Another day, another botched execution

On Wednesday there was yet another botched execution. This time it was in Arizona. This time the victim of the state's callous disregard for human life was Joseph Wood.

At 1:52 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Mr. Wood was strapped to a gurney and an IV was inserted into his arm. Through the IV tube flowed a mixture of midazolam and hydromorphone. Arizona, like many other states, has been scrambling to find alternative means of killing inmates now that many drug manufacturers refuse to supply the drugs to prisons.

As the drugs took effect Mr. Wood's eyes closed. But then, less than ten minutes after the execution began, Mr. Wood began to gasp for air. Some observers claim he gasped hundreds of times over the next nearly two hours before he finally died.

The typical execution by lethal injection lasts ten minutes or so - not almost two hours. There can be no question that the recent spate of problems can be traced either to the drugs or procedure used.

Of course every news account of this latest botched execution has to include the fact that Mr. Wood was convicted of two murders. But his past sins are completely irrelevant to the proceeding at hand. Supposedly the death penalty is supposed to serve as a deterrent to others, not as revenge for the victims. As such, the crime that landed the condemned man on death row is meaningless.

There is no equivalence. Mr. Wood was arrested, tried and convicted for his crimes. His punishment was to be carried out by the state - not by the family of the victims. He was being executed because of his crime against the state.

Of course then we have idiots like E.J. Montini of the Arizona Republic who contend that the execution wasn't botched because Mr. Wood ended up dead. If you read his piece you can only come to the conclusion that Mr. Montini hasn't developed the ability to step back from a situation and apply logic to it.

Members of the victims' family told reporters that they weren't concerned about whether Mr. Wood suffered during the execution because of what he did back in 1992. But did the pain of the loss go away after the botched execution? Was the family made whole again? Did the victims of Mr. Wood's crimes come back to life?

No. The whole is still there. The pain will never go away. Watching one person suffer for the death of another doesn't solve anything.

The investigation of the execution will be carried out by the state. There will be no independent investigation. The state will keep as much as they can under wraps. That's the way the game works now.

The death house is not the place to be conducting science experiments and that's what we're seeing as state after state try new ways to kill inmates. No one knows if any of these methods are humane. No one knows whether these new drug cocktails cause insufferable pain. No one knows whether the drugs do what they are supposed to do. At what point do we say enough is enough?

Court strikes down provisions of anti-immigrant statute

On Monday the US Supreme Court struck down three provisions of Arizona's anti-immigrant statute but left stand the ability of law enforcement to ask motorists stopped for minor traffic offenses to provide proof of immigration status.

I guess we should be pleased that the Supremes thought the state legislature went just a wee bit too far by requiring immigrants to carry their immigration papers on them at all times. So much for that presumption of innocence, kid. The nine in robes also decreed that the police could no longer arrest immigrants without warrant if they thought the immigrant committed a crime that would lead to deportation.

There's no possible way such a scheme could ever lead the police to profile motorists, is there? Is there a chance that anyone with brown skin could find themselves under suspicion for not being in Arizona on the up-and-up?

But, lest you fear the law could lead to dark days ahead for immigrants, rest assured that Arizona governor Jan Brewer said the decision was a victory for the "rule of law" and that she was certain that the law would be implemented fairly by law enforcement officials.

Because you know, Ms. Brewer, that the police have never used a statute for the purpose of oppressing a group of people. The police have never used alleged traffic violations as a pretext for stopping a motorist. Of course Ms. Brewer has probably never found herself on the opposite side of a window as someone asks her to prove she's here legally.

Oh, that's right, Ms. Brewer is a whiter shade of pale.

Maybe Ms. Brewer and the backers of what's left of the law should take a look to their past to see just who's a guest in the Grand Canyon State and who's not. But for the government's campaign of genocide against the Native Americans, the makeup of Arizona would be quite different.

In the meantime, Justice Scalia had a conniption fit at the mere suggestion that President Obama might not enforce federal immigration law based on his decision not to deport young people who came to this country with their parents. While the President's decision was certainly an attempt to reach out to solidify his support in the Hispanic community, it was also a realization that you can't blame a child for the acts of a parent.

The Court's decision on Monday will open the door for the police in Arizona to profile motorists based on skin color and appearance. And you can count on it happening - no matter how much Ms. Brewer says otherwise.

Did you hear the one about the sheriff...

Arresting over 500 illegal immigrants just for laughs? Damn, that Joe Arpaio is one fucking funny guy.

While being investigated by los federales for his policies that violated the rights of illegal immigrants, Joe Arpaio went on the lecture circuit and told a crowd in Houston that he arrested folks just for the heck of it.

Nice, Sheriff Joe, very nice.

If there was ever any doubt that the federal government needs to deal with Joe Arpaio as they would deal with anyone else suspected of criminal behavior - this is it. Enough of the acting like a scared child when confronting the big bad bully of Maricopa County. He's just a sheriff. If he broke the law, if he violated the civil rights of folks living within his jurisdiction, it's time he had to face the music.

Joe Arpaio has been allowed to flaunt his disregard for civil rights for years because, for some reason, everyone is afraid of the man. Los federales have brought down federal judges, senators, congressmen and governors. Why it's so hard to force a sheriff in Arizona to answer for his actions, I have yet to understand.

In an interview Thursday, Arpaio defended his comments before Texans For Immigration Reform as a collection of humorous off-the-cuff remarks intended merely to show that he wasn't going to back down to critics. 

"These are not official, under-oath speeches," Arpaio said. "It's strictly a speech that when I'm talking to certain groups, they like to hear what I have to say, because they know I'm under the gun."

But as long as everyone stands by too scared to do anything, the little bully in the southwest is allowed to continue his campaign of intimidation. Joe Arpaio isn't bigger than the Constitution. When he was sworn into office he took an oath to uphold the laws of Arizona and the laws of the United States. But he's given a free pass to do whatever the hell he wants to do.

Arresting people just because he can do it? Why not? Who's going to challenge him?

Petty tyrants are allowed to humiliate folks because no one is willing to stand up to them. If this latest episode isn't enough to get the feds involved, I don't know what is. He's on tape telling an audience that he arrested hundreds of people just because he could - not because he had any legal reason to do so.

Now's the time for President Obama and Eric Holder to actually stand up and do something about the flagrant abuses in Maricopa County. Why do I get the feeling that nothing's going to happen?