Arizona Lethal Injection Failure Questions Our Will And Skill To Kill

When last we had this not-so-merry go round about the death penalty, the name of the hour was Troy Davis. His name is like the name  Sir Mario Owens to me, people who I will always be able to recall in my brain, even when I am old(er).

My brain has conjoined these names because of a dear friend, Colorado House representative Rhonda Fields, and she is why I am changing about the death penalty. Changing for me means leaning towards it more, but I have yet to fully cross the border.

I am an adult person who only recently bought my first adult pistol, a cheap pellet gun to protect my garden from, "whatever". In hindsight, insects, not animals, have always been my greatest garden issue. Maybe I was secretly leaving the world I once knew, where guns couldn't beat God, so having one represented a lack of faith; faith in the military or law enforcement to stop the crazy folks, but mostly a lack of faith in the mental stability of mankind. I still don't care to own a gun, but I am

getting pretty good with that pellet pistol.

I say all that to squarely categorize myself as a death penalty pacifist. Well, that's not my personal description of me, but it's what those who ardently believe in the death penalty might call me.  My aforementioned change makes me a modified pacifist, and here's why.

Rhonda Fields.

Today she represents district 42 in the Colorado state house of representatives. Back in the day she was my friend Rhonda who does the golf tournament. Before Rhonda Fields, I only played golf when business customers made it free, and they had to cover club rentals as well. When I met Rhonda, I bought a set of second hand junkers and took out lots of weeds practicing for the yearly tournament. Because of Rhonda (and a wicked competitive streak), I turned my back yard into a practice course, bought a better junker set of clubs, quickly dropped my average score by 15 strokes and changed to someone who would push the death penalty button myself, at least for Rhonda Fields.

As for her position on the death penalty, I basically assumed too much. Rhonda is the sweetest person on the planet and she is also a person with a powerful voice. A few days prior to the verdict that would find Sir Mario Owens worthy of death for his part in the ordered hit on Javad Marshall Fields (Rhonda's son) and Vivian Wolfe (Javad's girlfriend), Rhonda came by and expressed her concern for the verdict given the fervor of the defense. I was well aware of this fervor because my crew got the project to print the signs for Owens' defense team. They offered a tragic family tree with mental illness more common in one family then any of us who printed the signs could ignore. The short version of his defense is, this kid never had a chance.

My assumption was that Rhonda felt like I did about capital punishment. Maybe she did before it was her son's murderers in question. In the years after Sir Mario Owens was sentenced to death, Rhonda Fields, that lady with the powerful voice, became rep. Rhonda who led the charge against the gun violence in her district by the Aurora theatre shooting.


When Troy Davis was up for execution, I had to come face to face with my feelings about killing killers (especially with controversial convictions) and the ease at which I would eliminate Owens if I knew it would comfort my friend. Funny how life can change our beliefs.

Yet, would I wish to be among the executioners who now gets to imagine Joseph Wood gasping for air for the better part of two hours? Only for Rhonda. Even then I might want to double check to see if she was pleased with the proceedings. According to some of the family of Wood's slain victims, his passing was too serene in light of the carnage he was convicted of. They described it as an uncomfortable sleep of sorts that ended at two hours. If others couldn't endure two hours of gasping, several members of the victims family would've happily offered to expedite the process.

Humans are not really good with the death process. We are awful with every aspect of killing because it was not included in the original design. We don't even grieve well enough to understand the death business.  We are well rehearsed in the realm of retribution and retaliation, so typically one emotion or the other is driving our efforts to kill each other when non-psychotic people find solace in death.

Owens has yet to be put to death. In solidly purple Colorado, his death will drag on. I often wonder if Rhonda will even feel the same by the time she is in the room like the Arizona families of the slain victims of Joseph Wood.

As for me? I will call Rhonda Fields when it's time for Owens to die and reassess my feelings after I talk with her.

SMDH At Liberals Who Only Vote For Presidents

Some stuff you truly wish you knew how to change if you could and America's voting habits is one of them for me. But when I came across the post to the left, I decided to join in on the cynicism that oozed from the words. 

I added to the post: 

Being liberal means 

enjoying the right to say to 

hell with this voting bullshit 

just as libertarians are republicans who wanted to do the 

same thing.

Next time I'm just typing the letters smdh (shaking my damn head) and I'm leaving it at that.  Until recently, that was one of the many text messaging codes that I had not deciphered yet.  Now I understand the necessity of its brevity.

Unfortunately, saying my statement online got me instantly categorized as one of those people who actually don't vote until there's a black presidential candidate or something like that (gotta remove that profile pic). This is no cry for sympathy I assure you.  I proudly own and earn anything I get while discussing important issues on the web, but this one is really an important issue that I don't exactly know how to talk about anymore. I thought by making such an antagonistic statement, I might inspire a few of those so called "conscientious objectors" to prove me wrong this election season. 

Instead, I got this from Harley Rogers. 

"We Greeks believe that a man who takes no 

part in public affairs is not only lazy, but good 

for nothing"  -Thucydides

My instant response to Harley was a quick, tongue in cheek 

response of: 

"I'm Greek too...at least on election day"

Later my response was more measured:

"My mother taught me that anyone who tells you they don't vote doesn't deserve to comment. I still agree in principle but I now see how not voting, conscientious or not, is a vote of another kind.

That was a blast at the Jehovah's Witness just so you know.

In reality, my mom may not have actually said that at all, but it helped to accentuate my response and my true perspective about voting. In addition, I think anyone who decides not voting is the right manner in which democracy functions is whatever the Greeks would call them, and then some.

However, let us not be fooled by the reality of the message in the turnout numbers. They exist for a reason.  Liberal voters are a finicky lot and republicans have feasted on that for years.  I am personally a "for lack of better option" liberal voter, who wishes the 2 party system could die and go to Hades, but it remains all that we have. Recent attempts I make to embrace my historically conservative values at the polls get thwarted by some new abortion measure or a further blockade of immigration reform.

Nonetheless, smart people realize that Hillary Clinton voted for the Iraq war too, so they wonder if going to the polls is a waste of time in the end. More and more, it is getting increasingly harder to convince anyone that either option matters when you try (as I will) to encourage people to vote.

I concluded by reminding Harley that the original post does say:
"GO AND FUCKING VOTE....you dipshit losers who usually do not and probably will not so it probably does not matter that I am cursing at you right now (for you may not even read it).  It didn't matter that an antagonizing butt wipe such as myself was trying to antagonize new voters anymore than the vulgar antagonizing of the original post.  The only people likely to read or respond are those who already vote. 

TechnoPhobia: Our Desperate Fear Of Evil We Love So Much

I give up.

I am officially a part of the evil empire, and I'm not gonna feel bad about it.

What evil empire you ask?  Google, Microsoft, technology....you know, the empire. The people who make my phone and computer become one with the universe at large. The ones who I think are making desktop computer's obsolete so we are more likely to use the phone instead.

For a while I blamed myself. I was fairly good in keyboarding class in high school because of my intensive use of the tool working as an editor of the school paper, but bad typing habits will hamper the growth of your overall speed. Nonetheless, my experience made me faster than most, providing a good way to make some money in college.

Today, I could be a fairly good typist if I didn't keep finding reasons to use my phone instead. This post is all the example you need. I was fresh from a vacation and full of the patience it takes to launch my desktop at home. More specifically, I needed to launch the internet to engage in the art of blogetry. My computer moves fairly fast given the pattern neglect offered by its owner. My issue is the internet. When G+ is sending my daily feed of +WeightDownWithDonna  and +Pauline Cabrera  or my +Ken Thimmel Muhammad Ali feed alongside +Pradheep Shanker , inevitably it will become unresponsive a time or two. Sometimes I try to wait it out, but my phone be callin' me.

It all started with text messaging. We older folks kept our pagers for as long as they felt necessary, but gave in to the ease of cell phones and lack of stores who sold pagers.

  

Now the struggle is between my rapidly depleting typing skills and the necessity to self edit so damn much that it feels as if I am typing everything 3 times over, or a phone that asks me.."did you mean this word?". My kids laughed at my wife and I for years because we continued getting better and better at typing the words into our text messaging screens, letter by painstaking letter, only to see them finish the same stuff in a fraction of the time.  I refuse to admit how many years I had no clue about predictive texting, and my kids just play dumb when I ask them how long they've known about it.

Mostly, I blame myself.  Being mid-40's is not like being 60+.  In fact, when my over 60 mom passed me by in the technology arena, I knew it was time to get my arse in gear.  The issue was not so much knowledge or fear as much as it was sheer defiance.  I totally get it when people who distrust the government and other people refuse to turn the GPS mechanism on their phones on.....ever.  I'm not sure what they do when they go on a mountain trip like I did recently, chasing after golf courses you've never played and you need your GPS phone device to give you course layout pictures and shot distance calculations for a foreign golf course.  But I guess as long as you don't golf you should be okay.  Me?  I golf way too much to live without my GPS signal, so track on Big Brother...track on.

Lately, I have been calling Google the greater equivalent of this Big Brother concept that scares the crap out of so many because it never ceases to amaze me how many private photos Google would like to instantly share with the public...no matter which computer or device I am operating from......hmmmm.  Or how about this one?

I spent the better part of 25 minutes trying to compile the best of vacation photos to share with my G+ family with some chronology to them (for sake of the narrative of course), and no sooner than I hit send does my wife ask me about this vacation portfolio by Doris (my wife) that she never created.  I thought that she was finally following my blog page, but I looked on her computer to see a whole chronological timeline of her vacation photo's ready to be shared in a way much fancier than my 25 minute effort could come up with.  It even offered an option to edit out the pictures you don't want to share and hit share if you decide you would like to do what I spent 25 minutes doing the hard way.

Part of me was mad as hell that I didn't know about this feature because I was plenty tired after an extended weekend of frivolity.  I also attempted to feel rage in support of my enraged wife who was feeling the violation that I had recently complained to her about when addressing Google....but I failed.  I was plotting in my mind the next family vacation and how fast I could cut the crap and share the rest....and I could not hate the evil anymore.

For I have given in.

Immigration Reform Bill Being Blocked By Pure Politics

From the moment he stepped foot into office, it has been clear what the agenda against him has been. Hope he fails, help him fail and make any success look like a failure What does Obama's failure and America's success look like simultaneously? The picture has obstructionism at the core, but obstruction measures forgot to account for Obama's pen and phone.

John Boehner is none to pleased with the compromise to his power that the executive order creates. Modern obstructionist' seem to think obstructionism is a new and novel idea. Congressional inaction, of any kind, is the reason for the executive order and only congress, or the next president, can override them.

Ironically, the very power that Boehner believes Obama is taking from he and his cohorts is still firmly wrapped within the majority agreement design that used to embody his group.

  

Meanwhile, Mexico and its neighbors remain on the edge of destruction. Losing thousands of children is a recipe for disaster in the future of any nation. Even Japan is facing a desperate crossroad created by population reduction efforts of the past. People are the wealth of a nation, and America is not worse for the influx, we are only worse from the downward spiral we are silently allowing in South America. At some point, our silence becomes complicit. History shows that evil refuses to remain contained. Once South America loses its hope for the future, it becomes a nation of no consequences.  Terrorism could benefit from such an environment

This idea of presidential complicity seems to be the angle that angry Obama opponents are taking. Despite immigration being a very old problem, Obama has been accused of ushering in the next generation of democrats via immigration. If they are correct, disengaging the American job magnet which finances the coyote rings seems smarter than building a wall or turning the National Guard into full time border control agents.

Turned back migrants will try again and again. If staying home wasn't more risky than crossing the desert, no one would risk it. Clearly they must set out realizing that hundreds never make it alive. Yet, the alternative must be worse. Unless I am wrong, the National Guard will be stuck at the border forever.

Or, until we fix the real problem.  Comprehensive legislation (like the one Boehner is blocking) must be a part of our holistic approach to immigration reform. Save the bandaid, this bleeding is profuse.

LeBron Looking To Right A Wrong. Might Double Up

LeBron doesn't quite realize the natural contempt
American's have towards royalty. It's all in the name.

When he first left for the sunny beaches of Miami, the Cleveland Cavaliers and their fans burned his jersey in effigy. Apparently the heat from that flame has melted the icy relationship that grew when Cleveland and its favorite son had taken divergent paths, for the parting had not been sweet. As he left,  King James reminded Cleveland that he's from rival city Akron, so Cleveland shunned his royal highness regardless of his steady ascension to the throne.

The royal one is returning to Cleveland and his supreme stature instantly shifted the Cavs to the top of Vegas odds to win it all next year. Vegas could simply be moving to avoid potential historic payouts. The 10 people who already bet Cleveland to win it all next year are thrilled  with this new development. On the other hand, therapist' who helped LeBron, and Cleveland, heal from their last breakup are a little suspicious...and so am I.

They used to say that if you broke up, you  broke up for a reason, and they might be right. The two years he has signed to play for represent a virtual prenuptial agreement. Dan Gilbert may have removed his hate letter to LeBron from the Cav's webpage, but this manifesto is etched into the Cleveland psyche. Cleveland may be willing to allow him the chance to bling out their city like he did Miami, but they will never fully trust him forever. Bigger cities bow to royalty while small towns never open up to keeping something they've never had. At least not for long.

Rejecting LeBron was never going to persist forever. LeBron had to wait for history to rank his all time greatness and Clevelanders would make the distance and hatred between them and Akron disappear. But LeBron couldn't wait. For all the mountains and obstacles he's overcome in his life, being vilified just doesn't sit well with this King.

If only his name had been Smith. Because he's a James, punsters like myself were destined to annoint this talented player, "King James". American's discovered greatness while shunning appointed royalty. We do not readily accept anything , especially royalty, without rigorous debate.

Now the debate becomes, "can LeBron win in Cleveland and will it matter if he does? Clearly LeBron thinks so or he would not be so forgiving of the ineffective curse Cleveland cast upon his crown. LeBron thinks that he was much more beloved before the bad Decision, but is this new Decision truly for the right reasons?

If LeBron and Cleveland are rightful lovers who never should have departed from one another, then love shall write this story. If they are both wounded and running towards an easy way out, this make up might end horribly.

Sometimes you simply can't go home.

Independence Day Reminds US Of Freedom....Unless You're A Skeptic

Is there a better day than Independence Day to get embroiled in a family debate over government conspiracy theories.

Whenever my oldest daughter decides that she needs a dose of family to recharge herself for the grind, she comes over to gladly assume the role of chief antagonist.

Yesterday was such an occasion, but it felt like old times because it was them versus me again. Siding with anyone but dad is common fair, but children become adults with ideas of their own. If they take sides just because of pressure, there's therapy for such things.

Maybe mom, an eternal skeptic, has had more influence than I realized, but I'm of a mind that says they all are part of a bigger, growing group of government conspiracy skeptics.

In case you are wondering, I didn't win this one, but I did force the ring leader to acknowledge that she did not know what the mission might be. If she was Libertarian I am certain she would have been better able to articulate a response. To my Libertarian friend/s, you've got one on the line, but you will need to bring her in carefully. The politically distrustful behave much like feral cats.

We ended our heated exchange with the acceptance that, even if "they" do exist, they might be functioning for our benefit (at least in their minds).

You know! Like the Wizard of Oz. Good ole Oz became a laughable part of my argument in fact. I blamed the Wizard for our natural compulsion to expect there to be a "man behind the curtain". As it turns out, only the younger Brewer realized that I wasn't coming up with some revolutionary concept that had never been discussed regarding this epic film.

Unknowingly, she confirmed the nugget of thought that gave me an advantage in the battle, even if not a victory in the never ending conspiracy theory war that grips America....and the Brewers.  WE the people simply don't want to believe that WE the people could be responsible for this mess. Blaming the man behind the curtain or anyone other than ourselves is a reasonable reaction, but an immature decision.

Reasonable people act unreasonably all the time. It should be reasonable for all of us to be more skeptical of everything, so I accept that I could be the misguided here. Our government has done programs and secret dealings for years only to be discovered long after they've concluded.

....And that is the key word. DISCOVERED.

My one problem with the Wizard of Oz mentality is that the Wizard was eventually discovered. For a truly successful secret society to have survived, it would have to be run by any organization other than our dysfunctional government, or this is the first successful program ever, and it is comprised of apolitical mutes. All others need not apply.

No one has any family member who wanted out, or challenged the direction and went Snowden? EVER?

On the other hand, has anyone (you/me) ever decided that this mess is too big to stand in a long election line?  We might be under the control of a secret society, but it is more likely that we are just caught in a spell of our own creation.

An unbreakable spell cast by the ultra secret Wizard of Us.

Carmelo Anthony Finding Championship's Elusive. "Ask Charles Barkley"

Over the past decade, and still to this day, there has been one king of scoring in the league, and his name is Carmelo Anthony.

Sure, Kobe Bryant had a stretch of magic in which he could only be defended by Melo or LeBron, but no one ever kept Melo from forcing his game upon you. In fact, he has to be fouled or doubled if he drives....period. He is the one guy who could win scoring titles every season by playing his natural game as LeBron and Kevin Durant often force their Jordanian ways. Melo is a scorer that even Jordan raises an eyebrow at. He reminds me of Charles Barkley.

During his time, Jordan may have been the best player, but Barkley was the most dominant force, especially when he added a jumper to his arsenal. For a stretch, it seemed as though Barkley was the only hope of derailing the back to back Bulls. Barkley's power at the rim, ball handling skills and deadly jumper made him formidable even when he got old. When I think of his game and his career, it reminds me of Melo every time (Barkley rebounded better of course).

As the free agent frenzy reaches a peak, Melo is on the nation wide jaunt to decide if he will uproot the wife and kid....again, or will he stay and attract free agents to come to New York with him, Phil and (Derek) Fisher?

IS THAT TRIANGLE something Melo can depend on?

Why couldn't Melo attract stars to Denver? Why isn't anyone screaming to play with the best scorer in the world in the best city in the world?  When guy's play against good players they offer up respect for their game. When they play against legends they walk away dreaming of joining them. Melo is the former, not the latter, so if no one decides to come, Melo might go.

My hunch is that money (NY has the most to give him), and family (LaLa has a t.v. show) will influence the outcome, but rich guys with tainted legacies are a volatile lot. They are liable to do just about anything chasing after glory while running from father time. Ask Charles Barkley.

Barkley could have stayed with Philly and trusted his front office to handle the business of basketball, but failure makes you doubt everything and everyone, including yourself. I often feel sorry for the greats of any sport. They are blessed with confidence and ability that allows them to do things that others marvel at. To also humble yourself towards the greater good is what builds amazing teams and separates great players and champion's.

Does that mean that Charles Barkley was too selfish to be a champion? His immense effort on the court says no, but his traveling chase of the crown begs the question. Karl Malone and John Stockton might have something to say about that stay put theory, but they all should come to grips with the truth of championship's.

They are hard under every circumstance. Jordan lost....a lot before Phil Jackson brought the glue that formed the 2nd greatest team effort over an extended period. Jordan won his first MVP in '88 but his first title in '91. The Boston Celtics of the Bill Russell era are the pinnacle of NBA teams (11 titles between '56 and '69 including 8 in a row). Winning anything that many times is other worldly. It was then, and it still is now. As Melo continues his search for a new home, he has to search for the best team he can find.

Will Kobe hand the reigns of his team to Melo? Will D-Rose or D-Howard do the same? Will anyone of those situations create the kind of teamwork it will take to one-up the scintillating Spurs?  How much can you know about that team you want versus the team you have? Melo is a NY Knick with Phil Jackson (an original Knick player) at the helm. Melo may doubt everything and everyone, but Phil has a track record of traveling the road that Melo is pursuing.

Phil came to New York to pursue a new jewel for his legendary career because he saw a chance to make the best scorer in the league into the same thing he made of Mike, a champion. Mike never won without Phil, but Phil won without Mike. Between Phil and Greg Popovich, the kings of teamwork; they've won 14 titles since 1991. Phil already has 9 crowns, but he still came to New York to be with Melo.

For the first time in his career, Melo has attracted "that guy" to his team, but he is considering leaving? If he leaves New York to become a champion, he might have to play second fiddle to someone else who is already in place.  If he stays, he has "that guy" to place the pieces around him, and him alone.

I am not sure what he will do even though I know what he should do. If he does choose to leave, we can all blame father time for scaring him into running away from his best chance to form a team, his team, and chase the crown.  But it happens to the best of them....ask Charles Barkley.