WHO: Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley
WHAT: His creation of the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment was a joke. Here’s a shocker — the group voted Wednesday to abolish the death penalty.
WHY IT’S A BAD IDEA: How could the members decide anything else with a former death row inmate on the panel, a silent head of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, and gut-wrenching descriptions of inmates wrongfully put to death? We already knew how O’Malley felt about the death penalty — he just wanted to find a way to make it formal. And he wasted members’ time and taxpayer dollars in the process.
WHERE TO VENT: goccp.org/capital-punishment/
Today’s bright bulb: Stop the violence
The state court system launched a Web-based database of protective orders. The database will allow officers to quickly access protective orders at the scene of a domestic violence incident and will also help to stop conflicting orders from causing confusion between Maryland’s court systems. Using technology to save lives and time is always a good idea. We just wonder what took so long.
Today’s quote
“There was a Madden game that had a player with my jersey number, height, weight and played safety. It just didn’t have my name. … I never received a dime from these games.” — Bruce Laird, 58, who played safety for the Baltimore Colts from 1972 to 1981. He, and other NFL retirees, were awarded damages by a San Francisco court this week because the NFL used their likenesses and didn’t pay them.
