Cake or Death: Happy Birthday Clarence Ray Allen

Al Gore says global warming is YOUR fault!
"He betrayed this country! He played on our fears!"
You don't say...

September 18th, 2007

Fed Cuts Benchmark Rate Half Point, Seeking to Forestall Recession in U.S. - "The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by a half point to 4.75 percent, the first cut in four years, to protect the U.S. from sinking into a recession sparked by fallout from the housing-market collapse. 'Today's action is intended to help forestall some of the adverse effects on the broader economy that might otherwise arise from the disruptions in financial markets,' the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement after meeting today in Washington. The central bank will 'act as needed to foster price stability and sustainable economic growth.' Stocks surged, two-year Treasury notes rose and the dollar fell to a record low against the euro. The larger-than-forecast reduction suggests Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is prepared to leave himself open to criticism that he's rescuing investors from bad decisions for the sake of saving the six-year expansion."
U.S. Producer Prices Drop More Than Forecast; Foreclosures on Homes Double - "The 1.4 percent decrease, the biggest since October, followed a 0.6 percent increase in July, the Labor Department said today in Washington. So-called core prices, which exclude fuel and food costs, rose 0.2 percent after a 0.1 percent gain the month before. Slower inflation gave policy makers room to cut their benchmark rate today in an effort to sustain the expansion in the face of a housing recession. A drop in fuel expenses pushed prices down in August and cooling economic growth will continue to restrain raw-material costs, economists said."

September 14th, 2007

U.S. Retail Sales, Output Rise Less Than Forecast, Adding to Rate-Cut Case - "The 0.3 percent increase in sales during August followed a revised 0.5 percent gain in July, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Purchases excluding automobiles unexpectedly fell 0.4 percent. Production gained 0.2 percent, with factory output declining for the first time since February. While a report from the University of Michigan and Reuters Group Plc showed consumer confidence increased, their sentiment index remained near the lowest level in a year. Treasury notes rallied after the retail sales and production reports, before losing the gains."

September 13th, 2007

Greenspan Says He Didn't Foresee Credit Rout, Endorses Bernanke, CBS Says - "Current Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke 'is doing an excellent job,' Greenspan said in an interview on the 60 Minutes program, according to excerpts e-mailed by CBS today. The show is scheduled to air on Sept. 16, a day before the publication of Greenspan's book, 'The Age of Turbulence.' The remarks come amid criticism among some investors that Bernanke has failed to be as forceful as his predecessor in responding to financial turmoil. Greenspan in 1998 cut interest rates three times after a Russian debt default rippled through global markets. Bernanke's Fed has refrained from lowering its benchmark so far, relying on other tools to provide liquidity."
Commercial-Paper Market Decline in U.S. Slows as Concerns Over Credit Ease - "U.S. stocks rose and Treasuries fell after the Federal Reserve reported short-term debt dropped by $8.2 billion, compared with a decline of $31.3 billion a week earlier. That coincided with Countrywide Financial Corp. obtaining new financing and banks finding buyers for loans to fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s buyout of Alliance Boots. Issuers with the biggest chance of default had stopped trying to sell commercial paper, rekindling appetite for short- term debt, said Tony Crescenzi, chief bond market strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. 'Investors have already pushed out the weakest issuers,' Crescenzi said in an e-mail. 'The commercial paper that remains is a relatively more respected crop.'"

Past Headlines

See who links to me!

Site Meter

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Happy Birthday Clarence Ray Allen

38 minutes after his birthday ended, he was pronounced dead.

(LATimes) Just after midnight today, the oldest inmate on California's death row was brought to San Quentin's octagonal, green death chamber.

[...]Allen was sentenced to death in 1982, after his conviction for arranging a triple murder. He orchestrated the 1980 murders from Folsom State Prison, where he was serving a life sentence for the 1974 slaying of his son's girlfriend, Mary Sue Kitts. He murdered Kitts to prevent her from testifying in a burglary case against him.

While serving time for that crime, he offered another inmate, Billy Ray Hamilton, $25,000 to kill eight people who had testified against him in the Kitts case. After getting out of prison, Hamilton killed one of the witnesses, Bryon Schletewitz, 27, whose father owned a store Allen had burglarized, and two market employees, Josephine Rocha, 17, and 18-year-old Douglas White. Hamilton shot Rocha as she begged him not to.

Oh and you know why Hollywood couldn't be bothered to make speak out for the old white guy? Scheduling conflict. They had to make their appearance at the Golden Globes. That's dedictation.

Allen's case is also a interesting justification for the death penalty to be more widely used, because as he was serving a life sentence he ordered 3 other murders from jail. Had he been sentenced to death, he wouldn't have necessarily had the contact with other criminals who would eventually be "rehabilitated" and released on the world to do his mruders for him. One could argue three people could be alive today, had we been more vigorous in the dispensation of the death penalty in Allen's original case.

On second thought, maybe Hollywood was playing it smart with Allen. Perhaps they actually recognized too many good arguments in favor of his death.

Link to me! Posted by jwookie : 12:07 PM

|

<< Home