Posted on 11/24/2005 6:29:21 PM PST by SmithL
Sacramento -- A bevy of Nobel laureates and celebrities have written a letter urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to commute the death sentence of Stanley Tookie Williams, himself a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Williams, 51, the co-founder of the Crips gang convicted of four 1979 murders, is scheduled to be executed at San Quentin State Prison on Dec. 13.
The letter praises Williams' work as an anti-gang crusader, including writing children's books.
"Each year at the holiday season voices the world over cry out for peace," states the letter to the governor. "This year, one of them, a voice of great power, will be lost unless you act."
Among the signatories of the letter are Nobel Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Irene Kahn, secretary general of Amnesty International; and Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who founded the Community of the Peace People in 1976.
Among the celebrities who signed the letter are Jason Alexander, Jackson Browne, Russell Crowe, Carl Reiner and Susan Sarandon.
Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, with the Human Rights Center of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, also signed the letter. She is a cousin of Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver.
On Monday, civil rights activists Jesse Jackson and Bianca Jagger visited Williams at San Quentin. His case has become a cause for many activists.
"Through his work, gang truces have been mediated, and long-standing wounds have been healed," the letter states. "Lives have been saved."
Williams has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize each year since 2000, initially by a member of the Swiss parliament and more recently by a Bay Area philosophy professor.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
There is a bio of "Tookie" at www.knowgangs.com.
I cant get the link to work..
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Are you kidding? Nobel laureates? Where do the Nobel prizes originate? Stockholm Sweden? Is that the same Stockholm after which the Syndrome is named? By gosh I think these Laureate Idiots are infected with the stockholm Syndrome by Proxy. If he had Murdered a few of them they would be even more fervent. Go figure!
Sorry I am not taking off on you, I just needed to say that.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
That's a wise statement from the Talmud. I want a copy of the Talmud.
The reason I asked is not your reference to the gulliotine, but your reference to the Eighth Amendment and the Founding Fathers. I would have understood your statement better if you hadn't also thrown in the Eighth Amendment. Of course, people seem less interested in what they thought in general. But, what were their thoughts on capital punishment? I do not know that they were against capital punishment...it was pretty much accepted that it was right to do. Many people today either do not believe that or side with bleeding heart liberals because "...it seems right to oppose it...I think..." or thoughts along those lines.
Good gosh folks. I said I "COULD" forgive him, which assumes that I or one of my relatives were victimized by him in some way. I didn't say I DO forgive him.
It is a suppositional position. Saying "I could" and saying "I can" are light years apart.
And by the way-I am a supporter of capital punishment, and not always the use of something as nice as lethal injection, which for some people, is too nice of a ticket out.
How meaningful is a "Nobel Laureate"? Since Nobel was a munitions maker, it puts me in mind of Jesus saying the persecutors' sons build monuments to the prophets their fathers murdered.
The sense is that he murdered people and was sentenced to death for it! Who cares what kind of person he may or not be today? That has nothing to do with it. If every convicted murderer claims a "jailhouse conversion", should we change the sentence? I am always amazed on how many allies the criminals get defending them, and no one stands for the victims anymore. I certainly disagree with you sir.
Putting that in your will would be the only way to let posterity know.
You are correct. I have not done homework on "Tookie."
I simply stated that IF he has reformed, clemency of the death penalty may be in order. But if not, let the ruling stand.
If true that he has not confessed, planned armed escapes from prison, etc., they he should get the chair.
There was not any idnulgement in weepy eyed hand-wringing on my part. I only read the headline, skimmed the article, posted my first thoughts and went to bed and forgot about it until this morning when I awoke to several angry responses. lol
Nothing like flames first thing in the morning, huh?
A spirited debate, to say the least.
Have a good one! :)
no consequenses for the murder of innocent victims. and they are actually justifying this...wow. maybe we should put all these advocates in jail with tookie and arm tookie?????
I got a little ouf of hand last night. I'm just a fervent supporter of the death penalty for people who commit murder and some other crimes. It's actually mercy for them as well. So I apoligize if I slammed you! Just got carried away.
:-)
Well well, stick around FR! If you manage the barrage that came your way with good cheer, you'll handle anything!
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