Glenn!

Insider zed. No fair!

And do you get a parking place, too, LHP?

Sending fdl love to Glenn

What fun!! Have a blast and bring back stories. Selise, RevDeb, and i attended Glenn’s book signing in Cambridge - his first book tour and we have pictures!! Glenn autographed a copy of his Patriots Act for a Major (Army) i was working for (temping in recruiting office). i also gave a copy to the Sgt Major. Just a little food for thought there.

Here’s what Ann looks like when she’s not furious with Glenn.

I’ve been having my browser freeze up for the last two days and my pages were not refreshing (doing my thread this morning with the browser hanging up was maddening)

Anyway, I went fishing around trying to figure out how to get the new post to load and wound up being first.

My browser window thinks we are still in the Sen Whitehouse post.

My computer may have the flu

Dang… wish I’d a knowd this was going to happen… I’da made it up to DC for the event. Have fun!!!

No, did’t you hear? Our new managing editor has decreed that we must all ride our bikes to work. Rough for me, I’m on Lawn Guyland and the boss is in Seattle. That’s a commute that will melt some fat off!

LOL - that’s right!

and he really is interesting and fun person to talk with… i am soooo jealous of everyone who is going to able to attend this evening.

Sounds like a blast, celebrating the Great American Hypocrites and Drinking Liberally with Glenn & Jane.

Jane - You have to tell us all about it when you return. Every teeny weeny detail. We want to know everything and that includes what Glenn is wearing. Now I can sit back in my armchair and enjoy the vicarious trip.

Oh me too! green with envy. have Big Fun everyone!

Not exactly off topic because it is on a legal subject but here is my new item 341 for my scandals list (even before it makes it to the list):

341. The Supreme Court decision in the death penalty case Baze et al v. Rees, Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Corrections, et al decided April 16, 2008 on a 7-2 vote is not just a bad decision but an impossibly bad one. At issue was whether execution by lethal injection of a 3 drug cocktail of sodium thiopental (to induce unconsciousness), pancuronium bromide (to produce skeletal muscle paralysis), and sodium chloride (to induce cardiac arrhythmia leading to cardiac arrest) constituted an 8th Amendment violation of the prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishments.” This execution method has been approved for use by some 30 states and the Federal Government. So what’s the problem? Death by lethal injection is by the nature of its purpose a significant medical procedure. Yet it is not carried out by medical professionals nor monitored by a physician. The reason for this is simple. Such activities on their part would violate their professional oaths.
As in the “partial birth abortion”, i.e. intact dilation and extraction case Gonzales v. Carhart (item 26), the Supreme Court has once again set itself up as a medical authority and once again shown that it has none. The Court notes that Kentucky mandates that the insertion of the two sets of IVs needed for the execution be performed by “qualified personnel having at least one year’s professional experience.” While this may seem sufficient, the reality is that one year’s experience in the medical profession (physician, nurse, EMT) gives you just enough knowledge and confidence to be dangerous. You see it isn’t just about putting a needle into a vein but knowing what to do if there is a problem (the line becomes clogged, the vein occludes, the vein is perforated, etc.) at some point in the process.
The Court is also dodgy on preparation of the syringes for the lethal injection. At one point, it states that this is left to unnamed “others” raising the suspicion that it is in fact being done by medical personnel in violation of professional ethics. On the other hand, Justices Roberts, Kennedy, and Alito relied on the state court’s finding that “there would be minimal risk of improper mixing if the manufacturers’ thiopental package insert instructions were followed.” I suppose the same argument could be made if you gave a copy of surgical procedures to a nurse and asked him/her to remove your appendix. Or say if after Roberts’ seizure on July 30, 2007 his anti-convulsant therapy was overseen by the hospital administrator because he/she could read the label as well as anyone.
The Court leaves to the warden and deputy warden the determination of whether the prisoner is unconscious within 60 seconds of the injection of sodium thiopental and if not “a new dose will be given at a secondary injection site before the second and third drugs are administered.” In other words, the Court leaves to non-medical personnel a medical assessment and determination. Can these people really determine or know how to determine if the prisoner is stuporous, lightly comatose, or deeply comatose?
This brings up the use of the second drug pancuronium bromide. If the prisoner is indeed completely unconscious, what need is there for the use of a muscle relaxant to produce a flaccid paralysis? This is especially important because injection of the third drug in a conscious if paralyzed patient would be accompanied by extreme burning in the injected vein. Additionally, the paralytic action of the first drug could cause a smothering sensation as well.
The legal arguments fare no better. There is a Twilight Zone quality about them. Roberts, Kennedy, and Alito affirm that “To constitute cruel and unusual punishment, an execution method must present a “substantial” or “objectively intolerable” risk of serious harm.” Being killed is not harm, good to know.
Justice Stevens argues “Moreover, although experience demonstrates that imposing that penalty constitutes the pointless and needless extinction of life with only negligible social or public returns, this conclusion does not justify a refusal to respect this Court’s precedents upholding the death penalty and establishing a framework for evaluating the constitutionality of particular execution methods.” So although he thinks the death penalty is idiotic, Stevens supports it because of the Court’s long history of supporting idiocy.
Thomas and Scalia cite Wilkerson v. Utah to argue that an 8th Amendment violation can only come about if the execution is “deliberately designed to inflict pain,” that is incidental pain even if it is excruciating is OK.
The seventh justice Breyer takes a more Pontius Pilate approach. He has concerns about the method of execution and about the death penalty in general but not enough to vote no.
Supreme Court decisions on the death penalty have not, let us say, been felicitous, which makes some of the key decisions cited even more bizarre. Wilkerson v. Utah (1878) the first death penalty case the Court heard sanctioned death by firing squad because it did not inflict “pain for the sake of pain.” Wilkerson was duly shot but apparently did not die immediately. So there was something lingering, indeed “something inhuman and barbarous” and more than the mere extinguishment of life” about his death. Similarly, in Kemmler the first execution by electric chair, the Court upheld death by electrocution because it was created “in the effort to devise a more humane method of reaching the result.” It was in fact a sales gimmick by Thomas Edison to promote electricity (of the direct current kind). Kemmler (1890) was fried for 17 seconds. The smell was so bad that some of the witnesses had to leave. He was pronounced dead until someone noticed he was still breathing, at which point electricity was again applied. Louisiana Ex Rel. Francis v. Resweber (1947) is another case cited where the electric chair did not kill the prisoner. The execution was stopped and the case was appealed in part on 8th Amendment grounds. The Court held that mishaps don’t count and Francis was executed a second time. It came out later that the executioners at the first execution were drunk.
You would think that this kind of judicial record would engender a certain humility, but you would be as wrong as this Supreme Court has been. What is at the heart of the current case Baze v. Rees is capital punishment involving a medical procedure performed by non-medical personnel with all the irreconcilable conflicts and questions that entails. The Court’s solution was not to confront this issue but to play doctor instead.

What fun!! Have a blast and bring back stories. Selise, RevDeb, and i attended Glenn’s book signing in Cambridge - his first book tour and we have pictures!!

FDL needs a web site for stuff like that, along with links to the PoliticsTV commentaries that our Illustrious Ladies did during the Libby trial, and other noteworthy and historical documents.

Bob in HI

Jane !

thank you. thank you so much for Kevin Phillips moderated by Dave no less - wow !

have fun tonight !

I’m bitter I can’t be there.

The Court held that mishaps don’t count and Francis was executed a second time. It came out later that the executioners at the first execution were drunk.

With regard to Bush, Cheney, the SC…I’ve long held that everyone involved is drunk; not just drunk with power, but stinkin’ meanass crazy drunk. Either that, or there really is something to the whole mass insanity deal.

You’re not going to turn to religion over it, are you?

New book is on way to my house.

Re-reading his last book in the meantime (Please, please, please, do not EVER put Bush on another one of your book jackets! I do not want to look at him - I have had to insert a piece of white paper over his face.)

Anyways, I hope the new one is as good as your previous, Glenn!

May you write many more! Or perhaps I should say - may your books become so successful that they put you out of business.

Got my copy today!

And Cliff’s McCain book yesterday.

Guess I know what I’ll be doing for the next few evenings…

I’ll be there tonight, too. And last night was a trip, watching Glenn tell various Blue Dogs about how the strategies they pursue in the pursuit of looking strong make them look weak. Quite a how!

And why not? I did.

Wish I could be there too. Gotta teach tonight and don’t have the time to drive to College Park tomorrow night. Any idea when Glenn is coming to the Philly area? We’ve got a GREAT indie bookstore here. One of the best I’ve been to next to Powells In Portland. And we could try to whip up a frenzy with the local (and growing) population of dems here.

Did they look like they were paying attention? Perhaps even learning something?

Excellent venue for a drink, at 17th & P Streets, a couple of blocks east of Dupont Circle. Close to the Metro for those who take Drinking Liberally literally. Hope to attend.

The only flight I can get out is on American……
Uh, oh!

Have a beer for me. I will still be pedalling *g*

If I can get there. You, too, booked on AA? It strikes me that it’s a “former” American airline as much as Bush’s DOJ is formerly a department of justice.

Any idea when “afterwards” will start? I’m not going to make it downtown until well after 7, and I’m trying to figure out which place to go to.

Any schedule of NYC appearances?

No, it was my dumb reference to barbara asking if I get a FDL parking space and me pointing out that Dave instituted a bicycle commute policy. See my #9 Above.

It’s all a joke.

Nope, I’m still on the Island of Long.

Ooh Ooh, I want to know that too!

I’m still on the Island of Long.

Is that close to the Islets of Langerhans?

No, nor guns. But I am discovering an antipathy to those unlike myself. Also, I oppose trade.

How did that come about exactly, the Blue Dog thing?

Glenn is #181 at Amazon and has 5 stars. Cliff is #306 and also has 5 stars. Great?
Got my two McC books yesterday and can’t wait to read.

Listening, yes. Learning? I define learning as leading to a change in behavior, so that jury is waaaaay out.

It wasn’t all Blue Dogs, but there were a number of them. It was a private promotional event set up by Glenn’s publicist. I came as Jane’s gay date to sample the hors-doevres.

Well, let’s hope it was active listening. We can hope, anyway.

Stay Away From The Cocktail Weenies!!!

Keep an eye on me, lest I become infected!

No chance of that happening. Not as long as Jane is around to keep you in line.

They are in your pancreas aren’t they?