Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Illegal Japanese whalers in Antarctica
Latest on illegal Japanese whalers in Antarctica, targetting the huge Fin whale this year and the humpback next. Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace put aside some of their strategy disagreements to co-operate in obstructing the pirate whalers.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Clemency denied: unimaginative, cowardly decision
Like Clinton during his presidential campaign before him, Arnold Schwarzenegger has followed his political advisers line, with an eye to his political future. He has chosen to stay within the pseudo security the world of Southern California radio talk show demagogue style politics which first promoted his candidacy, instead of taking a risk that might open up new and constructive alliances.
Interesting guest on KPFA Berkeley's coverage, Murder victim families for human rights . At a protest outside Tommy Thompson's ( who was quite likely wrongfully convicted on the evidence of an offender with a violent past who received leniency for testifying) San Quentin execution in the 90s, a woman whose son or daughter was murdered spoke and said that as soon as the prosecutors' met her, " they told (me) a lie: That (I) would only get closure when the murderer was executed. " Thus the crass manipulation and use of victims suffering is a standard prosecution technique in the USA.
It is disturbing to think about murder and violence, and about injustice in the legal system that purports to protect us. The death penalty saps the problem-solving energy of the American public in emotional disputes, whereas the truth in sordid and sometimes convoluted fatal violence is more likely to come out over time. Effective, detached analysis and enlightened, hard-nosed public debate about violent crime are more likely to flourish in the majority of nations that have left state sanctioned killing for crime behind, along with the rack, debtor's prison and the gallows for pickpockets. The USA has the death penalty, an incredibly high rate of incarceration, yet continues to have one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. What gall to pretend the debate in the US need not look beyond the narrow borders of the country.
Interesting guest on KPFA Berkeley's coverage, Murder victim families for human rights . At a protest outside Tommy Thompson's ( who was quite likely wrongfully convicted on the evidence of an offender with a violent past who received leniency for testifying) San Quentin execution in the 90s, a woman whose son or daughter was murdered spoke and said that as soon as the prosecutors' met her, " they told (me) a lie: That (I) would only get closure when the murderer was executed. " Thus the crass manipulation and use of victims suffering is a standard prosecution technique in the USA.
It is disturbing to think about murder and violence, and about injustice in the legal system that purports to protect us. The death penalty saps the problem-solving energy of the American public in emotional disputes, whereas the truth in sordid and sometimes convoluted fatal violence is more likely to come out over time. Effective, detached analysis and enlightened, hard-nosed public debate about violent crime are more likely to flourish in the majority of nations that have left state sanctioned killing for crime behind, along with the rack, debtor's prison and the gallows for pickpockets. The USA has the death penalty, an incredibly high rate of incarceration, yet continues to have one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. What gall to pretend the debate in the US need not look beyond the narrow borders of the country.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Williams Execution - Governor decison tomorrow
Clemency hearings for Stanley Tookie Williams are happening today at 10:00 am Pacific time. Snoop Dog, Jamie Foxx and many others continue to devote a lot of time and energy on this case. If you are reading this and want to express your views to the governor, today and early tomorrow are the last chance. If clemency is denied, the state will kill him MONDAY at midnight; yes that is midnight Monday the 12th or specifically, as soon as it is legally Dec. 13th. I just signed the petition and called the governor's office using the information on save tookie web site. If you call, you will talk to a real person at the governor's office. I got through first try and spoke to a real polite attentive person in under 1 minute. Faxes also are very effective at getting attention. I worked in Canadian provincial governments for 10 years and handled letters from the public, and I can tell you that phone calls, letters, faxes and petitions always have a real impact, whatever the final result. The pro-execution forces in this case are mobilizing and the governor's office will be counting the for and against phone calls, so this is a rare time frame where individuals taking the trouble to express themselves makes a difference.
I got through on the first dial in under a minute told the polite attentive governor's rep (even answering the calls like this costs money; you can tell they are concerned because they have enough people answering) that, as a Canadian criminology researcher i have seen that rehab is not the only reason in this case for clemency. Several judges expressed doubts about the trial of WIlliams, even in the recent decisions which he lost. Pricipal figures in his case had other important convictions thrown out because of similar racially biased juror rejection and racist remarks. Rotten features of the conviction include at least 2 witnesses who received outright immunity and others who received reduced sentences. Cases like this take up to 50 years before the truth comes out. Ultimately, witnesses get older, they finally talk about what happened to somebody and the often surprising truth comes out. It is in the public interest for the truth to come out and for plea deals not to determine so often who takes a rap. In the David Milgaard case in Canada, Milgaard was convicted of a nurse's rape and murder in the early 70s. His lawyer asserted that a convicted offender who lived nearby might have done the crime. Even though I was a human rights advocate who supported Milgaard's clemency, I doubted his lawyer's argument, because he was an unsympathetic character who had admitted standing around the area where the murder was committed,looking for a women whose purse he could snatch. 25 years later, in the mid 1990s new DNA tests that worked on the tiny frozen sample from the crime scene proved that Fisher, the convicted offender the lawyer mentioned was the murderer. He was convicted but he had spent decades free and had committed other violent crimes against women.
I got through on the first dial in under a minute told the polite attentive governor's rep (even answering the calls like this costs money; you can tell they are concerned because they have enough people answering) that, as a Canadian criminology researcher i have seen that rehab is not the only reason in this case for clemency. Several judges expressed doubts about the trial of WIlliams, even in the recent decisions which he lost. Pricipal figures in his case had other important convictions thrown out because of similar racially biased juror rejection and racist remarks. Rotten features of the conviction include at least 2 witnesses who received outright immunity and others who received reduced sentences. Cases like this take up to 50 years before the truth comes out. Ultimately, witnesses get older, they finally talk about what happened to somebody and the often surprising truth comes out. It is in the public interest for the truth to come out and for plea deals not to determine so often who takes a rap. In the David Milgaard case in Canada, Milgaard was convicted of a nurse's rape and murder in the early 70s. His lawyer asserted that a convicted offender who lived nearby might have done the crime. Even though I was a human rights advocate who supported Milgaard's clemency, I doubted his lawyer's argument, because he was an unsympathetic character who had admitted standing around the area where the murder was committed,looking for a women whose purse he could snatch. 25 years later, in the mid 1990s new DNA tests that worked on the tiny frozen sample from the crime scene proved that Fisher, the convicted offender the lawyer mentioned was the murderer. He was convicted but he had spent decades free and had committed other violent crimes against women.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
William F Buckley on Pacifica's WBAI in 1970s
In 1970. William F. Buckley was one of numerous celebrities who read portions of the entire War and Peace Reprehensible in hindsight, considering how the National Review was financed and staffed, which was not known at the time. The invitation to him was not so bad, but he gave them a perfect excuse not to include him by refusing to come to the studio for fear of appearing to support leftists. So the WBAI people extended themselves by going to his New York mansion to record him and then compounded their obsequious behaviour by accepting a limo ride back to the station, and lamenting that no one was there to see them arrive. Good for the notoriety of the program, bad for integrity. I am all for dialogue with opposing views and accepting challenges to see how the other side arrives at their point of view, but a little parity and dignity please. (click on title above to find the audio of the interview)
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