J. Maines, the 27-year-old son of Cheryl and David Maines, has bedecked the house for seven Halloweens using $5,000 worth of decorations he has collected. He has used the hanging dummy each year.

Nope. He’s used the display for 7 YEARS with no incident! Why no incident? Because it’s a common display used by thousands of homes across the US!

Finally, the pressure got the family, and they removed the display because they feared for their safety.

At 8 last night, the family relented, saying they feared for their safety.

“It’s no more like freedom of speech anymore,” Cheryl Maines said. “My son had to take this down because these people have blown this thing out of proportion.”

Hell, it doesn’t even really have to do with freedom of speech because it is a Halloween decoration!

Here is what the mayor (a white guy) had to say:

Before the figure was removed yesterday, Madison Mayor Ellwood “Woody” Kerkeslager said “the appearance and the suggestion (of racism) is there, and it’s inappropriate.”

What? How? They didn’t show a black person being hung. They showed a person in a black hood being hung. When we used to hang people in this country guess what we did? We put a black hood over their heads!

Now listen to how everyone is trying to tie this story in with other noose stories in the news lately in an effort to paint this family as racist.

At least four recent noose displays — one each in Jena, La., and Philadelphia and two in New York City — are drawing renewed attention to a potent symbol of racism, lynchings and the era of Jim Crow segregation.

Unlike those incidents, the Madison figure was part of a Halloween display, and for two days, homeowners Cheryl and David Maines, the borough’s superintendent of public works, refused to budge. They said they had done nothing wrong.

ARE YOU F___ING SERIOUS!?

Credit goes to the author for pointing out the obvious … this was a decoration, at a home, for Halloween. To draw correlations to Jena, La. is insane at best.

Here’s where the NAACP jump in, and make complete fools of themselves.

Meanwhile, the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People denounced the display as offensive, racist and insensitive.

“I think there are many people who understand the significance of a noose as it relates to the history of African-Americans,” said James Harris, president of the NAACP’s state chapter. “We thought we lived beyond the era when people felt it was okay to have that type of display.”

“As it relates to the history of African-Americans?” F__K YOU!

There is another population that has a history with the noose James … COWBOYS! And most cowboys were what? White!

Why don’t we just make the argument that the display was inappropriate because it might offend criminals. After all, we used to hang criminals exactly as the display is shown … black hood and all.

“We thought we lived beyond the era when people felt it was okay to have that type of display?” What era are you talking about James? The era when we used to hang people as capital punishment? We HAVE lived beyond that era James. That’s why your argument makes no damned sense! We DON’T hang people anymore … white, black or any other race for that matter. Hence, it was only a Halloween decoration!

The only people who haven’t lived past that era is you, James. You and your supporters want old feelings from another time to surface. That way you can foment hate, prove the NAACP is still needed and maybe make a quick buck while you’re at it.

To top it all off … not only are you still living in the past, but you are projecting a falsehood upon this family. You keep talking about racism when there was no part of this display that could be construed as racist by any sane, logical person. So are you fomenting hate James, or are you just lacking sanity and logic?

The family has sworn off holiday decorations for good because of this fiasco. I assume that was the goal all along as there is a concerted effort to remove holiday displays in this country.

Last night, the Maines family said they would be replacing their Halloween display and erecting a sign reading: “Thanks to the assistance of Millie Hazlewood and her friends, Halloween and Christmas decorations will no longer be celebrated here.”

This is very sad.

Authorities also said that the display was not illegal, and couldn’t be ordered down. If that is the case … then why did the police harass this family on three separate occasions? I hope the family sues the department for harassment, and I hope they sue the people who complained and the NAACP for violating their civil rights. The mayor should also be a target for lawsuit for his interference.

Read the rest of the article and you’ll see a bunch of people who lived through the horrific time where lynching was common, and were offended by the display. The south is featured prominently in the article, but this is taking place in New Jersey so don’t be fooled.

The Maines family also responded to those who have a history with lynching.

“Don’t bring your ancestors into this — it’s something that happened; you’ve got to get beyond it or you’re going to make yourself sick,” she said.

She is right. To bring up history having nothing to do with her or her decorations in an effort to demonize her family is completely uncalled for.

Had the display featured a black person being lynched, I would have supported it being taken down. However, there was no racial undertones at all in the display. This was just another excuse by racists themselves to attack white people.

Here is another picture of the display for you to decide yourself.

The Daily Record

Harry Reid Says Mormons Being Led Down Wrong Path By LDS Leaders

No doubt you haven’t heard about Harry Reid attacking Christians last week because the media doesn’t dare smear him. However, it is even more unlikely that you’ve heard about Reid smearing his own church leadership for being right-wingers.

Reid said people often question how he can be a Democrat and a Mormon, but called the social responsibility Democrats espouse a good fit with the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He questioned the guidance of some LDS Church leaders, though.

In remarks to the media following his address, Reid said that, “In the past years we’ve had some very prominent members of the church, like Ezra Taft Benson, who are really right-wing people.

“Members of the church are obedient and followers in the true sense of the word, but these people have taken members of the church down the path that is the wrong path,” he said.

Then there is this little tidbit from the AP:

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Mormons were ill-served by the conservative politics of past church leaders.

Then after insulting past LDS leadership for being to conservative … Reid politely tells LDS members that their values are all screwed up.

He said Mormons must recognize there are more important issues than abortion and gay marriage. Reid opposes abortion.

“We have a country that needs to do something about health care. Global warming is here. We have a president who doesn’t know how to pronounce the words,” Reid said, referring to President Bush.

Harry, ever the hypocrite, thinks it is the “wrong path” for LDS leadership to uphold their traditional conservative beliefs, but he deems it ok to alter those beliefs to better coincide with the liberal agenda? For crying out loud … he told LDS members they should be more concerned with global warming than abortion!

When I spoke of this last night on my show, I received several calls from outraged LDS members who explained how the church goes out of its way to not endorse any candidate. Something that was stated very clearly in the RJ’s article.

The church does not endorse, promote or oppose political parties, candidates or platforms. Spokeswoman Kim Farah said church officials would not comment on Reid’s remarks.

To attack other faiths is bad enough, but to attack your own.

So You Want To Use Dope, But Not Get Arrested … Go To San Fransisco!

That’s right everybody. San Fransisco has finally decided to move forward with a very controversial plan that will allow intravenous drug users to shoot up without fear of arrest.

Why would they do such a thing you ask. Well, to prevent overdoses of course.

SF Gate:

On Thursday, an all-day symposium – co-hosted by the city Department of Public Health – will examine the idea of creating safe injection centers where users could bring their drugs, shoot up and leave, without fear of arrest.

The idea is to decrease overdoses, keep dirty needles off the street, and cut the risk of spreading HIV and hepatitis C. Those are all good things. It is the idea of providing addicts with their own injection clinic that riles people up.

Naturally, people are riled up over something like this (which has been in the works for years now). The article even quotes one reader as saying:

“What’s next? Giving them the drugs, too?”

The answer to that is yes. Now some of you might think I’m going a little too far by saying that, but I want you to use some logic here.

If we are willing to allow dopers to shoot up in an effort to prevent overdoses, remove needles from the street, stop hepatitis and HIV … surely we will be willing to provide said dope to prevent all of the other crimes involved in buying the dope on the street. Hell, it may even become a proposed strategy for the drug war (yes I know some people have already endorsed this tactic).

Seriously, think about it. The negative impact, and outright danger, to the individual as well as society is far worse if the drugs are purchased on the street instead of being supplied.

11 Year Olds To Get The Pill, At School, Without Parent’s Permission

This is almost as bad as requiring kids to attend an assembly, and forcing them to sign a contract that they won’t tell their parents about it.

Portland Press Herald:

Students who have parental permission to be treated at King Middle School’s health center would be able to get birth control prescriptions under a proposal that the Portland School Committee will consider Wednesday.

Although students must have written parental permission to be treated at Portland’s school-based health centers, state law allows them to seek confidential health care and to decide whether to inform their parents about the services they receive.

I’m sure many of you are as confused about this “health center” at schools as I am. We don’t have that here in Nevada, or anywhere else I’ve attended school. It’s not quite the school nurse, but more like a quick care medical facility.

The city’s Division of Public Health, which made the birth- control proposal, operates seven health centers in Portland Public Schools in an effort to increase access to physical, dental and mental health care.

They are located at Portland High School, Deering High School, Casco Bay High School, King Middle School, West School special education program, and two elementary schools — Reiche Community School and East End Community School.

The first centers opened in the high schools more than a decade ago, Belanger said.

There are 27 school-based health centers in Maine, 20 of which are funded and overseen by the state, including those in Portland, Birkhimer said.

There are more than 1,700 school-connected health centers in the United States.

So while many schools around the country don’t even allow aspirin, this one writes prescriptions in between your annual physical, teeth cleaning, and mental health evaluation. I am interested to see the data on the prescriptions recommended for ADD in these “health centers” as compared to schools without them.

Did Pope John Paul II Go To Hell?

I’m not Catholic, but I seriously doubt that is possible given the person he was. He and I didn’t agree often, but he wasn’t an evil man by any means.

So why then would a representative of the Vatican News Service say this is the Pope?

Daily Mail:

This fiery figure is being hailed as Pope John Paul II making an appearance beyond the grave.

The image, said by believers to show the Holy Father with his right hand raised in blessing, was spotted during a ceremony in Poland to mark the second anniversary of his death.

Details appeared on the Vatican News Service, a TV station in Rome which specializes in religious news broadcasts.

Ok, so a couple “believers” think the fire looks like Pope John Paul II. Usually, the church is skeptical of these sorts of things … right?

Service director Jarek Cielecki, a Polish priest and close friend of John Paul II, travelled to Poland after hearing an onlooker had photographed the image.

Father Cielecki said he was convinced the picture showed the former pontiff.

“You can see the image of a person in the flames and I think it is the servant of God, Pope John Paul II,” he said.

Uh huh? The FLAMES look like the servant of GOD. Here’s the picture being used for comparison.

Now side by side.

Alright, I’m willing to say that there is some similarities between the two images. The fire does look like a man in a robe. I’m just not buying the whole “he’s giving a blessing thing.”

You’ll have to forgive me here, but I just don’t see how it could possibly be considered a positive to see the likeness of a future saint engulfed in flames. This doesn’t give me the impression that he was God’s servant … if you know what I mean.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a resignation in the near future.

Humans Will Marry Robots

At least that’s what this researcher is saying.

I’m down … as long as the robots look like this:

Or any one of the female Cylons from BSG.

No Candy Allowed At Homes Of Sex Offenders

Now this is what I’m talking about! Now I get to sit back, and wait for the ACLU to object because of privacy reasons. They will say that posting these signs will disclose to the public who is a sex offender. I say … so f___ing what.

UPDATE: Judge Outlines 9 Errors In "An Inconvenient Truth"

This is an update to my previous post.

The judge did make it a requirement to notify students that the film was biased before they view it.

Here are the nine errors the judge outlined, but you could watch “The Great Global Warming Swindle” to get more.