Death Penalty, Cliven Bundy - Somalian Warlord, and Tarnished Sterling

The Luckiest Death Row Inmate Scheduled to be Executed the other Night Award goes to the guy who was number two in the lineup of executions in Oklahoma the other night. After the first execution went horribly wrong, the Governor ordered a 14 day stay of execution on the second one. Apparently Oklahoma was experimenting with a new drug cocktail for its executions, and after some 45 minutes in which the inmate was reported to be gasping, groaning, writhing, and talking, he died of a heart attack. The award for the Unluckiest Fellow goes to the first guy. I also saw a report yesterday that 1 in 25 death row inmates are likely innocent. **************** Another disturbing thing about the horribly botched execution in Oklahoma the other night is that a sizable percentage of Americans really don't care whether the condemned prisoner was in pain or not and would be willing to randomly pump death row inmates' veins with battery acid, mayonnaise, chlorine bleach, Roundup weed killer, superglue, Coca-Cola, liquid drain cleaner, fingernail polish, or a hundred other substances. Horrible pain and suffering would simply be an added bonus. *************** It seems that, on balance, Democrats would rather people have health insurance than assault weapons; Republicans would rather people have assault weapons than health insurance. ******************* Cliven Bundy's reign as most ridiculous racist of the year came to a quick end when Donald Sterling's anti-black comments became public. Banned for Life from the NBA, he will be forced to sell his LA Clippers basketball team pocketing an estimated $600 - $750 million from the deal. Some punishment. Political hack Matt Drudge thought he could score a cheap political point by labeling Racist-of-the-Week Donald Sterling a Democrat. But, he isn't. He's a registered Republican. There may be some holdover racists in the Democratic party, but the vast majority of them have crossed over to the Republican Party over the last 4 or 5 decades since LBJ's civil rights and voting rights legislation and Richard Nixon and Lee Atwater developed their southern strategy. That's nothing for Republicans to brag about.************* Cliven Bundy did continue to make some news this week, though, as it turns out he has a private militia now conducting roadblocks and identify verification of travelers in the area. He is sounding more and more like some Somalian warlord. And his remarks that he was very much like Rosa Parks seemed particularly tone deaf and absurd. **************** In their effort to reach out to minorities and lessen the damage caused by idiotic racist remarks by Cliven Bundy, Donald Sterling, and others, Republicans will recommend replacing the word "slavery" with "guaranteed jobs program" in all their talking points. The Republican National Committee also recommended pointing out the free transportation to America, as well as free room and board upon arrival.