Opponents of the death penalty, and especially of states' seeming inattentiveness in administering lethal injections, are surely genuinely grossed out. However, they also believe that death-penalty supporters would be grossed out, too, if only they focused on the horrible, grisly details of the agonizing deaths that inmates go through (like Angel Diaz did yesterday at Raiford). But in the F state, Yr Editor bets this wedge issue has long been depleted and that incidents like Diaz's 24-minute squirm don't change many minds. That is, a healthy majority of Floridians at least secretly wish they could make all condemned prisoners squirm in agony for longer than 24 minutes. In fact, the only squirming-in-agony that bothers the supporters is the squirming they, themselves, do when they see so much attention given to a major-league loser like Angel Diaz instead of to his poor victim (or victims, since he had a prior, non-capital murder conviction). [St. Petersburg Times]
The Way the World Works Sean Timoney, facing 40 yrs for trying to buy 400 lbs. of marijuana, got 38½ yrs less than that from a judge in Albany, N.Y., but allegedly it had nothing to do with the fact that Timoney is the son of John Timoney, police chief of Miami. Even worse, it might have had more to do with poor Sean's tragic case of Lyme Disease, which forced him to make all those poor decisions. [Miami Herald]
Follow-Ups Results are in on the investigation of the plane that landed in a guy's yard in Lantana, piloted by a senior [The F State, 11-14-2006]: He has been licenseless for 10 yrs, was practicing take-offs and landings with low fuel, and was in a plane whose last maintenance record was from 1984, but at least
it wasn't just a gas pedal/brake pedal thing. [Palm Beach Post]
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, the super-anti-immigration guy who called Miami a third-world country [The F State, 11-28-2006], had his celebrated eye-opener to Key Biscayne canceled, for security concerns, but at least his spokesman was conciliatory(!): "We knew that it would be dangerous to speak your mind in a third world country like Cuba. Apparently there isn't much difference in Miami." [Miami Herald]
Floridians With Worse Sex Lives Than You John McManus, 59, who runs an adult novelty shop in Crestview, was arrested . . . wait a minute, there's an adult novelty shop in Crestview, a small town in the heart of panhandle Bible country? Anyway, he was arrested after cops found a video camera in a clock-radio in a changing room, where women go to try on the Sexy Lady's lingerie and leather. [Northwest Florida Daily News]
More Things To Worry About Today The Polk County sheriff ratcheted up his anti-prostitution agenda by seizing two, entire, by-the-hour motels, the Lake Wales Inn and Prestler's Motel in Lakeland (in case you had reservations), and now he has the anti-eminent domain people upset [BayNews9 (Tampa)] . . . . . Anselmo Fraga-Marrero,
awaiting trial in Miami for practicing dentistry without a license, was arrested again for, er, practicing dentistry without a license (since he had all that shiny dentistry equipment just sitting there) [Miami Herald] . . . . . Steve Francis, owner of the Girls Gone Wild franchise, was fined and ordered to community service, with the Panama City judge trying to shame him for seducing the low-hanging fruit of 17-yr-old girls with 6 drinks in 'em [Associated Press via Gainesville Sun] . . . . . Warning: Gross! Yucchhh! Wanna see a real condemned home? I mean, way-overdue condemned (but at least you won't be hearing from the eminent-domain people on this one) [St. Petersburg Times].
This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2006.