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[sheikh radlinrol]

On Tuesday Steven Woods was executed in Huntsville, Texas for a double murder. Noam Chomsky said that he hated the death penalty in all cases and had doubts about Steven�s guilt. Yesterday, Duane Buck was temporarily reprieved by the US Supreme Court due to allegations that the jury were influenced by his colour. Next up is Cleve Foster, a former US Army recruitment officer who has had TWO reprieves at the last minute, once when he�d actually eaten his �� last meal�� . What do the forummers think? I�m appalled. The Buck case could damage Rick Perry�s political ambitions...... or not?

[johnslat]

Dear sheikh,

Probably won't hurt Perry at all - it's only those wimpy liberals who care about such things. The Tea Party even cheers uninsured patients in comas getting their plugs pulled.

"Apparently, the supposed �pro-life� party is also rabidly pro-death. In one of several recent ugly audience reactions at Republican debates, several in the crowd at last night�s CNN/Tea Party Express debate hooted their approval at moderator Wolf Blitzer�s followup question about leaving a hypothetical coma patient to die if he couldn�t pay for care. Rep. Ron Paul said that the uninsured should �take (their) own risks,� and Blitzer rejoined, �are you saying that society should just let him die?�

Paul answered �no,� but several in the crowd hooted �Yeah!� to a smattering of laughter."


http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnntea-party-debate-audience-cheers-letting-uninsured-comatose-man-die/


Heck, this hasn't hurt him:

"The response at last night's Republican debate when Rick Perry was asked about his executions record was shocking and disgusting. One tweet suggested, "The last time the crowd cheered like that for an execution, I believe Pontius Pilate was in charge," but to be clear, the crowd wasn't cheering like that for an execution, it was cheering for 234 executions.
As emptywheel points out, though, there was one execution that is particularly relevant: that of Cameron Todd Willingham. Willingham was convicted of setting the fire that killed his three children and subsequently executed:

Not only did Governor Perry deny Willingham�s appeal for clemency even though an expert arson investigator had rebutted all the solid evidence in the case, Perry fired investigators who were about to provide Willingham�s innocence.
The fact that Perry had an innocent man executed, despite the existence of evidence that he had not killed his children, and then covered it up, appears not to be a problem for him among Texas Republicans:

Veterans of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison�s unsuccessful 2010 primary challenge to Perry recalled being stunned at the way attacks bounced off the governor in a strongly conservative state gripped by tea party fever. Multiple former Hutchison advisers recalled asking a focus group about the charge that Perry may have presided over the execution of an innocent man � Cameron Todd Willingham � and got this response from a primary voter: �It takes balls to execute an innocent man.�
It may not be a problem for him in a national Republican primary, either�and certainly it's hard to imagine which of his competitors would try to make it an election issue. But it should be an issue, and in a general election it might be. And as emptywheel points out, Brian Williams should have asked about it. Williams did ask a follow-up question in the death penalty segment. But though his initial question was "Have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that any one of those might have been innocent?" and Perry's response was that he didn't struggle because due process in Texas would prevent execution of the innocent, the follow-up was not about Willingham, the clear example that yes, at least one innocent man has been executed in Texas under Perry."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/08/1014595/-Rick-Perry-had-an-innocent-man-executed,-and-should-be-made-to-answer

And here's another one:

"Troy Davis could be executed as soon as September 21, 2011, for a crime he did not commit. Davis is on death row in Georgia for the 1991 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail. However, since his conviction, seven of the nine witnesses who testified against him have recanted and no physical evidence links Davis to the crime.

No one should be executed when there are so many doubts about guilt. It is more important than ever that we continue to let Georgia authorities know that we oppose any effort to execute Troy Davis.

That's why I created a petition to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles on SignOn.org, which says:

We, the undersigned, call on Georgia authorities to take all steps necessary to ensure that Troy Anthony Davis is not executed. Seven of the nine witnesses have changed their story and no physical evidence links Davis to the crime. No one should be executed, especially when there are so many doubts about guilt.

Will you sign the petition? Click below to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends"

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=263925&id=31059-6883615-OKeMoox&t=2


Regards,
John

[sheikh radlinrol]

Thank you John. I�ve read about the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Very disturbing. BTW, I�m not ��dissing�� your country over this.

[Irish Lad]

[tttompatz]

While more and more of the civilized states on the planet are placing a moratorium on the use of the death penalty the great (in their own minds) state of Texas has put in an express lane to the death chamber.

hmmm......

.

[johnslat]

Dear sheikh,

I certainly don't mind your dissing anyone anywhere who has a mindset that applauds executions of any sort. In fact, I concur completely.

Dear tttompatz,

The hitch is that word "civilized." Texas, generally speaking, with a significant number of exceptions, has a long way to go to reach that condition.

Regards,
John

[Dedicated]

[johnslat]

Dear Dedicated,

Well, I did come up with this:

"A survey by pollsters Angus Reid, following this month�s outbreak of rioting across Britain, found 65 per cent of adults quizzed were in favour of capital punishment while only 28 per cent were opposed. And three-quarters of voters (78 per cent) want Parliament to debate the return of capital punishment.
The overwhelming call for the execution of murderers follows support for an e- petition backing the move on a Government website.
More than 17,000 people have signed the petition on direct.gov.uk, which calls for a review of Britain�s membership of international treaties which outlaw the death penalty. Under the rules of the e-petition system, ministers have to consider holding a debate if the total exceeds 100,000 backers.
The issue was last debated in the Commons in 1998, when MPs rejected a call for restoration of the death penalty by 158 votes."


http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/266843/65-say-Bring-back-hanging

and here's an interesting site:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/international-polls-and-studies

Regards,
John

[Irish Lad]

Who'da thunk it? I could never have predicted the countries with the highest and lowest support for the death penalty--Japan and Australia, respectively. I haven't lived in either country, so my take on this is relatively meaningless; nonetheless, I find the results very surprising.

.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I'm against justice done with emotion.

[johnslat]

Dear The Great Wall of Whiner,

By emotion, do you mean vengeance? But how can we human animals keep emotion out of justice? And isn't mercy an emotion?

Regards,
John

[sheikh radlinrol]

[Sashadroogie]

Dear Johnslat

The quality of mercy seems to be very strained in Texas... is all I'll say.

S

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

@Johnslat:

How do we keep emotion out of our judicial system? I don't know, we are emotional animals. No amount of torture or capital punishment brings back victims of crime. No length of imprisonment removes the memory of abuse from children.

It's just a personal opinion I have held all my adult life that the purpose of jail should be to protect the public from dangerous people, not to get some emotional satisfaction of power over a naughty person.

Recently there was a young boy kidnapped in Canada and the father said during an interview "I forgive the guy who took my son but I want him locked up until it can be proven he is no longer a danger to society."

The father also noted that had the kidnapper been locked up in the first place when a clear and present danger was first demonstrated many years ago, the crime would never have been committed in the first place.

Whether the punishment is in the name of vengeance and we slowly torture someone until they die.... or mercy by releasing the guy back into society because his sentence is over and he needs a chance to integrate back into society, I disdain both.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]