lenient sentence; however, it is equally clear that the Appellant is a recidivist. His probation report sets forth, in addition to the above enumerated offenses, two separate federal convictions for transporting marijuana, dismissal of seven state residential burglary charges, and a parole violation for escape from federal prison. The probation report refers to Appellant's acknowledged heroin addiction and that Appellant admits to stealing to support his drug habit. The probation report also states that Appellant is unemployed and does not help care for his three children. Before his most recent conviction, Appellant had been in and out of state or federal prison a total of six times. Under such circumstances, it is rational for a sentencing court to determine that a term of twenty-five years to life is not a grossly disproportionate sentence for each of Appellant's current crimes.

One should neither exaggerate nor minimize Appellant's culpability. His guilt is not in dispute. Nor is the fact of his recidivism, nor the applicability of the three strikes sentencing law. The simple statement of his history of criminal activity is enough to show that the state court's determination of the proper punishment--even if found to be erroneous--was not clearly erroneous as this Court has defined it. See Van Tran v. Lindsey, 212 F.3d 1143, 1153-54 (9th Cir. 2000) ("we hold that under AEDPA we must reverse a state court's decision as involving an `unreasonable application' of clearly established

kins v. Hargett, 200 F.3d 1279, 1285 (10th Cir. 1999) (finding no Eighth Amendment violation in sentences totaling 100 years when these sentences were for combined separate offenses of rape and robbery); United States v. Aiello, 864 F.2d 257, 265 (2d Cir. 1988) ("Eighth amendment analysis focuses on the sentence imposed for each specific crime, not on the cumulative sentence."); State v. Four Jugs of Intoxicating Liquor, 58 Vt. 140, 2 Atl. 586, 593 (1886), quoted in O'Neil at 331 ("It would scarcely be competent for a person to assail the constitutionality of the statute prescribing punishment for burglary on the ground that he had committed so many burglaries that, if punishment for each were inflicted upon him, he might be kept in prison for life.").

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