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.
1 comment:
Tookie's gone Hooray. Adios scumbag. You must be a sad panda.
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