The Absurdity of the Death Penalty Reaches New Heights

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” -  Gandalf the Grey in Lord of the Rings    

 

The absurdity of the death penalty was placed into sharp focus this morning.  In a nutshell, convicted murderer Carey Moore was able to acquire a stay of execution for the sixth time due to questions about the quality of one of the drugs used in a lethal injection execution.  As the drugs used are no longer being manufactured in the United States, and in this case were imported from India.  Mr. Moore's attorney has argued that since they were not manufactured in the States, the drugs don't meet US pharmaceutical guidelines. 
 

Obviously, one has to question how this could cause a stay- what's the worst that could happen to someone who is being put to death?  Amazing that we were frying people a few years back, and now the state is not able to administer a lethal injection because the criminal has concerns about the quality of the drugs being used to put him to death.  Absurd.  Unfortunately, it's another absurdity in what is an absurd practice. 

Legislative Roundup 5/24/2011

Something I am going to do now and in the future is to track some of the legislation making its way through the Nebraska legislature and analyze its impact on our freedom and whether or not it appears to be a waste of money, among other things. What needs to be understood about legislators in general is that they are by their nature motivated to create and pass legislation. If there is a problem, somebody somewhere expects the government to do something about it, and legislators are only too happy to oblige. The effectiveness of this legislation often leaves something to be desired, and frequently does nothing but limit freedom for everyone or waste finite resources. So I would like to track legislation so that I can get an idea of how much of it is actually useful legislation that improves our state, and how much of it we could do without. Anyway, in this and future Legislative Roundups, bills will be judged on whether they waste time, resources and restrict freedom, among other criteria. With that explanation out of the way, let’s take a look and some current legislation.

Stunning Incompetence by OPS Officials

This fledgling blog has only been in operation for a few months and already I find myself having to criticize Omaha’s local public education system for the second time. This time it is due to a much more egregious display of incompetence. A teacher at Hale Middle School named Shad Knutson was accused multiple times of sexual advances toward his students, and the response of OPS was to keep him on the job, citing a lack of evidence. Last I checked the touching of breasts and verbal sexual advances will almost never leave physical evidence unless one of the girls was wearing a hidden camera in her blouse so that seems like a ridiculous reason for not taking steps to have Knutson permanently relieved of his duties. The OWH article is a little unclear to me but it seems OPS was aware of multiple accusations against Knutson and yet took very little action in response. In fact, they did not report the allegations to law enforcement despite the fact that it is against the law not to do so. Of course I’m not naïve enough to think charges will actually be brought against the administrators who broke the law. (I could go on a long tangent about how ridiculous that is but I don’t want to digress from the main topic at hand.)

Now I would agree you have to be careful about firing a teacher after one accusation because it is entirely possible that one student may be lying, but multiple accusations would seem to provide adequate evidence that a teacher is in fact guilty of the alleged transgressions and should therefore not be allowed to continue to teach. OPS did not see it this way and after a few paid vacations Knutson was back on the job. Fortunately the law became involved after a parent of one of the victims notified Child Protective Services and strangely enough law enforcement did find sufficient reason to arrest Knutson on three felony counts of third-degree sexual assault.

So the question I want to address is, why did OPS administrators continue to aid Knutson in his crimes? I hate to blame the teacher’s union for this (just kidding, I love blaming unions) but it seems like unions promote this idea that teachers (or cops) need to be protected above all else, with little concern for the public. Administrators need to be reminded that first and foremost our education system was created to educate our youth, not as a make-work program to provide teachers with jobs. The goal is to educate our youth and to do so in an environment that is safe and conducive to learning. Needless to say having sexual predators teaching young boys and girls does not exactly fit that ideal. So if teachers are incompetent or criminal they should lose their jobs. It is really as simple as that. A friend of mine told me about a coworker of his who told a female coworker something sexually suggestive that is far too filthy to repeat here, and do you know what happened to him? He was fired! The only difference seems to be that my friend works in the private sector for a non-unionized company. I don’t know what it is about the public sector and unions that cause people to become so myopic to the point where they will let a sexual predator continue to teach, but I would love to see the law bring down the hammer on these administrators to help them see the light.

Gas N Go's--- Again?

I'm sorry, but is there a more tired story than the old "gas prices are high and drive-offs are up" piece?  I guess I don't see how this is possible since every station I fill up at is either a pre-pay affair, or you slide your card before you pump.  So if people are driving off from your station, it's probably your fault as a station owner.  Nonetheless, our friends at KETV made sure to trot this story out- I guess it's a sloooooooow news week as they seem a little late on this- prices went up a while ago. 

DUI Law: Too Strict or Not Strict Enough?

There are two bills making the rounds in the Nebraska Legislature regarding drunken-driving laws, and I feel I need to cover an issue I have with our current drunken-driving laws that have been highlighted by these bills and give my opinion on what is being proposed in these two bills. First let me say, the problem with an issue like drunken-driving is that when a horrific accident occurs everybody remembers it and responds to it, but the hundreds of times that someone drives above the legal limit and arrives at their destination without incident, there is no subsequent article in the newspaper, nor legislation passed in response to it. Legislation in response to tragedy is notoriously a bad idea. That being said I don’t have a problem with new legislation in this area of law and in the case of Bill 675 I wonder if it goes far enough. Before I get to that, I want to address one issue I have with our current law that will be even more of a problem if the other DUI bill, LB 667 is passed.

According to this article by Martha Stoddard, “under current law, people arrested on suspicion of drunken driving receive a 30-day temporary driver’s license, followed by a 90-day license revocation.” My issue is obviously with the idea that punishment is being meted out to people who have been arrested on the suspicion of a crime, rather than after being convicted of the crime. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that “no person … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” In layman’s terms this means that citizens of this country should not be punished until convicted by a court of law. Ideas like these are what separate this country from tyrannical regimes like those in the Middle East that are fortunately being overthrown as we speak. I understand that if this is the one and only case of punishment before conviction it is not anything to get too worked up about, odds are if somebody was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving they were more than likely guilty of that crime anyway, but I hate to bend at all on an issue like this that has such a fundamental importance to our country. Legislative Bill 667 proceeds further in this direction as it basically requires ignition interlock devices to be installed by those individuals arrested for drunken driving, with the cost being born by those individuals, so I am against passage of this bill.

Regarding LB 675, let me start by saying that I am all about the rights of the individual to life, liberty and property. Usually my focus is on the government threatening to impinge on those rights as you have seen and will see throughout the life of this blog. However, individuals can just as easily take those rights away from others and I want equally to ensure that they are not allowed to do so. LB 675 “would set a two-year minimum prison sentence for people convicted of fifth-offense driving under the influence” as well as doubling fines for convictions, among other things. I actually question whether this goes far enough. A two year minimum penalty for a fifth-offense DUI seems too lenient. Remember, if someone drives drunk they do not always cause a wreck, at the same time they do not always get caught. If someone gets caught for a third and fourth and fifth time, they have driven drunk far more than that. These people are a danger to society and a danger to deprive others of their life and property when they inevitably cause accidents while driving drunk. I would rather see two years for a fourth offense and even longer for a fifth. That being said I understand that .08% Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) being the legal limit is bogus. You can have that level of BAC and be a perfectly good driver. So I would be lenient on drivers who get caught operating a motor vehicle at that state of inebriation. But if somebody is getting caught for DUI 3 or more times, they are not mildly drunk, they are the swerving in and out of lanes, running red lights, seeing double level of drunk and that is why they are getting caught that many times, and those people need to be severely punished.

A Solar Eyesore

Don't you dare use this for energy in South Shore Heights.

As someone who is very interested in so-called "alternative" energy sources and green power sources, I was naturally curious when I saw that World-Herald columnist tackled an issue related to solar power.  To those who may have missed it, Omaha resident Tim Adams recently installed $40,000 worth of solar panels to his home.  Not only is he entirely powering his home with these panels (and it appears to be a rather large home compared to the average home), but he is able to sell back power that he doesn't use to OPPD.  Usually, something like this would be a feel good story and a bit of light news about emerging technologies that are slowly but surely changing the way we live our lives.

Unfortunately, the homeowner's board in his neighborhood sees this as an eyesore and is telling him to remove the panels or be sued.  Long story short, they picked on the wrong guy and he has decided to take his fight public by purchasing two billboards at a total cost of $15,000 protesting their decision (hey, it beats paying for a "World Ends on May 21st" billboard).  Robert Nelson addressed this much better than I could, but long story short I wanted to use my minor forum to say that I support Mr. Adams fully in his endeavor.

I completely understand the point of having covenants and holding homes in a neighborhood to a standard.  I've seen first-hand how one bad home can bring a neighborhood down.  And I understand that many neighborhoods want to ensure that all of the homes remain some shade of beige.  But surely they can see this is beyond ridiculous.  First off, I doubt they have a leg to stand on as in no way does this lower the value of the home- in fact, it does exactly the opposite (link).  Secondly, we need people who can afford to purchase solar panels to do so and install them.  The technology is getting very close to the point where many Americans can see short-term savings- the more people buy them, the quicker the price will go down.  And lastly, the look of the house is not compromised- I mean, we're talking about covering up roof shingles- hardly the best thing on the house.  Looking at the photo attached to the story, everything was installed very neatly and professionally.  It's not like there are loose wires hanging everywhere. 

Going forward, I think the neighborhood would be better off in making sure everyone gets their Christmas lights down by the first of July instead of bothering someone who is trying to live a sustainable lifestyle.  I would like to thank Mr. Adams for his efforts, and Mr. Nelson for bringing his story to our attention, and I wish Mr. Adams luck in his struggle with the South Shore Heights homeowner's board.

CIR Reform: Failure in the Legislature

You Shall Not Pass!!! … legislation eliminating the Commission of Industrial Relations and ending collective bargaining in the state of Nebraska. The news in the OWH today is that opponents of the CIR have abandoned their efforts to eliminate this Commission. This just so happens to be the result I expected all along. I’m a political neophyte and I saw this coming. What were the various chambers of commerce thinking in fighting this losing battle? I admire their willingness to stick to their beliefs about the best possible solution to our public labor issues, but there is a time for sticking to principles and a time to understand the political realities, so it comes as no surprise that they failed to eliminate collective bargaining in this state. In my previous post I stated “I only hope that given a failed attempt to eliminate the CIR completely we don’t end up without any reform.” That concern has only increased after yesterday’s failure. It is noted in the OWH article that this decision came after seven hours of debate. I can’t help but wonder what meaningful progress could have occurred in that time to reform the CIR. Only time will tell if any reform will make its way through the legislature.