Carlos Martinelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his drunk driving accident (August 1, 2010) that injured 2 nuns and killed a third. Martinelly was also charged with felony murder.
Wikipedia defines ‘felony murder’ as follows:
The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common lawjurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder in two ways. First, when an offender kills accidentally or without specific intent to kill in the course of an applicable felony, what might have been manslaughter is escalated to murder. Second, it makes any participant in such a felony criminally liable for any deaths that occur during or in furtherance of that felony. While there is some debate about the original scope of the rule, modern interpretations typically require that the felony be an inherently dangerous one, or one committed in an obviously dangerous manner. For this reason, the felony murder rule is often justified by its supporters as a means of deterring dangerous felonies.
I keep thinking about this case being Corey Stewart’s launch pad into state politics. For over a year we have heard about this case, day after day. This case has been all over Fox News time after time, as some sort of landmark illegal immigrant case rather than a drunk driving case. Martinelly was brought here illegally as a child. He had a green card. He just didn’t have legal status. He became the ‘nun killer.’
Someone sent me this ‘video’ thinkingit was funny. It is too close to the truth for me and Elena to think its all that funny. This guy isn’t joking. He means every word of it. Bet he wouldn’t let Elena and me take the class either (for multiple reasons).
Social conservatives emboldened by Republican gains in the General Assembly in November suffered a major setback Thursday when a Senate committee deadlocked on a bill to prohibit women from having an abortion beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy.
But today, the House of Delegates appears ready to pass a bill to defund state-paid abortions for low-income women expecting a child with “gross and totally incapacitating physical deformity or mental deficiency” after the chamber advanced the measure Thursday.
The vote was 7-7 on Senate Bill 637 sponsored by Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg. Republicans hold an 8-7 majority on the committee, but Sen. Harry B. Blevins, R-Chesapeake, abstained, deadlocking the measure.
Imagine how desperate developers must be to craft a bill that targets one little ole Planning Commissioner, Kim Hosen. Kim is the executive of the Prince William Conservation Alliance.
I will freely divulge that I am a friend of Kim’s and she is one of the most honest, selfless, decent human beings I have the privilege of knowing. She has a policy of fairness for all, developer and citizen alike. As a planning commissioner she simply expects that everyone will follow the rules that are intended to be applied to development practices, and for that, she is clearly feared by the development community.
Corey Stewart appointed Austin Hayes who is a partner in Christopher Realty. Apparently for one of his very first cases before the Planning Commission he recused himself. So a Developer is perfectly fine as a Planning Commissioner but someone who has no direct monetary gain is NOT!
Citizens should be furious, I know I am. Kim has nothing to gain but ensuring that PWC citizens have access to clean water and air, she works hard to prevent PWC taxpayers from footing the bill for bad development proposals.
She is only one voice and yet, her voice must be very powerful to have scared so many.
Critical update! Susan G Komen clarifies policy to exlude organization found guilty of criminal offense to be exluded from funding. They will now continue funding critical services to at risk women through Planned Parenthood. I hope they can recover from the media damage they inflicted upon themselves.
I take this story very personally. My mother is a breast cancer survivor, both my grandmothers died from breast cancer. I am at high risk for carrying a specific breast cancer gene. I use to be a huge supporter of the Susan G. Kohmen Foundation. That support has ended as of today. Apparently their leadership has made a choice to cut off the most at risk women who require low cost health care from their funding.
Furor Erupts Over Susan G. Komen Halt Of Grants To Planned Parenthood
The reaction has been intense this evening to the news from The Associated Press that “the nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates.”
Much of it is highly critical of the charity, such as this message from Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif.:
“Komen’s decision hurts women — it puts politics before women’s health. @komenforthecure should be ashamed.”
Or this tweet from political satirist and Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead:
“I am crying in a cab at this Komen decision. Tomorrow we will rally. Who is in this fight with me! You can no longer sit idly by.”
Thursday will be the day for this big guy. Will he see his shadow? We haven’t had that much winter yet so if he sees his shadow, do we have 6 more weeks of this spring weather?
I can’t remember a winter this mild. What is causing it? Does anyone have daffodils blooming? Mine have lots of buds. If we get a hard freeze, will there just not be daffodils this spring? How does that work?
Bob Beckel was adamant. I don’t see why he had to take a poll about whether to apologize or not. I am not sure that someone in the military retains the right to demand that others call them by their title. I am not sure we are under obligation to call any elected official by their elected title. Let’s take this bit further. Would Corey Stewart get in your face if you didn’t call him Supervisor Stewart? How about Jackson Miller? Would he demand you call him Delegate Miller? Perhaps Allen West feels he is more important.
West is a provocateur. He speaks nastily of others and then very much plays the victim when reprimanded by his peers.
Perhaps he needs to think before he speaks:
This is a battlefield that we must stand upon. And we need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the Chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain’t on the table. Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else! You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America!
I am not ever sure what he was blathering about. For starters, I don’t think one’s military service excuses rude behavior. He is apparently too consumed with his own self importance. Military service might mean one is thanked for their service, most sincerely even. However, that doesn’t excuse rude behavior or give him the right to say whatever pops into his head. There are consequences.
People are pretty much divided over this dust up. I haven’t gotten over what West said about Debbie Wasserman-Schults. After those words, there is no where to go but up. There is no down. However, his recent remarks made him a bottom feeder. Beckel actually ended up showing a littlel more humility than I thought he possessed as he polled others on what he should do. I think it was a draw.
Speaking at a Baptist church in Winter Park on Saturday, the former speaker received a standing ovation when he declared that embryonic stem-cell research amounts to “the use of science to desensitize society over the killing of babies.”
And in a news conference Sunday, he said he would ban all embryonic stem-cell research, including that done on discarded embryos created by in vitro fertilization.
Gingrich added that he would also create a commission to study the ethics of in vitro fertilization, which has involved the creation of hundreds of thousands of excess embryos stored or discarded by fertility clinics.
“I believe life begins at conception, and the question I was raising was what happens to embryos in fertility clinics, and I would favor a commission to look seriously at the ethics of how we manage fertility clinics,” Gingrich said at a news conference outside another Baptist church here. “If you have in vitro fertilization, you are creating life; therefore, we should look seriously at what the rules should be for clinics that are doing that, because they are creating life.”
The Roakoke Times has one of the best editorials I have read on the proposed bill to drug test recipients of Virginia’s Temporary Aid for Needy Families Program. Perhaps soon those who get a VRS check will be expected to pass the pee test also.
Some legislators want jobless Virginians to prove they’re ‘clean.’ Maybe they should be tested, too.
The moment some poor worker’s company downsizes him out of a job, he is no longer Mr. Upstanding Citizen. In the eyes of some lawmakers, he’s a suspected drug abuser.
Indeed it’s a quick slippery slide from employed to addict. Or at least that’s what Virginians (employed Virginians anyway) could be led to believe given the flurry of bills some of their representatives are pushing in Richmond to drug test those seeking government aid.
Certain lawmakers are intoxicated with the notion that “if you are going to be supported by the people of the commonwealth, then you’re going to stay clean.” That’s how Sen. Dick Black, a Loudoun Republican, put it to the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star, which published an account of bills that tie state aid to drug tests.
Only it’s not all state aid. Just that given to those struggling the most.
The City of Lexington was a colorful sight earlier in January on Lee-Jackson Day. That town is shrouded in the history of both men. The pictures in the link are beautiful, the characters realistic.
One of several Virginia Republican bills–which aims to require drug tests for welfare recipients–may be one step closer to becoming law.
The bill would require initial screening of people seeking benefits under Virginia’s Temporary Aid for Needy Families Program. Those who screen positive would have blood drawn for more definitive tests. Those who fail would forfeit their benefits for at least a year.
For those alarmed about illegal search and seizures, this bill might cause some heartburn. Additionally, for those who test positive, what about their children who rely on those benefits? Will they also be punished? What drugs would ‘big brother’ be looking for? If an individual is supposed to be taking rx drugs for mental health, would they be denied benefits if they were NOT taking their meds?
Would this bill be Constitutional? Does the Federal government allow such drug testing? Where do funds come from for Temporary Aid for Needy Families Program? Are these federal funds?
I see a lot of problems with this kind of government intervention. This bill might drive the libertarians nuts.
Lamborn said through a spokesperson that he didn’t mean disrepect.
“Congressman Lamborn regrets any misunderstanding. He simply meant to refer to a sticky situation or quagmire.”
Yes, Right! What an accident.(NOT!) The Washington Post reports that Rep. Doug Lamborn is once again going to skip the State of the Union Address because he ‘disagrees’ with the policies of President Obama. In fact, he disagreed so much last August, before Obama’s Joint Session of Congress address, that he said he didn’t want to associate with President Obama. Specifically, he compared working with the president to “touching a tar baby.” (emphasis ours)
Supposedly, John Boehner encouraged everyone to attend. He needs to require it. Isn’t he the boss? Where is Eric Cantor? Isn’t he supposed to be helping the Speaker get everyone in line?
Lamborn’s comparison is totally unacceptable and he should resign. No one today is so stupid they do not realize that a comparison of that sort is racially offensive. No one. Americans should refuse to accept any such statement from Lamborn and he should be censured.
Meanwhile, other lawmakers will practice bipartisan seating. Kudos to those legislators who are willing to reach across the aisle. No Labels has prepared a list of Who’s sitting with Whom. We may disagree about policy without the rancor and the hate we are seeing out of some lawmakers. Lamborn must be pandering to his base. Obviously his base must be comprised of people *I* want nothing to do with . That is just very obvious “code.”
If all goes as planned and this bill passes, Virginia child rapists will get mandatory life in prison. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:
The Senate Courts of Justice committee Monday passed a bill that would eliminate judicial discretion in the sentencing of adults convicted of the rape of children and sentence anyone convicted of the crime to a mandatory life sentence in prison.
Current law allows a judge to impose a sentence ranging from five years to life for the crime committed against a child under the age of 13.
Senate Bill 436, sponsored by Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg passed the GOP-controlled committee on an 8-7 vote. Due to the need to assess its potential financial impact, it was referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
I am trying to figure out why I should hate this bill. An 8-7 split tells me that it’s controversial. I am trying to find the controversy. I cannot do it. It sounds like a smart plan to me. Child rapists are the lowest of all the low life. We certainly don’t want them back out on the streets–EVER.
Yesterday marked the 39th anniversary of Roe v Wade. It went quietly unnoticed by many. For those of us who grew up in a pre-Roe era, it didn’t go quite as quietly. Vintage women all knew someone or several someones with a horrible abortion story that happened before January 22, 1973.
There was Robin, the girl I went to high school with who got an illegal abortion from some butcher over in Elkton, of all places. She ended up in the hospital with serious complications and the story made the local paper. It didn’t give Robin’s name but somehow it leaked out. It wasn’t hard to figure out who was missing and in the hospital either. Arrests were made.
Then there were the 3-4 young professional women I knew who got abortions, testing the nearly legal procedure in Washington, D.C. The procedure was expensive and multi-stepped. It involved lawyers, psychiatrists and doctors. As I recall the entire cost was around $1000 in the early 70′s. Those were big bucks in those days.
