. . . about Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, that is.

In April, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that the Environmental Pollution Agency must consider Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as an air pollutant!

Now, as you may know, the gas CO2, is critical to the growth of vegetation on our planet; plants ‘breathe CO2 and exhale oxygen’ as it were. Animals, including us, do exactly the opposite - breathe oxygen and exhale CO2. You know what happens when animals are deprived of oxygen, so you must have a clue what might happen to CO2-deprived vegetation.

The current editorial at CO2 Science addresses that scenario - that is, an actual scientific experiment that documents what happens when cucumbers are deprived of CO2 (The following has been excerpted from “Carbon Dioxide: A Vital Atmospheric Resource Under Siege“):

Continue reading » Cucumbers Know More than SCOTUS

Off to the Supreme Court for the Washington D.C. Gun Ban:

A federal appeals court May 8 denied a petition by D.C. officials to reconsider a March ruling that overturned the District`s 30-year-old gun ban. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 6-4 to deny the District`s request that the entire court review a previous ruling in which a three-judge panel found some of the District`s gun restrictions to be unconstitutional.

What I want to know is Why aren’t D.C. residents allowed to get guns now? Their gun-grabbing law has been declared UNCONSTITUTIONAL! TWICE!

Update: These two articles discuss the next steps for D.C. and the effects on gun owners:

• Gun Rights: Won or Lost in the Courts
• Fenty, Firearms and Future

This just in from NRA-ILA

D.C. Circuit Court Hands Down Significant Victory for Individual Second Amendment Rights!

Friday, March 09, 2007

Fairfax, VA- The District of Columbia Circuit Court today affirmed that the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects an inherent, individual right to bear arms. Today’s ruling should have a positive impact on the current D.C. gun ban, the National Rifle Association is fighting to overcome.

The majority opinion of the court states, “[T]he phrase ‘the right of the people,’ when read intratextually and in light of Supreme Court precedent, leads us to conclude that the right in question is individual.” The majority opinion sums up its holding on this point as follows: The D.C. Circuit Court went further in upholding individual freedoms, rejecting the claim that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District because it is not a State.

The D.C. City Council is expected to appeal the ruling.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this one works it’s way up through the appeal process.

The New Orleans/Katrina gun confiscation case takes a positive turn toward bringing justice to the nations second stupidest mayor and friends.

Image: Nagin in his future habitat.

Just in from The Patriot Post:

Judge Rules Against New Orleans in 2nd Amendment Case

On Thursday, Federal Judge Carl Barbier ruled against a motion by the city of New Orleans to dismiss a Second Amendment lawsuit involving the city’s confiscation of residents’ firearms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The suit was brought by the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation and names Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley for violating citizens’ Second Amendment rights.

“We’re encouraged by this latest ruling,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the SAF. “For almost a year, we’ve been fighting the city’s delay tactics, which included outright lying by city officials that any firearms had been seized. Only when we threatened Mayor Nagin and Superintendent Riley with a motion for contempt did the city miraculously discover that they actually did have more than 1,000 firearms that had been taken from their owners.”

More than an effort to protect New Orleans gun owners, SAF intends this suit “as a warning to public officials across the country to forget about seizing firearms from their law-abiding owners in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.” The People’s Republic of New Orleans still holds two trailers filled with citizens’ firearms confiscated after Katrina.

I said “second stupidest mayor” above - Nagin has nothing to compare to the Runt Mayor of Los Angeles who would stop at nothing to disarm the city, and is, in my opinion, miles ahead of Nagin in the Stuck on Stupid award. Despite four attempts, Li’l Antonio has not passed the California Bar Exam, and thus remains unlicensed to practice law. But he is sure he understands more about it than you do.

Image: Li’l Antonio speaks at the Anti-Christ-Liberals-Union (could that be Nagin’s baldpate in the bottom of the image?)

God forbid if some liberal gun phobia retard politician tries to take our defenses from us when (not if) a major quake hits the Los Angeles area. Think back to the trite old adage about “prying from our cold dead hands.”

In a decision today, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of law and order over a whining (and guilty) perpetrator. Thanks to President Bush for his appointments of Justices Roberts and Alito, both of whom voted in favor of the ruling. The dark side of the court, now in the minority thanks to the departure of Justice O’Connor, all voted against this important step in ultimately letting justice prevail.

Of course, The Associated Press is whining about it (emphasis added):

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that police armed with a warrant can barge into homes and seize evidence even if they don’t knock, a huge government victory that was decided by President Bush’s new justices.

The 5-4 ruling signals the court’s conservative shift following the departure of moderate Sandra Day O’Connor.

The case tested previous court rulings that police armed with warrants generally must knock and announce themselves or they run afoul of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches.

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said Detroit police acknowledge violating that rule when they called out their presence at a man’s door then went inside three seconds to five seconds later.

“Whether that preliminary misstep had occurred or not, the police would have executed the warrant they had obtained, and would have discovered the gun and drugs inside the house,” Scalia wrote.

But suppressing evidence is too high of a penalty, Scalia said, for errors by police in failing to properly announce themselves.

We should all be thankful that the court is finally ruling against criminal behavior when technicalities are involved. In Justice Scalia’s (and the rest of the majority’s) opinion, capriciously forgiving criminal behavior because of minor errors is, in itself, an injustice.

For gun owners and for America.

From Michelle Malkin: GUN BANNERS LOSE IN SAN FRANCISCO

Not that such a thing would happen in our town, but the rejection of this insane San Francisco ordinance gives Damsel and I comfort knowing that our enthusiasm for home defense and sport shooting is still available for a few sane folks in the Moonbat City by the Bay.

Previous opinions about the Bay City:

• Have Gun Will Travel Reads the Card of a Man
• Tony Bennett to Retrieve Heart from San Francisco
• Bumper Stickers We’d Like to See

More about Guns and Shooting:

• Damsel’s Sunday Shoot
• CHP to Buy New Guns
• Mother’s Day

UPDATE (19:29): Back to the drawing board. Hopefully, the state will get this fixed. Unfortunately, they will now have to go back to the courts for another warrant.

Fox News reports (via AP):

Calif. Delays Execution of Killer Indefinitely

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. — The state on Tuesday postponed indefinitely the execution of a condemned killer amid a court battle over the state’s method of lethal injection and the role doctors may play in the death chamber.

State officials notified the federal courts they would be unable to comply with a judge’s order to have a medical professional administer a lethal dose of barbiturate to Michael Morales in the execution chamber, a court spokeswoman told The Associated Press.

[more]

Morales’ execution postponed until Tuesday night - sacbee.com

SAN QUENTIN — Questions over a physician’s role in the death chamber postponed the scheduled execution early Tuesday morning of Michael Angelo Morales, the man condemned for raping and killing a Lodi girl more than two decades ago. Just before 3 a.m. Tuesday, Vernell Crittendon, spokesman for San Quentin State Prison, said the execution was rescheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

In an unprecedented move in California since executions resumed in 1992, an anesthesiologist was to stay with Morales to make sure the 46-year-old man was rendered and remained unconscious after the first round of drugs entered his vein in a three-chemical lethal injection process. Another anesthesiologist was also to be present, but not in the execution chamber.

But anesthesiologists scheduled to monitor the Tuesday morning execution withdrew from the process in response to language in a district court order regarding their roles.

[more]

I must say that I’m surprised that Justice Kennedy sent this up to the entire SCOTUS. The appeal had been shown to be without merit to several courts below. However, it now appears that Michael Morales final appeal has been denied and that justice will finally be done for his victim and her family.

Inset: Morales’ victim Terri Winchell.

From the Sacramento Bee:

U.S. high court denies killer’s bid for stay

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the execution of convicted killer Michael Morales, ending his legal battle to avoid the execution planned for just after midnight.

Justice Anthony Kennedy reviewed the case, then sent it to the full court, which denied Morales’ final appeal at 6:29 p.m. EST, according to court spokesman Ed Turner.

“The court entered orders denying the request for stays of execution,” he said.

The Supreme Court was the only legal option left for Morales, 46, who is scheduled to die from lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. at San Quentin State Prison for killing teenager Terri Winchell, of Lodi.

If SCOTUS refuses to hear this case, it’s a done deal . . .

From the Sacramento Bee: 9th Circuit refuses stay of Morales execution

On Sunday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay the execution [of Michael Angelo Morales], turning down defense arguments that Morales was framed and that California’s lethal injection procedure would subject him to an unconstitutional and excruciating level of pain.

The judges ruled that purported new evidence of innocence was presented too late. They also said a lower court had assured that Morales will be unconscious before and during the administration of lethal drugs.

[more]

Just Git-R-Done . . .

(All articles - Sacramento Bee)

Judge OKs doctors to monitor execution

Ruling keeps Morales on track for a lethal injection Tuesday.

A federal judge Thursday accepted California’s revised plans for executing Michael Angelo Morales, putting the execution back on track for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Right: California Gas Chamber now used for lethal injections.
[more]

OK so it’s going down. Now these whiners need to get back to their practices:

Execution doctors an ethics issue

Medical groups criticize plan for physician to assess if the condemned can feel pain.

A plan for California to use an anesthesiologist to monitor the chemically induced demise of a condemned killer has ignited concerns that doctors have no business assisting executions.

Medical groups, including the California Medical Association and the American Society of Anesthesiologists, were quick to condemn the plan, stemming from a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel requiring the state to adopt certain safeguards to ensure that inmates don’t feel excessive pain.

“Physicians are healers, not executioners,” the national anesthesiology group said in a statement Wednesday. “The doctor-patient relationship depends upon the inviolate principle that a doctor uses his or her medical expertise only for the benefit of patients.”

I bet Jack Kevorkian would get a kick out of that one.

And these guys need to go to jail:

Defense tries to clear air on clemency plea

Lawyers representing condemned inmate Michael Angelo Morales embarked on a damage-control campaign Thursday - three days after they attracted national publicity by withdrawing clemency documents that may have been forged.

In a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Web logs and an invitation to a press conference this afternoon at San Quentin State Prison, the lawyers tried to shift the attention away from themselves and onto their client, repeating contentions that Morales was framed and “has had nothing to do” with the suspected forgeries by a defense investigator.

The flurry of activity also seemed designed to put distance between the controversy and Morales’ recently recruited big-name attorney, former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr. His connection with the case - and, now, the forgery allegations - has been reported nationally.