Philosophical/legal question

Over the past week the Enquirer has published two stories about males found guilty of attempted murder: Jesse Gandy and Benjamin White (I can't find the Enquirer link on the White case so I pulled the Post's). I realize they're both juveniles, but I'm not really focusing on the particulars of the case.

The greater question I've always had is, why do people get lighter sentences for attempted murder than for murder? The intent is the same; you're trying to end another person's life. That's why they call it attempted murder. Why should you get a lighter sentence because you didn't 'succeed' at it? Is there a belief that you have less of a chance of committing another crime if you didn't actually kill the person? Maybe the argument is facetious or naive, but I would really like to understand from a legal or other perspective why this is.

I'm sure some people will say, 'that's like comparing shoplifting with robbing a bank of millions'. I would say that the analogy above is more comparable to a singular murder to multiple murders. In the end the intent is still the same, you're just comparing volumes.

UPDATE: Whoops, forgot to sign the post. That happens when you blog with 4 hours sleep.

Adam

Reality Bytes

Bengals start preseason tonight

Hear that Bengal growlin'
Mean and angaree
Here he comes a prowlin'
Lean and hungaree
An offensive brute
Run pass or boot
And defensively he's rough, tough
Cincinnati Bengals
That's the team we're gonna cheer to victory
Touchdown Bengals
Get some points up on that board
And win a game for Cincinnati

Update: see above

Adam

Reality Bytes

Catastrophic CAFTA bamboozle

It looks like Bob Taft has some competition for biggest buffoon politician in Ohio. Check out this story from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer on 14th district Rep. Steve LaTourette. It's paginated, but trust me, it's worth reading. The rep changed his vote from no to yes on CAFTA, under rationale that basically either makes him look like an idiot or a liar. They report, you decide.

Adam

Reality Bytes

For those of you that don't like Bronson commentaries...

I don't have much time to comment on the Bronson column today, but I'll go out on a limb and say that if it was a Democrat governor that was embroiled in the free golf controversy, I think he would take a much harder stance on the situation than he does with Taft. Instead he plays it off like it's no big deal, and talks about something called Goofus and Gallant, which I've never heard of. Perhaps it's some 1950's cartoon, which again shows how out of touch he is with the present day. Personally I would have preferred a Heckle and Jeckle reference instead.

Adam

Reality Bytes

I can't hear you, la la la la la!

Three months ago the city of Mason passed a 9.94 mil (if someone could define a mil for me I would appreciate it) school levy by a 53-47% margin. Well now some group called the Citizens for Accountability and Results in Education (CARE) has gathered signatures to challenge the levy. They're looking to get a referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot to render the levy null and void. They might as well just call their group SCREW YOU.

Apparently this is the new right strategy to battling election results they don't like; act like it didn't happen in the first place. Notice that nowhere in the article do they challenge the validity of the results of the election. They just didn't like the outcome, so now they want to get their own measure on the ballot to see how that goes. CARE president John Meyer stated the following: "It's in bad character by school officials in trying to stop the will of the people to vote on a tax issue". Funny how he doesn't have quite the concern of stopping the will of the people when it came to the tax levy, but trying to stop the will of the people who want to stop the will of the people is in bad character. (I know people will try to compare this to the Bush/Gore election. Gore asked for a recount; that's tremendously different from this situation.)

I also wonder if this proposed referendum gets on the ballot and passes, will CARE object if Mason puts the levy back on the ballot in May? I'd say that's at least fair, it'd be a tiebreaker, best two out of three vote. That sounds silly I know, but this whole situation is as well.

Adam

Reality Bytes

Write not, lest people think ye meant what ye wrote

In yesterday's Enquirer, Charlie Winburn reacts to the controversy surrounding comments he made in his 1989 book "Ruling and Reigning in the 90's". Unfortunately for him, he then tries to re-write history by saying what he really meant by some of his statements (in the block 'if I had to rewrite that section of it). Let's check out how he trips over himself:

Selection 1
What he wrote in 1989: he decries separation of church and state, then comments how Satan wants to keep Christians out of everyday life so he can control their destiny, then finishes with a biblical quote that Satan wants control of the people and God.
What he would write in 2005: claims that separation was used to tell Christians to stay out of government, but then says all religions should participate in government.
My take: Ummm...no...separation was put in to keep religion out of government, it has nothing to do with keeping people out of government. And I don't see how the comment about Satan somehow meant that all religions should get in the game.

Selection 2
1989: the infamous passage that said Christians should clean up politics by only elect born-agains, and those who were not should be unseated.
2005: now he believes in loving kindness, and that he's tolerant of everyone, and he would rephrase that everyone should respect the laws of the land and respect each other.
My take: in the words of Chandler Bing, that is so not the same thing. His first quote had nothing to do with national law, it was about religious fanaticism. There's no love in that statement, it's practically a call to arms. Don't try and distract by changing the subject.

Selection 3
1989 old school: the pastor and his church are under commandment to teach more than itself, and if politicians are not Christians they should be taught the ways and acts of God. They should go to them aggressively, but with love.
2005 remix: It's all about the love. People in authority should be respected and people should not use religion to discriminate.
My take: wha whaa whaaat? The first passage is evangelical zealotry, but suddenly he doesn't want religion to enter into the equation. Again, distraction is the key; change the subject and all is forgiven.

So you'd think the crapfest is done? Noooooo, not even close. Charlie then whines that 'Tim Burke created this religious war' by making the book quotes public. Chuck (can I call you Chuck), the only religious war is in your mind. Tim was only revealing quotes from a book that you wrote! Don't expect to make comments like that and then not have them come back to bite you in the ass, and then try to paint yourself as the victim of a religious attack.

Adam

Reality Bytes

Open thread

Talk amongst yourselves...I'll give you a topic...an open thread is neither open nor a thread...discuss!

The worst of both worlds

Over at Naughty Pundit, Ron links to the Right Wing News (a page I think it's safe to say I wouldn't frequent regularly), which polled 47 right-wing bloggers to select their least favorite member of the right. I think it's at least good to show that the right does not view all of their members with 100% favoritism.

So on that note, I ask the lefties, who on that side of the aisle would be your least favorite. I'll toss out four:

• Howard Dean - I just feel like he's got his own personal agenda, rather than the good of the party, and he's not a good consensus builder.
• Joe Lieberman - Too damned wishy-washy, almost does a lot of things but never goes all the way.
• Jay Rockefeller - Has just gotten brutalized by Pat Roberts as co-chair of the Intelligence Committee; terribly under-skilled for the position.
• Terry McAuliffe - Head of the DNC for some of the most horrid election results in recent memory.

Fire away.

Adam

Reality Bytes

I am Alive

Just in case someone cares, I am alive and well on my vacation. Alaska is freakin' sweet! It is warm as Hell here so far, and the weatherman says things are going to continue as it has been. Once my cruise ends, I will have more to post. It is now about 1:10 AM here, and I have been drinking (shocking!) and have lost money at the casino (Also shocking!). I am having a great time and hope life in Cincinnati only sucks through next week. Hope everyone is well!

Portune won't seek state office

The Enquirer has the story:

Ending months of speculation, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune has decided he won’t run for Ohio attorney general.

Now in his second four-year term as commissioner, Portune had mulled running for Ohio attorney general or possibly U.S. Senate.

“The Ohio Democratic Party was pushing, pushing, pushing me to run for attorney general,” Portune said.

Portune is the father of 9-year-old twins – a boy and a girl -- and a 5-year old special needs daughter.

“It is so important for both parents to be mindful and active in helping her development,” Portune said, just before taking his youngest to music therapy to help her develop her speech.

Respect to Todd Portune for what looks to be the right decision.

This post was made by Josh Nelson of Cincinnati News.

Malone passes drug test...woohoo!

Call me crazy...but I have the sneaking suspicion that Malone's sobriety isn't the biggest issue on the public's mind come election time.

Adam

Reality Bytes

Lemmie get this straight

After just three years on the job as city manager, City Manager Valerie Lemmie resigns and expects to be able to take seven weeks paid leave instead of working through the transition to a new manager? And she had already taken four weeks vacation this year alone? That, my friends, takes some brass ones. Call me crazy, but when you leave a job, you put in your notice and you work up to that day, and if you don't, you don't get paid.

Lemmie claims that this was Mayor Luken's idea. While I seriously doubt that it was (HR Director Carole Cunningham says that it was fair and reasonable for her to get the seven weeks paid...how I have no idea), that would be an incredibly imprudent move considering yesterday's news of the city pension shortfall.

Adam

Reality Bytes

Sonny move out to the suburbs

The County Business Patterns report shows what we all probably expected: Hamilton County is losing jobs to the suburbs. This shouldn't be altogether shocking. Butler, Warren, and Boone counties for one have more land to develop for new business complexes. Given a choice, people would like to work close to home, and since the suburban counties' population has grown over the past several years it follows that the jobs would gravitate there as well. Couple that with downtown's inability to draw major businesses and retain the ones it has (without having to give them the world), and that leads to the above circumstances.

More troubling is the fact that "the region's population and labor force are growing at only half the national rate", according to George Vredeveld from the Economics Center at UC. Again, this isn't exactly news, considering that Cincinnati hasn't been very successful at luring younger workers to the area. At some point, the city (and surrounding areas) has to start making an effort to make the area more attractive to outsiders.

Adam

Reality Bytes

Labor history to take place in Cincinnati

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports:

Some unions dissatisfied with the AFL-CIO plan to formally establish a new federation Sept. 27 in Cincinnati.

Details on the convention are in flux, including which unions in the Change to Win Coalition will participate.

Certain to attend are the three unions that defected from the AFL-CIO last week: the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Four other unions also are among the Change to Win insurgents. Three of those are still affiliated with the AFL-CIO - the United Farm Workers, the Laborers' International Union of North America and Unite Here, which represents textile, hotel and restaurant workers. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America left the AFL-CIO in 2001.

The article continues by explaining why Cincinnati was chosen:

Cincinnati was chosen for its central location, because Ohio is "always up for grabs, politically," and because it is home to Cintas Corp., the laundry company that is the target of a coordinated organizing campaign by the Teamsters and Unite Here, said Jim Papien, a spokesman for the Food and Commercial Workers.

Between the 2004 Presidential election, the Taft scandal, last week's 2nd Congressional district special election, and this upcoming labor meeting, Ohio has become a regular hotspot for national political news, information, and events.

According to a recent Enquirer article, the

Change to Win Coalition has been in discussions about holding a daylong meeting as early as next month at the Millennium Hotel Cincinnati on Fifth Street downtown.

A sales executive at the Millennium also confirmed that discussions have been ongoing but said no deal has been signed. A representative for Change to Win said the group should be ready to discuss plans in more detail by early next week.

Question for the commenters:

Will Ohio's new role in national politics soon be forgotten or is it here to say?

This post was made by Josh Nelson of Cincinnati News.

The kindness of strangers...or elected officials

Courtesy of Joe Wessels, apparently some prospective council members and mayoral candidates aren't exactly falling over themselves to be courteous to reporters. You'd think that someone about to run for elected office would want to put their best foot forward for those that write about their campaigns (and eventually help to shape voter's perceptions of them). If reporters can't get a few minutes of their time, do we really expect them to pay attention to private citizens?

Adam

Reality Bytes

Brother, can you spare $9 million

I always get a bit nervous when people start discussing the funding of pensions. Now comes word that under-budgeting will force taxpayers to chip in $9 million to fully fund the city pension fund. Just from an amateur's perspective, it seems that a bit too much of the funding is dependent on investment gains. With the unpredictability of the stock market recently, perhaps there are better methods to funding that don't include reducing benefits.

Adam

Reality Bytes

Some humor for a Monday morning

Courtesy of Covington, click here if you want to send your support to Karl Rove. Whitehouse.org is also kind enough to copy the e-mail to other patriots like Novak, Hannity, Drudge, etc.

Adam

Reality Bytes

Paul Daugherty article

A few weeks ago Maggie Downs wrote an article about her boyfriend's sky-diving crash and the difficulties of a long re-hab ahead. Today Paul Daugherty writes a spectacular piece on her boyfriend (Jason Yasuda), the death of his friend (Sean Crossman), and what draws people to skydiving. Daugherty is always worth reading, today more so than normal.

My turn to rip on Bronson

Ohh, how I would have loved to have found a column of Bronson's to agree with. But unfortunately that's not going to happen today, as he uses the deaths of five local soldiers to tell us that we should all blindly believe that the war in Iraq is just, and anyone that doesn't must hate America.

The crux of this article comes from the statement he got from Iraq veteran John Detling, who said that "people who say 'I suuport the troops but I don't support the war' can't have it both ways. Talk about demoralization.". This line has become typical of the Bush era black/white 'you're with us or against us' world attitude.

I really don't mean to disrespect Mr. Detling, but one of the capabilities we have is to be able to hold two opposed views in our minds and be able to confront both individually. I support the troops; I greatly admire the job that they perform every day for their country, and I'll gladly shake any of their hands and give them a pat on the back (I will also contribute money so that they can have the top-line Kevlar battle armor that this administration refuses to provide for them, but that's another story). I also can appreciate that the troops don't get to choose their assignments; that is done for them. I may not believe in the mission they're sent to, but I sure hope for their sakes that they accomplish it and get home as quickly as possible. But in the Bush world, I hate the troops, which must mean I hate America.

And can we please stop with the 'your protest of the war demoralizes the troops and gives aid and comfort to the enemy'. The enemy can't even get running water, I doubt they get Fox News out there. Bronson says that most soldiers believe we're winning; I've heard as many that would say otherwise.

Bronson then goes on to quote some 'private CIA' group that says that the recent attacks are signs that the enemy is desperate (the last throes argument). Again, considering the attacks are becoming more frequent and more powerful, I fail to see how this all works. I sincerely hope they're right, I'm just not holding my breath.

Adam

Reality Bytes

Criminal checks for subsidized housing

This enquirer article explains the reasoning behind requiring criminal background checks for federally subsidized housing. Hamilton County has stopped accepting applications for the funding until they are able to implement a program to eliminate people with a criminal record.

"The over-saturation of Section 8 housing already has had a detrimental impact on too many neighborhoods," DeWine said. "The least government can do is ensure those with criminal backgrounds are kept out of this program. If you go to neighborhoods like Westwood and Price Hill, folks there are certainly feeling the effects of Section 8 housing there. They don't need criminals living there."

Apparently Dewine would prefer to see criminals living on the street where they are more likely to continue committing crimes.

This year, Hamilton County will spend just over $18 million on rents for 2,738 subsidized housing units. Its program is separate from that operated by the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority. The metropolitan housing agency will spend $41 million this year on about 7,200 subsidized rental units, spokeswoman Kelly Kramer said.