"It Takes Balls to Execute an Innocent Man"

Back in 2004, Texas Governor Rick Perry went ahead with the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, despite the mountains of evidence that Willingham was innocent of the heinous crime of which he was accused.

If readers are unfamiliar with the case, the Captain recommends this New Yorker piece which describes it in vivid detail. Long story short, it's virtually certain that Willingham did not commit the crime and it's even more certain that Rick Perry was fully aware of this fact.

You might think Perry's direct involvement in this deplorable miscarriage of justice would be an electoral liability with voters. But if we're talking about Texas Republican voters, you'd be sorely mistaken.

Perry would also have to answer for parts of his record that have either never been fully scrutinized in Texas, or that might be far more problematic before a national audience.

Veterans of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s unsuccessful 2010 primary challenge to Perry recalled being stunned at the way attacks bounced off the governor in a strongly conservative state gripped by tea party fever. Multiple former Hutchison advisers recalled asking a focus group about the charge that Perry may have presided over the execution of an innocent man – Cameron Todd Willingham – and got this response from a primary voter: “It takes balls to execute an innocent man.”

[Politico] via [Jonathan Chait]

Sometimes It's Best to Keep Your Hands to Yourself

Looks like the Captain would be wise to reinforce his ship's bathroom sink pronto.

A NEW Zealand woman nearly died after her hand has accidentally severed during holiday sex on a yacht in Croatia.

The woman, 28, was having sex with a British man on a bathroom sink aboard the yacht when the sink broke, severing her hand when she fell, the Croatian Times reported.

"It appears they were engaged in a passionate act in the bathroom where at some stage the sink broke - leaving a jagged edge that severed the woman's hand when she fell to the floor," police spokesman Kraljevic Gudelj said.

"The young woman almost died, and was only saved after she was airlifted to hospital where doctors managed to reattach the severed limb. It had only been attached by a small amount of skin."

[...]

"We believe it was probably an accident but the British man has fled and the New Zealand girl is understandably hard to speak to at the moment. We want to track him down to find out his side of the story," Mr Gudelj said.

[Daily Telegraph]

New Service Available Now At Daily Downers

Out of all the stupid things I've done, this one is not on the list. What is so compelling about sending a picture of yourself naked to somebody? I don't get it. I don't mind SEEING some of these photos, but is it such an urgent thing? The biggest turn on? I don't see it.

And what is so irresistable about this practice to politicians? It's almost like in order to be a politician you have to be some kind of perv or brain dead when it comes to this stuff.

So here's my idea. If anyone has the urge to send a naked picture of themselves around, DON'T DO IT! You can send it here, to ME, where I will hold it in complete confidence. Even the President of the United States can rest assured that I will keep a lid on that shit. Send me the picture and $100 and you can get your jollies and keep your secret safe with me. Limited time only, I don't know how many kooks are out there and our servers can't handle too much more beyond our four regular readers. But a few pictures would enable us to think about buying bigger ones. THINK about buying them. Not necessarily buying them. I want to be honest here.

After an online sexting scandal brought down Congressman Anthony Weiner, the last thing a politician would even consider is sending a nude self-portrait over the Internet. Apparently not.

Cumberland County freeholder Louis Magazzu, 53, stepped down on Tuesday after nude photos he sent to a woman with whom he had a long online relationship were posted on the website of conservative blogger Carl Johnson, said Magazzu's lawyer Rocco Cipparone.

"Unfortunately, in my personal life, I did not always demonstrate the wisdom and balance that I expected from myself, and that the people of Cumberland County deserve and have every right to expect," Magazzu said in a statement.

Magazzu, a Democrat, hired Cipparone to pursue legal action against Johnson, a Republican. He said the images were meant to be seen only by the woman and he was set up.

"A woman who I have never met personally, but have corresponded with on the Internet for several years, has recently shared some photographs which she requested and that were intended only for her eyes," Magazzu said in the statement.

"I did not know that she was working with an avowed political enemy to distribute these pictures ... I have retained counsel to determine what laws may have been broken by the unauthorized distribution of those pictures. No government services or equipment were used by me when taking the pictures or transmitting them to the woman in question."

The photos appear to show Magazzu standing naked in front of a mirror.

[Reuters]

"Look, Mom -- No Hands!"

Q: What was the last thing to go through the skydiving quadriplegic's mind after he hit the ground?

A: His wheelchair.

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A quadriplegic skydiver plunged 18,000 feet to his death because he was unable to manually deploy his parachute, and his emergency chute was not set to automatically release, authorities said on Monday.

Jack Fogle, 27, of Kingston, Washington, died Saturday afternoon just minutes after he and seven others launched themselves from a plane during a celebrated skydiving event in northwest Montana that drew scores of parachutists, said Flathead County Undersheriff Jordan White.

Fogle, a veteran of 125 jumps over five years, was hampered by his physical disability from manually activating his primary parachute and was likely counting on his backup chute to deploy. He hit the ground from a fall estimated at 120 miles per hour, White said.

[...]

White said Fogle's death has been ruled an accident, dispelling widespread rumors of a suicide wish.

"Zack died with another jump pass in his pocket," said White. "He was living his dream. His was an incredible story of his drive to live and to excel in this sport despite being disabled from an (automobile) accident when he was a junior in high school."

[...]

Skydivers can manually deploy reserve chutes mid-fall, but physical challenges likely prevented Fogle from taking advantage of what is considered a last-ditch but fail-safe practice, said White, a licensed pilot.

[Reuters]

Nothing Changes After Week At Sea - Everything Still Sucks, No End In Sight

I had to go out to sea for a week so I couldn't post. It doesn't really matter. Everything is still really bad.

They say every cloud has a silver lining. I'd say the silver lining here is obvious. Buy stock in companies that make bulldozers. In the short run, bulldozers will be on the upswing as they reflect the extent of corporate and bank executive imagination in action. If you have no ideas, no morals, and no worries about anyone but yourself...buy a bulldozer!

I'm thinking bulldozers could be used even more, in the best of all possible worlds. There are lots of child care facilities that could be knocked down, as well as old age homes and other structures devoted to helping some people and draining the life out of the rest of us, especially those in the top income brackets.

The bulldozers could also be used to make underground cities. I really think we should be moving some more of our current unpleasantness underground. Seeing the sun and visiting the above-ground world should be a privilege and not an inalienable right. Might require a little re-drafting of the Constitution, but since that document doesn't have a future in its present form anyway, the time has come to get started.

You're either part of the solution or part of the problem! That's a cliche. Our readers can be both. Maybe we can confuse the bastards enough to get out of the way for awhile, or at least until the germs kill all the Martians and those infernal machines they ride around in.

Banks have a new remedy to America's ailing housing market: Bulldozers.

There are nearly 1.7 million homes in the U.S. in some state of foreclosure. Banks already own some of these homes and will soon have repossessed many more. Many housing economists worry that near constant stream of home sales from banks could keep housing prices down for years to come. But what if some of those homes never hit the market.

Increasingly, it appears banks are turning to demolition teams instead of realtors to rid them of their least valuable repossessed homes. Last month, Bank of America announced plans to demolish 100 foreclosed homes in the Cleveland area. The land is then going to be donated back to the local government authorities. BofA says the recent donations in Cleveland are part of a larger plan to rid itself of its least saleable properties, many of which, according to a company spokesperson, are worth less than $10,000. BofA has already donated 100 homes in Detroit and 150 in Chicago, and may add as many as nine more cities by the end of the year.

[TIME]

Crying Won't Help You

If you're feeling overwhelmed by sadness and despair, you may feel the need to let it all out and bawl like a little baby. Nothing helps wash away the pain like a good cry, right?

Wrong.

This new study, currently published online in the Journal of Research in Personality, asked 97 women aged 18 to 48 in the Netherlands to keep a daily crying and mood diary over a two-to three-month period.

[...]

Scientists ended up with 1,004 crying episodes to analyze: Their results showed that the average boo-hoo lasted eight minutes and took place in the living room, usually alone or with one other person present. Conflict, loss, or seeing others suffer were the most common triggers for tears.

For the majority of cases -- 61 percent of them -- sobbers reported no change in mood compared to how they felt before moisture streamed down their cheeks. Thirty percent experienced a better mood afterward and nine percent felt worse.

"Only a minority of crying episodes were associated with mood improvement -- against conventional wisdom," says Jonathan Rottenberg, an associate professor of psychology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, and the study's lead author.

[...]

"Crying is not nearly as beneficial as people think it is," says Rottenberg.

[The Body Odd]

You Always Hurt the Ones You Love

Next time you step out of your trailer and find a gun on the ground, check to see if it's loaded before you assume it's a device to help you fill your lungs with the rejuvenating tonic of tobacco smoke.

A 12-year-old girl was wounded by a ricocheting bullet Sunday evening in Banning, when her mother fired a tiny pistol she mistook for a cigarette lighter, police said.

[...]

Rachel Avila, 30, told police she and her 12-year-old daughter, both of Banning, were talking with friends in front of their mobile home in the 100 block of North Phillips Avenue when Avila found what she thought was a novelty cigarette lighter, police said.

The lighter resembled a miniature firearm and it was lying on the ground, Avila told police.

Avila picked it up and tried to light it by pulling the trigger, police said.

The first time Avila pulled the trigger, nothing happened. The second time she pulled the trigger, a .22-caliber bullet was fired, police said.

"The bullet struck the ground, and then ricocheted upward and entered her daughter’s upper right arm," the police statement said.

[...]

The police department advised caution to anyone who finds an object resembling a firearm or a suspicious device.

"Do not handle the object and call local law enforcement for assistance," Banning police said.

[Banning-Beaumont Patch]

Life's Been Good To Him So Far

But for his children, not so much.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.

“I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money!” Walsh says directly into the camera in his viral video lecturing Obama on the need to get the nation’s finances in order.

Walsh starts the video by saying, “President Obama, quit lying. Have you no shame, sir? In three short years, you’ve bankrupted this country.”

In court documents, after his ex-wife, Laura Walsh, asked a judge to suspend his driver’s license until he paid his child support, Joe Walsh asks his ex-wife’s lawyer: “Have you no decency?”

[Chicago Sun Times]

Bellyful of Beast

It appears that in Pakistan the first line of treatment for dealing with a gigantic serpent in your stomach is to eat 42 loaves of bread a day.

WARBURTON - A 50-year-old local woman with a gigantic snake in her body has called upon the authorities to help her undergo surgery.

An unforgettable incident happened with a 50-year-old Rasheedan Bibi, a resident of Chora Saggar, a suburban area when an ultrasound test detected a gigantic snake in her body. Reportedly, a very small snake entered her body when she drank water from a pitcher in her house. After two months, she felt progressive increase in belly size but she supposed it to be pregnancy. After 7 months, her entire body has swollen to its maximum and suffered from severe illness. She was taken to hospital where they were shocked when ultrasound test reported a coiled massive snake in her abdomen. Rasheedan Bibi is taking 14 breads three times a day. She belonged to a poor family and appealed to Punjab CM to help her undergo surgery.

[The Nation (of Pakistan)]

Pat Buchanan on Norway Terrorist: "He May Be Right"

Now, it's one thing for Buchanan to call Adolf Hitler "an individual of great courage, a soldier’s soldier in the Great War, a leader steeped in the history of Europe," or to extol the virtues of bringing lucky-ducky Africans to America in slave ships. Nobody really disputes these truths, do they?

But now Pat's saying that the perpetrator of the mass murder in Oslo "may be right," you can be sure MSNBC will finally get around to firing him. Right?

Europe faces today an authentic and historic crisis.

With her native-born populations aging, shrinking and dying, Europe's nations have not discovered how to maintain their prosperity without immigrants. Yet the immigrants who have come - from the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia - have been slow to learn the language and have failed to attain the educational and occupational levels of Europeans. And the welfare states of Europe are breaking under the burden.

[...]

As for a climactic conflict between a once-Christian West and an Islamic world that is growing in numbers and advancing inexorably into Europe for the third time in 14 centuries, on this one, Breivik may be right.

[MediaMatters]

Dancing With the Cephalopods

Some people like their calamari breaded and fried, while others prefer it grilled or sauteed. In northern Japan, the traditional preparation is à la Fred Astaire.



Our intrepid gourmand explains:

A seafood bowl I ate in Hakodate in Hokkaido, Japan. It had salmon roe and seaweed and some other things, with the highlight being the "dancing" squid on top.

[...]

I added some information in a reply comment but it's now buried somewhere. The basic idea behind the sodium in the soy sauce causing the legs to move has been covered in the comments, but there's still some question as to whether or not it's officially "dead" at the time of serving. The brain is probably still in the body, but a significant part of its nervous system, the giant axon, I believe extends into the mantle, which has been cut. I'm not an expert on squids so I can't really come to a definite conclusion about that. As you can see in the beginning, it's not moving at all when it's brought out so I assume that signals around the body have stopped, whereas a fresh intact squid out of water would constantly move around. This doesn't necessarily mean that it's "dead" but it seems to me that it's at least incapacitated.

[YouTube]

Filled With Hate And Rage As Society Destroys Everything I Like

My baseball team is held hostage to the Madoff scandal. Every piece of my life is permeated with disaster, or IMPENDING disaster. Beltran, he is a gifted player with one leg. Knee. He deserves his props, and he might need them to walk. For years I would watch him and think, he is the best center fielder in the National League. I almost feel bad that he can't make more than a few million a year now, in the twilight of his career.

But what difference does it make? The people owning the team are meddling dimwits who got suckered by their pal. And they were WARNED. Repeatedly. I have good friends but if enough MBAs call me and say "your friend is at least potentially a crook" I would listen.

I like horse racing. They are KILLING horse racing now. If you don't have slots at your track you are DONE. NYC OTBs closed this year. Do you know how much I learned at OTB? Come on. I've had it with everything. Fuck it all. Not you though.

The commonly held assumption regarding Carlos Beltran is that he played his last game at Citi Field in a Mets uniform on Thursday afternoon. But that is not necessarily how the Mets look at it.

Beltran went 0 for 3 against the Cardinals, the same team against which he had his most famous at-bat as a Met.

Although the team is intent on trading Beltran, who is in the final year of his contract, before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, they are also considering the possibility of trying to sign him again as a free agent after the season.

According to two people in baseball familiar with the situation, the team contacted Scott Boras, Beltran’s agent, and asked if he would be amenable to that notion. They were informed that Beltran would indeed be willing to consider the idea of re-signing with the Mets in the off-season, even if he is traded in the coming days.

While a re-signing may never happen — and the Mets’ financial problems could make it an impossibility — the idea that the team is entertaining a Beltran return demonstrates how far the team and the outfielder have come after their bitter dispute surrounding Beltran’s knee surgery 18 months ago. At the time, Beltran and the Mets’ ownership were at odds over Beltran’s decision to have the operation, and the misgivings only grew after Beltran took so long to get back in uniform after the 2010 season began.

[New York Times]

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

So now the truth comes out -- all those nagging goodie-two-shoes who tell you that you should quit smoking are trying to kill you.

According to the latest science, here are five ways that puffing away on delicious filterless Camels will help you live a longer, happier, healthier life:

1. Smoking lowers risk of knee-replacement surgery

While smokers might go broke buying a pack of cigarettes, they can at least save money by avoiding knee-replacement surgery. Surprising results from a new study have revealed that men who smoke had less risk of undergoing total joint replacement surgery than those who never smoked.

The study, from the University of Adelaide in Australia, appears in the July issue of the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. What could be the connection? Knee-replacement surgery was more common among joggers and the obese; smokers rarely jog, and they are less likely to be morbidly obese.

After controlling for age, weight and exercise, the researchers were at a loss to explain the apparent, albeit slight protective effects of smoking for osteoporosis. It could be that the nicotine in tobacco helps prevent cartilage and joint deterioration.

2. Smoking lowers risk of Parkinson's disease

Numerous studies have identified the uncanny inverse relationship between smoking and Parkinson's disease. Long-term smokers are somehow protected against Parkinson's, and it's not because smokers die of other things earlier.

The most recent, well-conducted study was published in a March 2010 issue of the journal Neurology. Far from determining a cause for the protective effect, these researchers found that the number of years spent smoking, more so than the number of cigarettes smoked daily, mattered more for a stronger protective effect.

Harvard researchers were among the first to provide convincing evidence that smokers were less likely to develop Parkinson's. In a study published in Neurology in March 2007, these researchers found the protective effect wanes after smokers quit. And they concluded, in their special scientific way, that they didn't have a clue as to why.

3. Smoking lowers risk of obesity

Smoking — and, in particular, the nicotine in tobacco smoke — is an appetite suppressant. This has been known for centuries, dating back to indigenous cultures in America in the pre-Columbus era. Tobacco companies caught on by the 1920s and began targeting women with the lure that smoking would make them thinner.

A study published in the July 2011 issue of the journal Physiology & Behavior, in fact, is one of many stating that the inevitable weight gain upon quitting smoking is a major barrier in getting people to stop, second only to addiction.

The relationship between smoking and weight control is complex: Nicotine itself acts as both a stimulant and appetite suppressant; and the act of smoking triggers behavior modification that prompts smokers to snack less. Smoking also might make food less tasty for some smokers, further curbing appetite. As an appetite suppressant, nicotine appears to act on a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, at least in mice, as revealed in a study by Yale researchers published in the June 10, 2011, issue of the journal Science.

No respectable doctor would recommend smoking for weight control, given the toxic baggage accompanying cigarettes. This recent Yale study, however, does offer an inkling of hope for a safe diet drug to help obese people control their appetites.

4. Smoking lowers risk of death after some heart attacks

Compared with non-smokers, smokers who have had heart attacks seem to have lower mortality rates and more favorable responses to two kinds of therapy to remove plaque from their arteries: fibrinolytic therapy, which is basically medication; and angioplasty, which removes the plaque by inserting balloons or stents into the arteries.

There's a catch, though. The reason why smokers have heart attacks is that smoke scars the arteries, allowing fat and plaque to build up in the first place. So, one theory as to why smokers do better than non-smokers after such therapies is that they are younger, experiencing their first heart attack approximately 10 years before the non-smoker.

A study published in an August 2005 issue of the American Heart Journal, however, states that age alone is not enough to fully explain the survival differences and that "the smoker's paradox is alive and well." No alternative theories have been put forth since.

5. Smoking helps the heart drug clopidogrel work better

Clopidogrel is a drug used to inhibit blood clots for those patients suffering from coronary artery disease and other circulatory diseases leading to strokes and heart attacks. Smoking seems to help clopidogrel do its job better.

A study by Korean researchers in the October 2010 issue of the journal Thrombosis Research builds upon work by Harvard researchers published in 2009 that demonstrates the benefit of smoking at least 10 cigarettes a day. It seems that something in cigarette smoke activates certain proteins called cytochromes, which convert clopidogrel into a more active state.

Again, no respectable doctor is encouraging patients to start smoking to get the most out of clopidogrel. But this and the other four "benefits" of smoking reveal how tobacco — perhaps not unlike other potentially toxic plants — might contain certain chemicals of real therapeutic value.

[LiveScience]

To Hell With Books - New Technology Is Much Better

This is great, now everybody is walking around staring at gadgets all day and now books will be turned into gadgets as well. What was good enough for your father and your father's father is not good enough for YOU. We need a whole new bag to put that book in to get you to read it.

I'll say from experience, when it was a really big book, a pain in the ass to carry around, like "Don Quixote," when you finished reading it you felt like you EARNED that shit. Because it was so heavy.

So the new readers will be weak, and unable to lift the really heavy volumes of the classics like "War and Peace," and the even more revered and pointless "Remembrance Of Things Past."

O new world, I HATE THEE! And the old world is not far behind, in terms of my hate. For thee.

What happens when a pioneer like Borders goes out of business? Depends on who you ask.

A day after the bankrupt Ann Arbor, Mich.-based chain said it would seek court approval to sell off its assets and shutter its remaining 399 stores, everyone from publishers to consumers is assessing what it would mean if the company that started the big-box bookseller concept vanished. The move could have a wide ranging -- and different ---- impact on everyone from authors to consumers to competitors at a time when the industry is desperately trying to adapt to a new generation of readers who'd rather browse on an electronic book or tablet computer than turn the page of a paperback.

The biggest changes could come to the book publishing industry: As Borders stores disappear, other booksellers could benefit.

Jennifer Romanello, executive director of publicity at Grand Central Publishing in New York who stopped sending authors to most Borders for book signings after they declared bankruptcy in February says she already looks for other places to promote authors' work.

"It's one less outlet to use in promoting our authors," she said. "There are still other things out there; we see if there's an independent bookstore nearby. But the number of bookstores has been contracting, not expanding, so we're selective where we send out authors."

That ultimately could lead to more business for Barnes & Noble, a 705-store chain and one of Borders' main competitors. In fact, while at first Barnes & Noble revenue could be hurt initially as shoppers flock to Borders' liquidation sales, Barclays Capital analyst Alan Rifkin predicts ultimately the chain could gain $220 million to $330 million in revenue, or about 10 percent to 15 percent of Borders annual revenue if the chain closes.

Still, Rifkin said even though Barnes & Noble has more aggressively and successfully pursued the e-book space than Borders did ---- with Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader and e-bookstore ---- it still faces the same stiff competition from online retailers.

"As the demand for physical books continues to decline, the need for big-box physical bookstores will likely continue to decline as well," he wrote in a client note.
That sentiment is being echoed by analysts and consumers alike who say the demise of Borders could close a chapter for bricks-and-mortar stores and open a new one for digital reading. To be sure, brick-and-mortar stores have not gone the way of the dinosaur, but some say it's only a matter of time.

[Associated Press]

Gunfire to the Rescue

Scene: Guns, children, Texans, a pit bull named "Cocaine." What could go wrong?

Robert Walker Sr. and Betty Walker of Houston, Texas were visiting their son's home at 2136 Oakhurst Drive in south Jackson, anxious to spend time with their grandchildren.

[...]

Walker Sr., a retired seismic engineer, was painting house address numbers in the backyard shortly after 3 p.m. Friday when a white 8-month-old pit bull named Cocaine jumped the fence and tugged the shirttail of a 7-year-old relative, said Walker Jr., relaying his mother's story.

Walker Sr. threw a brick at the dog while his wife quickly escorted her grandchildren into the house. She retrieved a .38-caliber revolver and returned outside, where she found her her husband holding the barking pit bull with both hands. Walker Sr. and the pit bull were face to face with the dog's back to Betty Walker.

Betty Walker fired two shots, the first striking her husband in the upper right chest. The second bullet struck the dog's left front leg.

[...]

Walker Jr. ran back to his pickup and backed it into the yard. Neighbors had helped Walker Jr. lift his father onto the tailgate by the time police and an ambulance arrived.

Walker Sr. was pronounced dead less than two hours later at a hospital. He was 53.

[...]

"I don't have no ill will toward my neighbor," Walker Jr. said. "It's just one of those things."

[Clarion Ledger]