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Non-Tech : The ENRON Scandal -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Baldur Fjvlnisson who wrote (4724)	12/31/2002 6:23:28 AM
From: Baldur Fjvlnisson	Respond to of 5185

Governor Bush has repeatedly said that he has no qualms. "I'm confident," he said last February, "that every person that has been put to death in Texas under my watch has been guilty of the crime charged, and has had full access to the courts." That defense of the record ignores many notorious examples of unfairness in Texas death penalty cases. Lawyers have been under the influence of cocaine during the trial, or been drunk or asleep. One court dismissed a complaint about a lawyer who slept through a trial with the comment that courts are not "obligated to either constantly monitor trial counsel's wakefulness or endeavor to wake counsel should he fall asleep." This past week The Chicago Tribune published a compelling report on an investigation of all 131 death cases in Governor Bush's time. It made chilling reading. In one-third of those cases, the report showed, the lawyer who represented the death penalty defendant at trial or on appeal had been or was later disbarred or otherwise sanctioned. In 40 cases the lawyers presented no evidence at all or only one witness at the sentencing phase of the trial. In 29 cases, the prosecution used testimony from a psychiatrist who -- based on a hypothetical question about the defendant's past -- predicted he would commit future violence. Most of those psychiatrists testified without having examined the defendant: a practice condemned professionally as unethical. Other witnesses included one who was temporarily released from a psychiatric ward to testify, a pathologist who had admitted faking autopsies and a judge who had been reprimanded for lying about his credentials. Asked about the Tribune study, Governor Bush said, "We've adequately answered innocence or guilt" in every case. The defendants, he said, "had full access to a fair trial." There are two ways of understanding that comment. Either Governor Bush was contemptuous of the facts or, on a matter of life and death, he did not care.

To: Baldur Fjvlnisson who wrote (4724)	12/31/2002 1:59:32 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 5185

" Governor Bush has repeatedly said that he has no qualms. "I'm confident," he said last February, "that every person that has been put to death in Texas under my watch has been guilty of the crime charged, and has had full access to the courts." That defense of the record ignores many notorious examples of unfairness in Texas death penalty cases. Lawyers have been under the influence of cocaine during the trial, or been drunk or asleep. One court dismissed a complaint about a lawyer who slept through a trial with the comment that courts are not "obligated to either constantly monitor trial counsel's wakefulness or endeavor to wake counsel should he fall asleep." Article: Texas Executions: GW Bush Has Defined Himself, Unforgettably, As Shallow And Callous Author: Anthony Lewis Publisher: New York Times Published on Saturday, June 17, 2000 >>>>>>>>>>>> Baldur, George W. Bush doesn't care about anyone other than himself, his family and his big corporate donors. He plays up his connections to the right-wing religious right during elections, and he is one of them. Do you recall the WACO Economic conference he hosted last summer with Charles Schwab and other fat cats? The conference was a hoax because it was manipulated and controlled by BushThe press was kept far away in another building although the American taxpayer picked up the bill. You might be interested in WACO's reputation. It is known for its racism! It was a major lynching area in the US for blacks. Bush grew up in and around that area, I believe. (See: p.8, Made in Texas, George W. Bush and The Southern Takeover of American Politics by Michael Lind. Copyright 2003 by Michael Lind, published by Basic Books. Bush's selection of WACO for his conference underscores his insensitivity, his indifference and probably his ignorance. JMOP

To: Baldur Fjvlnisson who wrote (4724)	12/31/2002 2:03:57 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 5185

W enjoyed adding beds to Texas prisons. I read he called the additions, "tough love." Since, W doesn't understand the word, compassion, it is unlikely he knows very much about love but there is no doubt that he prizes, "loyalty" above everything else. JMOP

To: Baldur Fjvlnisson who wrote (4724)	12/31/2002 5:03:09 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 5185

In 2002, still 71 executions The Washington Post Tuesday, December 31, 2002 iht.com The year 2002 saw an end to the dramatic decline in executions that took place during the previous two years in the United States. According to data from the Death Penalty Information Center, the states put 71 convicts to death this year, up slightly from the 66 executions in 2001 but still markedly below the recent peak of 98 executions in 1999. For opponents of the death penalty cheered by the trend of decline - a drop that coincided with new scrutiny of capital punishment prompted by DNA exonerations - this year's uptick, although slight, may seem like a discouraging reversal. The reality is more complicated. Behind the increase in overall executions lies evidence of the continued marginalization of a punishment that should have been banned long ago. Fewer states (13) conducted executions this year than in any year since 1993. Texas alone, which executed 33 people, accounted for nearly half the state-sponsored killing. The next state in number of executions, Oklahoma, put to death only seven people, less than a quarter of Texas's total. Outside the South, where 61 of the executions took place, only three states (California, Ohio and Missouri) executed anyone. Moreover, the number of new death sentences has declined significantly, and the growth of death rows nationwide finally has leveled off. In other words, outside of a few states, the penalty remains in decline. This trend of regional concentration of capital punishment augurs well for those who believe, as we do, that the death penalty should be abolished. Assembling a national consensus for eliminating it is impossible today. Policymakers in states such as Texas, Missouri and Virginia are committed to it, and most voters continue to support capital punishment. But if other states start permitting the death penalty to slip into disuse or nearly so, death no longer will seem so obvious an option for the criminal justice system. And if states with nominal death penalties begin striking them from their books (a step none of the 38 death penalty states has yet taken), the isolation of those states that carry out executions will grow further. This irreversible punishment is capriciously applied under the best of circumstances, and in many cases it is a reckless gamble that guilt is certain. An array of states legally endorse its use, but that base is something of a mirage; a few states collectively account for the overwhelming majority of all executions. The more clearly isolated they become, the greater the pressure for reform will be. iht.com