Cruel and Unusual?

Via CNN:

(AP) -- The drugs used to execute prisoners in the United States sometimes fail to work as planned, causing slow and painful deaths that probably violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment, a new medical review of dozens of executions concludes... (the rest of the article)

Ok... call me a neanderthal, but my give-a-damn is busted on this one. You're found guilty of a heinous crime (which are about the only ones they execute for anymore), suck sustenance for years off the taxpayer teat while you mount endless appeals, and I'm supposed to feel bad that you might still be conscious while your body shuts down via lethal injection?

Sorry folks: I took my give-a-damn in when it first broke years ago, and it was just too frelling expensive to fix.

Since everybody else already covered it...

The VA Tech shooting.

I don't know what happened. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. I think both Lawdog and Marko have made the best statements about it. anything I could try to add would be pointless.

My heart goes out to the families...

oops...

Missed a couple more from my daily read:

Marko: Sorry man, I somehow forgot you. This is one of the most well-spoken men I know (I rank him with Lawdog in use of the English language). Definately worth reading when he has time to post.

Angela: met this young lady during a BACA adoption: she's the super-hero I mentioned previously. Always worth hearing what this survivor has to say.

and another blog added

And I've added another blog to my daily read: ColtCCO. Led there due to Lawdog posting about Tam's new... friend...

Folks, quick word of advice: if you're gonna play "interweb stalker", pick a target that ISN'T likely to put enough lead into you to sink the Bismark...

promised kitten pics (better late than never)

Couldn't sleep, and decided to read over what I had written: make sure some of the topic ideas hadn't been covered. And noticed I had promised pictures of the kitten that cost me my Spyderco...

As promised, the pics of Koosh (short for Kushame, Japanese for "sneeze") and his momma, Squeeker. Good thing they don't get along, ain't it?

About pigs, and a girl named Boss...

Well, we made it back from Illinois. And all I can say is wow...

The call went out, about a young lady that needed our help in IL. Problem is, we don't have a Chapter down there... they've got people trying to get started, but they haven't gotten off the ground. So the MO Chapters sent people, and my VP and I headed down...

Some background here: the girl in question has been abused by her father for years, and the abuse has continued even while she's at college. She's spent the last several weeks staying at a safehouse...

We met up with the crew from MO, and headed out: we caged, since it was felt that a bunch of bikes riding into this quiet neighborhood might draw unwanted attention to the house. As we arrived, the girl and her supporters were waiting outside: the lady she was staying with, a friend, a videographer (more on that later), and, well... a superhero (again, more later)...

What they saw as we got out was around 20 ugly leather-clad folks there to help. While talking with her, my brother Stroker asked if she knew who the boss was... who was in charge of us. When she said she didn't know, he told her she was... SHE'S the boss. And so, her ridename was born...

She immediately sent Stroker behind a tree for misbehaving (he was teasing our sister Angel). And he went: when the Boss says "go", you go...

This wasn't a normal case: WAY out of our area, a legal adult as victim... completely out of the norm. The MO folks had to leave Saturday night: they had adoptions Sunday. Ray and I stayed through Monday: can't talk about all we did right now, beyond that we helped Boss continue on the road to a full recovery. People ask what we do: we try to help empower children. And this weekend, we empowered Boss. When we arrived, she was VERY shy: wouldn't meet your eyes, always whispering. When we left, she was standing tall, taking back control of her life...

Now, I mentioned a videographer. Everything that happened this weekend was taped for an eventual documentary. I didn't catch what network she was gonna hand it to, but this will (eventually) be on one of the news shows. I say eventually because she wants to hold on to it until Boss is safe, and things are finished...

I also mentioned a superhero: that's what her card says. I suppose you'd call her a therapist... although most therapists don't drop $1500 to fly themselves out to help someone. I prefer her term, superhero.

You'll notice that there aren't any names here: there's basic confidentiality. And there's (hopefully) the criminal prosecution. With any luck, followed by the perp being Bubba's girlfriend for many years...

About the "pigs" thing. Stroker asked us all at one point if we knew the difference between "involved" and "committed". If y'all don't know: when you had your ham and eggs this morning, the chicken was involved, the pig was committed...