ANESTHESIOLOGISTS CENSURE LEGAL INJECTIONS
Without any fanfare, the American Board of Anesthesiologists has decided to censure physicians who take part in executions by legal injection.
The Washington Post has the story.
A national physicians organization has quietly decided to revoke the certification of any member who participates in executing a prisoner by lethal injection.
The mandate from the American Board of Anesthesiologists reflects its leaders’ belief that “we are healers, not executioners,” board secretary Mark A. Rockoff said. Although the American Medical Association has long opposed doctor involvement, the anesthesiologists’ group is the first to say it will harshly penalize a health-care worker for abetting lethal injections. The loss of certification would prevent an anesthesiologist from working in most hospitals.
About half of the 35 states performing executions, including Virginia and North Carolina, require a doctor to be present…..
CRIMINALIZING THE SALE OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES TO MINORS
Over the weekend, an LA Times editorial explained very succinctly why the California law (struck down by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals) that wants to make it a crime to sell violent video games to minors is well intentioned but constitutionally wrong-headed.
Here’s a clip:
Less than a week after the Supreme Court refused to carve out an exception from the 1st Amendment for videos depicting real violence against animals, it has agreed to consider California’s argument that it should withhold constitutional protection from virtual violence against people. The justices will review a sensible decision by a federal appeals court striking down a state law punishing the sale of “violent video games” to minors. We hope a majority of the court recognizes that the principle in the two cases is the same — that even offensive speech is protected by the 1st Amendment.
The measure struck down by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was well intentioned but the wrong response to the exposure of children to games such as Grand Theft Auto….
THE DEADLY ALL AMERICAN CANAL ON 60 MINUTES
While Arizona’s new stop-‘n’-search immigration law stays in the news, 60 Minutes reports on the All-American Canal, a sort of national moat that runs 85 miles along the California/Mexico border. More than 550 people have died as they tried to cross the canal going northward.
(Oh, yeah, and Conan O’Brien does his first post NBC-breakup interview on 60 Minutes too.)
IF LAUSD WANTS YOU AND ME TO VOTE FOR A NEW PARCEL TAX, WHY AREN’T THEY BOTHERING TO CAMPAIGN FOR THE THING?
Neon Tommy’s Madeleine Scinto decided it was high time that someone asked that question——and some other questions too. What she learned is very curious.
Here’s how her story opens:
Since Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) board members voted to put a $100 parcel tax on the June ballot, saying the district desperately needs the money in light of a $640 million budget deficit, Neon Tommy decided to investigate exactly what kind of campaigning the board members and other proponents have been doing.
After all, Measure E, along with all parcel taxes in California, requires a two-thirds majority to pass. It is not an easy feat, especially in this type of economy as California faces a 12 percent unemployment rate.
“But there hasn’t been a word out of the school district,” said David Tokofsky, a former LAUSD school board member. “There hasn’t been an explanation and defense or rationalization as to why the district wants to increase taxes in horrible economic times.”
ANESTHESIOLOGISTS CENSURE LEGAL INJECTIONS – unless being used by Dr. Kevorkian and Obama’s death squads. To the politically correct, criminals have more rights than old people.
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CRIMINALIZING THE SALE OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES TO MINORS – The nanny state strikes again. Maybe they should go after child predators first.
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THE DEADLY ALL AMERICAN CANAL – Oh, my. People die in the commission of crimes, like illegal entry into a country. Should have thought of that first.
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LAUSD WANTS YOU AND ME TO VOTE FOR A NEW PARCEL TAX – Maybe some people know that families and the economy can’t stand any more taxes and that a better solution would be to quit giving into the teacher unions.