Free Republic

Marriage Penalty Hidden in Health Care Reform by Kim Trobee, editor Higher premiums may discourage people from getting married. A closer look at premium payments in both the House and Senate health care bills shows higher premiums that might discourage couples tying the knot. For instance, in the House version, an unmarried couple each making $30,000 a year would pay $1,320 combined each year for private health insurance. If that couple chose to marry, their premium would jump to $12,000 a year, a difference of $10,680. Allen Quist, a former Minnesota State legislator and current candidate for Congress, discovered the...

Senate Democrats' health care bill would create a new marriage penalty by imposing a tax on individuals who make $200,000 annually but hitting married couples making just $50,000 more. That's one of 17 new taxes imposed by the bill, which also creates a levy on elective plastic surgery - some call it "botax" - and places a 40 percent excise tax on those who have generous health care plans. "If you have insurance, you get taxed. If you don't have insurance, you get taxed. If you need a life-saving medical device, you get taxed. If you need prescription medicines, you...

Germans don't want KSM or the other turds to die.

Capital punishment is back in the news. There were actually those who protested the execution of mass-murdering Islamic terrorist John Muhammad, just as there will, no doubt, be those who protest the execution of mass-murdering Islamic terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan. More alarming to me is what appears to be an increase in people saying that capital punishment doesn't square with their "Christian faith." Let's get something straight: There are few things the Bible is more clear about than the fact that God commands us to put murderers to death. Not only does he command it, but he says that failure...

Man could face death penalty for slaying of soldier in ArkansasBy The Associated Press Story Updated: Aug 1, 2009 at 3:30 PM CDT LITTLE ROCK, Ark., -- Prosecutors say they'll seek a death penalty against a man accused of killing a soldier outside an Army recruiting center. Abdulhakim Muhammad pleaded not guilty on Friday at a Pulaski County court hearing to charges that he shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long. The judge set a trial date of Feb. 15. Muhammad's lawyer says his client is in good spirits but wouldn't say whether his client's calls to reporters to claim...

Chump change for a billionaire, but embarrassing still. Uber wealthy New York investment czar George Soros has agreed to pay an $8,000 penalty to California's Fair Political Practices Commission for breaching the state's campaign finance rules five years ago. The payment is part of a proposed settlement between Soros and FPPC, whose members will either approve or reject the settlement at a May 21 public meeting. The FPPC says that in October 2004, Soros made a $350,000 late contribution to the Drug Policy Action Network. However, he failed to disclose it in a timely way by reporting it as required...

A condemned Texas inmate who removed his only eye and ate it in a bizarre outburst several months ago on death row is “crazy,” yet sane under state law, a judge wrote in an appellate court ruling on Wednesday that rejected his appeals. Here’s the story, from the Associated Press. According to the story, Andre Thomas challenged his conviction and death sentence for the murder of his estranged wife’s 13-month-old daughter five years ago in Grayson County in North Texas. His wife and their 4-year-old son were killed in the same attack. The victims were stabbed and their hearts were...

Phillip Cherney has represented some notorious clients in his time, notably infamous Oakland drug czar Felix Mitchell Jr. in the mid '80s and Joel Radovcich, whom Fresno social climber Dana Ewell hired to murder his sister and wealthy parents in 1992. *** Cherney has the unenviable task of going before the California Supreme Court on Tuesday during oral arguments in San Francisco to plead for the ignominious death row inmate's life. Cherney knows he has his work cut out for him, noting in court papers that Davis, 54, is "one of the most reviled defendants" in recent California history, a...

Even amid the real-estate bust, waterfront property in the San Francisco Bay area is a luxury few can afford. That's why some California lawmakers want to sell San Quentin State Prison -- which houses more than 5,300 inmates on prime land with stunning views of the bay -- to developers who might pay as much as $2 billion. State Sen. Jeff Denham, who has sponsored a bill to sell the complex of historic buildings for private development, thinks the proceeds could help replenish California's recession-depleted coffers. "I believe maximum-security inmates shouldn't have waterfront property," said Mr. Denham, a Republican from...

In many states, cost is slowly killing death penaltyPrice tag of trial and execution is driving many to repeal law By Steve Mills | Tribune reporter 6:32 PM CST, March 7, 2009 The case New Mexico Atty. Gen. Gary King was prosecuting seemed made for the death penalty: a murder of a prison guard by inmates who stabbed him two dozen times. But when the defense ran out of money, the state Supreme Court ruled that King could not seek a death sentence until the lawyers were paid — approximately $200,000 for each of the three defendants, King said. When...

It's been three years since the night a federal judge blocked an execution at San Quentin State Prison because of concerns that the state's haphazard lethal injection methods could inflict prolonged and excruciating pain on a condemned inmate, violating the U.S. Constitution. Today, the state is no closer to executing the Stockton murderer-rapist who was to have died that night, Michael Morales, or any of the other 679 prisoners on the nation's largest death row. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration says it's trying to break the logjam by agreeing to let the public comment on proposed new procedures for executing convicts,...

Examples of possible voter fraud in Ohio stretch from the farmlands to the West Coast. In Highland County, 95-year-old Mildred Meddock registered and voted for the first time in her life despite her advanced Alzheimer's disease. Her granddaughters learned of her newfound patriotism when they visited the nursing home where Meddock lives and saw an "I voted today" sticker on her clothing. Records show that Meddock registered Sept. 26 when two Highland County Board of Elections employees visited the home, Heartland of Hillsboro, about 65 miles south of Columbus. Four other residents also were registered and voted that day. "I'm...

OMAHA (KPTM) - The voting booth is supposed to be a sacred spot. The right to vote is considered the cornerstone of American democracy. But there always seems to be someone trying to take advantage of the system. The long line outside the Douglas County Election Office isn't moving fast. But Eileen Tighe is on an early voting mission. "If I had to sit on the concrete I would do that." She re-registered to vote at the County Treasurers office two weeks ago when she moved. "The box was open, it didn't have a slot in it and I didn't...

Falsely attesting or being attested for is registration fraud and is a class D felony, punishable by a fine of up to $7,500 and five years in prison. Registration fraud also includes falsely registering to vote, attempting to falsely register to vote and registering to vote in more than one precinct. Emmet County Auditor Bev Juhl said any poll worker, poll watcher or member of the public can challenge a voter's qualifications to vote at the polls. The voter who is challenged can still file a provisional ballot and has until 2 p.m. Thursday the week of the election to...

An Alexandria woman who apparently had been abducted from a shopping mall and forced into her own car by robbers was killed yesterday in Prince William County when the car crashed as the robbers fled from pursuers, authorities said. The woman was identified as Barbara Jean Bosworth, 61, of White Post Court. She was killed about 3 p.m. near Route 1 in the Woodbridge area when the speeding car went out of control and crashed into trees, according to Prince William County police. Police said two men who were in the car with Bosworth were critically injured and flown to...

Southern states execute two killers HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- Texas executed a man Wednesday who was convicted of killing a woman and her child, while Mississippi put to death a man who took part in the fatal beating of another man. Derrick Sonnier shook his head "no" when asked if he had any final statements. he was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m., eight minutes after the lethal dose was administered. Sonnier was convicted of murdering Melody Flowers, 27, and her 2-year-old son, Patrick, in their Houston apartment in 1991. Flowers was raped, stabbed, strangled and beaten with a hammer until...

Court Backs Texas in Dispute With Bush Tuesday, March 25, 2008 10:04 AM WASHINGTON -- President Bush overstepped his authority when he ordered a Texas court to reopen the case of a Mexican on death row for rape and murder, the Supreme Court said Tuesday. In a case that mixes presidential power, international relations and the death penalty, the court sided with Texas 6-3. Bush was in the unusual position of siding with death row prisoner Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican citizen whom police prevented from consulting with Mexican diplomats, as provided by international treaty. An international court ruled in...

Death penalty: Your verdict [UK]ALMOST 100,000 Sun readers unite today to call for the return of the death penalty. Monster Mark Dixie, Suffolk Strangler Steve Wright and the teenage killers of hero dad Garry Newlove have sickened the nation in recent weeks as details emerged of their vile crimes. All received jail sentences. But as the clamour grew for the return of capital punishment, The Sun on Saturday dared to ask the burning question: “Do we really want it back?” And a staggering 99 per cent of the 95,000 readers who responded to our You The Jury poll said the...

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether the Constitution allows the death penalty for the rape of a child. --New York Times, January 5, 2008 The best case for the death penalty--or, at least, the best explanation of it--was made, paradoxically, by one of the most famous of its opponents, Albert Camus, the French novelist. Others complained of the alleged unusual cruelty of the death penalty, or insisted that it was not, as claimed, a better deterrent of murder than, say, life imprisonment, and Americans especially complained of the manner in which it was imposed by judge or...

Penalties for Massachusetts residents who can afford health insurance but do not purchase it in 2008 could quadruple compared with the maximum penalty in 2007, according to draft regulations released by the Department of Revenue yesterday. The maximum penalty for those who flout the law and do not buy health insurance would be $912 a year, compared to $219 in 2007. The higher penalty is intended to get those who are on the fence to buy health insurance. For those wavering, it could make more sense to pay for insurance than to pay the penalty.

No right to a painless death penaltyPosted: October 3, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern When Michael Anthony Taylor kidnapped 15-year-old Ann Harrison while she was waiting for her school bus, then raped and brutally murdered her, he didn't seem to care about the pain and agony she suffered at his hand. But now that Taylor has been convicted and sentenced to capital punishment by lethal injection, he's suddenly concerned with how much pain he might feel at his deserved death. Taylor claims that Missouri's triple-chemical process of lethal injection exposes him to a risk that if he is not sufficiently unconscious...

By LUKE SALKELD - More by this author » Last updated at 01:12am on 4th September 2007 When a pedestrian was hit by a police car which mounted the pavement, it was obvious who was going to come off worse. After suffering a broken foot in the collision, however, Daniel Horne thought all the damage had been done. Until he received an £80 fine - for denting the vehicle. Yesterday the 28-year-old businessman told of his shock at being penalised for being hit by the marked car. Mr Horne had been walking home in June when the marked police car...

WASHINGTON - Once again, Florida is embroiled in a dispute over vote counting in the presidential election. Seven years after Democrats lost a fight over recounting Florida votes in the disputed 2000 election, the national Democratic Party is poised to strip the state of delegate votes in the 2008 nomination battle. The problem: State Democrats want to hold their primary too early. Other states are rushing to get to the start of the primaries pack, too, and Florida will be the first test of the Democratic National Committee's resolve to restore order to the schedule it set last year. Michigan...

Tehran, 30 April (AKI) - The culture committee of the Iranian parliament approved on Monday a bill sentencing to death producers of 'pornography', videos and films deemed vulgar by the country's censorship. The draft law will now go to parliament where it is expected to be approved by an ample majority. Amateur porn films have a properous market in Iran and can fetch up to 30 euros each. The market, tolerated for a long time, became a nationwide issue earlier this year after a porn film of popular television actress, Zohre Mir Ebrahimi, having sex with her partner, was released.

Saddam Hussein deserves no one’s pity. But as anyone who has seen the graphic cellphone video of his hanging can testify, his execution bore little resemblance to dispassionate, state-administered justice. The condemned dictator appeared to have been delivered from United States military custody into the hands of a Shiite lynch mob. For the Bush administration, which insists it went to war in Iraq to implant democracy and justice, those globally viewed images were a shaming embarrassment. Unfortunately, all Americans will be blamed, while the Iraqi people are now likely to suffer still more. What should have been a symbolic passage...

(IsraelNN.com) A court in Bangladesh is scheduled to try a Muslim journalist for writing articles favorable to Israel. The country's laws state that the journalist, Salah Uddin Choudhury, could receive a death sentence. He is editor of an English weekly printed in Dakha, in which he has been critical of Muslim extremism while writing favorably of Israel. He was arrested in 2003 at the Dhaka airport before boarding a flight to Israel where he was to speak on promoting Muslim-Jewish relations. Bangladesh, ruled by Muslims, did not press charges but re-arrested Choudhury after he printed articles warning of Muslim terrorists...

Iraq has executed 27 "terrorists" convicted by Iraqi courts of killings and rapes in several provinces, the government said Thursday. They were executed in Baghdad on Wednesday, the government's media office said in a brief statement. It did not provide further details. A senior justice official said all 27 were Iraqis, and two had been convicted of terrorism-related charges. The other 25, including one woman, were convicted of murder and kidnappings. The sentences were carried out by hanging, the official said, requesting that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak to the media about the...

The energy demands of Britain's obsession with flat televisions could require two nuclear plants Our insatiable appetite for the big picture is threatening the planet. A scientist has warned that if half of British homes buy a plasma-screen TV, two nuclear power stations would have to be built to meet the extra energy demand. Britons were buying flat-screen TVs every 15 seconds from Currys and its online sister company Dixons during the build-up to the World Cup, and subsequent price reductions have ensured they remain hugely popular. Article continues But plasma sets can use up to four times as much...

The disciplinary arm of the N.C. State Bar dropped charges of felonious misconduct against two former Union County prosecutors Friday because of a 1999 clerical error at the state Supreme Court. The State Bar had charged Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer with lying, cheating and withholding evidence in a 1996 death penalty case. The ruling Friday marks the second time that Honeycutt and Brewer won on procedural grounds before the bar's Disciplinary Hearing Commission, which sits as judge and jury in disciplinary cases. . . . Prosecutors around the state are concerned that the case is damaging their reputation and...

RICHMOND, Va. - New DNA tests confirmed the guilt of a man who went to his death in Virginia's electric chair in 1992 proclaiming his innocence, the governor said Thursday. The case had been closely watched by both sides in the death penalty debate because no executed convict in the United States has ever been exonerated by scientific testing.

Folks in California have the best of all possible worlds: warm weather ... and the death penalty, too. As a frigid New York pays its final respects today to Police Officer Daniel Enchautegui, Californians know their most famous killer got his just deserts. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected clemency for Stanley (Tookie) Williams, and the convicted murderer was executed by lethal injection in San Quentin prison early yesterday. Please, spare me the tears for Williams. A founder of the brutal Crips crime gang, he killed four people in cold blood during robberies that got him $200, then laughed about it, according...

I'm retired and live off my IRA distibutions yearly. I live in the path of Hurricane Rita. I'm hearing of a new law that would allow me to withdraw some IRA funds without the 10% penalty. I've checked with the IRS and they of course "know nothing". My congressman says it's the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act and it just passed the House. It apparently hasn't passed the Senate and hasn't been signed by Bush of course. Does anybody know anything about this law? It's getting late this year an I have to send for my 2005 distribution. I would like...

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A US judge signed a death warrant for a former street gangster and convicted killer who went on to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in tackling youth violence. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Pounders set a December 13 date for the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, noting that his appeal against his death sentence had been rejected by the US Supreme Court on October 11. "I am signing the warrant of execution," the judge said as several dozen opponents of the death penalty looked on in the crowded courtroom. Williams,...

The Death Penalty in Georgia William John Hagan Houston Home Journal This week I was assigned the unpleasant duty of reporting on the murder of 16-month-old Christian Edward Martinez. For those of you that didn’t read my article in Tuesday’s newspaper, I’ll briefly bring you up to speed.(Original report at: http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/963/public/news653608.html ) Christian was murdered last August, and authorities believe the killer was Gregory Class. The details of this case are sickening, so if you have a weak stomach I suggest you turn a few pages and read the more comforting words of your daily horoscope. For those who want...

The Death Penalty in Georgia William John Hagan Houston Home Journal This week I was assigned the unpleasant duty of reporting on the murder of 16-month-old Christian Edward Martinez. For those of you that didn’t read my article in Tuesday’s newspaper, I’ll briefly bring you up to speed.(Original report at: http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/963/public/news653608.html ) Christian was murdered last August, and authorities believe the killer was Gregory Class. The details of this case are sickening, so if you have a weak stomach I suggest you turn a few pages and read the more comforting words of your daily horoscope. For those who want...

Today, the Public Disclosure Commission issued the following press release: June 10, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Lori Anderson (360) 664-2737 Toll free 1-877-601-2828 WASHINGTON STATE DEMOCRATS AGREE TO RECORD FINE FOR CAMPAIGN VIOLATIONS Olympia – The Public Disclosure Commission yesterday accepted two stipulated agreements from the Washington State Democrat Party who agreed to pay $187,500 in civil penalties for campaign finance violations. The WSDCC agreed to pay $85,000 for failure to timely disclose the source of $394,544 worth of contributions and for failure to disclose $704,815 in debts and obligations during the 2004 election. In a separate agreement, a...

N. Korean ferry granted port access after giving assurances on music NIIGATA, May 27 Kyodo - A North Korean ferry received permission Friday to use the Niigata port on its upcoming visit after the ferry operator said the ship will refrain from playing loud music. The 9,672-ton Mangyongbong-92 is usually greeted by Japanese nationalists blaring anti-Korean slogans during its calls at the port. Niigata Prefecture issued the port-call permit after the Pyongyang-based operator said it ''will have the ferry exercise self-restraint,'' prefectural officials said.

Benedict's Blanket Replaces Bernadine's Seamless Garment In the June 2004 essay, Seamless Garment or Political Comforter? , Michael Ulmann accurately described the seamless garment as follows: In the 1970s, the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin and his episcopal allies advanced the notion that Catholic politicians should not be judged only, or even primarily, by their position on abortion. Abortion was merely one strand in a rich and finely woven “seamless garment” of Catholic social teaching in defense of life. Numerous other issues, the bishops said, ought to be considered. Nearly one month after this essay was published, the now Pope...

I was a bit careless this past weekend. And, in the spirit of confession being good for the soul, I’d like to tell you about it. Normally on the weekend, I like to sleep. A lot! One of my colleagues, a former paramedic, has informed me without any doubt or hesitation that there is no way to “make up” for lost sleep. Well, call the Mayo Clinic (and hold the ham on rye) because I do it every single weekend. I’m talking serious snore time here. But not this past weekend. No, I decided to take a quick trip over...

GREGG v. GEORGIA, 428 U.S. 153 (1976) Argued March 31, 1976 Decided July 2, 1976 MR. JUSTICE STEWART, MR. JUSTICE POWELL, and MR. JUSTICE STEVENS concluded that: (1) The punishment of death for the crime of murder does not, under all circumstances, violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Pp. 168-187. (a) The Eighth Amendment, which has been interpreted in a flexible and dynamic manner to accord with evolving standards of decency, forbids the use of punishment that is "excessive" either because it involves the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain or because it is grossly disproportionate to the severity of...

DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court (search) on Monday threw out the death penalty in a rape-and-murder case because jurors had studied Bible verses such as "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" during deliberations.

Continuing a trend of caving in to international tribunals, President Bush issued an executive order on March 8 directing state courts to review dozens of death row cases involving Mexican nationals. The president’s order came in response to a ruling by the International Court of Justice, a UN tribunal more commonly known as the World Court, which claimed that the U.S. violated the rights of 51 Mexicans on death rows in eight states. The president’s order applies to 28 Mexican convicts in California prisons, 15 in Texas and others in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, and Oregon. Texas Attorney General...

COKER v. GEORGIA, 433 U.S. 584 (1977) MR. JUSTICE WHITE announced the judgment of the Court and filed an opinion in which MR. JUSTICE STEWART, MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN, and MR. JUSTICE STEVENS, joined.(...) That question, with respect to rape of an adult woman, is now before us. We have concluded that a sentence of death is grossly disproportionate and excessive punishment for the crime of rape and is therefore forbidden by the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment. (...) MR. CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER, with whom MR. JUSTICE REHNQUIST joins, dissenting. (...) A rapist not only violates a victim's privacy...

Top of the fold -- Judicial Supremacists and the Despotic Branch... The U.S. Constitution suffered some serious setbacks this week. The future of liberty and the rule of law suffered likewise. It's bad enough that Democrat obstructionists are once again denying President George Bush's federal-bench nominees their constitutionally prescribed up-or-down vote by the full Senate. In a fine example of why we need those nominees on the bench, Leftists on the Supreme Court are, again, "interpreting" the so-called "living Constitution" as a method of altering that venerable document by judicial diktat. Worse yet, these Left-judiciary Supremacists -- Justice Anthony Kennedy...

More on the 5-4 Supreme Court decision preventing states from trying juveniles for capital punishment. From Andy McCarthy at The Corner. "Justice Kennedy in Roper: 'Our determination that the death penalty is disproportionate punishment for offenders under 18 finds confirmation in the stark reality that the United States is the only country in the world that continues to give official sanction to the juvenile death penalty.' Iran Press News, Nov. 16, 2004: 'A 14 year old boy died on Thursday, November 11th, after having received 85 lashes; according to the ruling of the Mullah judge of the public circuit court...

Have you ever been issued a "guaranteed" reservation by a hotel? You know the drill: they take a credit card number and tell you that you will be charged for the room if you don't show up. But in return, you comfort yourself with the assumption that your access to an actual room at that particular hotel is "guaranteed" even if you show up at 4 AM. Maybe if you did this, you assumed that it meant that the hotel had already sold the room to you, and that, barring acts of God like a tornado, no matter how late...

Research psychiatrists say they can now quantify evil, and they will be lobbying state legislatures to adopt their "depravity ratings" for use by courts determining whether to impose the death penalty on convicted murderers. Long seen as a subjective moral term, evil, two recent studies of criminal personalities claim, can now be measured objectively. "People say evil is like pornography – they know it when they see it, but can debate whether or when it is harmful," Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist and professor at New York University, told the London Telegraph. "This is not true. We are finding...

Exceprt from Sister Helen Prejean's 2003 speech, “The Abolition of the Death Penalty: A Target for the XXI Century” In my work I try to embody the healing work of Jesus by reaching out to death row inmates and to murder victims' families. It is not always easy reaching out to both sides, and sometimes victims' families shun me because they cannot bear the thought that I as spiritual advisor would show respect or compassion to those who have murdered their loved one. In their grief and confusion, some families buy into the retributive "eye for an eye" justice that...

A friend of mine asked me how I come up with my ideas. People who don’t write for a living are always asking writers about the source of their inspiration.When I’m in a particularly glib mood, I say my mortgage is my muse. But the truth is that it’s a very reasonable question. If, for instance, a person sits down to write a 900-page novel, one might very well ask him where he got his ideas -- starting with the goofy idea that anyone in his right mind might actually want to read a 900-page novel. However, when someone puts...

Capital Punishment: A Personal Statement Prison Fellowship By Charles W. Colson Chuck Colson's spiritual pilgrimage reaches yet another point of significant change As we Christians grow and cultivate the disciplines of reading and study, we sometimes alter our views. Sometimes these views even change dramatically. No one knows this better than I, having been dramatically converted to Christ and, subsequently, having my entire worldview turned upside-down. There was a time, for example, when I thought John Locke's understanding of social contract was the ultimate theory of government. I now see that government draws its authority less from the consent of...