Magdaleno

Sisters and Brothers,

Abortion and Health Plans

It was amazing to see how crazy the right wing and others, in particular the Catholic Church and the Republican party, got regarding language prohibiting abortions with government funds. These attacks are most political and very unjust.

It should be noted that because of the HYDE AMENDMENT no government funds can be used for abortions. And there is no need for this added language that they have created.

If  Catholic Church can lobby so strongly on the abortion issue then they might want to do the same regarding the death penalty.

Then it is discovered by a news reporter that the RNC’S  health plan for its employees has provided for abortions since 1991.  It is worth looking at the health plans of the pro-life groups to see if they have this benefit and that includes looking at the health plans of Elected officials and the right wing think tanks.

In 1963 when I was in junior college in  San Diego County my Catholic Newman Club was supporting a orphanage in Tijuana, Mexico. While on one of my visits we walked past a Medical Clinic where there were several black limousines parked outside with California license plates. When I inquired my Tijuana contacts told me that while abortion was illegal in California at that time that the rich of Southern California sent their daughters, lovers and, on occasion, wives to have abortions.

History shows us that while you can outlaw a practice that the rich will still find a way to get what they need.

NOW FOR MY VIEW OF THE NEWS

a. Get rid of the judge
b. Going rogue
c. Burma
d. Set my car free
e. He made a mistake

Get Rid of Judge Real

This judge who is 85 years of age has lost his edge and is tyrant oppressing justice from his bench. His latest victim is Alex Sanchez, Director of Homies Unidos Los Angeles. please go to wearealex.org and find our how you can help.

Going Rogue

Sarah Palin’s book is out … should be a good book to use to start your fire place. Already it is being sold at a discount at many locations. The right wing think tanks bought tons of this book so that it would show up on the best selling list, but in the long run it will not change our world nor will it continue to sell.

Aung San Suu Kyi

This past weekend, in the first meeting of its kind to ever take place with a sitting U.S. President, President Obama met with the 10 leaders of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and called for action on human rights issues in Myanmar. More directly, Obama urged Myanmar’s prime minister, Thein Sein, to release democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi as well as other political prisoners in Myanmar.

President Obama’s support comes at the perfect time. His words add fuel to the fire that Amnesty International supporters started a long time ago.

And come December 5-13th, Myanmar’s leaders will see just how brightly our flame can burn.

We’re so close! Last year at this time, many people thought that Suu Kyi had no chance at ever being released. Today, we are positive that her release is not only possible, but could happen very soon. But we don’t just want Suu Kyi released, we want her free – enjoying all of her human rights.

The more letters we send on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi, the better chance we have at urging Myanmar’s leaders to free Aung San Suu Kyi.

Let Me Out – Set My Car Free

I had been to an early breakfast at the Seattle Hilton to celebrate a victory with EQUAL RIGHTS WASHINGTON and others over a successful initiative and was, like hundreds of others, trying to get out of the parking lot. This is a circular parking lot which has only one person taking money from the many drivers. This lot has about 8 levels of parking with this tight circular drive that one must take to get out.

I was afraid that I would be late for my doctor’s appointment and was in the slow moving lane. I noticed a woman who had been trying to back her car out of its slot and thus join this turtle-paced exit. No one was willing to let her onto our slow parade. I stopped gave her a honk from my horn and let her join this automobile parade.

It was another 30 minutes before I got close to the end and pay my fee. If I had not let the woman in she might have been another 30 more minutes or more of waiting. I saw her give the attendant her credit card, and then I thought it strange that she gave the attendant a dollar bill which I thought was the tip.

When I drove up the attendant told me that the woman in front of me had paid for me and gave me $10 in change from the $20 bill. I was astonished and happy that this woman had appreciated the small gesture that I had done for her.

Ex-prosecutor: ‘I made a mistake’

By Tim Carpenter

The life, and more pointedly, the death of small-time hoodlum Ruben Montoya Cantu is etched into the consciousness of former Texas prosecutor Sam Millsap.

Millsap’s legal prowess and persuasive skills as Bexar County district attorney sent the 26-year-old Cantu to die by lethal injection at midnight Aug. 24, 1993. Millsap had no physical evidence and no confession, but he parlayed one person’s eyewitness testimony into a guilty verdict and death sentence for the 1984 slaying of Pedro Gomez, 25, inside a vacant San Antonio house.

Another notch in the belt for law and order, Texas style.

One problem.

Millsap is now convinced Cantu should have never been on death row.

“I made a mistake,” Millsap said. “Ruben Cantu should not have been prosecuted for capital murder. You have to make sure you’re getting it right. Testimony of a single eyewitness is not enough.”

Millsap was in Topeka on Saturday for the annual meeting of the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty. The organization is hopeful Millsap’s insights into the issue can inspire Kansas policymakers to give consideration to abolishing capital punishment. Ten men have been sentenced to death in Kansas since 1994. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to conduct hearings in January on a bill to repeal the 15-year-old law.

Opponents of the current law advanced a bill to the Senate floor during the 2009 session, but the measure wilted amid challenges from Democratic Attorney General Steve Six and Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, an Independence Republican seeking the 2010 nomination for attorney general.

Fifteen states have no capital punishment statute, with New Jersey abolishing the sanction in 2007 and New Mexico ending the practice in 2008. At least one legislative chamber has passed abolition measures in New Hampshire, Colorado, Montana and Connecticut. Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma and Missouri lead the nation in executions.

Millsap, who has practiced law for 35 years, said Kansas didn’t rush to reinstate the death penalty in the 1970s when other states took the plunge. There have been no executions in Kansas since 1965. The state’s reticence to pull the trigger on an absolute punishment suggests the public might be persuaded to remove the death penalty from the scales of justice, he said.

“Texas has executed 442 people in the same period Kansas has executed nobody,” he said.

Millsap doesn’t count himself among those who abhor the death penalty on moral grounds. Instead, his objection centers on the frailties of the judicial system and the extravagant cost of warehousing a special class of inmate throughout years of appeals.

He said in states such as Kansas that don’t execute people the status quo forthose facing capital punishment takes the form of life without parole.The wheels fell off the Cantu case in 2005 when Texas newspaper reports raised questions about the testimony of Juan Moreno, who had been shot repeatedly with Gomez while they were being robbed on Nov. 8, 1994. Moreno was Millsap’s star witness in the Cantu trial. In addition, Cantu’s co-defendant, David Garza, came forward to say he was present for the robbery and shooting of Moreno and Gomez, but his accomplice wasn’t Cantu.

Millsap, who served as district attorney from 1982 to 1987, said he wasn’t convinced of Cantu’s innocence in the shootings, but has no doubt the evidence was too thin to proceed with a capital murder charge. He said DNA evidence, a weapon, confession or video evidence should be part of the mix in these cases.

The bright light cast on capital punishment cases should be used to illuminate general shortcomings of the judicial process, he said. There are far too many people exonerated while serving prison sentences for rape and other felony crimes based on eyewitness testimony later proven to be flawed, he said.

Millsap said the scary part of the Cantu story was that the man — Cantu was 17 years old at the time of the double shooting — received a “perfect trial.” He said the case brought together an experienced judge, vigorous defense counsel, ethical prosecutor and fair jury.

“But,” Millsap said, “20 years later my star witness says, ‘I lied.’ ”

While Texans remain openly hostile to the idea of abandoning capital punishment, Millsap said the tragic aftermath of the Cantu case should cause level-headed people to evaluate the death penalty with fresh eyes.

“You assume the typical Kansan is a reasonable person and that the typical person is willing to take another look at this issue,” Millsap said.

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BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

If we are to move forward we must believe that we that we can do more tomorrow than we did yesterday. There is no problem that we can not overcome … we just have to believe and work hard

My best,
Leno