Last week, the San Jose Mercury News reported that Jeffrey Rodriguez, a man from San Jose who spent five years in prison for a crime he did not commit, was awarded a $1 million settlement from Santa Clara County for his wrongful conviction. Jeffrey's wrongful conviction and his subsequent settlement is not a unique story in Santa Clara: since 2005 the county has paid more than $4.6 million in settlements for wrongful convictions by the District Attorney's office. Nor is Jeffrey's story unique to the state of California. Earlier this month a Louisiana circuit court of appeals upheld a $14 million jury settlement against the Orleans Parish DA for misconduct resulting in the wrongful conviction and death sentence of John Thompson.

Like clockwork, wrongful convictions continue to occur at the hands of a system that is prone to error. In addition to the unconscionable act of incarcerating a person for years for a crime they did not commit, wrongful convictions impose an enormous financial burden on taxpayers. Year after year, month after month, the criminal justice system must pay for its mistakes.

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I recently completed a bicycle tour from the Georgia coast through southwest Louisiana to west Texas.  For years I have looked forward to cycling through the marshlands of coastal Louisiana, a remote region of unique beauty and Cajun culture.  This is the story of Cameron, Louisiana.

What I saw stunned me.  I had long known of our nation's failure to address the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  The impacts of Hurricane Rita were just as severe and remain largely ignored two and a half years later.

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I recently befriended a woman from Nacogdoches, Texas. Her ex-husband lives in Monroe, Louisiana. My friend describes her ex-husband as a "hick" and "country boy". Her ex-husband is a Republican that once hated Bill and Hillary Clinton with a passion. She had been wanting to ask him whom he was planning to vote. She finally asked him and he paused and said, "I'm voting for Hillary". She nearly fell out her chair and chocked on water she was drinking. She asked, "Why? You hate the Clintons". He said, "Hillary's a good woman and she cares about 'us'. She has the experience needed to get us out of this mess Bush put us in." She asked, "What about McCain?" He said, "He's too old and too pro-war." He added, "I just can't vote for Obama. He's only been in the Senate for a few years. He doesn't have the experience needed to solve America's problems".

Hillary's changing minds one by one. This story gives me hope that Hillary is 44.

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