The Execution of An Innocent Man

“The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man – convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God’s dust I came and to dust I will return – so the earth shall become my throne.”

Cameron T. Willingham, moments before his execution, Feburary 17th, 2004.

Cameron T. Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004. A man running from a past checkered with stints in rehab for drugs and alcohol, he was found guilty of burning down the home which he shared with his wife and three children. The children were killed from smoke inhalation, inside the home, as Willingham was outside.

Accounts of what happened on that fateful day in 1992 tend to vary. Some say that Willingham had to be restrained as he attempted to run into the blaze to save his children; others say that he stood calmly on the lawn as the blaze picked up and his children burned alive. However, a new report from the New Yorker reveals that – without a shadow of a doubt – Willingham was not guilty.
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Steve Romain

It’s the Climate, Stupid

Saw something crazy over on Huffington Post today about midwestern states and ten degree rises in temperature by 2010; farmers will be effed, oh they will be seriously effed (and what do farmers grow? Food. And who eats food? We do!), but the best part of the article is the classic regurgitation of what could surely be the epitaph on civilization’s uncelebrated tombstone: “[S]enators from Kansas, which will be most ravaged by climate change, are unlikely to support legislation addressing it.”

Let me try to understand. And yes, it has been said; I know I beat my head against it with nearly every environmental article I read. The planet is boiling, and our elected officials ‘are unlikely’ to support legislation addressing it?

What should we do to pull their heads out of the clouds and get them down here on the ground where the birds and bees are dying, crops are failing and all of Earth’s alarm bells are shrieking out our danger? Not that many of us can can hear, we’ve all got fingers in our ears, we use our chemically whitened teeth to rip the plastic off our burgers/ipods/American Apparel V-neck Summer Tees.

Feels kind of like life in an ivory tower; close the shutters, turn on your central air, and you can easily forget that your kids’ kids’ kids are gonna spend their days dressed in retro leather drinking irradiated water and scrounging pre-apocalyptic twinkies from the ruins of this little thing called Life.

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Sam Patton

SMH At Rush Limbaugh Dissing Jay Z

I guess Rush is trying to build cred with his nonexistent urban audience by dissing Jay Z. I love Rush’s LOLtasitc line “if we need to save our penises from anybody it’s Obama!” Check the dis on the other side of the jump.

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Biko Baker

I Don’t Understand The Health Care Plan

So the other day, League alum Dennis “Kinjani” Edwards forwarded me this insightful blog. He, like me, would like people to spend more time actually explaining Obama’s health care plan. Seems like the sensational rhetoric isn’t working for him. More from Kinjani below.

We’ve all seen the epic debates on CNN, Fox, and every major news network about President Obama’s proposed healthcare reform plan. We’ve heard arguments both exhorting and condemning the idea and when I flip through the channels on my TV, if I ever hear the words or see headlines that have anything to do with health care, my ears perk. To say the least, I’m no expert and with the little knowledge that I’ve been able to gather from all I’ve seen and heard over the years about healthcare but I can say that I agree with our President that there needs to be some change in our healthcare system and it would be great if quality healthcare was available to everyone and not just the wealthiest Americans. Lately I’ve been having some trouble. See, I want to support our President. And surely, his proposal that will mark the beginning of a new era in United States economy and politics but I have just one major problem.

After watching all the news and the press conferences and town hall meetings about healthcare reform, I still don’t know what it is. I heard a lot about what this new healthcare plan will not be but I really am not grasping what it actually will be.

Here’s some of what I’ve been able to gather from the press:

There are approximately 52 million Americans who have no health coverage. That means that if they get sick and they need an operation they will have to pay for the cost out of pocket or they will not receive treatment. Arguments against Obama’s plan say that if his healthcare agenda does pass that there still will be another 17 million people who fall through the cracks. 17 million people will still remain uninsured. Again, I’m no expert but I’d rather something be done and then perfected rather than do nothing and we’re left stuck with a huge disparity. Quite frankly, 17 million sounds much better 52.

Many people who are satisfied with their healthcare plan are worried that if Obama’s healthcare agenda passes that they will lose the plan that they like and will have all of their healthcare decisions made by the government i.e. their doctor, prescriptions, etc.

From what I gather, Obama says that none of this I true. He claims that if you like your insurance you will be able to keep it and that the government is not trying to monopolize the healthcare industry. Who has the answers?

Like I said, I agree that there has long been a need for change but maybe our President can be a little clearer when it comes to explaining the details.

Posted by:

Biko Baker

The legacy of the Kennedys

I’m not much for dynasties and only science should be empirical.  But they call the Kennedys “America’s Family” and I think that says a lot about who we, Americans, are, and who we want to be.

Ted Kennedy died and I knew of the man, of course saw his actions in the Obama Era as noble, progressive, right.  I know from my interest in history and social change that Robert and John Kennedy were magnetic forces of their times and that they gave their lives for their ideals.  Any dreamer can revere that, and so I figure Ted more than most would revere his brothers lost before their time.  The goodness I believe he took from those tragedies was a true feeling of responsibility to pursue Rightness.

For me, and for many Americans, it is an era of sincere skepticism towards the ability of our elected officials to turn the squeaky wheels of government in the direction of progress.  I want change to happen NOW and I distrust anyone who says otherwise. I am tempted to give up hope because we have waited so long for its fruition.

But I heard Ted Kennedy died today, and I happened upon this speech:

And it moved me, and it made me reevaluate myself.  It is easier for me to distrust the men and women in Congress than it is to focus myself towards my own work, towards progress in my own life.  It is easier for me to believe nothing will change than it is for me to be a force of change.  It is easier to doubt and do nothing because when nothing happens at least my own self righteousness will be confirmed.

But the lesson I am revisiting today is simple: life, like change, is not easy. Ted Kennedy lost two brothers to the turbulence of America changing, but held fast to his own ideals for the remainder of his time on Earth.

I tend to romanticize the fire, not the light; it is JFK that racks my focus, not the story of a little brother who grew up and endured. But it only through a steady, unyielding endurance that we will make it down the road of Change. The best that I can do is be great, in the face of my own self’s limitations, and rely on you to make up for my stark weaknesses.

And that’s a lesson I learned, from a man I never knew, from a background I will never have. It is nothing to trumpet; it is something that we all should think about, should continue thinking about, as we go back to our own lives’ work, make a thousand choices that right now will only matter to us but that, in time, might matter very much, to everyone.

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Sam Patton

The X Fact(her): Don’t Believe the Hype!

The sky is falling.

No need to go outside and look for yourself. Trust me. I’m on the Internet so what I say must be true.

The sky is falling.

Rush to your neighbors and tell them too. Keep your head down as you do this as not to look at the sky because its falling and you don’t want to get hurt.

Tell everyone you know that the sky is falling but be sure to say it like this:

“I heard/someone told me/read somewhere the sky is falling.”

Make sure to say it with such conviction that they have no choice to believe you. In a panic they will then pass the same information along to their network.
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Chloe

Glenn Beck Goes After Van Jones!

I just got this interesting link to one of the blogs over at the Los Angeles Times. Apparently, Glenn Beck is fighting back against the recent ad boycott by attacking White House special adviser and Color of Change co-founder Van Jones. Color of Change has been pressing corporate sponsors to boycott Beck’s show for recent President Obama is a “racist” statements.

On today’s show Glenn Beck challenged Van Jones’ credibility and background and even said:

“Why is it that such a committed revolutionary has made it so high into the Obama administration as one of his chief advisers?” Beck asked.

Check out the link and tell me what you think!

Looks like Glenn Beck isn’t going to go down without a fight.

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Biko Baker

Lights, Camera, Revisionist History

On Saturday night, I took a date to go see the new Quentin Tarantino flick, Inglourious Basterds. I had been waiting for this movie for at least four or five years, so let’s just say that I was a little excited.

It was a fantastic movie and I highly recommend it – for the strong of stomach, that is – but it does evoke some interesting questions.

Without giving anything away, the movie takes place in Nazi Germany during World War 2 and stars a rag-tag group of international soldiers attempting to take down Hitler’s Nazi regime. However, major events regarding the defeat of the Nazi party stray so far away from actual history that it could be called revisionist. Since film is such an incredible historical education tool (see Schindler’s List or Amistad for a few examples that are used in high schools today), should we be worried that a historical film about recent events remixes and revamps history for dramatic purposes?

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Posted by:

Steve Romain