Liberal Lunatic of the Day (3/22/2005)

Liberal Lunacy ^ | 3/22/2005 | Beckwith

[Beckwith]

Mike Farrell, ex-M. A. S. H. actor and president of Death Penalty Focus, writes in the Los Angeles Times that "Once again, Bush scorns international humanitarian standards."

Farrell laments about the indecency of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice notifying the United Nations that United States would withdraw from the Optional Protocol of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations guarantees citizens the right to seek help from their consulate if they run afoul of the law when traveling abroad. The Optional Protocol in the accord gives the International Court of Justice in The Hague jurisdiction over disputes.

Farrell asks, “Does that sound decent? -- It didn't to Mexico, which has banned capital punishment. Finding a number of its citizens on death row in the United States … Mexico sued the U.S. in the International Court of Justice, saying that we had no right to put their citizens to death while denying them their protection under the protocol."

Farrell, now an expert in international law, writes, “Instead of abiding by the law and notifying detained non-citizens of their right to contact their consul, we try them and lock them up. And sometimes we kill them.”

Farrell concludes, “But more than that, they're trying to protect our death penalty, a creaky system already teetering on the brink of collapse. Shot through with failure, exposed as entrapping the innocent, the mentally ill and those with drunk, drug-abusing, sleeping or simply incompetent lawyers, capital punishment has been wounded by U.S. Supreme Court rulings recognizing evolving standards that mark the progress of a maturing society."

link:  An Indecent Administration Rolls On

[Beckwith]

I read Farrell’s commentary three times and I’m still not sure what his point is. The title of his rant has little or nothing to do with the article itself.

I understand that Farrell is against the death penalty, lobbies against it and has a website, “Death Penalty Focus”, where he can endlessly argue about the inhumanity of the death penalty. One of his big causes is the freedom of convicted cop-killer and lifelong Marxist Mumia Abu-Jamal who awaits the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

But the withdrawal from the Optional Protocol of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations has less to do with the death penalty than maintaining the right of US sovereignty. Americans will decide American law, not a bunch of European liberals, Justice Kennedy, notwithstanding.

But Farrell is offended that foreigners who break US laws while in the US are tried in US courts and punished, if convicted, by US standards. I guess he’s never been busted in Mexico, famous for its corrupt criminal justice system and filthy jails. He’s never been caught smuggling opium in Turkey or hashish in Singapore. And I know he’s never smuggled drugs in Saudi Arabia where they just lop your head off. You can call the US Consul’s Office all you want. You will be punished according to the laws of those countries. It’s about sovereignty, not the death penalty.

Now I don’t know about the 51 cases in which the Mexican defendants ended up on death row. Unlike Farrell, I’m not an expert. But, I’ll bet those 51 guys killed one or more people in the United States and they will pay the piper according to the rules of the United States.

Farrell’s problem, like most liberals, is that he is arguing in the abstract. “The death penalty is immoral. It’s unjust.” Well, tell that to Mark Lunsford, father of nine-year old Jessica Marie Lunsford, who was recently kidnapped and raped over several days before she was brutally murdered by a piece of human excrement named John Evander Couey. Couey has admitted to the crimes and has led authorities to the little girls abused and battered body.

Jessica Marie Lunsford is not an abstraction. As far as I’m concerned, Farrell can hold Couey’s hand and commiserate with him while he’s strapped into Florida’s electric chair and the switch is thrown.

[hipaatwo]

The death penalty is immoral. It’s unjust

Except for Terri, then it's ok by their standards.

[stm]

I guess he is in good company. His former co-star Alan Alda is one of the biggest libtards on the planet.

[squirt-gun]

I just love they way things are going under President Bush....Rice...Bolton...etc.

Let the Hollywierd crowd cry while I enjoy the sunlight of this presidency!

[stm]

Tell that to Jessica Lunsford's family. I would be willing to bet they would disagree with you. If it was your precious 9 year old daughter that was abducted, sexually assaulted and then murdered, I would be willing to bet you would change your tune as well. Let the punishment fit the crime. No one is more deserving of the needle than John Couey

[ghost of nixon]

Farrell's objections seem identical to the anti-Texas, anti-death penalty episode of "Boston Legal" Sunday night. A sloppy system that picks on the weak. My problem with these liberal complainers is that they won't take responsibility for overloading the system with frivolous appeals for brutal killers. When that happens, I believe it weakens the efectiveness of the system for the few who are truely innocent.

[Gefreiter]

"Farrell, now an expert in international law..."

Huh? Did he go to law school? Has he tried alot of cases?

[Beckwith]

No one is more deserving of the needle than John Couey

Florida uses the electric chair. They don't make it easy.

[dollar_dog]

Farrell's littany of liberal campaign contributions.

[MadJack]

"expert' should have been in quotes, and perhaps spelled "ecchs-purt"

[lionheart 247365]

He used to be just another terrible tv actor. Now days he's just another liberal idiot who can't live with the reality they lost the election. Now they are trying to drive away there moderate or centress base, good luck .

YACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I only watch M A S H episodes with Trapper John in them.

[whereasandsoforth]

"Once again, Bush scorns international humanitarian standards."

Standards for whom? All these "international standards" are not international at all, but are in place expressly to apply to the USA. The USA is BAD BAD BAD and can't follow the rules of world's society.

Well, Mr. Ferrel, put this in your pipe and smoke it: The USA is the only country in the world that matters and the USA should be dictating "International Law". The USA should be the sole word on who is or is not following international law. No other country on earth is qualified. The USA is the best and brightest hope this world has, so if the USA puts people to death for crimes committed, it must be a damn good thing to do. People like Mr. Ferret that constantly look beyond our shores and borders for what the USA should or should not do are only looking at jackasses like themselves, the ones the USA is constantly rising above.

[Gay State Conservative]

Huh? Did he go to law school? Has he tried alot of cases?

No,but I understand that he went to Medical School.

[ravingnutter]

No,but I understand that he went to Medical School.

I hope you are being sarcastic...his bio states he attended drama courses at UCLA. Must've stayed at a Holiday Inn once...

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I suppose Ferrell's OK with Sharia law.

[irishtenor]

I wonder if they are cheering the Terri case.

[stm]

No they don't, "Old Sparky" at the prison in Starke, FL was retired several years ago. It's lethal injection entirely now.

I live in NW FL and really lament their decision to retire it.

[cubreporter]

Another second rate actor spewing his venom.

[stm]

Who knows and who cares.

[Graybeard58]

To lose my freedom and live in a cage for the rest of my life would be a much worse penality than death.

The pervert in Florida who killed the little girl will most likely live on death row for the next 10 to 20 years.

I don't know any statistics but am wondering how many people live out their natural lives on death row as compared to how many are actually executed?

Another question that occurs to me is why is the monster in Florida on a "sucicide watch" He most certainly will get the death penality anyway, why not give him the option of doing it himself?