Thursday 8 September 2011

USA: Where the most executingest candidate gets cheers

I'm putting this here, because I didn't believe the reports.



Yes, people actually whoop over the execution of 234 people.

From here, where the writer, who claims to be a registered Republican, asks:
How can a party that has such blatant and justified mistrust for government intervention; a party that believes (or claims to believe) that the government fails at most things; a party that believes the government isn't even good at helping the poor; actually believe that this same government is perfect enough, is infallible enough, to take the life of another human being? Isn't that a blatant contradiction?

Oh, yeah, the government is perfect enough. NOT.

From the Innocence Project:
• 273 post-conviction DNA exonerations
• 17 people served time on death row

Check the link for the break-down by ethnic origin. Not that it will surprise anyone.

Of course, it happens in Canada and is just as reprehensible, but at least here we've abolished the death penalty, largely because of such wrongful convictions.

And also, because Canucks are not quite so freaking bloodthirsty.

Probably the most celebrated case is that of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter. The case against him hinged on eye-witnesses, most of whom later recanted.

Now, there's another in the US. Not in Texas, but in Georgia, where they also like to string up execute certain sorts. His name is Troy Davis.
The Department of Corrections in Georgia said Wednesday that Troy Anthony Davis will be executed at 7 p.m. on September 21, 2011 for the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail. If the execution goes along as scheduled, advocates say it will be a devastating end to a troubled case.

There is no physical evidence that Davis shot the officer. The gun was never recovered, and 6 of the 9 eyewitnesses who testified against Davis have since recanted their stories.

If you are in a petition-signing mood, Amnesty has one.

One of those freaks on display last night will probably -- barring some cataclysmic revulsion by normal Murricans at what the Tea Baggers have wrought -- run for president. And may well win.

Andrew Sullivan collected some pendants' thoughts: here and here.

The world seems a very dark place to me these days. Could it get worse?

You betcha!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

These people believe that government's one true competency is applying violence to others (specifically the 'other' they don't like). For everything else government is the problem and too risky to trust to do things right.

J. A. Baker said...

Could it get worse?

You betcha!


You have no idea, fern. Just google "Rick Perry execution cover up."

Here's a link to get you started.

And just think. This man is allegedly my governor.

fern hill said...

Thanks for that JAB. I googled some more. Mother Jones is still on it.

Horrible story. Needs to be more widely known.

deBeauxOs said...

OMFG, J.A.B!!!

You live in Texas? Have you been affected by the fires?

J. A. Baker said...

dBO - Thanks for your concern. No, I haven't been affected by the fires. The bulk of them have been in Bastrop, which is a bit under 50 km southeast of where I live (northwest Austin). There was a wildfire in a high-class neighborhood a few miles west of my parents' home (which itself is about five miles from where I live), but that one got put out before it could do much more than burn down a couple dozen houses in the neighborhood in which it started. So, yeah... hasn't been too much to worry about.

If Governor Goodhair keeps slashing the firefighting budget like he has though...

Speaking of Gov. Goodhair, are you aware that Texas' state constitution gives the governor very little power - effectively making him little more than a figurehead? IIRC, it was set up that way as a result of the Civil War (though strangely, only Texas's post-Civil War constitution was set up that way), but you wouldn't know it from the way Perry's run the state (into the ground).

Post a Comment