This one is for you Andy B. You called for a debatable topic...here it is.
At 12:01 PT, Stanley "Tookie" Williams will be given a lethal injection after being denied clemency by the Governator. Despite his claims that he did not commit the killings, he was convicted of the 'execution style' slaying of three individuals.
His supporters request for a stay of execution has primarily been based on the argument that he should be allowed to continue his anti-gang work. Whichever side of the capital punishment fence you fall on, this is a weak argument. His supporters are using a non-legal argument to try and rectify a legal situation. But I guess if the normal arguments haven't been working, sometimes you have to try a new approach.
Andy, consider the pot stirred...now the fun begins.
9 comments:
To me, the death penalty is wrong. State-sponsored killing, state-sponsored torture, and state-sponsored pre-emptive war are all wrong. If the Governator had any balls he would have commuted the guys sentence to life in prison.
Here's a link to a guy who never should have ended up on death row in the first place.
A widow of one of the victims asked for clemency. She must be a strong person.
Damn! Look at all that pot stirring going on. Makes me kind of tear up just reading it. ... Just a minute ... I need to go get a tissue.
Okay, all better now.
Something like 120 peole have been exonerated from death row. That is, after the "justice" system condemned them to die, it was PROVEN that they were innocent, and they were released. These 120 people had the financial resources to pursue their cases to the fullest. How many innocent people sit on death row who lack the money and sufficient connections to get free? If there is only one, that is one too many.
The death penalty is barbaric, and it is embarrasing that our country still has it in place.
Pot stirred,
Andy B.
I find myself shaking my head in disbelief when Right-wing Bible-thumpers talk about family values and then callously allow a human being's life to be put to an unnatural end. Be it in an unjustified war of aggression or via the death penalty, doesn't the good book with all its moral lessons say "Thou Shalt Not Kill" or "Turn the other cheek" or "Love thine enemy"? Over 2400 years ago, well before the birth of Jesus and the subsequent birth of Christianity, the first democratic society in Greece employed the death penalty as vindictively and arbitrarily as America does today. At least the Athenians tolerated same-sex unions back then. Socrates himself had several young male lovers whom he educated in philosohical ideals but when he questioned the establishment's definition of "justice" he was put to death. Have we as the model of Democracy in the world not progressed at all in the past two millenia? I don't think we have.
I remember the furor over Terry Schiavo's feeding tube earlier this year. The zeal with which the right wingers fought to keep her alive was staggering. I don't have a lot of faith in the "science" of criminal investigation and believe there to be serious shortcomings in the techniques used and misrepresentations regarding their accuracy and the conclusions that can be drawn from them. I think the number of innocent persons on death row is, in part, a reflection of this.
Here's another question. Is a maximum security prison environment as we have in this country a form of excessively cruel punishment? I honestly think (at least from here in my living room) that I would rather be dead than serve time in one of these facilities. I can't fathom what it must be like.
Howdy,
Your comment shows what is wrong with our prison system for both the guards and the inmates.
The cruel part isn't what we give them. It's what we don't give them and don't give the guards eiter. A safe environment.
A disclaimer...the following comment does not reflect the opinion of the person posting. But I know that it will push a few buttons of the regular Musers (not Tony).
Twas a night around Christmas and all through San Quentin,
The Crips were protesting, and liberals were ventin'.
The cyanide hung by the chamber with care,
In hopes that the reaper soon would be there.
The inmates were nestled all snug in their bed;
Except for Old Tookie, who soon would be dead.
And me with my beer mug, dressed warm in my flannel,
Had curled up to watch it, on the Fox News Channel.
I set up my TIVO to record the news station,
And thoroughly loved the momentous occasion.
It seemed lady justice had gotten her way,
And that there would be one less savage today.
When outside the jail there arose such a clatter,
The cameras had turned to see what was the matter.
When what to my civilized eyes did appear,
But a lineup of actors, all liberal, half queer.
The misguided freaks drew some curious looks,
As they proclaimed his innocence; clutching his books.
The tears then flew out from Sarandon's eyes,
As she nominated him again for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The actors were tethered to an ACLU sleigh,
All towing the line of the urban decay.
On Asner, on Penn, on liberal cop-haters,
On Sharpton, on Jesse and other race-baiters.
Then at 3:01 all curled up like a beetle,
Tookie cried like a bitch as they gave him the needle.
When up from the actors there arose such a cry,
They had failed in their mission, and Tookie DID DIE!!
I heard Bill O'Reilly say, as I turned out my light,
Merry Christmas to all ... there was justice tonight!!
I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm defending one of the biggest, lying, gasbags in the world.
Bill O'Reilly is actually against the death penalty. He feels the the prisoners convicted of murder should be subject to hard labor, but not put to death.
As for the rest, what makes me sad is that so many people would think of this as truth and not a joke. It really bothers me that so many Christians can look upon a soul and see no hope of redemption. If you ask me, they are short changing God.
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