For most of us, Death Row is something far away, but not so last week. I got to see something extraordinary. Six men presented their stories at the Ohio Statehouse about how they had been wrongfully incarcerated and had spent time on Ohio’s Death Row. Ricky Jackson, Kwanme Ajamu, Wiley Bridgeman, Joe D’Ambrosio, Derrick Jamison […]
Death row and wrongful convictions Read Post »
I’m starting to take stock of how often we hear the word “no” from legislators. Besides being used too frequently, “no” is seldom followed by an effort to find a better alternative. No gets us nowhere. Congress has said no to raising the minimum wage. Congress is saying no to keeping Medicaid reimbursements at $70
No gets us nowhere Read Post »
Two weeks ago, the Associated Press carried a story about human trafficking in the fishing industry. Hundreds of men from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, were transported to and confined at the remote Indonesian Island of Benjina and forced to work as slaves. AP journalists interviewed 40 current and former slaves who reported being forced
Human trafficking: overseas and in Ohio Read Post »
Unless you live in a cave, by now you know that Indiana passed a law last week that allows businesses to discriminate against gays. The sound bites from the news are that bakeries won’t be obligated to sell wedding cakes, and florists won’t have to sell flowers to gay couples getting married. Former NBA great
Religious freedom or intolerance? Which is it, Hoosiers? Read Post »
The story a few weeks back about the bigotry displayed by two members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Oklahoma gave rise to different viewpoints about how the situation should have been handled. Here are two that stand out. Both miss the mark. One reader of the Columbus Dispatch thought the
Fraternity racist chants–what about contrition? Read Post »
President Barack Obama has taken heat for trying to distinguish between ISIS and Islam. I don’t care to debate whether ISIS fighters represent an extreme wing of Islam or are just madmen who try to cloak themselves under the veil of Islam. They’re killers and thugs. That’s enough for me. But since Islam has become
Does something get lost in the ISIS-Islam debate? Read Post »
Over the weekend I was preparing for a presentation I’m giving next week on the cost of the death penalty. The lengthy post-trial proceedings that follow nearly every death sentence likely make the death penalty more costly than a life sentence without parole. I say likely because Ohio has yet to study the cost of
They sit on Death Row–forever Read Post »
He did it all. He elevated what had been regarded as a football school to a major university. He spoke several languages and traveled the world. He rubbed elbows with presidents and popes and had a significant role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He got to fly in an Air Force SR-71
He was a man for all seasons Read Post »
She thought she was doing the right thing. It must have been a matter of conscious, but as often happens, Vesna Roi’s decision was the result of failing to reconcile conflicting paradigms. Roi, a pediatrician in Detroit decided not to treat a newborn because her parents are gay. She made the decision, according to the
It’s supposed to be about the baby Read Post »
I’ve been thinking a lot about the controversial Nationwide ad, “Make Safe Happen,” that ran during the Super Bowl. Critics characterized the ad, which dealt with accidental children deaths, as depressing. The ad didn’t go into detail about how often kids needlessly die or the causes, so here are some statistics for the U.S.: Drowning
Is there ever a good time to hear disturbing news? Read Post »
They didn’t see it coming, or maybe they just didn’t care. In their haste to pass a bill that would permit compounding pharmacies to manufacture in secrecy the drugs necessary to continue Ohio’s death penalty, the state’s legislators opened up the state to more litigation. The legislators were in a hurry. On August 11, 2014,
The General Assembly didn’t see it coming? Read Post »
How well do you see? I don’t mean, how well do you see an eye chart? I mean, how well do you see what goes on around you? If you saw the movie, “The Butler,” you watched how America was blind to the injustice and brutality that black America endured until the Civil Rights Act
How well do you see? Read Post »