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[state-of-the-art]

Yes it should, but a state's right is not unlimited. States historically have been and should remain "laboratories for Democracy," that's why states can legally pass medical marijuana laws, or laws allowing physician assisted suicide, or have a different age of consent than what the federal government mandates.

What the states CANNOT do and what RustyNails should know the states should NEVER be able to do is interfere with citizens fundamental right to equal treatment under the law. The argument at this point usually comes when a state believes something (such as marriage) may not be a fundamental right, or may not be a fundamental right in the form we're discussing, whether same sex marriage or interracial marriage for example.

Which is why you support the Civil Rights Act right? Right? Oh wait, you don't.

 

[Byakuya769]

Poster shares his views
Shines through for all, his passion
and Hypocrisy

 

[jamesinclair]

Saw this in the paper today

 

[jamesinclair]

Conversely, it leans left on certain issues. I think they support gay marriage and a carbon tax. Otherwise, they are primarily neo-liberals. At least that is what I detect. Moreover, their blogs are informative.
.

Hm? Carbon tax (cap and trade) is a right-wing idea.

A leftist idea would be to ban the stuff.

 

[ViperVisor]

Hm? Carbon tax (cap and trade) is a right-wing idea.

A leftist idea would be to ban the stuff.

Yep.


Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway cite a good example of the phenomenon of industry exaggerating the cost of regulating pollution while downplaying the harm the polution does, in the context of acid rain regulation in the United States:

In 1990, under the new administration of George H.W. Bush, amendments to the Clean Air Act established an emissions trading – or “cap and trade” – system to control acid rain. The system resulted in a 54 percent decline in sulfur dioxide levels between 1990 and 2007, while the inflation-adjusted price of electricity declined during the same period. In 2003, the EPA reported to Congress that the overall cost of air pollution control during the previous ten years was between $8 billion and $9 billion, while the benefits were estimated from $101 billion to $119 billion – more than ten times as great. [Fred] Singer’s “billion-dollar solution to a million-dollar problem” was just plain wrong.

The energy industry has often accused environmentalists of scaremongering, yet this is just what they had done with their claims of economic devastation. Protecting the environment didn’t produce economic devastation. It didn’t lead to massive job losses. It didn’t cost hundreds of billions of dollars. It didn’t even cause the price of electricity to rise. And the science was correct all along. As Mohameg El-Ashry of the World Resources Institute was quoted in Newsweek, “When we waited for more research on acid rain, we ended up realizing that everything we knew 10 years earlier was true.”

Oreskes, Naomi and Erik Conway. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. p.105 (hardcover)

Emphasis theirs.

 

[timetokill]

Saw this in the paper today

Kinda weird, I thought Republicans did well with the elderly?

 

[jamesinclair]

Kinda weird, I thought Republicans did well with the elderly?

Not if you try and take their medicares.

 

[Clevinger]

He also screwed up with the tusks.

 

[Akainu]

This pisses me off as a Floridian! Rick Scott stole from medicare and the shits in the state still elect him. And now they are angry when he starts doing the same to education and medicaid. What the hell did they think was going to happen?!

 

[speculawyer]

This pisses me off as a Floridian! Rick Scott stole from medicare and the shits in the state still elect him. And now they are angry when he starts doing the same to education and medicaid. What the hell did they think was going to happen?!

I was completely stunned when Scott won Florida. Here was the guy that pull off the LARGEST MEDICARE FRAUD EVER . . . yet he won in FLORIDA of all places. Well fuck them. THey deserve it after electing him.

Really . . . what the fuck did they think would happen? They bent over and asked to be fucked up the ass. They are lucky that things are not worse than they are.

 

[scorcho]

At what point do you think they shouldn't have to pay any more in taxes? If someone is worth $3B, is their life materially different if you take $2B? Why not take that?

mmm. nothing beats meaningless slippery slope arguments on a Saturday morning. How about we take $2.9B and then erect a Caliphate in their honor?

 

[eznark]

Obamas net is -4% (vote v. PPP approval). I didn't use the May numbers like that graph though. Just for comparisons sake.

 

[polyh3dron]

The thing that surprises me the most about that Republican Governor Approval chart is how little the approval rating has gone down of Walker and Brewer after the shit they've pulled.

 

[worldrunover]

So... let's talk about Justice Thomas' ethics scandals.

Justice Thomas has sat on at least 11 cases where a Harlan Crow-affiliated group filed a brief — adopting the group’s preferred outcome in all but one case. Moreover, Thomas has yet to explain the full extent of his connections to Crow, despite news reports that Crow lavished gifts and other expensive favors on Thomas and his family. Nor has Thomas explained how his gifting scandal differs from the very similar gifting scandal that brought down Justice Abe Fortas.

I realize this is from ThinkProgress but from reading some of the articles and accusations lobbed his way I'm shocked this isn't a bigger deal.

The NY Times did a piece on this last week that I've seen get very little play as well. I think if Supreme Court Justices are beyond reproach than when something like this does arise, the should have to resign to maintain the integrity of the court. Am I off base here?

 

[empty vessel]

So... let's talk about Justice Thomas' ethics scandals.



I realize this is from ThinkProgress but from reading some of the articles and accusations lobbed his way I'm shocked this isn't a bigger deal.

The NY Times did a piece on this last week that I've seen get very little play as well. I think if Supreme Court Justices are beyond reproach than when something like this does arise, the should have to resign to maintain the integrity of the court. Am I off base here?

You aren't off base, but Justice Thomas is not somebody that cares about institutional integrity. He is a radical who won't allow that to stand in his way of exercising power.

 

[eznark]

The thing that surprises me the most about that Republican Governor Approval chart is how little the approval rating has gone down of Walker and Brewer after the shit they've pulled.

Pretty sure Walker's went down more than that but is bouncing back slightly. It'll probably drop again when the redistricting map is unveiled (guilt by assosciation).

The thing that Walker and Kasich have going for them is that they got the controversial stuff out of the way at the very start (I'm not sure about the others, Scott for instance seems like he was despised from the jump...has he done anything?) so their numbers will probably improve. If the economies in those states improve (I don't see how it can't in Ohio) they'll probably be very, very popular... a la My Man Mitch (I was at an SBA event this week, Mitch got an insanely loud and prolonged standing ovation. If he didn't have a messed up personal story I think he would have beaten Obama).

 

[gcubed]

Pretty sure Walker's went down more than that but is bouncing back slightly. It'll probably drop again when the redistricting map is unveiled (guilt by assosciation).

The thing that Walker and Kasich have going for them is that they got the controversial stuff out of the way at the very start (I'm not sure about the others, Scott for instance seems like he was despised from the jump...has he done anything?) so their numbers will probably improve. If the economies in those states improve (I don't see how it can't in Ohio) they'll probably be very, very popular... a la My Man Mitch (I was at an SBA event this week, Mitch got an insanely loud and prolonged standing ovation. If he didn't have a messed up personal story I think he would have beaten Obama).

i live in PA and i have no real idea what Corbett has done. Maybe thats why he dropped?

 

[Cyan]

He also screwed up with the tusks.

And he forgot to put in the funny.

 

[Jackson50]

Considering we have a chart for Republican governors, does anyone know how the Democratic governors (Brown, Dayton, Hickenlooper, et al.) are faring? I know we have posters here from those states.

Hm? Carbon tax (cap and trade) is a right-wing idea.

A leftist idea would be to ban the stuff.

Are you conflating a carbon tax with cap and trade? While they are similar concepts, there is a difference. Now, environmental politics is admittedly not my forte, so I may be incorrect. But to my knowledge, where it has been implemented, a carbon tax has traditionally been the purview of the left. I think it would qualify as a leftist policy.

 

[RustyNails]

Considering we have a chart for Republican governors, does anyone know how the Democratic governors (Brown, Dayton, Hickenlooper, et al.) are faring? I know we have posters here from those states.

Pretty sure Brown is doing well. Cali is pretty big state, so I doubt his approval numbers are in the 60s. But I'm certain they're better than the Republican governors.

 

[Chichikov]

Are you conflating a carbon tax with cap and trade? While they are similar concepts, there is a difference. Now, environmental politics is admittedly not my forte, so I may be incorrect. But to my knowledge, where it has been implemented, a carbon tax has traditionally been the purview of the left. I think it would qualify as a leftist policy.

A cap and trade system usually works against a hard cap and as such, it's actually more progressive than a carbon tax.

I think carbon tax is considered a more liberal approach mainly because of the toxicity of the word 'tax' in American politics.

 

[Cyan]

Pretty sure Brown is doing well. Cali is pretty big state, so I doubt his approval numbers are in the 60s. But I'm certain they're better than the Republican governors.

42% approve, 24% disapprove. Not really comparable, since he's only been in office a short time. Could drop precipitously once he's been around a little longer. Or the reverse, though that seems unlikely.

By way of comparison, the CA legislature is 23-58 approve-disapprove.

 

[TacticalFox88]

Lol according to newt, Obama is doing so bad as president that blacks will vote Republican in 2012. Holy shit

 

[zero_suit]

Lol according to newt, Obama is doing so bad as president that blacks will vote Republican in 2012. Holy shit

You have a better chance of winning the lottery than something like that happening.

 

[RustyNails]

Third Sarah Palin movie being shopped for distributor. This time it's a documentary about her time in the office. There's an exclusive clip in the link.

 

[Jackson50]

42% approve, 24% disapprove. Not really comparable, since he's only been in office a short time. Could drop precipitously once he's been around a little longer. Or the reverse, though that seems unlikely.

By way of comparison, the CA legislature is 23-58 approve-disapprove.

I think it is comparable to the freshman Republican governors. So his approval rating is similar to Walker's.

A cap and trade system usually works against a hard cap and as such, it's actually more progressive than a carbon tax.

I think carbon tax is considered a more liberal approach mainly because of the toxicity of the word 'tax' in American politics.

Does that not also open the system to abuse and contravene the goal of reducing emissions? To me, it seems there are competing liberal interests under such a system. Moreover, a carbon tax is traditionally favored by left-wing parties and interests in other nations. Thus, that explanation seems inadequate.

 

[Lucky Forward]

Obama: One Of My Responsibilities 'Is To Keep An Eye On Robots'

President Barack Obama joked that one of his responsibilities as the nation's commander in chief "is to keep an eye on robots" while speaking at the National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon University on Friday.

"I just met with folks from some cutting-edge companies and saw some of their inventions here in your National Robotics Engineering Center, but that's not the only reason I'm here," the president said. "You might not know this, but one of my responsibilities as commander in chief is to keep an eye on robots. And I'm pleased to report that the robots you manufacture here seem peaceful, at least for now."

The remarks from Obama drew laughs from his audience.

 

[RustyNails]

Good assessment of Obama's foreign policy strategy for people interested in such things: Obama will decide to be either Jimmy Carter or Harry Truman

In this regard, Obama is returning the US foreign policy to its "realist posture" that avoids both benevolent intervention to spread democracy and freedom around the world of the Wilsonian era early in the 20th century and the aggressive militarized intervention of George W. Bush at the beginning of the 21st century.

Obama's realism is based on nonintervention and working within the international system to solve international disputes. During his presidential campaign in 2007, that he said he would not leave the US troops in Iraq even to stop genocide, according to the New Yorker magazine. The New Yorker also quoted Obama as stating, "If genocide is the criteria by which we're making decisions on the deployment of US forces, then by that argument you would have three hundred thousand troops in Congo right now where millions have been slaughtered as a result of ethnic strife." In another campaign stop, Obama said that his foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional realistic policy of George Bush's father, John F. Kennedy and in some way Ronald Reagan. In this speech Obama is in complete harmony with his realistic policy toward the Middle East and with himself.

This quote in particular is very interesting:

Despite his efforts to end the Middle East conflict, Obama is not really interested in the Middle East as the most important strategic concern for the United States. His National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon is said to believe, according to a report published last month in the New Yorker magazine, that the US should "rebuild its reputation, extricate itself from the Middle East and Afghanistan and turn its attention toward China and Asia." The magazine reported that Donilon has convinced Obama with this worldview and it became Obama's strategy.

 

[Zabka]

I think it is comparable to the freshman Republican governors. So his approval rating is similar to Walker's.

His approval rating is similar, but Walker's disapproval is much higher.

In the survey of 1,636 Wisconsin voters taken May 19-22, 43% approved of Walker's performance and 54% disapproved.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/122632369.html

 

[Chichikov]

Does that not also open the system to abuse and contravene the goal of reducing emissions?

I'm not sure about which of those proposals you are talking about, but abuse is possible in both solutions.

To me, it seems there are competing liberal interests under such a system. Moreover, a carbon tax is traditionally favored by left-wing parties and interests in other nations. Thus, that explanation seems inadequate.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that cap and trade is a more aggressive approach as it sets a hard cap for a country's pollution, as opposed to carbon tax, which is a form of a soft cap.
It's like the difference between the MLB and the NHL.

 

[speculawyer]

Obama: One Of My Responsibilities 'Is To Keep An Eye On Robots'

Pandering to the 'singularity' vote? ;-)

 

[eznark]

I like that the Chocolate City Mayor is completely bat-shit insane.

http://www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2011/06/in_his_newly_released_book_for.html

(yes, I saw this on Drudge)

The former mayor, who left office last year, also admits in the 330-page paperback that the infamously botched nature of the disaster response led him briefly into a state of paranoia. Nagin writes that he suspected the federal government of trying to poison him, and he believed at one point that the city’s wealthiest, most powerful residents were trying to bug his hotel suite.

Among the more shocking revelations is the former mayor’s account of the evening of Aug. 30, 2005. Nagin writes that he and his top aides were in the Hyatt’s fourth-floor command center when about 20 men entered, “dressed in black combat outfits and adorned in bulletproof vests, rifles, and leg straps holding at least two very large handguns each.

If they were holding more than two handguns, New Orleans had more serious problems than natural disasters!

There, he was escorted to an infirmary where two medical staffers “had orders to examine me and give me shots.”

“I was still a little paranoid and again started imagining a secret CIA plot where in six months I would be gone,” he writes. “After thinking for a minute, I said to them, ‘Okay, you can give me shots, but I want you to do the same for my two security guys.’

“My thinking was it would have been easier to spin that stress ultimately took me out, but it would be much harder to explain all three of us suddenly dying mysteriously,” writes Nagin, who said during Wednesday’s briefing that his sense of suspicion abated shortly after his visit to the ship.

If you are going to murder me, I demand you also murder these two assigned security guys.

On his way there, Nagin writes that he was contacted by several black community and business leaders who alerted him to news reports quoting Reiss and others saying they wanted New Orleans to be rebuilt “in a completely different way: demographically, geographically, and politically,” an option the former mayor insists he would not abide.

“Taking the social reengineering play off the table meant I would have troubles with these very powerful, shadowy figures in the future,” he writes. “From that point on everything changed, especially local media treatment. I had a target on my back as the guy who stood in the way of their vision of a new New Orleans where mint juleps would once again be the drink of choice in a bleached, adult Disney World-like city.”

Except ya know, that Nagin publicly announced he wanted to socially engineer the city to make it an ice cream flavor. So the Chocolate Mayor loves social re-engineering, just as long as he is the conductor.

 

[Aaron Strife]

wrt democratic governors' approval ratings vs. republican counterparts, a poll from PPP had Mark Dayton in MN at 51 app 38 disapp. Given that he only won by 9,000 votes that's pretty good, I'd think.

The general consensus here is that Dayton is the major thing stopping us from becoming Wisconsin. Walker is still a pretty poisonous brand, and if the recalls go through, I see no reason why he's safe from his own recall threat.

 

[Cyan]

I think it is comparable to the freshman Republican governors. So his approval rating is similar to Walker's.

Oh, derp. For some reason, my brain wanted to think the Republicans came in in 08.

 

[eznark]

wrt democratic governors' approval ratings vs. republican counterparts, a poll from PPP had Mark Dayton in MN at 51 app 38 disapp. Given that he only won by 9,000 votes that's pretty good, I'd think.

The general consensus here is that Dayton is the major thing stopping us from becoming Wisconsin. Walker is still a pretty poisonous brand, and if the recalls go through, I see no reason why he's safe from his own recall threat.

What do you mean by go through? They are going through, happening in August.

 

[Aaron Strife]

What do you mean by go through? They are going through, happening in August.

as far as actually recalling the senators.

even in a scenario where every senator is successfully recalled and replaced, that still would hand control of the chamber over to democrats.

and that would put a lot of momentum at our backs.

 

[Gaborn]

Which is why you support the Civil Rights Act right? Right? Oh wait, you don't.

I support the civil rights act restricting government based discrimination. I oppose the (I believe it's 2 sections) that deal with private discrimination while I also oppose private discrimination on a personal level.

 

[Bulbo Urethral Baggins]

I like that the Chocolate City Mayor is completely bat-shit insane.

http://www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2011/06/in_his_newly_released_book_for.html

(yes, I saw this on Drudge)




If they were holding more than two handguns, New Orleans had more serious problems than natural disasters!


If you are going to murder me, I demand you also murder these two assigned security guys.



Except ya know, that Nagin publicly announced he wanted to socially engineer the city to make it an ice cream flavor. So the Chocolate Mayor loves social re-engineering, just as long as he is the conductor.

Holy shit. No words

 

[Jackson50]

I'm not sure about which of those proposals you are talking about, but abuse is possible in both solutions.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that cap and trade is a more aggressive approach as it sets a hard cap for a country's pollution, as opposed to carbon tax, which is a form of a soft cap.
It's like the difference between the MLB and the NHL.

I misunderstood your original reply. I found the phrasing confusing, so I thought you meant it usually works with a soft cap. Thus, I stated the problems of a soft cap.

I can see the merit in that premise. I would say it has the potential to be more aggressive. Obviously, the cap can be too high. Of course, a carbon tax could be too low. Regardless, I did not intend to argue the merits of either. I wanted to note that I think a carbon tax qualifies as a leftist policy.

Good assessment of Obama's foreign policy strategy for people interested in such things: Obama will decide to be either Jimmy Carter or Harry Truman

In this regard, Obama is returning the US foreign policy to its "realist posture" that avoids both benevolent intervention to spread democracy and freedom around the world of the Wilsonian era early in the 20th century and the aggressive militarized intervention of George W. Bush at the beginning of the 21st century.

Obama's realism is based on nonintervention and working within the international system to solve international disputes. During his presidential campaign in 2007, that he said he would not leave the US troops in Iraq even to stop genocide, according to the New Yorker magazine. The New Yorker also quoted Obama as stating, "If genocide is the criteria by which we're making decisions on the deployment of US forces, then by that argument you would have three hundred thousand troops in Congo right now where millions have been slaughtered as a result of ethnic strife." In another campaign stop, Obama said that his foreign policy is actually a return to the traditional realistic policy of George Bush's father, John F. Kennedy and in some way Ronald Reagan. In this speech Obama is in complete harmony with his realistic policy toward the Middle East and with himself.

This quote in particular is very interesting:

Despite his efforts to end the Middle East conflict, Obama is not really interested in the Middle East as the most important strategic concern for the United States. His National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon is said to believe, according to a report published last month in the New Yorker magazine, that the US should "rebuild its reputation, extricate itself from the Middle East and Afghanistan and turn its attention toward China and Asia." The magazine reported that Donilon has convinced Obama with this worldview and it became Obama's strategy.

Eh, I am too preoccupied to offer a comprehensive response. Yet I will say, first, I think he commits a common error. He confuses realist theory with pragmatism; rather, as Dan Drezner states: there's realism, and then there's realism.

Obama is not a realist. I think he has a pragmatic streak that mimics realism. This is evidenced by his cultivation of relations with China and Russia. On those issues, he adopts a more pragmatic approach attempting to reduce potential flashpoints over issues such as human rights. Still, even on those issues, he is operating through a liberal paradigm. And his most recent FP decisions have stridently displayed his liberal interventionist orientation.

Regarding the interesting quote, I will plagiarize my response to The New Yorker article: I'll believe it when I see it. I concur that our intensive focus on the Middle East diminishes our attention to other pressing issues. We have been transfixed on the Middle East for a while-especially after 9/11. And I have seen little indicating that this will change soon.

 

[Oblivion]

Man, yesterday's Real Time kinda sucked. Well, specifically in the sense that the Republican on was fairly useless. She agreed that Obama was a bad president but NOT for the reasons you'd expect.

But Maher had the Obama impersonator on to finish his routine and New Rules was pretty funny, so it's cool. :lol

 

[Tamanon]

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/124537284.html

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser allegedly grabbed fellow Justice Ann Walsh Bradley around the neck in an argument in her chambers last week, according to at least three knowledgeable sources.

Details of the incident, investigated jointly by Wisconsin Public Radio and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, remain sketchy. The sources spoke on the condition that they not be named, citing a need to preserve professional relationships.

They say an argument that occurred before the court’s release of a decision upholding a bill to curtail the collective bargaining rights of public employees culminated in a physical altercation in the presence of other justices. Bradley purportedly asked Prosser to leave her office, whereupon Prosser grabbed Bradley by the neck with both hands.

Justice Prosser, contacted Friday afternoon by the Center, declined to comment: “I have nothing to say about it.” He repeated this statement after the particulars of the story — including the allegation that there was physical contact between him and Bradley — were described. He did not confirm or deny any part of the reconstructed account.

Bradley also declined to comment, telling WPR, “I have nothing to say.”

The sources say Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs was notified of the incident. One source says Tubbs came in to meet with the entire Supreme Court about this matter. Tubbs, contacted by Wisconsin Public Radio, declined to comment.

Sources also say the matter was called to the attention of the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, which investigates allegations of misconduct involving judges. James Alexander, executive director of the commission, said Friday that “we can neither confirm nor deny” that the incident was under investigation. “The commission hasn’t given me any authority to make any confirmation.”

Amanda Todd, spokesperson for the court, sent an email to the full court on Friday afternoon informing them of the Center’s media inquiries on the matter. Reporters also contacted each justice individually. As of the end of day Friday, none of the justices had commented.

The Journal Sentinel reached out to all of the justices Saturday. Neither Bradley nor Prosser returned calls, and the other five justices either didn't return calls or declined to comment.

Wat?

 

[eznark]

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/124537284.html



Wat?

Ha, I was just reading that. God I hope he resigns!

 

[eznark]

I for one am shocked that the Journal chose to print the Prosser attacked a woman story hours before reporting a contradictory story:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/124546064.html

An argument between state Supreme Court Justices David Prosser and Ann Walsh Bradley became physical earlier this month, according to sources who told the Journal Sentinel two very different stories Saturday about what occurred.

According to some sources, Prosser wrapped his hands around Bradley's neck. According to others, Bradley charged Prosser, who raised his hands to defend himself and made contact with her neck.

A joint investigation by Wisconsin Public Radio and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism first reported Saturday on the incident, stating that Prosser "grabbed" Bradley around the neck.

A source who spoke to several justices present during the incident told the Journal Sentinel that the confrontation occurred after 5:30 p.m. June 13, the day before high court's release of a decision upholding a bill to curtail the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

At least five justices, including Prosser and Bradley, had gathered in Bradley's office and were informally discussing the decision.

The conversation grew heated, the source said, and Bradley asked Prosser to leave. Bradley was bothered by disparaging remarks Prosser had made about Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson.

Bradley felt Prosser "was attacking the chief justice," the source said.

Before leaving, Prosser "put his hands around her neck in what (Bradley) described as a chokehold," the source said.

"He did not exert any pressure, but his hands were around her neck," the source said.

The source said the act "was in no way playful."

But another source told the Journal Sentinel that Bradley attacked Prosser.

"She charged him with fists raised," the source said.

Prosser "put his hands in a defensive posture," the source said. "He blocked her."

In doing so, the source said, he made contact with Bradley's neck.

 

[empty vessel]

I for one am shocked that the Journal chose to print the Prosser attacked a woman story hours before reporting a contradictory story:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/124546064.html

It's not really contradictory. It just introduces a different source. It remains to be seen what happened.

In other criminal justice related news:

Consider: Paul Allen, 55, a former mortgage CEO, defrauded lenders of over $3 billion. Prosecutors this week celebrated the fact they got him a 40-month prison sentence. Consider: Roy Brown, 54, a hungry homeless man [seeking to pay for rehab], robbed a bank of $100. The teller gave him more but he handed the rest back. The next day, he felt bad and surrendered to police. He got 15 years.​

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/06/24-8

 

[BigPickZel]

I bet the reason the sentences are so different is because they are two entirely different cases.

 

[Incognito]

First Des Moines Register Iowa Poll

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann sit atop the standings in the year's first Des Moines Register Iowa Poll on the Republican presidential field.

Romney, the national front-runner and a familiar face in Iowa after his 2008 presidential run, attracts support from 23 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers. Bachmann, who will officially kick off her campaign in Iowa on Monday, nearly matches him, with 22 percent.

"She's up there as a real competitor and a real contender," said Republican pollster Randy Gutermuth, who is unaffiliated with any of the presidential candidates. "This would indicate that she's going to be a real player in Iowa."

Former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain, who has never held public office but has found a following among tea party supporters, comes in third, with 10 percent. The other candidates tested register in single digits: former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, 7 percent each; former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, 6 percent; former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, 4 percent; and former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, 2 percent.

Pawlenty. :lol

 

[empty vessel]

I bet the reason the sentences are so different is because they are two entirely different cases.

You mean because one is more egregious than the other?

 

[BigPickZel]

Not really. But it's hard to find any details of Roy Brown's case, other than his alleged motives, which are irrelevant. Robbery and fraud are two very different crimes. I'm not defending his sentence, though.

 

[Plinko]

First Des Moines Register Iowa Poll


Pawlenty. :lol

I'm stunned Romney is so high in Iowa.

Also, Bachmann is that high yet is telling people that George W Bush was absolutely right. It will not end well for her poll numbers.

 

[Clevinger]

I'm not really sure if I should be amused or terrified that Bachmann's doing so well.