MOsanthrope

I see that a federal judge has ordered a moratorium on executions in my state until Missouri can “ensure that inmates do not suffer excruciating pain when they are put to death“:

Missouri Corrections Director Larry Crawford said in a hearing before [U.S. District Judge Fernando] Gaitan two weeks ago that he would clarify the execution […]

Filed under: Politics, Law, Ethics, Missouri

There was a time, Garrison Keillor laments, when conservatives were “pragmatic Main Street businessmen in steel-rimmed spectacles who decried profligacy and waste, were devoted to their communities and supported the sort of prosperity that raises all ships.” We’ve come a long way from Teddy Roosevelt’s square deal to government as corporate benefactor. Despite […]

Filed under: Politics, Finance, U.S., Ethics

At the risk of being condemned as a sicko for the fourth time this afternoon, I’ll link to this anyway.
Mandatory sentencing guidelines do far more harm than good. There is something deeply un-American about a sentence for the crime of possessing prohibited images — no matter how offensive — which is longer than […]

Filed under: Law, Ethics

My ol’ granddady always said that Christian conservatives and GOP strategists make the best money launderers. According to the new U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Report, he was right:

Everybody who’s been paying attention to the Abramoff scandal knows that when Ralph Reed, the boy-king of the Christian right, went to work for Jack […]

Filed under: Politics, U.S., Ethics

Our Secretary of Housing and Urban Development knows on which side his bread is buttered, and the taxpayers have only margarine.
(Via Eschaton).

Filed under: Politics, U.S., Law, Ethics

A few weeks ago, The Constant Gardner made its way to the top of our Netflix queue. My wife enjoyed it more than I did; however, I thought it was remarkably good as documentaries go:

The report concludes that Pfizer never obtained authorization from the Nigerian government to give the unproven drug to nearly […]

Filed under: Business, Ethics, Health, Medicine, World

I hope to never find out whether I possess this kind of mettle.
Heroes, every one.

Filed under: Politics, Culture, U.S., Ethics

I’ve always said that a judicial career has its perks.
Superior Court Judge Kevin Ross was also cited Wednesday for filming a pilot television series called “Mobile Court” in a Los Angeles strip club.
* * *
The commission said he violated judicial ethics by getting paid $5,000 in 2002 for a TV pilot that was never […]

Filed under: Law, Ethics

Remember the heated exchange between senate Democrats and Energy Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK — yes, that Ted Stevens) at the start of last week’s Joint Senate Hearing on Energy Pricing and Profits? At issue was whether the oil company executives should be sworn to testify under oath. Stevens reminded the panel that
[t]hese […]

Filed under: Politics, U.S., Ethics