You would think that the Democrat Party wouldget tired of doing things that get them labeled as Soft On Crime.  But, as Ronaldus Maximus said, “There they go again”…

Courtesy of the News Tribune:

Washington has sent 285 criminals to prison for the rest of their lives under the “Three Strikes, You’re Out” law, but about 10 percent of them would get out sooner if the Legislature changes the definition of what crimes are “strikes.”

Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is proposing to do just that. He wants to rewrite the law that voters passed in 1993 and exclude offenders whose three crimes were second-degree assault or second-degree robbery.

He also wants to make the changes retroactive, which means 25 to 27 inmates serving life without possibility of parole would be eligible for shorter sentences.

Hmm. Now WHY would he want to do this?

“Given the high cost of incarceration, we need to ask if the ‘Three Strikes’ law is doing what we intended,” Kline said. “The goal in 1993 was to lock up the persistent offenders of the most serious crimes. I’m not convinced that we’ve succeeded.”

So what kind of offenses are we talking about, that Kline feels should NOT be part of 3 Strikes?

Sen. Mike Carrell, R-Lakewood, said he’s read the definition of second-degree assault. It’s a crime in which someone causes or intends to cause “substantial bodily harm” and inflicts pain “equivalent to torture,” he said.

“I want to know why you think someone who does this three separate times should not be put away for life?” Carrell asked witnesses who testified Friday in favor of Kline’s bill.

“Equivelent to Torture”?  Where is Code Pink and the ACLU?  They seem to be all upset about Gitmo, but they don’t care about letting animals like this back out on the street?

SB 5964 would require a review of prison inmates who have been convicted of three crimes – none more serious than the assault and robbery charges – and have judges resentence them.

“They are not going to walk away,” Kline said. “They will have long sentences.”

But sending someone to prison for life for committing three of the least violent crimes is out of proportion, especially considering that murderers and rapists eventually get out of prison, he said.

Sounds to me like we should tighten up on Murderers and Rapists, not let up on Assualters.

So what is motivating Kline?

Kline’s bill is one of several before the Legislature whose intent, in part, is to avoid building another $250 million prison.

“It’s not just one prison, it’s the parade of prisons,” Kline said.

The 2007 Legislature needs to correct some of the previous “hard on crime” legislatures that went overboard with little regard for the eventual cost, he said.

The idea that the cost of something deters a Democrat from spending is laughable on its face.  Could it be that the Left simply believes that no one really belongs in prison?  That everyone should be given another chance (well, a fourth chance, at least)?   Could it be that they would just rather spend the money on something else?  Or could they just be pandering to their base, and hoping that legislation to restore voting rights to felons passes?

Too bad for the victims, though.  I guess they didn’t suffer enough…

Just DAYS after the Left had apoplectic fits over George Bush leaving the “-ic” off when referring to the Democrat Party, they local branch of that party proves his point (though he spinelessly denies it, and claims it was a honest mistake – oh well, my opinion of Mr. Bush is not glowing).

As Stefan Sharkansky noted over at Sound Politics noted yesterday:

The Senate Government Operations & Elections Committee holds a “public hearing” at 1:30pm today on several bills designed to cripple the people’s Constitutional right to initiative:

SB 5181 – Requiring signature gatherers to wear identification.
SB 5182 – Requiring signature gatherers to sign initiative and referendum petitions.
SB 5356 – Prohibiting payment of petition signature gatherers on a per-signature basis.
SB 5392 – Increasing the initiative filing fee.
SB 5418 – Requiring ballot titles to indicate tax consequences of the ballot measure.
SJR 8205 – Relating to the constitutional provisions regarding initiatives and referendums.

Most members of the public whose rights these bills aim to vaporize are too busy working to attend the hearing. But Tim Eyman, whom the anti-citizen coup-plotters in the permanent government love to hate, will be there. Watch live on TVW.

Thus proving that there is little, if anything “Democratic” about the party that calls itself “Democrat”, any more than the “Democratic Peoples Republic Of Korea” deserves appellation of Democratic OR Republic. But isn’t it funny that the farther left, and intolerant of dissent a movement goes, the more it tries to garb itself in the name “Democratic”, to try to hide their true intent?

Check out Whackynation.

Here’s one reason why:

I am amused by the pledge drive going on at Horses Ass.

It seems a liberal blogger can’t survive without the public paying his bills.

How pathetic.  Yet, how democrat.  You want others to pay your bill.

I’d shoot myself first.  I have too much pride than to beg.

Yet, the pathic liberal community has given almost $2400, according to to blogger David Goldstein.

P.T. Barnum was right.

Many thanks to Mr. Postman for this classic picture:

You KNOW the guy in back: Joseph Stalin, Patron Saint of the Democrat Party.

You may NOT know the lady woman politician in front: Sen. Jeannie Kohl-Welles. Not my favorite politician in the State of Washington.

Stay tuned for updates concerning her. She was worth several posts LAST session!

That is the title of an editorial from the Seattle Post (lack of) Intelligencer concerning the Federal Way School Board requirement that teachers wishing to show Al Gore’s PowerPoint on Film “An Inconvenient Truth”, must run the decision through an administrator, and present the opposing viewpoint.

Quoth the PI :

Those Federal Way School Board members are such clever politicians. They have used bureaucratic rules to gore classroom exploration of climate change, a critical topic for students’ futures.

To the contrary, the School Board feels that the debate is SO important to students future that they need to hear more than ONE SIDE of the argument. And the use of the word “gore” is just a little over the line of cute. I am sure the writer thought it was an inside joke, that only good Liberals would catch…

In responding to a parent complaint about Al Gore’s documentary on the threat of global warming, the board put a mythical pursuit of balance ahead of reality.

First, there were at least half a dozen complaints, not ONE, as is implied. But then, accuracy is not important, when the writers heart is pure. And how, exactly, does REQUIRING the opposing viewpoint be shown create a “mythical” pursuit of balance?

They enacted what is apparently a first: a virtual ban on showing “An Inconvenient Truth,” hidden behind hobbling of teachers’ options through demands for principal and superintendent OKs and presentation of opposing views to Gore’s stirring calls to concern and action.

What they did, was enact a “Virtual Ban” on presenting ONE SIDE OF THE ARGUMENT.

Any classroom teacher worth his salt is going to let students know about debates on the science of global warming.

Classroom: “Now kids, some people think that global warming is not real, just like they used to think the world was flat. Now here is former Vice President Gore to tell you about the REALITY and SCIENCE of Global Warming for the next 90 minutes”.

But equating the consensus on mankind’s role in causing the problem (which even the Bush White House now acknowledges, for crying out loud) with the voices of doubt is a flat misrepresentation of prevailing views.

Considering the Liberals opinion of President Bush, and the Administration, I would think this would have been enough to convert them all to skeptics. Don’t even get me started on the illogic of using government officials as a gauge of scientific process and reality.

As school board members well know, teachers have only so much time. Teachers also need a certain amount of freedom in using it. Maybe the duck-and-cover board members forgot that.

What they REALLY mean with this parting shot, is that there is a LOT of propaganda and indoctrination to cram into the young heads full of mush, and the requirement to present a balanced view on dogma is distracting and dangerous to the Liberal mindset they are trying to enforce.

What never ceases to amaze me is that since the 1960s, it is the Liberals (showing or characterized by broad-mindedness ) in this nation that demand that there be NO DEBATE on things like Climate Change, Minimum Wage, Abortion, Social Security, and other items in their quasi-religious world view. These things are TOO IMPORTANT TO DEBATE in their twisted little world.

You can never have too much information (well, there is one person that I work with, who has some questionable personal habits), only too much censorship.

From the News Tribune:

Al Gore’s movie on global warming is too hot for students to see without an opposing viewpoint, the Federal Way School Board has decided.It’s so hot that the board required Superintendent Tom Murphy to approve when the former vice president’s film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” can be presented. And teachers can show it only when it’s balanced with the other side of the issue.

I readily admit to being quite shocked a this level of common sense coming from a School Board anywhere in Puget Sound…

But here is the quote that really warmed my cold, dead, shrunken Gin-grinch like conservative heart:

“We have to ensure that our schools are not being used to politically indoctrinate anyone,” added board member Dave Larson.

Of course, the articles author then attempts to paint the FW SB as a bunch of reactionary clowns with this irrelevant point:

The debate over the film is just the latest example of the conservative School Board making potentially unpopular decisions. In June, it considered banning students from wearing flip-flops but backed off after an outcry.

Reporter Steve Maynard then goes on to hype Gore’s side of the argument:

In “An Inconvenient Truth,” Gore is shown presenting a slide show around the country on the catastrophic dangers of climate change and his crusade to combat it.

A number of the nation’s top climate scientists have given the film high marks for accuracy.

And in September, four months after Gore’s film was released, federal researchers connected to the National Academy of Sciences reported that the planet’s temperature has climbed to levels not seen in thousands of years, and has begun to affect plants and animals.

The rebuttal is left to the FW SB member, who has now been cast by the reporter as a right wing loon:

But Larson, the Federal Way board member who brought Tuesday’s motion, pointed out two articles presenting counter views. One is by journalist and author John Stossel, who writes that many scientists laugh at doomsday predictions. Some scientists, Stossel writes, say the result of global warming might be benign.

Larson also cited NASA and NOAA Web sites referring to debate and disagreement over climate change.

But here is the money quote:

“You’ve got to give the full information and let the kids decide,” he said.

What a concept. I wonder if they still teach critical thinking, like they did when I went to school?

Courtesy of the News Tribune:

A student was shot and killed at Foss High School in Tacoma on Wednesday morning, and police were searching for the shooter.The shooting occurred just before the first bell – about 7:30 a.m. – in a school hallway.

Teachers and administrators hustled students into the gymnasium and other secure areas and locked down the school as police streamed to the scene….

…

Valerie Marshall, whose son attends Foss, said the violence wasn’t a surprise. Gang activity has been on the upswing at the school, Marshall said.

“You know what’s sad: My son’s 15 and he wants to save up for a bulletproof vest,” she said.

I admit to being very uneasy about my younger son attending a Jr. High in the Bethel SD next fall that has a similar reputation for gangs and drugs.  If I can find a decent private school, where he wouldnt have to spend a hour on a bus each way, I may opt for that.

Of course, at this time, we don’t KNOW whether it was a Gang banger hit; a kid who was bullied and ridiculed until he snapped; someone who played one to many video games; or a personal relationship that went bad.  I will update as more info becomes available.

As an aside:  When I went to ELEMENTARY school, we had an optional Hunter Safety class.  Part of the class work was bringing an unloaded .22 rifle to school, to show that we knew the proper way to make sure the gun was unloaded and cleared, work the safety, and proper carrying technique.  Many High Schools had Rifle Ranges, and Marksmanship teams.

I am not aware that any of the recent school shooters are kids that were ever trained in the proper use and handling (and respect for) firearms.

UPDATE 1:  Suspect in Custody.

UPDATE 2:  It appears that the Shooter knew the Victim, and by process of elimination, it appears to be the culmination of a personal beef.