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Gaggle – Newbusters.org
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: California Republican Assembly Calls for California Republican Party to Reconsider its Pre-Primary Endorsement of Governor Schwarzenegger
Republican Volunteer Group Urges Republican Party to Reconsider Endorsement of Schwarzenegger
Unanimous Vote by California Republican Assembly Executive Committee Demonstrates That Volunteers Are Unhappy With the GovernorThe state’s oldest Republican volunteer organization today called on the CaliforniaRepublican Party to reconsider its pre-primary endorsement of Governor Schwarzeneggerfor re-election in 2006.
“It was a unanimous vote of our Executive Committee,†announced Mike Spence, President of the conservative California Republican Assembly. “This should send a very strong message to the Governor and the State Party leadership that the grass-roots volunteers are not happy.â€
Concern about the appointment of liberal Democrat Susan Kennedy as the Governor’s
Chief of Staff fueled the vote.“Clearly, the appointment of Susan Kennedy doesn’t sit well with Republicans,†noted
Spence. “But there are other issues as well, and California Republicans are reaching the
breaking point.â€The CRA would be better to do less posturing and more recruitment of a viable candidate for California Governor.
Schwarzenegger has already JUMPED THE SHARK.
Previous:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Governor Names Partisan Democrat Chief of Staff – THE FLAP
Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: Pat Clarey, Arnold’s Chief of Staff ResignsTechnorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Susan Kennedy
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Stanley “Tookie” Williams Watch: Schwarzenegger Considers Tookie’s Fate
Danielle Moore, 23, of Oakland, Calif., protests for Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams outside of the Capitol building in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold a private clemency hearing in the case of Stanley Williams on Thursday morning. Williams, a founder of the notorious Crips street gang, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1979 murders of four people during two robberies in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times has Governor Considers Williams’ Fate Following Clemency Hearing
The fate of Stanley Tookie Williams was in the hands of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who began considering whether to grant clemency after meeting today with lawyers for the convicted murderer.
The private meeting began after 10 a.m. and the participants, including lawyers opposing mercy, left about 11:30 a.m.
It was likely the last chance for Williams, one of the founders of the notorious Crips gang, to avoid execution by lethal injection early Tuesday.
Life and death hung in the balance during the meeting, which lasted more than an hour. Schwarzenegger is not expected to announce his decision today.
The hearing was held in the Cabinet Room, with Schwarzenegger seated at one end of a long wooden table. He was flanked by his legal affairs secretary, Andrea Hoch, and advisor Peter Siggins. Two other members of the governor’s legal team were present.
Led by Peter Fleming Jr., Williams’ lawyers used about 30 minutes to try to persuade Schwarzenegger to save Williams, who has said he has been redeemed by his work from his prison cell to try to stop gang violence. They presented parts of their argument on a large screen.
Opponents, including representatives of the law enforcement community, argued that Williams deserves his punishment.
Williams, 51, also sent a personal letter to the governor.
Flap handicaps that Schwarzenegger will wait until Friday afternoon to announce that the petition for clemency has been DENIED.
On the other hand, if Arnold grants clemency then the death you will see will be the Governor’s political career.
Actor/Comedian Jamie Foxx, middle, gets a hug from a well-wisher outside of San Quentin State Penitentiary in San Quentin, Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005. Foxx was visiting with death row inmate Stanley Tookie Williams who faces execution on Dec. 13, 2005 for the murder of four people in Los Angeles. Foxx played Williams in a made-for-television movie.
Previous:
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Scenes from the Clemency Hearing
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: A Question of Mercy @ 10 AM Clemency Hearing?Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Cobb – But That’s Different
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NAACP Chief Bruce Gordon Champions “CRIPS†Founder
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Political Risks
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Clemency Hearing to Include Claim there were Errors in Trial
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NOT Afraid to Die
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: A Tookie Store for Conservatives is NOW Open
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Stars rally around Condemned Killer
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Execution
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NO REMORSEStanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Tookie’s “Human Angelâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Isn’t it The Truth By Cobb
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Schwarzenegger to Hold Private Clemency Hearing
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California Governor Schwarzenegger MULLS ClemencyStanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: FLAP Over “Tookie Must Dieâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Jesse Jackson, Bianca Jagger Plead for LIFE
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: SNOOP DOGG BEGS SCHWARZENEGGER FOR CLEMENCY
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California’s Life-and-Death Politics
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Death Warrant Signed
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips
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Dentistry Today: Marquette University School of Dentistry Suspends Dental Student for Blog Posts
The Marquette Tribune has Student suspended for blog posts
His lawyer says an appeal has been filedA School of Dentistry student who was suspended from the school Friday for comments he made on his personal Weblog about unnamed professors and students filed an appeal with the school Monday, according to the student’s lawyer.
Scott Taylor, the student’s lawyer, said the university has until Friday to consider his client’s appeal and submit a written response. Taylor would not confirm his client’s name.
The university was not releasing the student’s name as of Monday, but Kevin Siebenlist, an associate professor of biomedical sciences who testified Thursday at a Student-Faculty Review Committee hearing about the student’s conduct confirmed the student’s name is Theodore Schrubbe.
Marquette’s student directory on CheckMarq lists Schrubbe as a second-year dental student.
Taylor said his client was suspended but is still attending classes.This reminds Flap of another university restriction of free speech case – Duquesne University Politically Correct FLAP: The Facebook Censorship
Flap recommends the Dean of the Marquette Dental School reverse the decision of the Student-Faculty Review Committee, reinstate the student or get out his checkbook for some expensive litigation and damage awards.
The Tribune obtained a packet of documents, including correspondence from the university to the student and 48 pages of postings from the student’s blog, which has been taken off the Internet, from associate professor of political science John McAdams. McAdams posted an entry on his blog, www.mu-warrior.blogspot.com, on Sunday about the student’s suspension.
McAdams gave copies of the documents, which contain the student’s name, to the Tribune under the condition the Tribune would not use the documents to confirm the student’s name.
McAdams said he was asked by the defense to testify at the hearing on the normal expectations for student blogs.
In a Dec. 2 letter to Schrubbe, Denis Lynch, associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Dentistry, informed Schrubbe that the Student-Faculty Review Committee found him guilty of professional misconduct in violation of Section IV, Subsection E of the school’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and the Marquette University Standards of Conduct.
Section IV, Subsection E of the school’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct states that actions “which in any way discriminate against or favor any group or are harassing in nature, are condemned.”
Lynch’s Dec. 2 letter stated that Schrubbe was suspended from the School of Dentistry until the 2006 fall semester, at which time he “will be allowed to resume your matriculation and will be required to repeat the second year of the predoctoral program in its entirety.”
The letter also said Schrubbe would be required to make a public apology to his class before the end of the current semester.
In addition, the letter said he was required to repay scholarship payments he had received while attending the School of Dentistry.
This committee is NUTSOID.
A reminder:
First Amendment of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.â€
The ACLU has a good section on free speech and university codes of speech and conduct here.
Flap handicaps the Dean, William K. Lobb, D.D.S., M.S. will do the RIGHT thing and overrule the committee.
Lobb’s e-mail address is: william.lobb@marquette.edu
A Marquette Alumni Blogger weighs in here.Stay Tuned……
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Stanley “Tookie” Williams Watch: Scenes from the Clemency Hearing
Mo Kashmiri, left, and Lakshmi Sridaran protest for Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams outside of the Capitol building in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold a private clemency hearing in the case of Stanley Williams on Thursday morning. Williams, a founder of the notorious Crips street gang, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1979 murders of four people during two robberies in Los Angeles.
The President Ronald Reagan Cabinet room in the Governors Capitol office seen Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005, in Sacramento, Calif., is the site where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will hold a private clemency hearing for Stanley Tookie Williams. Schwarzenegger called the private clemency hearing to discuss the case of Williams, who was convicted of murdering four people in 1979.
Patrick Dickson, third from right, head deputy attorney for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, walks with other members of the prosecution team to the Governor’s office for a clemency hearing for Stanley Tookie Williams to be held in Sacramento, Calif., Dec. 8, 2005. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called the private clemency hearing to discuss the case of Williams who is to be executed Tuesday, Dec. 13.
Previous:
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: A Question of Mercy @ 10 AM Clemency Hearing?Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Cobb – But That’s Different
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NAACP Chief Bruce Gordon Champions “CRIPS†Founder
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Political Risks
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Clemency Hearing to Include Claim there were Errors in Trial
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NOT Afraid to Die
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: A Tookie Store for Conservatives is NOW Open
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Stars rally around Condemned Killer
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Execution
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NO REMORSEStanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Tookie’s “Human Angelâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Isn’t it The Truth By Cobb
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Schwarzenegger to Hold Private Clemency Hearing
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California Governor Schwarzenegger MULLS ClemencyStanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: FLAP Over “Tookie Must Dieâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Jesse Jackson, Bianca Jagger Plead for LIFE
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: SNOOP DOGG BEGS SCHWARZENEGGER FOR CLEMENCY
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California’s Life-and-Death Politics
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Death Warrant Signed
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips
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Stanley “Tookie” Williams Watch: A Question of Mercy @ 10 AM Clemency Hearing?
A California Highway Patrolman detains protestor Phoebe Anne Sorgen, a Berkeley, Calif., peace activist, outside of San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005. Sorgen, who was blocking the entrance of the prison, was protesting against the execution of condemned inmate Stanley Tookie Williams. Williams is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Times has Williams Case a Question of Mercy
With legal claims rejected, the killer’s redemption may be key in clemency decision.If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spares Stanley Tookie Williams from his scheduled execution at San Quentin State Prison next week, he will almost certainly be forced to anchor his decision in a rationale that has virtually disappeared from the modern clemency process: mercy.
Nationwide over the last 30 years, governors commuting death sentences have almost never cited a condemned man’s redemption as a reason to save his life. Rather, they typically act because of doubts about guilt, questions surrounding trial fairness, concerns about mental illness or worries that capital punishment disproportionately targets racial minorities.
In the Williams case, legal claims have been rejected repeatedly by courts. His bid for clemency is rooted entirely in what attorneys describe as his metamorphosis behind bars, from the co-founder of the murderous Crips street gang to a peacemaker who writes children’s books and preaches nonviolence.
If Californians are to believe in the rule of law, Governor Schwarzenegger must deny the clemency petition.
If Californians are to feel secure in their property and person, Governor Schwarzenegger must deny the clemency petition.
If the California Death Penatly law is to have any meaning, Governor Schwarzenegger must deny the clemency petition.
In deciding the fate of two other condemned men, the governor rejected clemency, finding no evidence compelling him to act. In January, after he denied clemency for triple murderer Donald Beardslee and allowed the execution to proceed, Schwarzenegger told journalists in his native Austria that the episode marked “the hardest day” of his life.
The law, meanwhile, offers little guidance. There are no rules when it comes to executive commutations, and previous governors characterize clemency decisions as among the most challenging and emotional they faced in office. The public clamor only exacerbates the pressure.
The Los Angeles Times has prepared a chart comparing different states clemency rates:
Listen to what former California Governors say about clemency……
“Clemency is an awesome responsibility,” said former Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat who rejected bids from five men who were executed. While Schwarzenegger will clearly be “aware that the world is watching,” Davis said, the task is “a very solitary decision, a matter between the governor and his conscience.”
Former Gov. Pete Wilson agreed that “you don’t take lightly denying life to anyone.” On the other hand, he said, Californians have “expressed their approval at the ballot box of imposing the death penalty, and so I think anyone seeking clemency has a very difficult standard to meet.”
On Wednesday, lawyers for Williams summarized the line of argument they would be making at today’s hearing, which the governor will attend, and said they would be presenting Schwarzenegger with a letter from Williams. They declined to reveal its contents.
Beginning at 10 a.m. today, the governor will hear the presentation from Williams’ attorneys and one from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Schwarzenegger’s aides said he would make no comment, and they could not predict when he might make his decision.
Flap handicaps a Friday afternoon decision.
Stay tuned…….
Previous:
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Cobb – But That’s Different
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NAACP Chief Bruce Gordon Champions “CRIPS†Founder
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Political Risks
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Clemency Hearing to Include Claim there were Errors in Trial
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NOT Afraid to Die
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: A Tookie Store for Conservatives is NOW Open
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Stars rally around Condemned Killer
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Execution
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: NO REMORSEStanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Tookie’s “Human Angelâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Isn’t it The Truth By Cobb
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Schwarzenegger to Hold Private Clemency Hearing
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California Governor Schwarzenegger MULLS ClemencyStanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: FLAP Over “Tookie Must Dieâ€
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Jesse Jackson, Bianca Jagger Plead for LIFE
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: SNOOP DOGG BEGS SCHWARZENEGGER FOR CLEMENCY
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: California’s Life-and-Death Politics
Stanley “Tookie†Williams Watch: Death Warrant Signed
Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stanley Tookie Williams, Crips
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Day By Day by Chris Muir