Okay, Weiner's Gone Now.......

........a loss of a very talented individual that never hesitated to say what needed to be said in congress.  I will miss him but he was an idiot beyond politics and rendered himself useless in the causes he held dear.  His next trial is in his marriage and I hope that isn't another 24 hrs a day news cycle event.

Sooooo, how come Vitter is still in office?

30 Day Reprieve Upsets "Kill" Schedule

Texas Justice Dept Photo; Cleve Foster

Mr Foster (pictured) was scheduled to be executed this evening in Texas and got a 30 day reprieve from the US Supreme Court to allow time for a review on specifics of the case against him.  A reprieve for different reasons was sought in Texas but denied at all levels and apparently not considered in the reprieve from the SCOTUS.

The reprieve from Texas wasn't about guilt or innocence but about a change in the execution procedure to substitute pentobarbital for sodium thiopental as it is no longer produced in the US.  Apparently the change was made without consulting Pharmaceutical or medical professions in order to meet the scheduled execution date (today).

Mr Foster is bad guy.  He's probably guilty of the murder he was convicted of (although there is some doubt....read the first link) but that doesn't excuse hustling this thing just to meet a damn schedule!  Now that there's a 30 day stop because of the SCOTUS ruling,  I wonder if the Texas Dept of Justice will use it to review their "kill" method?

One Hundred Years After, Something You Need to Know

Friday, March 25th marks the 100th anniversary of the "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire" where 146 people, 129 women and 17 men, mostly Jewish and Italian immigrants 16 to 23 years old, either leaped or burned to death as a result of a fire when their escape was blocked by locked doors on the 8th, 9th and 10th floors of the Asch Building.  The scene was horrific;

One Saturday afternoon in March of that year — March 25, to be precise — I was sitting at one of the reading tables in the old Astor Library... It was a raw, unpleasant day and the comfortable reading room seemed a delightful place to spend the remaining few hours until the library closed. I was deeply engrossed in my book when I became aware of fire engines racing past the building. By this time I was sufficiently Americanized to be fascinated by the sound of fire engines. Along with several others in the library, I ran out to see what was happening, and followed crowds of people to the scene of the fire. A few blocks away, the Asch Building at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street was ablaze. When we arrived at the scene, the police had thrown up a cordon around the area and the firemen were helplessly fighting the blaze. The eighth, ninth, and tenth stories of the building were now an enormous roaring cornice of flames.
Word had spread through the East Side, by some magic of terror, that the plant of the Triangle Waist Company was on fire and that several hundred workers were trapped. Horrified and helpless, the crowds — I among them — looked up at the burning building, saw girl after girl appear at the reddened windows, pause for a terrified moment, and then leap to the pavement below, to land as mangled, bloody pulp. This went on for what seemed a ghastly eternity. Occasionally a girl who had hesitated too long was licked by pursuing flames and, screaming with clothing and hair ablaze, plunged like a living torch to the street. Life nets held by the firemen were torn by the impact of the falling bodies.
The emotions of the crowd were indescribable. Women were hysterical, scores fainted; men wept as, in paroxysms of frenzy, they hurled themselves against the police lines.

LABOR UNIONS:  We needed them then and need them now.

In the Triangle Factory tragedy, locked doors blocking exits were an effort to stop union organizers.  In the aftermath of this event the International Ladies Garments Workers Union (ILGWU) was formed as was the American society of Safety Engineers, which later precipitated OSHA.  If you think unions aren't important because you aren't in one, then think again.  Unions gave all labor, union or not, advantages like the 40 hour work week, health and retirement benefits, and safer working conditions.  Unions provide labor a collective voice that is not otherwise available to counter unfair labor practices by management.  Without this voice, labor is reduced to the odd solo voice in the wind and carries little or no weight against unfair practices which even in today's working environment can create an environment for accidents and loss of life.  The cost for unfair/unsafe labor practice, at home or abroad, is something we all pay one way or another....for some, as those in the Triangle Factory, it's life or death.  Something to keep in mind in light of recent events in Minnesota.

H/Tip to Tengrain and Blue Gal

Flying Fortress over Willis

Heard the unmistakable sound of radial engines overhead this morning and a little later while running some errands saw a B17 low over the south horizon.  Montgomery County Airport lies there so I took the short trip over to see what I could see.  I didn't have quality video gear with me (which makes since as I don't own any!) so I took these two videos with my cell phone. 
Quality being what it is I've attached is photo of the actual machine in the vids.

75 years ago, the Boeing Airplane CompanyB-17 for a contract that called for 200 of the aircraft, and by the end of production, Boeing had built a total of 6,981 B-17s. The Douglas Aircraft Company and the Vega Aircraft Corporation (a subsidiary of the Lockheed Aircraft Company) together built another 5,745 B-17sBoeing. designed the under license from

“Texas Raiders” was built in 1944 by the Douglas Aircraft Company at their Long Beach, CaliforniaU.S. Army Air Corps as B-17G-95-DL 44-83872. Her fuselage number was 2987, and factory number was 32513. Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) had past, and the USAAC did not have a need for more of the heavy bombers, so on July 21 of 1945, all 20 of these Douglas B-17s were transferred to the U.S. Navy to serve as PB-1W Patrol Bombers. B-17GU.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics Number (BuNo) 77235. plant. Built under contract number AC-1862, she was one of the last 20 B-17s built by Douglas and was delivered on July 12, 1945 to the #44-83872 was assigned the the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics Number (BuNo) 77235.

Only 13 - 14 of these left flying today so it was a rare treat to see first hand.  I stuck around after taking the videos so I could savor the visual event without being hampered by aiming a phone and it did a few more takeoffs and landings.....very cool!

Fisting, No it Aint What You Think, It's Worse

I don't watch Beck, and I've tried......really, just in the interest of the "train wreck" aspect of it all....sad but compelling, Charlie Sheen like, if you will.  I find this idiot  (Beck, not Sheen...well Sheen too but that's another issue)  more offensive than Hannity or even Limbaugh, and that's saying something.  Regardless, dig this.... shamelessly ripped off from Joe. My. God.

Opression, Better late Than Never

I can't handle this sort of pressure.  Besides all my other problems, shortcomings, and faults,  acquired through years of practice and patience, now it seems I'm oppressed for being a white male as well.  I guess it's easy for this sort of thing to sneak up one.  Fortunately, others are out there on the vanguard to spot these things for those of us that don't have the advantage of previous oppression in our heritage.  The newly formed "Former Majority Association for Equality" is that vanguard.   Catchy F/Book logo!

They're a Texas based non-profit group in San Marcos offering $500 scholarships to white male students as we are now part of the minority here in Texas.  Probably Obama's fault as the last census results show non-Hispanic whites only make up only 45% of the population.  The scholarship doesn't appear to apply to white females even though they are probably a part of that 45% but hey, that only means I still get to oppress someone while I'm being oppressed........take that my white sisters...and get me a beer dammit!

On the positive side, my recent absence from blogging I owe to my return to college.  Willis can now not only get a scholarship, soon I'll be able to pack heat on campus as well!  About time dammit...every fetus should have the right to bear arms.

Texas,  what a country!

Miss Me Yet?

NO...Not Now, Not Ever, thanks so much for asking!

In December 2008, during this idiot's lame duck period (one could argue that, in deference to ducks, the "lame" portion of his administration started in 2000...but I digress), he issued a stack of "sweeping" rules for health care workers allowing them to refuse to take part in any care they considered contrary to their religious beliefs. 

"The astonishingly broad and far-sweeping reach of the regulations extended beyond reproductive healthcare, such as sterilization and abortion, to cover areas such as end-of-life directives, care of patients with HIV, and even use of psychiatric medicines"

The Obama administration has issue new regulations to fix this final kiss off from from GW.  

Small but important things happen from time to time.  Sometimes even in favor of people over beliefs. 

Texas' First Execution for 2011

Tim Adams is the convicted man to be executed tomorrow.  See the post prior to this one for details on his case.  On the face of it, I never really had a problem with the death penalty.  I always felt comfortable with at least the notion that if I was ever in a jury where I had to make that choice, I could do it without losing sleep.  The facts would always be clear enough.   Not so much any more.  I heard a quote by actor George Hamilton a while back, something to the effect "That now that I'm old enough to finally get my head together, my ass is falling apart" which seemed appropriate one begins to comprehend that there are always mitigating circumstances to any situation.  In Tim Adams case, those mitigating circumstances should allow his death penalty to be commuted to "life".

I've attached some quotes to show how some famous folks feel about this...

"People who are well represented at trial do not get the death penalty ... I have yet to see a death case among the dozens coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-execution stay applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial." Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court.

"Where would Christianity be if Jesus got eight to fifteen years with time off for good behavior?" NY State Senator James Donovan, speaking in support of capital punishment.

"I like it the way it is." Comment by Governor George W. Bush of Texas at the time that a law prohibiting execution of the mentally disadvantaged was defeated.

"Capital punishment is our society’s recognition of the sanctity of human life." Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

"The death penalty is a poor person's issue. Always remember that: after all the rhetoric that goes on in the legislative assemblies, in the end, when the deck is cast out, it is the poor who are selected to die in this country." Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J.


Update:  The "mitigating circumstances" were not as I thought they were.  See the update to the previous post.  And, this was the second execution this year for Texas...not the first as stated in the title.  My feelings about the death penalty remain unchnaged and the quotes still seem appropriate.

Any Killing is Too Much

This is Timothy Adams, age 42.  He's scheduled to be executed here in Texas on February 22nd after being convicted of murdering his 19 month old son in Houston on February 20, 2002.

Adams and his wife were having problems and a few days before the date of the murder, his wife left him taking their child with her. She returned on the 20th to pick up her belongings and was confronted by Adams.  She called the police but during the confrontation, Adams shot at her.  She fled leaving the child behind.  In a stand off with police, Adams was suicidal though was eventually talked into surrendering and was arrested. His child had already been shot.

Adams really screwed up, I mean criminal level type screw ups.  Shooting at someone, even if you miss would seem to be "attempted murder" or similar (willis is no lawyer)....accidentally killing someone other than your intended victim is hardly a good defense.  Adams admitted guilt when he was arrested and also plead "guilty" at his trial.  He had no prior criminal record.  Regardless, at the sentencing portion of his trial he was determined to be a risk to society (by the jury) which is a prerequisite for the death penalty in Texas and there wasn't "mitigating evidence" to warrant a life sentence.

Adams has a father, brother, sister and 20-something old son from previous marriage all begging for commuting the death penalty. Additionally, at least three of the original jurors also agree with this sentiment based on further knowledge of Adams history and no disciplinary infractions since incarcerated.

A very sad story where nobody wins.  I question why the death penalty is the default option when "prerequisites" to it are met and "mitigating" evidence isn't apparent?  Seems to me that "life" would be the default sentence until the absolute certainty of mitigating circumstances are not an issue....after all, death is pretty fucking absolute isn't it! I've been on a criminal jury before and know you get pulled in and out of the courtroom while they decide what you can legally hear.  What happens if "mitigating circumstances" become apparent after conviction or worse, aren't even heard?  Why is the jury allowed to decide a penalty like "death" without hearing everything?

More importantly,  why are we killing people? 
Willis

Update:  willis had this wrong.  This guy apparently held his child hostage and killed him in cold blood not an accident as I stated in the original post.  The accidental angle was an interpretation of the reports I read before posting this.
I don't agree with the death penalty regardless.  It doesn't look like it was a real deterrent in this case.

Gov Perry Opens the Door For Beck

Governor/Secessionist/idiot Rick Perry continues to embarrass the state of Texas by making Glenn Beck an honorary Texan.  I'm more than a little offended by this move as it amounts to an amnesty for Beck.  While the rest of us had to wait to achieve residency, Beck has it handed to him making in-state college tuition cheaper as well as allowing him to use our unemployment benefits. 

Drill When?

Regarding the natural disaster we are creating in the Gulf of Mexico. The Exxon Valdez had a capacity of 1.26 million barrels of oil when it ran aground in March of `89 resulting in it's "spill" though not all of that capacity was leaked. At the rate the sunken oil rig in the gulf is "spilling", it'll take a little over 3 weeks to equal the Valdez in scope without regard for lives lost.

Don't seem to hear much from the "drill here, drill now" crowd lately.

Good On The Health Care!

I'm really happy over the passing of the health care bill finally, as this was truly a case where private enterprise failed when left to its own devices. The icing on the cake I believe will be the hole dug by those who opposed the bill and I'm looking forward to watching all the explanations and excuses now that the commies have taken over and it didn't hurt. Even more to be pleased about is Rush Limbaugh making good on his promise to leave the country....surely he wouldn't lie about a thing like that would he?

Fortunately, It's Not About Gays Trying To Marry

James Wallace Fall is 58, lives in Minnesota and is married ...........twice........to his 10 year old niece (now 19) and her aunt.  He defended his actions to the police explaining that it was God's will that he take his niece.  It isn't clear when this guy relocated to Minnesota from Texas (`cause he must have come from down here) but at least he didn't catch "the gay"....God would really be pissed.

A Friend I Never Knew

I'm not real good at this but that really doesn't matter as it isn't about me.  I never knew Jon Swift personally but I would've liked to.  He has a great blog, was a gifted writer, and suddenly stopped posting a year ago for unknown reasons.  The subject of his last post would be enough for anyone to make a change, I don't know.  Jon Swift's real name was Al Weisel and he died on Feburary 27th, this year on his way to his father's funeral.  His Mother annouced the news of his death in the "comments" to his last blog post.

"Sometimes, there aren't words".... But in reality these aren't those times, dammit,  Go to the link above and read what he wrote.  Damn, he's good and I'll remember him for the thrill of reading him!

Jon Swift: Sometimes There Are No Words

Jon Swift: Sometimes There Are No Words
And sometimes "there are no words".....

"Xe" Are On The Road Again

So now Iraq is kicking out the "Xe" security folks in their country allowing them a couple of days to pack.  Seriously, can't we just change their name?  That seemed to help their image over here.

Gettin Our Maverick On

Part time governor, full time idiot, and occasional truth assassin on Fox "News" is in Texas stumping for secessionist/governor Rick Perry yesterday and today.  Fresh from a tea-bagging event (let your imagination run with it) her visit here only makes sense as we too don't require facts to get all mavericky and stuff and we love us some Palin!  Not that her visit here is a big deal but I wanted to post what I heard from a woman being interviewed on the local news yesterday. She apparently couldn't decide between Kay Baily (R-lying douche) or Rick Perry for Texas governor until she heard Palin endorse Perry and she's all Perry now bitches!

No wonder Texas is in a never ending shit storm against its own middle class when the middle class doesn't know enough to even consider alternatives to the same crap that have resulted in things like keeping 30% of  Texans without health insurance (or other equally appalling metrics like national education rankings, etc.).  Palin makes her mark like Perry, Kay Bailey, and numbers of others always have: incite the crowd to feed on the belief that everything wrong is the result of things like bad border security, Washington interference, and liberals instead of the asshole you put in office.

And another thing....how come Palin is addressed as "Governor"?  She quit that job so that shit should stop...just sayin.

Phelps, Bringin It To Houston!

Yep, we haven't had this much hate in town since Sean Hannity's "Freedom Concert" last summer. Thank God the folks from Westboro Baptist came through to give us that "Fred bounce"! Not sure if everyone knows but the city of Houston had the nerve to elect an open gay mayor right here in the middle of the Republic of East Texas (land of Cornyn, Kay Bailey, Tom Delay, Dick Armey, Bush(s)...I could go on). Annise Parker's swearing in ceremony was held today and the Phelps clan drove all the way down from Topeka to bless the occasion.

Good on Houston for electing someone on issues instead of fear/hate or other stupidity driven factors. And, good on Houston as well for takin one for the country because if the Phelps bunch is down here, they aren't fuckin up something somewhere else.

Politics suck, this should help!

willis is pretty much disgusted with everything political so I'm counting on the joy of the season to help my mood.....who better than muppets to bring cheer to anyone. Let me be the first to wish anyone that passes this way, Have a Very Merry One!

Invite Glenn Beck for Dinner? This would be the same and easier to stomach.

Shamelessly ripped off from The Chive.