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WHEN I'M WRONG, I'M WRONG

It looks like I missed on two predictions yesterday.  First, Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't grant clemency to the murderous Tookie Williams.  He was put to a much-deserved death last night.. It only took the State of California 24 years to carry out a sentence entered in 1981.  Williams should have been shot-gunned to death, the same way his victims did.  Second, there was no rioting in Los Angeles.  Everyone's flat-screen TV and Ibox seems to be safe, for now.  Someone correctly opined yesterday that it was too cold in Los Angeles for riots right now.  The Rodney King Riots were in late April of 1992, when things were a lot warmer in Southern California.  The infamous Watts riots were in August of 1965.  Thirty-four people died in those riots, and the temperatures were high.  Whatever the excuse, I got both predictions wrong.  We'll add these errors to my prediction that The Poodle was going to win the presidential election last year.  I'm standing by my victory for Hillary prediction ... for now.

By the way, did you notice some of the protest signs outside San Quentin yesterday?  Some of the sponsoring organizations were International A.N.S.W.E.R. and the Socialist Worker's Party.  Two peas in a pod.  I'm glad they were disappointed.

This morning CNN was asking the question "What did we gain by Tookie William's execution?"  The CNN anchor says the coverage of the execution was "gripping."  She talked about Tookie looking up in frustration because they couldn't get the IV into his arm.  Somehow the anchor didn't mention the look in the eyes of the couple that Williams shot while they were laying on their stomachs in a back room of their small hotel.  After about 30 minutes of CNN's "all Tookie all the time" it was time to switch to Fox.

OK ... I'll tell you what was gained by the execution.  First, Tookie Williams is no more.  Second, the sentence of a court of law has been carried out.  We have a government of law, and when the government follows that law, as it did in this execution, our entire society benefits. 

In the midst of this media orgy of sympathy for Tookie, a short review of just some of his criminal history might be in order:

Since the press won't bring you up to date, perhaps we can help out. Tookie was convicted of murdering 7-11 clerk Albert Owens by shooting him twice in the back with a shotgun.  Tookie bragged to his friends afterward that "you should have heard the way he sounded when I shot him," and then laughed about doing it.  Then there was the Yang family.  Tsai-Shai Yang, Yen-I Yang, and their daughter, Yee Chen Lin were immigrants from Taiwan...and they ran a motel in South Central Los Angeles.  That was, until Tookie came on the scene.  On March 11, 1979, Tookie kicked down the door to the motel office and shot all three and killed them, again with a shotgun.

So off Tookie went to death row.  But if you listen to the media, we're supposed to believe Tookie became an angel in prison, right?  Wrong...let's take a look at the Tookster's prison record and his "conversion."  But wait...if you listen to the Hollywood left, we're supposed to believe Tookie was a model prisoner...he's reformed! He's renounced his killing ways! Not if you look at the facts.

In 1981, Williams was caught beating up an other inmate with his fists, and ignored orders to stop.  In 1982, Williams refused to an order to line up...and told a guard "you'll get yours boy, I can do anything now because I know what the gunmen will do...one of these days I'll trick you boy."  Twice that same year, Tookie attacked guards with chemical substances.  In 1984, Tookie was back to beating up another inmate...and didn't stop until a guard fired a warning shot.  Also in 1984, Williams was caught making out with a female visitor.  He told the guard then "you are looking around too much and that's not your job. I have dusted many officers on the street, one more would not make any difference."  Sounds reformed to me.  But there's more...1986...he beat up another inmate.  1988..he was stabbed in retaliation for a stabbing he ordered of another inmate.  1991...Tookie was again caught beating up another inmate.  Same thing again in 1993. Get the idea?

It's nice to be wrong once in a while.

THE DEATH PENALTY

Every time one of these cases like Stanley Tookie Williams comes up, the media likes to somehow spin it as a controversy.  As the Associated Press put it in a story out today, they said the 'case stirred a national debate about capital punishment versus the possibility of redemption.'  Wrong.  It did not.  That debate has already been had and won by those who advocate the death penalty.  The only debate was the Hollywood leftists, assorted activist groups and other pro-Tookie groups advocating clemency for a serial killer.

The facts are the facts: most people support the death penalty.  Let's take a look at the numbers, shall we?  A Gallup poll conducted earlier this year found support for the death penalty at 74%.  Americans overwhelmingly support the death penalty.  The number would probably be much higher if people were given the details about cases with which there is no doubt of the guilt of the condemned.

What is ridiculous is the endless appeals which allow death row inmates to hang on for decades.  That's the problem....if a criminal is convicted and loses their appeals, they should check out.  That could be done in a relatively short period of time.

By the way, did you know 3 states still offer hanging as the method of execution?  You could put that on TV and give the money to the victims' families.  Just a thought.

LAYING KATRINA BLAME

More interesting news from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  The popular myth on the left about who was responsible for the botched response in New Orleans now seems to be shattered.  Instead of blaming George Bush and former FEMA head Mike Brown, it looks as though people are finally taking a look at Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco. 

Thirteen pages of e-mails released yesterday show just how concerned her staff was...about her image.  First off, they were concerned about who was in charge of things.  According to Democrats and the media, the federal government was supposed to be doing everything.  According to Blanco's staff, "The mayor is in charge of the city. The governor is in charge of the state and the guard and security."  They sure didn't do a very good job.

Then her staff was worried about how it would look when she was out of the state at the same time President Bush was visiting.  They said such a move "Reinforces the notion that she's not in charge and Louisiana needs to be federalized."  Federalizing the state would have helped, which would have helped the residents of New Orleans faster...but hey...politics and appearances are more important!

A press consultant weighed in....saying "Gov. Blanco might dress down a bit and look like she has rolled up her sleeves."  Once again, we learn the governor of Louisiana was more concerned about appearances at a time when people were suffering.  Nice going.  Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin testify in front of a House panel tomorrow.  That should be interesting.

If it comes out in those hearings that state and local officials were to blame for the slow Katrina response, expect the media to bury the story or not cover it at all.  If any Bush-bashing statements are made....it will be the top story.  Bush's poll numbers are rebounding...and a good shot of Katrina blame would bring them down.

Typical media bias...and the template in action.

THE FREE RIDE CONTINUES

A federal judge in Louisiana has ordered that FEMA continue to provide free hotel rooms for Katrina evacuees until at least February 7th.  In his ruling Judge Stanwood Duvall wrote "it is unimaginable what anxiety and misery these erratic and bizarre vacillations by FEMA have caused the victims, all of whom, for at least one point in time, had the very real fear of being without shelter for Christmas."  FEMA -- or, more accurately --- the American taxpayers are currently paying for 41,000 hotel rooms in 47 states and the District of Columbia.  You will find some ... and let's emphasize the some ... evacuees in these hotel rooms who have been working to find a job and to become self sufficient.  Some.  Damned few, in fact.  For the most part these are people who lived a parasitic lifestyle in New Orleans, and they have just spread their welfare mentality to the rest of the country.  They will continue to live off the taxpayers until they are forced to get out there and fend for themselves ... and there are "activists" aplenty who will work diligently to make sure that day never arrives. 

MICE WITH HUMAN BRAIN CELLS

Scientists at the Salk Institute in San Diego  have succeeded in breeding mice human brain cells.  It's all part of some research into Parkinson's disease. The mice were born with about 0.1% human brain cells in their heads.  Mice with human brain cells? that 0.1% should be just about enough to force them to form a union.  When they reach 18 in mouse years those that don't move to France will  register to vote Democratic.

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

You know, the Christmas spirit can be expressed in many different ways. More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Leftist Clinton appointee U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval is requiring FEMA to extend free housing for Katrina refugees by one month.  Millions of dollars of taxpayer money out the window...nice going, judge!

Nobel Appeasement Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei now knows exactly what the United States should do to reign in Iran's nuclear ambitions.  We should pay blackmail and promise a security guarantee.  Good plan...it worked in North Korea, right?  Well, not really.

A judge is clearing the way for the construction of 14 miles of border fencing in San Diego.  The Sierra Club was opposed...something about birds.  But this should keep out a few more illegal aliens.  How about a fence for the entire border?

A 15-year-old Pensacola, Florida student has scored with his 24-year-old teacher.  She doesn't look too bad....definitely not Debra LaFave territory.  Oh..and the teacher could face up to 15 years in prison on each count of lewd battery and sexual activity with a minor.

The booming economy is roaring along...but you'd never know it watching the media.  Senator Jon Kyl has facts and figures to combat the liberal myths of a recession.

The media has gone into overdrive to make it look like we're losing the war in Iraq.  Thomas Sowell would like to remind people that both sides of a war usually suffer casualties.

Virginia House Republican Eric Cantor talks about the out-of-control government spending and says it's time to restore fiscal sanity.  He also has a short lesson on how spending on the Hill works.

Hillary Clinton's stand on the war in Iraq is almost impossible to figure out.  She's riding both sides of the fence....and David Limbaugh says that presents her with a dilemma. 

Signing the Kyoto protocol would not only damage the economy in the United States, but as Jack Kemp points out, it would put the U.S. at an economic disadvantage.

This week we find out if Congress will renew the Patriot Act or allow some of its key provisions to lapse.  Frank Gaffney dispels many myths surrounding the legislation and says it is the most important piece of security legislation adopted since 9/11.

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?

These are links to each individual story on the Nuze, p-links for the geeks out there. Plus, they work today and they'll work tomorrow. Now you can easily discuss/debate/rip apart the Nuze without worrying about the links going bad. Enjoy!

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