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California Death Row suicide highlights executions' delays

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- When James Lee Crummel hanged himself in his San Quentin Prison cell last month, he had been living on Death Row for almost eight years -- and he was still years away from facing the executioner.

California's automatic death penalty appeals take so long that the state's 723 condemned inmates are more likely to die of old age and infirmities --or kill themselves -- than be put to death.

Since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978, California has executed 13 inmates, and none since 2006. But 20 have committed suicide, including Crummel, who abducted, sexually abused and killed a 13-year-old boy on his way to school in 1979. Another 57 inmates have died of natural causes. The ponderous pace of this process has helped make the state's death row the most populous in the nation, and it has generated critics from all quarters.

Victim rights groups say the delays amount to justice denied. Death penalty opponents say the process, like execution itself, amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

And now the state's voters will get an opportunity this November to vote on a measure that would abolish the death penalty, which critics deride as an inefficient and expensive system for a financially troubled state.

It took the Supreme Court four years to appoint Crummel a public defender, and it took his attorney almost that long to file his opening brief after several time extensions. Crummel's appeal was

expected to consume a few more years before the high court decided the case.

While most condemned inmates welcome legal delays, even those seeking a speedy resolution are stymied.

Scott Peterson, who was sentenced to death seven years ago for murdering his pregnant wife Laci, is attempting to get his case before the Supreme Court as soon as possible, because he says he was wrongly convicted.

Peterson's parents hired a top-notch private appellate lawyer after sentencing, while other Death Row inmates wait an average of five years each for appointment of taxpayer-funded public defenders.

"We are moving at lightning speed compared to most automatic appeals," said Peterson's attorney Cliff Gardner. "He wants to establish his innocence."

The slow wheels of death penalty appeals, and the billions of dollars spent on them over the years, are making converts of some of capital punishment's biggest backers, including the author of a 1978 ballot measure that expanded the types of crimes eligible for capital punishment in the state.

Retired prosecutor Donald Heller, who wrote the 1978 proposition, and Ron Briggs, the initiative's campaign manager who now serves on the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors, say they support abolition in California because the system is too costly and hardly anyone is being put to death.

"We'd thought we would bring California savings and safety in dealing with convicted murderers," Briggs said in a statement. "Instead, we contributed to a nightmarish system that coddles murderers and enriches lawyers. "

The current measure -- known as the SAFE California Act -- would convert all death sentences to life in prison without parole and redirect $100 million from the death penalty system to be spent over three years investigating unsolved murders and rapes.

Despite the growing backlog, district attorneys continue to send murderers to death row. Five new inmates have arrived this year, and several more are expected, including Los Angeles gang member 24-year-old Pedro Espinoza who was convicted of shooting to death a high school football player. A jury recommended death for Espinoza, and a judge is scheduled formally sentence him in September.

Meantime, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley is attempting to immediately resume executions of two longtime Death Row inmates Mitchell Carleton Sims, 52, and Tiequon Aundray Cox, 46, who have exhausted all of their appeals. Sims has been on Death Row since 1987, Cox since 1986.

"It is time Sims and Cox pay for their crimes," said Cooley, who is asking that the inmates be executed with a single drug rather than the three-drug lethal cocktail now being challenged in federal and state courts. The California District Attorneys Association is backing Cooley's attempt to resume executions.

Cooley argues appeals rather than trials consume the lion's share of what the state spends administering the death penalty in California. Cooley wants executions to remain on hold until after the November election. But if the death penalty is retained, he proposes a change in the law to allow the State Court of Appeal to start handling death penalty appeals rather than automatically sending every case to the Supreme Court for review.

Appealing the death penalty in California takes decades for a variety of reasons. There are too few qualified attorneys to handle too many automatic death penalty appeals, resulting in inmates waiting about five years each for a public defender. Once an inmate is represented by counsel, it still takes additional years to put together the voluminous trial record that serves at the heart of the appeal.

Those records often exceed 70,000 pages, according to Peterson's attorney, adding that he wouldn't be surprised if his client's record reached 80,000 pages.

Gardner says he expects to file his appeal brief later this month, which would be a first for any inmate sentenced to death during the past 12 years.

None of the estimated 250 prisoners in that category is as far along as Peterson, according to a study of California's death penalty published last year by 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Arthur Alarcon and Loyola Law School professor Paula Mitchell.

They estimated that $4 billion has been spent on all facets of the state's death penalty since 1978, including $925 million on appeals.

California's death penalty, the authors said, is a "multibillion-dollar fraud on California taxpayers" that has seen "billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent to create a bloated system, in which condemned inmates languish on death row for decades before dying of natural causes and in which executions rarely take place."

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Why Financial Planning Will Fail Many Retirement Dreams

Written By: Cal Burgess, Retirement Servicing Group PLLC

Over the last few years I have met many Americans, either already in or nearing retirement, who have told me that they have been urged to ?stay the course? with their portfolio. These investors are putting their retirement dreams in a philosophy that utilizes projections, and not guarantees. The problem is many investors are hoping to retire in the next 10 -20 years and are nowhere near their long term goals. Considering that the S & P 500 has yielded a negative return from 01/01/2000 to 01/01/2012, many portfolios are on track to either have retirement severely delayed, or not be able to retire at all. What many Americans do not know is that this planning approach is severely flawed, and is unlikely to achieve the desired results.

Most financial planners who work with current or converted (usually to an IRA) deferred compensation plans are utilizing a planning system that is missing a vital component. Most of their clients do not have an income stream, or pension, for retirement. Rule number one in investing; don?t put at risk what you cannot afford to lose. It is counterintuitive to expose your entire retirement plan to market risk when you have not established an income stream to meet your basic needs.

Before this flaw can be understood, it is crucial to understand the history of the financial planning model. Beginning in the 1950?s, financial planning revolved around precautionary savings and diversification strategies to manage personal wealth. Sound familiar? Today, the financial planning model has not strayed too far from its roots. Understand that throughout the 1940?s to the late 1970?s there was very little volatility in the market. Through the protection of the Glass Steagall Act, there was little if any need to change the traditional planning model. The Glass Steagall Act was put into place after the Great Depression to separate the banking, investing, housing, and insurance sectors, serving as a shield of protection against greed and volatility. Confidence soared in this model due to steady growth and very little volatility. This caused the economy to grow stronger which inevitably evolved into an appetite for higher risk and better returns. This appetite spurred a massive joint effort to deregulate the banking industry in order to try to maximize profits without any restrictions, which ultimately resulted into our global recession today.

The financial planning method used today is based on a model from over 50 years ago. In the 1950s there were two main assumptions that do not exist for working Americans today, and will likely never exist again. First, it was assumed that every US citizen born was to receive social security in retirement without question. Secondly, every American that at least graduated High School would enter a firm of their chosen industry, and was expected to climb the ranks from the bottom up (in the same firm). In exchange for their services, every working American expected to have a pension in retirement. Those Americans who were not working for a pension were considered poor planners, or were usually thought to struggle within retirement. When they couldn?t support themselves in retirement they often became a burden to their family and society as a whole.

When you use this traditional financial planning model today, the assumptions needed to make this model work do not exist. Ask yourself the following questions. Do you have a pension in place for retirement? Are you planning on receiving social security in retirement that is taken out of your paycheck each and every month? Do you think it?s possible to retire by the age of 70? If so, how do you plan on doing this? These questions never had to be addressed for retirees; and are questions that today?s working Americans are going to regret not asking.

The next generation of retirement is going to cause a whole new set of problems. Today?s working class is approaching retirement with less than a glimmer of hope in receiving social security, and the thought of having a pension for retirement today is comical. Instead, employers are providing deferred compensation plans in exchange for the once desired pension plan. These deferred compensation plans have been lucky to break even over the last 12 years. So if this is the case; why is the focus on hedging against risk (jumping out of one volatile market to be placed into another) when the real threat is a lack of income?

The only way to receive a guaranteed contractual income steam is through financial guarantees. Since investment banks utilize a business philosophy of leveraging assets (borrowing funds) in order to make money, they can?t offer financial guarantees. This is why investment banks are forced to purchase FDIC Insurance in order to offer guaranteed accounts like CD?s and checking accounts. Only through non leveraged assets (showing total assets exceeding total liabilities on a financial sheet) can a set income stream be guaranteed for life. Insurance Repositories that specialize in fixed assets can do this through a differentiated proven result. Instead of hedging against risk, these companies implement formulas (non cash values) to compound and withdrawal funds for a lifetime. Typically the longer you wait the more income you are eligible to receive, and even offer liquidity features absent in the traditional pension plan. How can they guarantee this income? Through acquired legislation, these companies are required to hold cash reserves to protect the interests of depositors (money protected against unforeseen events in the future).

Volatility will continue moving forward. Today our only defense against the volatility (brought on by toxic assets) is to hope that the Federal government will cut a check at the expense of every tax payer, regardless of whether you invest in the market or not. Investors who continue to try and ?hedge against risk? in this environment without addressing adequate income planning (lifetime income) will eventually fall by the way side. If you are not preparing yourself with proper income planning in retirement, you will become tomorrow?s burden. Unfortunately, the financial planning philosophy is unlikely to change until the nation is forced to deal with Generation X retiring with no pensions or social security to count on (at least 10-15 years out). At that point it will be too late for many. In today?s financial environment if you fail to adapt, you will likely fail to retire.

Annuity Education

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Why Is Business Security Improved Through Shredding Documents?

Business file shredding has been getting more popular simply because of the fact that it is now tough to trust people. You cannot be too safe and so it is a good idea to prevent anything from happening. Things like identity theft have caused a lot of problems for business owners and customers alike. This problem usually stems from the fact that they were not able to shred the proper documents and so they ended up in the wrong hands. This needs to be avoided and only proper business file shredding is the answer. Here are several reasons why it is highly recommended that you consider shredding all files that are not needed anymore.

The Risks Are Too Big

Whether you are big or small company, you must understand that leaving important documents lying around is a big mistake. Identity theft is only a portion of your problems as you need to keep the confidentially of every document that you have. There are now rules which make sure that every company must shred documents that must not be seen by the public. This is a very critical safety measure that every business must take into consideration. The risks may not seem too big at first, but once you realize how big of a deal these documents are, you will see that every party that is involved will be at risk. Make sure that you look at the benefits instead of looking at the negative sides that you might think about.

Business File Shredding Is Quick And Simple

Document shredding is very quick and requires very little effort on your part. All you need to do is simply put the documents in a shredding machine and you will be able to completely lose that piece of paper forever. You can shred binders, staple pins and practically anything can be shred in just a few seconds depending on what kind of shredder you have. There are also plenty of shredding companies out there that will help you with the process as they will even pick the shredded paper up and ensure you that it will be confiscated correctly.

You simply don?t want to risk your company?s reputation and also the confidentiality of your customers. This should be the main concern for any company that deals with documents on a daily basis. Though you might expect to shell out some money on a shredding machine and a good company, it will be better than getting sued by a customer or risking your company. This is something that you don?t want to happen and so you must take all the needed steps to be able to ensure that something like that will never happen.

For further information on the issues raised in this article, such as business file shredding, data security and hard drive shredding, please visit RussellRichardson.co.uk, who are experts in the field.

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Any.DO (for Chrome)

To-do list fanatics, such as me, drool over good apps that sync seamlessly across multiple devices. Any.DO (free), which has apps for Android and iPhone, puts your daily tasks on more screens with a browser plug-in for Chrome. The extension syncs without a hitch and looks clean, but lacks any special features. Tasks themselves support reminders, additional notes, and a red label for high priority items, but settings and customization are nil.

For to-do list apps on iPhone, I've become a huge fan of Awesome Note ($3.99, 4 stars), which does not have a desktop app or browser plug-in at all. I wish it did, but I can live without it primarily because Awesome Note can sync both to and from Evernote , our Editors' Choice for note syncing, which has apps for practically any device? you can name. That alternative solution is pretty good, though I'd still love to see Awesome Note on my desktop monitor. Some might say Microsoft OneNote accomplishes the task, but it operates more like Evernote in that it's more set up for notes than to-do lists.

Any.DO serves basic to-do list needs reasonably well, but just doesn't have anything special that might entice list makers to use it. In some ways Any.DO for Chrome reminds me of the iPhone app Clear (free, 2 stars), another to-do list that looks pretty and functions fine, but doesn't meet the needs of its users.

Any.DO Features
Install the free Chrome extension for Any.DO, and it will appear in the upper right corner of your browser as a tiny icon: a blue label with check mark. To make syncing possible, Any.DO requires either a uniquely made account or Facebook authentication. And that's the set up in its entirety.

You can create to-do list items, with annoying suggested autocompletes dropping down as you type, as well as folders to house them. The app comes readymade with a few samples of each to help guide you through the main capabilities and features. Beneath the icon hides a succinct display: options for showing your to-do list by time or by folder, a "clear completed tasks" button, a settings icon, and a button for popping out the app to its own window.

The settings icon contains nothing but a log-out option. The pop-out key does its job, but you can't resize the new Window it creates. Any.DO's developers have left themselves room on the menu pane, and it wouldn't surprise me if they rounded it out with more options in the coming months. As-is, however, it looks dreadfully incomplete.

Better options start showing up within the tasks you create. To any task, you can add notes either as a block of text or line by line. You can also change the priority of the item, although you're limited here to a red label or none at all, with no gradations. Reminders, when added to a task, pop up on the lower right corner of the screen, where you'd expect them. Reminders do sync across to your mobile device, so if you set an alarm in Chrome, it will buzz on your iPhone or Android phone as well? as long as the phone app has a chance to sync, that is.

Needs Work
Any.DO for Chrome barely covers the bases, and doesn't add anything to its browser presence to entice a to-do list maker to use it. The concept?syncing via a browser rather than a desktop app?is sound, but more work is needed in terms of understanding users.

More Productivity App Reviews:
??? Any.DO (for iPhone)
??? Any.DO (for Chrome)
??? RescueTime Solo Pro
??? Slife (Premium)
??? Google Drive
?? more

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WWDC App Store Stats: 400 Million Accounts, 650,000 Apps

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I Think, Therefore I Yam

In a 2009 study, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that production would have to rise 70 percent by 2050 to meet the world?s needs. But Zilberman and others believe that the continued rise of the global middle class could result in a number much higher than that. By his lights, even if we were to develop all of the world?s remaining arable land?much of it in Brazil and other Latin American countries?we?d have to wring twice as much productivity from every acre of land under cultivation. While that?s not impossible, it won?t be easy. Water is one obstacle, as is the increasing proportion of grain that?s being used for biofuels rather than food. A third problem, less talked about, is that intensive farming practices appear to be degrading the world?s topsoil, raising the possibility that usable farmland will actually become scarcer in future decades. Climate change could exacerbate the problem, as droughts turn what today is arable land into desert. (Taking off on the concept of ?peak oil,? agriculture alarmists have labeled this specter ?peak soil.?)

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