Obama’s Whacky Death Penalty Policy

Let me first say that I am currently giving Obama my support (though only begrudgingly) in his run for the presidency, but I also believe that in transparency and honesty.

I’ve heard claims, and in the past even leveled them myself, that Obama has no real views, only charisma. Although I don’t deny that he is a steaming pile of charisma, I was surprised by his wikipedia page which proved that he did have some actual complete and complex political positions.

The position that shocked me the most was Obama’s support of the death penalty. I understand why some people support the death penalty, and a view either way probably wouldn’t be the deciding factor in my vote, but I personally oppose it. If Obama supported the death penalty only for serial killers or he had some other concrete ideas of when the death penalty should be implemented, that would be perfectly acceptable for me.

Instead, Obama wrote in his latest book, The Audacity of Hope, that although he death penalty is overused, used inconsistently and doesn’t actually deter crime, he would support the death penalty for cases “so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment.”

In this case, Obama’s position is completely absurd. The way I interpret that quote, Obama says we should measure the criminal’s punishment by how angry people are at him. This is fundamentally perverting our justice system. A criminal’s punishment should be based on the crime, but not on the emotions of those involved in the case. It isn’t giving the murderer a fair trial if his punishment is based on emotions and public pressure put on the judge instead of the acts he has committed. In addition, it will cause the death penalty to be used even more inconsistently as public opinion is fickle, while a judge hopefully is not. Read more

Hillary’s Record: Progressive Enough?

Since Sen. Hillary Clinton has based much her presidential campaign around the notion of experience and asked voters to closely examine who has the best record, I think it’s fair if we do precisely that.

Top 10 things you might not know about Hillary Clinton’s record. She has:

10. Supported the death penalty throughout her public life and lobbied for Bill Clinton’s crime bill, which expanded the list of crimes subject to the federal death penalty.

9. Sponsored legislation in December 2005 to criminalize flag burning, despite concerns over first amendment violations raised by fellow Democrats.

8. Supported Arkansas’s law requiring parental notification before an abortion, but changed her position on the issue in 2005.

7. Campaigned as a teenager for Republican Barry Goldwater during the 1964 presidential election, and served as president of the Wellesley Young Republicans during college.

6. Hired union-busting pollster Mark Penn as her presidential campaign’s chief strategist. Penn’s corporate clients have included Blackwater, Countrywide Financial,Texaco, and Monsanto.

5. In October 2007, Hillary was the only Democratic presidential candidate to vote in favor of a Senate resolution to label Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, essentially giving President Bush a blank check to attack Iran.

4. In her 2006 Senate re-election campaign, Hillary received more money from the health care industry than any other U.S. Senator besides Republican Sen. Rick Santorum.

3. Served on the board of Wal-Mart for six years from 1986 to 1992.

2. In 2007 alone, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign received over $400,000 in campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists, more than any other Democratic candidate.

1. Voted on October 11, 2002, to authorize the Iraq war.

Hillary Clinton is a very accomplished woman who has been a tremendous leader on many important issues, but is she really the kind of progressive change that America needs in this election?

Sources are below the fold.
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End Poverty, End Most of America’s Problems

Conservatives look at the moral issues of our time as the following: making abortions illegal, outlawing gay marriage, keeping capital punishment, and passing stricter laws that would forbid consensual underage sex. They don’t understand that there is a deeper root of the problem causing these issues. You have to look at the source of the problem, not just the problem itself. Read more

Texas Murders 400th Criminal

On Wednesday August 22 at 6:20 PM Johnny Connor was pronounced dead. But this man was not ill, he had no diseases, Johnny was murdered. Not by a private citizen, or by a gang, but by the State of Texas. This is the 400th such murder that Texas has carried out. Read more