Political Nanny: Bush Bans Officials From Today's Obama Rally

Madeline Holler — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:05:00 GMT

That First Amendment of the Constitution and its freedom to assemble. What a load! Thankfully, George W. Bush and the State Department's Undersecretary Patrick Kennedy get it. They've banned all state department officials from attending Democratic candidate Barack Obama's speech tonight in Berlin.

You know, wouldn't want the citizens of Germany to think American officials are engaged in partisan political activities. Just THINK of what that would do to the reputation of the U.S.

Now, in fairness, "partisan political activity" is prohibited under the department's regulations for overseas service. But a columnist at HuffPo points out this is a rather strict interpretation of this regulation. Even Kennedy would agree with that.

From the Washington Post:

In the interview, Kennedy described the regulation as "a standing policy," although he acknowledged that "I don't believe we've ever had to interpret this before. None of us thinking about this could come up with a precedent" for the Obama campaign rally.

What do you think? Expected? Fair? Giving you that creepy "this is what it must have felt like in East Germany in the 70s"?

Photo: salon.com

Do Child Rapists Deserve The Death Penalty?

Amy S.F. Lutz — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 20:29:00 GMT

I thought only convicted murderers could be sentenced to death in the United States. But right now two men sit on death row, both in Louisiana, neither of whom has been accused of killing anyone. What they are both guilty of is raping children, and the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear arguments as to whether or not the death penalty in these cases is constitutional.

Although the Supreme Court ruled in 1977 that rapists of adults couldn't be put to death, Louisiana isn't the only state that has legalized this punishment for child rapists: Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas will also be awaiting the Court's decision in the case of Patrick Kennedy, who was sentenced to death after being convicted of violently raping his five-year-old stepdaughter. But Kennedy has some surprising allies - including victims' rights groups, who fear that attackers will have no reason not to kill their young victims if the penalty for both crimes is the same.

At first I balked at the idea of extending the death penalty (towards which I already hold a great deal of ambivalence) to crimes not involving murder, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Although I'm sympathetic to the concerns of the victims' rights groups, I believe the death penalty should be reserved exclusively for criminals who would pose the greatest risk to the public should they ever be released. And pedophiles are notoriously difficult to rehabilitate. Virtually every famous example of a fatal, sexual attack on a child (such as John Couey's murder of Jessica Lunsford and Alejandro Avila's murder of Samantha Runnion) involved a pedophile who had previously been accused (often multiple times) of committing more minor sexual acts against children. I would be much more afraid of a convicted child rapist moving into the neighborhood than I would a parolee who had been convicted of shooting a convenience store clerk during a robbery twenty years ago while high on crack. And I'm not the only one. While many states have a version of "Megan's Law," which requires released sex offenders to register with local governments, I haven't heard of one state that requires this of paroled murderers.

Because let's face it, children are the most cherished, most vulnerable members of our society. And if putting child rapists to death gives any additional protection to the group that needs it most, maybe that's what we should do.

Strollerderby : Patrick Kennedy

Political Nanny: Bush Bans Officials From Today's Obama Rally

Do Child Rapists Deserve The Death Penalty?