Since Christmas we've been talking about the story of Betsie Gallardo, a woman who is dying of cancer in a Florida prison.
When we last met, she was being starved to death, literally, at the direction of the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC), who had decided not only to withhold further treatment for her inoperable cancer, but to withdraw nutritional support as well.
Her adopted mother is fighting to have her discharged from prison so that she can die at home-and the DOC have recommended that she be released.
On December 9th, Florida's Board of Executive Clemency ("the Board") chose to ignore the DOC advice.
Since then, thanks to a whole bunch of outside pressure, things have changed, for the better, which we'll be talking about today.
On January 5th, the Board meets again-and if we do this right, we can bring some closure to this story.
If you were with us on Christmas Day you heard the story of Betsie Gallardo, who, unless something changes quickly, is going to be intentionally starved to death in a Florida prison after being convicted of spitting on a cop.
In fairness, the State did not decide simply to starve her; instead, the Department of Corrections (DOC) first chose to withhold any further treatment for her inoperable cancer...and then they decided to starve her to death.
Her adopted mother is trying to get her released on humanitarian grounds; the DOC recommended in October that she be allowed to go home and die, the Florida Parole Commission refused.
Governor Charlie Crist chairs the Executive Clemency Board, who could also agree to let her go...and so far, they've also refused to take action.
Funny thing is, the Governor and his Board have been more than willing to step in when other Floridians requested pardons and commutations, even in situations that seemed a lot less dire.
Today, we're going to look at that history-and to be honest, as with many things in the Sunshine State, from the outside...it all looks a bit bizarre.
There are many gifts to be given and received this holiday season; some that you can wrap and put under a tree, and some so intangible and ethereal that they cannot be held within the boundaries of paper and ribbon.
Instead, they exist within the boundaries of our hearts.
Among those intangible presents, few matter more than the chance to be with those we love-and at the time of our death, it's the most important thing of all.
We have a chance to bring all of this to a dying woman and her family-but the only way it can happen is if we convince the Florida Department of Corrections not to kill her first.
It's not a tale of light and joy-but if we get lucky, there could still be a happy ending.
Via Joe Mathews, here's yet another powerful piece of evidence that the Yacht Party scaremongering over how high taxes force people to leave California is a load of fertilizer.
TALLAHASSEE -- For the first time since the end of World War II, the growth state of Florida lost population, researchers say, in a sign that the economic recession is even worse than many had feared.
In all, the state lost about 58,000 people from April 2008 to April 2009, according to a new estimate from the University of Florida's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
"It's such a dramatic shift from what we've seen in the past,'' said Stan Smith, the bureau's director.
"Florida's economy is, in a lot of ways, driven by population growth,'' he said. "Perhaps more importantly, population growth is a reflection of how the economy is doing both in Florida and in the nation.''
Attributing population shifts to taxes is about as rational as attributing student test scores to rain. If you want to correlate populations and the economy, the Occam's razor explanation would be that people go where the jobs are. And I would add that people who cannot find a job probably won't stay around a place long if the social safety net is vaporized.
The lack of political media in the state allows urban legends like this to take hold through the only outlets left, right-wing radio and persistent rumor. You get the falsehoods you pay for listening to such garbage. If we had 100 Peter Schrags in the media and twice that in the Democratic Party leadership forcefully rebutting such misinformation and making the value-based case for the kind of progressive government they'd like to see, at least there would be a counterweight. But it's hard to argue something with nothing.
(I'm putting some of Schrag's article below the fold, because it's brilliant and a great resource for arguing with friends and neighbors. Read the whole thing.)
The rising levels of voter participation among the nation's youth continue to be challenged by the current voter registration system, perpetuating the difficulty of fostering lifelong voters. Some states are proposing to take this challenge into their own hands by making voter registration accessible to citizens as young as 16. Already widely accessible at schools and departments of motor vehicles, the move would allow future voters in some states to automatically be enrolled on the voter rolls on their 18th birthdays, a change that advocates say could "close the registry gap between young voters and the rest of the population."
In the last two weeks voter registration and early voting has shown that voters are geared up and ready to take part in what has been called a "historical event" on November 4.
This is very preliminary right now, and we're still working on getting all of the details. That being said, it appears that the No On 8 website has been hit with some sort of attack coordinated with an attack on website opposing the Constitutional Amendment against marriage equality in Florida, No on 2.
Obviously, if such an attack did occur, it would be illegal and highly unethical. While nothing has been proven yet, the facts surrounding this case, with the dual attacks, points toward a hack.
We'll attempt to get more details about this when we get them. If you have any information, please post in the comments.
UPDATE: The No on 2 Website is back for the time being. A similar pattern occurred with the No on 8 site as well, with the site coming online and then being attacked again. As of 11:26PM, No on 8 is still down.
UPDATE 2, 11:31: I've now received confirmation from the No on 8 campaign, that they are currently the victim of a Denial-of-Service attack. The internet folks are working on it, but these things are tough to defend against, especially when you have a dedicated opponent.
UPDATE 3, 11:46 (Lucas): Before this attack hit, No on 8 was on pace to hit its final stretch fundraising goals. It was ambitious, but it's required to go toe-to-toe through election day. Difficult to quantify how many dollars are being lost while the site is down, but this is simply where things are now. We must double down and keep this campaign rolling in spite of and to spite these attackers. Equality for All is on the Calitics ActBlue page. Throw in now (again). A November ramen diet is good for the mind, body and soul. Leave it all on the road.
The National and local news media usually only focus on who 'wins' the caucus or primary race. They provide little information on election night regarding the important race, that for delegates.
This is interesting stuff from CNN.com for the Republican totals and CNN.com for the Democratic totals (kudos to grodriguez for providing the link in his blog).
The magic number of delegates for the Democratic nominee is 2,025. Thus far, 443 Democratic delegates have been chosen, including those from today's South Carolina Democratic primary as well as the so-called Super Delegates (e.g., governors, U.S. Senators, U.S. Representatives). This means that only 10.94% of the Democratic delegates are committed to date.
This morning, Janet Nguyen's lawyers may go to court to stop certification of Tuesday's supervisorial election. They intend to question the accuracy of the electronic voting machines here and the Registrar of Voter's determination on some of the provisional ballots cast. Though it's far from certain that as many as seven votes can be switched, Team Janet remains confident: (From OC Register)
"We have an excellent chance of getting seven votes switched," said Dave Gilliard, Janet Nguyen's campaign consultant. "At seven votes, I think the race is still very much up in the air."
OK, so Gilliard may be your typical GOP consultant. And Janet might not be the most sympathetic of candidates. But still, follow me after the flip and I'll show you how this race is still "very much in the air". That air, after all, may be quite stinky...
(Unfortunately, the two-party system dominates. A Green pulling votes could hand the election to a scary conservative, such as McClintock. - promoted by SFBrianCL)
So, we are holding a press conference tomorrow morning with Rep. Barbara Lee (D, CA-09). We are going to highlight the importance of supporting the Democrat in a close race where a Green is running.
Especially when that Democrat has a Progressive message and agenda, such as John Garamendi and Debra Bowen.
This is late notice, but I wanted to get the message out. We would like there to be as big a show of support as we can get. Unfortunately, it is being held during business hours, so that will be a challenge. It is being held at 9:30 tomorrow morning, but if you can make it please try and be there at 9:00AM to help set up.
The location is in Richmond, CA at 3431 D Macdonald Ave (at 35th). This is our West Contra Costa County UDC campaign HQ.
