Indiana Court Takes on Prisoner Education Credit Time

In Stevens v. State of Indiana, No.90A05-0802-PC-90, the Indiana Court of Appeals addressed time credit given to prisoners who earn a high school diploma while incarcerated. Stevens had completed a high school diploma through Continental Academy, and he applied for educational credit time with the Indiana Department of Corrections. The application was denied, and Stevens appealed to the trial court, which denied his petition for review without a hearing.

Significantly, there was no documentation submitted by either Stevens or the State that said why Stevens was denied credit time. The Court indicated that prisoners should be told why they were denied credit, and it remanded to the trial court for a finding as to whether Continental Academy "maintains standards of instruction substantially equivalent to those of public high schools" located in Indiana.
 
This is an important case because it protects prisoners from arbitrary denial of privileges granted to them by the state legislature. If the General Assembly has gone to the trouble of allowing a prisoner to earn credit time for achieving a high school diploma, an explanation of denial of credit must be given. Otherwise, the incentive to earn a diploma is erased, and it makes it too easy for corrections officials to deny this and other privileges without accountability.

George Will Gets One Right

In his September 23, 2008 Washington Post column, George Will rightly points out that the "bailout" goes against conservative principles. The Republicans, according to Will, are "conducting the most leftist administration in American history."

Neither of the old parties' Presidential candidates is ready to assume that office, he continues:

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

Heller's Rights Further Trampled

A machine gun, really?

The plaintiff in the recent D.C. handgun case before the Supreme Court, Dick Heller, reportedly has had his application for a handgun permit for his semi-automatic handgun rejected. The weapon has a bottom-loading magazine that holds seven rounds, and the D.C. police groups these types of weapons with machine guns, which are prohibited.

It sounds like the D.C. powers not only could use firearms training, but they also need to learn about firearms themselves and exactly how and why they are used for self-defense. In fact, it would be good policy for lawmakers to educate themselves about proposed legislation prior to enacting it in all cases. The people should not allow legislators to take rights away that the lawmakers do not fully understand. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also evil when it cripples a society designed to be free.

Congress Considering Gas Tax Increase

There will be no gas tax holiday anytime soon. It appears that we're not going to have to worry about not paying the 18.4 cent gasoline tax for quite awhile, especially if either of the old party candidates is elected this fall. In fact, according to the Associated Press, Congress is considering raising the tax to 24.3 cents per gallon.

2008 Migrant Death Count

reprint from Center for Latin American and Border Studies, NMSU

In a grim disclosure, Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) recently released its count of the number of Mexican migrants who died struggling to reach El Norte in 2008 so far. Until June 9, the SRE documented the deaths of 117 migrants who perished while attempting to cross the Mexico-US border.

According to the SRE, most of the deaths, or 72 to be precise, were registered in the state of Texas. The McAllen area of the Lone Star State proved to be the deadliest point for would-be border crossers, with 26 undocumented Mexicans losing their lives in the zone. Additionally, 14 migrants died in the El Paso area and 4 around Eagle Pass.

Nonetheless, the dangerous terrain surrounding Tucson, Arizona, was the deadliest single zone for migrants, claiming 40 lives during the first half of the year. The Arizona numbers suggest migrant deaths could be on a downswing in comparison to the last two years. Still, it's important to note the reported deaths were registered before some of the hottest days of the year pound the border region.

The US Border Patrol's Tucson Sector reported 204 migrant deaths during the 2007 fiscal year that ended on September 30 of last year. The death toll represented a 21 percent increase from fiscal year 2006, when 165 deaths were registered. However, the Tucson-based Human Rights Coalition reported a higher death toll for the region than did the Border Patrol. The immigrant rights group cited 237 deaths for FY 2007, a number 32 higher than in FY 2006, when the coalition documented 205 deaths.

In 2007, 409 Mexican migrants died in the entire Mexico-US border region, according to the SRE. Official Mexican migrant death statistics for this year report most victims were individuals in the 18 to 45-year-old age category, with the death of one minor recorded.

Since 2001, the SRE has tallied the deaths of 2,956 Mexican migrants in the northern borderlands. The federal agency has identified the main causes of death as dehydration (1062), drowning (583) and vehicle accidents (247). In terms of geographic origin, ill-fated migrants from the states of Mexico, Guanajuato and Mexico City topped the list ofvictims.

Sources: La Jornada, July 6, 2008. Frontera/SUN, December 31, 2007.

Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription email
fnsnews@nmsu.edu

Child Protective Services Gone Wild

The taking of hundreds of children from an alleged polygamist "compound" in Texas is not an isolated incident. Government agencies in other states exercise extra-constitutional authority to remove children from their homes under the guise of protecting children. Because of the nature of the agencies -- no one wants a truly abused child to be left in or returned to an abusive situation -- it is difficult to question this authority. But the taking of children from their homes by the government is an issue that deserves scrutiny.

In 2004 in Indiana, for example, according to this Indianapolis Star article (pdf) from 2006, the state's Child Protective Services removed 7,689 children from their homes and returned just 605. With 7000 children placed into foster care each year, it's no wonder that the state is over-extended in just this area alone.

Questions need to be raised. In a principally rural state with just 1.5 million children under the age of 18, are 7000 truly in abusive domestic situations? How much evidence is required to take a child? Many parents spend thousands of dollars and hours of court time to regain custody of children who were improvidently taken. Where is the balance?

Analyzing Voter Registration as a Factor of Low Turnout at the Polls

A recent paper from Princeton University explores how difficult it is to factor voter registration into turnout at the polls. It appears to be a step to help researchers learn how turnout can be increased. The author cites several reasons for low and inaccurate voter registration, including the mobility of Americans; every time you move, you have to figure out how to register, where to do it, and then actually register.

The paper concludes that the group of eligible voters that needs the most attention is youth. Younger voters move more frequently, attend school away from home, and enter military service. These factors contribute to a low youth vote registration. The paper is available here.

The Libertarian Lawyer Behind Heller

In March, 2007 the Washington Post carried a story about Robert Levy, the person behind perhaps the most important Supreme Court case since Brown vs. Board of Education. Levy doesn't own a gun. His basis for filing the suit was the restoration and defense of personal liberties :

To Levy the libertarian, though, the effectiveness of the law -- its success or failure in curbing crime -- isn't the core issue. What matters most to him is whether the statute unjustly infringes on personal liberties. He doesn't dispute that "reasonable" gun controls are permissible under the Second Amendment. But the District's law amounts to "an outright prohibition," Levy said, and "that offends my constitutional sensibilities."
Read the full article here.

In June, 2008 prior to the Court's decision, Levy downplayed in the Washington Times the effect of Heller:

Does the right to keep and bear arms belong to us as individuals? Does that right extend to private use of arms? Or does the Second Amendment simply authorize the states to arm the members of their militias? The court will have to answer those threshold questions before deciding whether the D.C. gun ban is constitutional. Given the bizarre history of the Miller case, its dubious analysis and inconclusive result, about the only guidance Miller offers is how not to go about setting a Supreme Court precedent.

The opinion, of course, is much broader than those specific questions. Read the full Washington Times column here.

Photograph from cato.org.

Congress Leans Conservative, Party Affiliation Influences Vote

Political scientist Jonathan Kropko conducted a party study of ideology in the first session of the 110th session of the House of Representatives. He made several interesting findings:

* More Democrats seem to be taking ideological positions in the middle, and there are more Democrats on the conservative side of ideology than there are Republicans on the liberal side.

* Representatives may not be so polarized ideologically when they're not being pressured by their parties.

* The Republican leadership in the House is much more conservative than the Democratic leadership is liberal. Nancy Pelosi and majority whip James Clyburn are staunchly on the conservative end of the Democratic party.

The paper can be found here.

Perhaps most interesting is that when members of Congress are thinking on their own and not in a partisan manner, they are more likely to vote similarly regardless of party affiliation. It suggests that if a representative were to take a stand and not fall in with the party leadership, more original thought would result, and perhaps more problems would be resolved in reasonable ways.

Voting a particular way simply because you are a member of a certain party is unfair and irresponsible. Your constituents elected you to either speak their minds or to speak your mind, not to speak your party's mind.

Just 5 Presidents Were Neither a Governor Nor a Senator

1. Taft (Secretary of War)
2. Hoover (Secretary of Commerce)
3. Eisenhower (General)
4. Ford (House of Representatives)
5. Bush 41 (Director of CIA)

What does this tell us? The odds are against Bob Barr winning the Presidency, as they are against Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney. What does it really tell us? A common man or woman will never become President. In order to achieve that office, you have to be a career politician, that is devote at least enough time to run for and become a Governor and Senator for at least one term, probably two, and then run for and become Vice President or President. It is a commitment of at least 10 years at a minimum.

Barr Fund Supported Paul Campaign

It appears that the Bob Barr Leadership Fund gave Ron Paul's presidential campaign $1000 last year. I wonder what the Paulians think about that? This site has the link to the filing.

Website? We Don't Need No Stinking Website.

Those advising Governor Daniels in his reelection bid have apparently neglected to maintain Daniels' website, mymanmitch.com. Going there results in an error "The network path was not found." And there seems to be no other Daniels campaign site. The lack of a website suggests both arrogance and inadvertence, and voters, especially the younger ones, will take note. Both Jill Long Thompson and Andrew Horning have erected sites, although both are poorly designed and maintained, and they appear to be taking this election seriously, but Daniels does not. Keep an eye on how many debates the governor consents to. That will be another sign of whether he cares about Hoosier voters.

Indiana Governor's Race Deadlocked

The Indiana governor's race is as tight as it can get. A poll (Excel file) released this week by the Center for Indiana Politics shows the candidates deadlocked. One of the questions asked was would you vote for Mitch Daniels/Jill Long Thompson no matter who else is on the ballot, against Daniels/Long Thompson no matter who else is on the ballot, or might or might not vote for Daniels/Long Thompson no matter who else is on the ballot. Forty percent said that they might or might not vote for Daniels depending on who else was on the ballot, and 52% said the same about Long Thompson. Not much has changed for either candidate since a pre-primary poll was taken where they were tied at 45%-45%.

The poll did not track the Libertarian nominee, Andrew Horning, who is the only other name on the ballot, and it will be interesting to see how many votes Horning delivers for his party and whether those votes come from Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, or independents. In the 2004 election Libertarian Kenn Gividen earned 1.3% to Joe Kernan's 45.5% and Daniels' 53.2%. With the Libertarian Party increasing in size and a big name on the top of the ballot, presidential nominee Bob Barr, Horning may get close to 5% this year, which will make this race all the more fun to watch.

The Old New World Order

I'm not one for conspiracy theories. It seems that conspiracy theorists go out of their way to publish loud websites in all caps AS IF THEY'RE SHOUTING AT THEIR PC's.


more graph humor and song chart memes

But this New World Order map from Strange Maps piqued my interest. I don't see the North American Superhighway there, but I'm happy to see that Greenland is part of the North American Union. It seems that we may have control of the north pole. Of course when the Earth's axis flips, that's not going to do us a lot of good.

Indy Police May Have to Pay for Gas

As if passing the cost of high fuel on to speeders wasn't unconventional enough, an Indianapolis Council member plans to propose requiring city and county police to pay for some of the gas that they use in their patrol vehicles. This would only make sense if only those officers with take-home vehicles were made to pay for the gas they use when they are off duty. Whether the rule would apply only to those officers is unclear. If take-home vehicles do, indeed, reduce crime in the neighborhoods in which those officers live, it follows that penalizing police for taking squad cars home would lead to an increase in crime. It's yet another consequence of years of the federal government's irresponsible fuel policies.

Truck Sales Slowing? Duh.

Ford Motor Company announced that it is holding off until September before launching its 2009 F-150. Anyone who didn't see this one coming is blind. Gas fluctuates day-to-day between $3.80 and $4.15 a gallon, and it can cost more than $50 to fill up even a compact car that has an empty tank. No one is buying pick-ups now except for those who have short commutes and otherwise do not depend on a truck for long hauls. At $35,000 for a new pick-up with just a few added options and the price of gas and diesel as high as it is, most consumers can't afford to buy, even those that have been living from credit card to credit card. Last month the F-150 was replaced as the country's top-selling vehicle by the Honda Civic. The F-150 had held that spot for 26 years -- since the last time gas prices went nuts and recovered.

Jobs are sure to follow as sales and production continue to drop. The market for smaller vehicles should see a bump, but not enough of one for all of the truck workers to keep employed. The auto industry is tanking. Yet our legislators refuse to do anything about it. Congress and the President bear fault here. For years they have stifled new energy initiatives and responsible use of traditional sources of fuel. They have stuffed their pockets with special-interest money at the expense of the country's economy. They should repair their damage by opening domestic reserves, repealing fuel taxes and surcharges, and allowing new drilling. It will be a long road to recovery, but we need to start now lest we lose our way back.

Speeders Hit with Fuel Surcharge

Beginning in July an Atlanta suburb is going to charge speeders for the fuel used by the police to chase them down. "All speeders will be charged with an additional $12 fuel charge." Atlanta proper is expected to institute a similar penalty.

It's a bit disingenuous to say that a cop uses $12 in fuel to pull over a speeder. Most speeders stop pretty quickly when being pulled over. It's too similar to a sin tax for my liking even though speeding is an illegal activity. And it seems that the speeder is being charged twice for one tank of gas. Also, it seems that there is more incentive for cops to pull you over if it's going to fill their gas tanks instead of taking away from other parts of the police budget.

One of the things I like about the plan, however, is that it is municipal-specific. No interference from the feds or the state. Let's see if it supplements the budget like it's intended.

Pride Festival Should Make Hoosiers Proud

The Circle City IN Pride Festival, held this past week in Indianapolis, attracted nearly 40,000 participants before it ended on Sunday. This celebration of equality should fill Hoosiers with pride that they live where they do. We've finally reached a point in our history when persons can openly be who they are, subject only to the stigmas that attach to all of us in one way or another. We celebrate diversity without forgetting that in the big picture, our differences are slight. We are all cousins, and Thanksgiving dinner would be boring if we were all the same.

Ethanol, Dollars, and Sense

The ethanol debate continues. What's caused food prices to increase so dramatically in the last six months, federally subsidized ethanol production or the devaluation of the dollar? The feds certainly miscalculated with their promotion of increased ethanol production and passage of bills that require 36 billion gallons of fuel from renewable sources in the next 14 years. Essentially, we're locked in to a contract that we won't be able to pay with corn. That means we either need to find other renewable sources or food prices will continue to rise. Add in the tomato shortage, rising gas and diesel prices, and rising credit card interest rates, and families are looking at a harsh winter this year and likely next as well. The feds have tied our hands. They've dined on our hard work, and in this election year they're preparing to dash.