March 17, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
March 17 is … Submarine Day. Is it a yellow day?
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! “Top of the mornin’ to ya’” “And the balance of the day to you.”
Lester Holt and his crew have been exposed to radiation while covering the stories in Japan. Duh! What do you think Les, the laws of science and physics don’t apply to American news journalists. Before you try it Lester, I will clue you in. If you jump in front of a bullet, you will be shot. No charge for the heads up. Just doing my part for the news media.
I occasionally will revisit subjects previously written about. I try to stay fresh, current and informative. It appears my earlier observation concerning the information being released by the Japanese government was accurate. The Pentagon is now voicing concerns that the Japanese authorities are holding back critical information, trying to downplay this catastrophe. The Japanese authorities still have a mind-set the Emperor can do no wrong. Everyone else apologizes profusely, almost as much as President Obama but the government has a problem admitting fault.
A few days ago, I wrote about Lisa Madigan and her crusade against gun owners and gun ownership. A new twist has developed I that story but no Illinois official will ever admit to any linkage. As reported in The Huffington Post and other news sites, a change in state police policy could create problems for Amish gun-owners in Illinois, as a rule requiring photos to be on gun-owner ID cards will soon be applied to their community. As the log Amish America, who knew that existed, wrote Monday, many Amish people use guns to hunt deer and other game, and to disperse "varmints." The Amish are also known for being uncomfortable with photography, especially posed photography, which they believe leads to idolatrous vanity, according to AmishNews.com. So, now-departed Illinois State Police director Jonathan Monken's decision requiring the Amish to have a photo on their new Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) cards could put Amish hunters in a bind. "A lot of the Amish hunt and they usually use squirrel or rabbit rifles to bring some food back home," Douglas County Sheriff Charles McGrew told the Mattoon Journal-Gazette. Douglas County is the center of Illinois's Amish population. "Their big concern is this means they won't be able to purchase guns or ammo."
Leaders of the community met with their state legislators to work on negotiating a compromise that would allow Amish people to receive non-photo IDs. Pennsylvania and Ohio, the two states with the largest Amish populations in the country, both allow for such an exception on state documents when religious beliefs forbid a person from having his or her photo taken. One source of frustration among the Amish community and its lawmakers: Monken handed down the decision about the FOID cards on his last day as director of the State Police. "It was unfair for him to do this on the same day he was leaving," state Rep. Chapin Rose, a Republican from Mahomet, Illinois said. I agree. It would seem Lisa Madigan got word to this coward, Jonathon Monken, to issue this order which reverses long–standing policy. It was obvious this decision would lead to a policy fight and chicken-boy Monken is not around to defend his decision. He probably took his Illinois pension and went to Arizona.
This is likely an issue of religious beliefs and practices. The recent past has seen Muslim women try to have their State ID or driver’s license picture taken in their traditional full face Niqab. The Courts have said no. The idea behind the picture is identification. If one cannot see the face of the person on the idea, the purpose of the identification is defeated. If this goes to Court, the Amish will likely lose this fight. It is not a legal defense or winning argument to say we just like the peace loving Amish more than the Muslims so they should get a pass. That is what should be done but it more than likely won’t be done.
I did not know the Amish used computers or had web sites but I never looked for them either. The Amish also blog but we are not going for the same audience. Our demographics are different.
The federal government now has Agency heads, unelected bureaucrats, making decisions on capital punishment. This has to stop immediately. The states have rights. The federal government should provide a defense to international borders, not get involved in every aspect of citizens daily life or the business of the states. All Georgia executions are off after federal drug agents seized the state's supply of a sedative used in lethal injections that has been challenged by capital punishment critics and death-row inmates, including a man recently executed who called the British exporter of the drug a "fly-by-night supplier." Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Chuvalo Truesdell wouldn't say exactly why Georgia's supply of sodium thiopental was taken Tuesday, just that "we had questions about how the drug was imported to the U.S." The sedative is part of a three-drug cocktail used in executions that has been in short supply since the sole U.S. manufacturer stopped making it. No more execution dates in Georgia have been scheduled and it's unlikely any will be set before the issue is resolved. Georgia Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Lauren Kane said prosecutors couldn't ask a judge to set executions if corrections officials didn't have the necessary supplies to carry one out. Georgia's stockpile of the drug has been a target of death row inmates and capital punishment critics since corrections officials released documents this year showing the state obtained the drug from Link Pharmaceuticals, a firm purchased five years ago by Archimedes Pharma Limited. Both are British firms. The drug was used in January to execute Emmanuel Hammond, a 45-year-old man convicted for the 1988 shotgun slaying of an Atlanta preschool teacher. His attorneys sought a delay to gather more information on how the state obtained the drug, claiming in court documents it came from a "fly-by-night supplier operating from the back of a driving school in England." They said the drug could have been counterfeit. The U.S. Supreme Court, as well as lower courts, rejected Hammond's argument.
The state's stockpile came under more scrutiny in February when John Bentivoglio, a former deputy attorney general, asked the Justice Department to launch an investigation into whether state corrections officials violated federal law by not registering with the DEA when it imported its supply of sodium thiopental.
"The United States has strict drug import rules for a reason: To ensure drugs used for legitimate purposes are not adulterated, counterfeit, or diverted into the illicit market," said Bentivoglio, who is representing death row inmate Andrew Grant DeYoung. These drugs are imported to execute a convicted killer. Who cares if they are not real pure if they work. If they don’t, let’s just shoot the killer.
Joan Heath, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections, said state officials were not concerned with the quality of the drug and just wanted to make sure they were complying with the law.
The state's stockpile came under more scrutiny in February when John Bentivoglio, a former deputy attorney general, asked the Justice Department to launch an investigation into whether state corrections officials violated federal law by not registering with the DEA when it imported its supply of sodium thiopental.
"The United States has strict drug import rules for a reason: To ensure drugs used for legitimate purposes are not adulterated, counterfeit, or diverted into the illicit market," said Bentivoglio, who is representing death row inmate Andrew Grant DeYoung. These drugs are imported to execute a convicted killer. Who cares if they are not real pure if they work. If they don’t, let’s just shoot the killer.
Joan Heath, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections, said state officials were not concerned with the quality of the drug and just wanted to make sure they were complying with the law.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
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Growing old is mandatory.
Growing up is optional.
Growing up is optional.
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