Posted on 12/16/2005 7:31:03 AM PST by NotchJohnson
Schwarzenegger Proves He's Just A "Girlie-Man" December 15, 2005
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Nobody really expected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to commute the sentence of Stanley “Tookie” Williams. Yes, he went through the motions of meeting with Tookie’s supporters. But that was pure political theater, designed to give the appearance of fairness — when, in fact, he’d already decided to appease California’s blood-thirsty pack of wolves.
Arnold’s political advisors told him he had to look tough by upholding the death penalty. But they were dead wrong. Refusing to commute Tookie’s sentence from execution to life in prison without parole didn’t make Arnold look tough. It made him look like a great big “girlie-man.”
Arnold made a cowardly decision. In capital punishment cases, it’s easy to follow the lynch mob. What takes courage is doing the right thing, even if politically unpopular. Instead of dancing to the drumbeat of death-penalty supporters, Arnold should have followed the lead of another Republican, former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who commuted the sentences of everybody on death row — because he knew the death penalty itself was fatally flawed.
Therein lies the irony of Schwarzenegger’s decision: By trying to uphold the death penalty in the Tookie Williams case, he did just the opposite. He actually undermined the case for capital punishment by proving how unfair, unjust and unevenly applied it is across the country.
After all, why did Tookie Williams get so much political and media attention? Not because he was founder of the Crips or author of several children’s books advocating nonviolence. It was for one reason only: because his cause was embraced by celebrity defenders Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, Joan Baez, Mike Farrell and Rev. Jesse Jackson. Without them, we never would have heard of Tookie Williams. He’d have been put to death with no fuss, no muss.
What about all the other men and women on death row across America? Surely they deserve the same last-minute chance of reprieve. But they’ll never get it, because they don’t have any movie-star friends. And that’s the big problem with the death penalty. Not only is it unconstitutional (“cruel and unusual punishment”) and immoral (“Thou shalt not kill”), but it is never meted out in equal measure in all 50 states. There are too many variables.
Application of the death penalty is, in fact, so fickle from state to state that the nature of the crime committed ends up being less important than other factors: the state or county in which you committed the crime; the competence of the prosecutor or public defender; the whims of the judge and jury; the color of your victim’s skin; and, most important, how much money you have to hire a good lawyer.
After reviewing many death-penalty appeals, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discovered one common denominator: lack of funds for proper representation. As she reports, “I have yet to see a death case . . . in which the defendant was well-represented at trial. People who are well-represented at trial do not get the death penalty.”
She’s right. And tragic examples are legion. In Texas, Calvin Burdine was sentenced to death after his court-appointed lawyer fell asleep in the courtroom. In Alabama, Judy Haney was sent to death row even though her attorney was so drunk in the courtroom he was held in contempt and sent to jail himself.
Same with race. Minorities are much more likely to be sentenced to death than whites. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, 43 percent of all executions were minorities. Today, 55 percent of all those on death row are people of color. Both numbers are way out of proportion to the population of blacks, Native Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans.
And, of course, DNA testing has shown that even many people in prison are not guilty. This week alone, Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia pardoned two criminals exonerated by DNA of crimes they did not commit. One had already spent 20 years in prison. Where’s the justice?
Even inadvertently, Arnold Schwarzenegger has rekindled a re-examination of the death penalty, which, I am convinced, will lead eventually to its abolishment. Meanwhile, one thing is for sure: As long as we continue to torture prisoners in other countries and execute prisoners here at home, we Americans cannot claim the moral high ground.
Typical leftist Newspeak: socialist is "mainstream" & mainstream is "right-wing"; liberation is "terrorism" & terrorism is "liberation"; Bush is an "idiot" & Kerry is a "genius"; Ah-nold is a "girlie-man" & Tookie is a "role model".
They live in Bizzaro World!
Does Arnold really need to "look" tough, anyway? I doubt he has that kind of insecurity. Unlike the typical leftist, I don't think how one "looks" should drive decisions. Bill demonstrates that he is superficial as well as delusional.
California’s blood-thirsty pack of wolves...
No, he's not referring to multiple murderers here, or to organized gangs of multiple murderers. He's referring to the victims and people who want justice done. You and me, in other words.
In capital punishment cases, it’s easy to follow the lynch mob
In Press's world, the lynch mob are the people who work through the system to achieve a conviction. He forgets that its actually Williams's victims who died without benefit of judge or jury.
He actually undermined the case for capital punishment by proving how unfair, unjust and unevenly applied it is across the country.
Does even Press doubt Williams' guilt? No, I didn't think so. He believes, though, that his guilt doesn't matter.
his cause was embraced by celebrity defenders Jamie Foxx, Snoop Dogg, Joan Baez, Mike Farrell and Rev. Jesse Jackson. Without them, we never would have heard of Tookie Williams.
This is true, and the fact it is true undermines his case. He says capital punishment is unfair because not every death row inmate excites the interest of celebs. Celebrity did not protect him from justice. Justice was not swayed by pressure from outside the justice system. Press should be glad about that, but inexplicably he is not.
People who are well-represented at trial do not get the death penalty.”
Does Press believe that the leader of the largest gang in California could not afford a lawyer? Does he really believe that? Again, this case proves the opposite. With all the lawyers money could buy, and all the celebrity and all of the journalistic fawning his toadies could muster, he went to the gas chamber just the same.
DNA testing has shown that even many people in prison are not guilty.
Again, is he arguing that Williams is innocent? No? Then why even bring this up?
Not to mention, the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild, the International Socialists Organization, The Socialist Workers Party, etc. See also: Communists for Tookie
and without trhe likes of Tookie Williams we would never hear of Joan Baez and Mike Farrel. They feed off eachother. It is a symbiotic relationship.
New Math 2+2=5; Newspeak: Good=Bad; Bad=Good.
The Media wasn't against Saddam and his sons' torture, nor the U.N.'s permissive genocide in the Sudan, nor the Muslim terrorists beheading civilian hostages.
Face it! The U.S. media is cowardly and antiAmerican.
They are psychopolitical tools applying the neoMarxist tenet of "perverse opposition" - as it appears several congressmen/fems incessantly apply as well. It angers me that good American youth sacrifice their lives and well being in wartime while these (extreme profanities withheld) effete rats pontificate and bloviate their destructive ideological absurdities. I've NEVER known in my long lifetime such obstructive enemies among congress members to be worse than they are currently. The fact that traitorous senators Jay Rochefeller and John Kerry consort with the enemy as independent agents is beyond reason for tolerance.
The abominable quisling! Speaking of execution...anti-death penalty is a self-defensive ploy for treasonous leftists.
Yeah, conservatives are evil and liberals are saints. He lost me the first time he fulminated I belong to a "lynch mob." Great! My first thought was, "Where do I sign up?"
Throw his crap right back into face!
"I've been hearing that whining about the disproportionate number of minorities on death row for *decades* now. Does it ever occur to these soft on crime lefties that these savages would not be sentenced to death if they did not commit heinous murders?!"
The lefties are driven by their radical agenda despite stats, truth, facts and realities. They are like Fire Ants.
They are groupthink-swarm on constant attack and devour.
Throw it back into their faces. I am really sick of them.
No tolerance - because some people do not deserve being tolerated. Simple truth.
A reference:
Cogprints - An Alternative View of Schizophrenic Cognition
... is characterised by severely disordered cognition is presented. It is possible that apparently self ... Psychology > Clinical Psychology Philosophy > Logic ID Code: 839 Deposited By: Snyder, Douglas ...
cogprints.org/839 Cached page
as in dis-ease = disease
dis-connect/connect
cognitive/dis-cognitive
I don't speak NEWSPEAK.
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