There’s been a single execution in all of New England since 1960, in Connecticut. The large majority of executions are in the South, but particularly in Texas.

The most recent execution in the US was yesterday. Reginald Blanton was executed in Texas. There is some question as to his guilt.

I don’t know why we continue to “tinker with the machinery of death” in the words of Justice Blackmun. Really, it just seems so unwise.

Texas governor Rick Perry presided over the execution of an innocent man and now he’s trying to hide it. The cover up is so blatant that even teevee journalism feels bold enough to call him on it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Somebody linked to this a couple of weeks ago and I just got around to reading it. This is a fantastic piece of journalism. I feel guilty that I didn’t have to pay for it – it’s that good. I’m imagining the scheming going on to turn this into a movie and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Movies are generally terrible. And yet, everybody should know about this. Oh well, nevermind, read it now or save it for later like I did. And link to it.

This article doesn’t do much to explain Ted Olson’s interest in litigating in favor of equal marriage rights. Here’s what I got out of it:

1. He stood up for a black teammate once back in the 60′s.
2. He’s got a so slight you can barely see it libertarian bent.
3. He doesn’t go to church.
4. He’s got personal convictions.

And that’s about it! His conservative friends can’t figure it out either, I guess. I hope he’ll be remembered for furthering our freedoms rather than winning Bush v. Gore. Maybe he does too.

Innocent Man Freed, But Shabby Prosecutor Still Works as Judge: Bernard Baran served 22 years on dubious child molestation charges, yet the prosecutor who convicted him isn’t even inconvenienced – Reason Magazine