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!

Abstinence is "the best form of -- uh --"

Gov. Rick Perry confronted with statistics on increased teen pregnancy rates in Texas.

During an October 15, 2010 televised interview with Texas Tribune reporter Evan Smith, Perry's response was to reaffirm that "abstinence works." The audience laughed and Smith pointed out the state's abysmal teen pregnancy rate. "It works," insisted Perry. "Maybe it's the way it's being taught, or the way it's being applied out there, but the fact of the matter is it is the best form of -- uh -- to teach our children." Smith asked for a statistic to suggest it works [...]

From here.