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defense does not contradict guilt in all cases.

Ever wonder how the siblings of the Columbine murderer kids felt? Or all the family members? Well, I was a family member of a situation with certain similarities when I was a kid -  a long time ago. In my case, the murderer was known. The victims were too. There were probably many other victims not known. Family members were on both "sides" at the same time and a compassionate defense humanizes the person who commits an act that society has determined is not acceptable. It does not let the criminal off the hook. We were happy our criminal went to jail for the rest of his life, and we were happy he got a trial. In many ways that trial also humanized the victims (at least the known ones). The world is so much more complex - and rich - than :

Rumors are flying that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Colorado could go to the PAC-10 and create the first super-conference. Other rumors have Texas going to the PAC-10 and arch rival Texas A&M going to the  SEC.  Of course, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, and Missouri are left going to the prom without a date.

CA Parties Adapt To New Electoral Order

CA voters want their options back, and last night they passed a proposition that would once again give them the ability to pick and choose their candidates across party lines during partisan primaries.

Despite opposition from party leaders, voters approved Proposition 14 by a 54%-46% margin. The measure would allow voters to pick candidates from any political party during a primary; only the top 2 candidates would advance to a general election, regardless of party.

Washington (CNN) -- A group of conservative evangelical leaders broke with their political brethren Wednesday, coming to Washington to push the White House and congressional leaders to pass comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path for undocumented immigrants to attain legal status.

Political conservatives have long balked at an immigration policy that includes what they term "amnesty" for illegal immigrants, but the evangelicals see the issue differently.

"A significant part of our churches and denominations are part of the immigrant community so we have a very close connection and a very great interest," Leith Anderson, president of the influential lobbying group National Evangelical Association, said Wednesday, " ... but our interest is really rooted in what the bible teaches how we treat people and how we treat particularly people who are aliens or strangers in the land."

Anderson's group last year authored a resolution in favor of reform using biblical immigrants Abraham, Joseph, Naomi, Mary and Jesus. Their examples, the group said, "reveal God's hand in the movement of people and are illustrations of faith and God in difficult circumstances."

"The issue is one that affects us as a congregation," said Rich Nathan, senior pastor at the Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio, noting that his church of 8,500 members includes congregants born in 92 countries. "It's not just an abstraction."

"I'm aware of no other public policy issue that would join together mainline (denominations), Roman Catholic, evangelicals, right and left across the spectrum," Nathan said. "Abortion divides us, gay rights divide us, war and peace divides us, but comprehensive immigration reform unites us."

Mat Staver, director of the Liberty Center for Law and Policy at Liberty University in Falls Church, Virginia, said all the groups represented shared two common goals: border security and a just and compassionate immigration policy.