at 5:45 pm on wednesday the 7th i was careening (okay, doing 32 in a 30 m.p.h) down tn hwy 243 (better known as main street) in mt. pleasant … looking for the jones chapel ame church …

it’s dark and i’m looking for numbers when i realize i’ve passed my mark…and, the odd and even numbers have switched side of the road as north main became south main – oy!

so i turn around in the first lit parking lot i see – it’s a liquor store, i don’t go in, turn back up the road, find the church and enter…

reverend smith was playing the piano when i entered … when we talked he told me, “i didn’t give you any directions – i tell people that when they miss the church, go to the first liquor store, don’t go in, turn around and come back to the church … we both had a good laugh over that one…

my presentation was a little choppy – i was expecting youth and actually had an all adult audience so i had to re-think my delivery … but all in all it was well received …

i opened with “you don’t actually have to commit a murder to be executed for it…” and laid out the gary graham case briefly … and talked about unfairly targeting the working poor, racial disparity based on the victim’s color, and the mentally ill…

we had a solid discussion afterwards with four people willing to help us in mt. pleasant … i will follow-up about a church resolution soon, and identify some local businesses they can approach for support as well… i was invited out to the waffle house after we finished up at 8 p.m. but i had promised mama i would stop by for pinto beans and sweet potatoes…great way to finish a good night…

<3

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be very much dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Last night, the Nashville Chapter of TCASK took part in our first ever lobby training. At the NCADP Conference in October, one of the comments made was that abolitionists know all the moral arguments against capital punishment, but we don’t know how to count.

In a way, that’s true.

There’s no doubt that the death penalty is a moral issue, and if we don’t understand the arguments, both moral and “pragmatic,” against it, we won’t get anywhere. But in the end, we’re talking about changing public policy and that policy is made by legislators. A majority of legislators. In other words, to abolish the death penalty in Tennessee, we need to count 50 (of 99) members of the the state House of Representatives and 17 (of 33) state Senators on our side.

And we’re only going to do that by telling our elected representatives what we want them to do, and that means lobbying. It means going to those 67 members of the Tennessee General Assembly and convincing them. How do we do that?

See now, if you’d been at our training last night, you wouldn’t have to ask that question, because you’d already know. Our training includes understanding what lobbying is, an explanation of the Tennessee legislative process, the universal rules of lobbying, and how to structure a visit to your legislator. It even includes practice sessions and lets participants know how to lobby even when they’re not experts on an issue.

We hope to do a similar training with each and every TCASK chapter in the coming months and culminate with a great big Day of Justice on the Hill in late March, when we can all converge on the capital and tell our legislators in no uncertain terms that we want a moratorium on executions! So get on the phone to me and schedule a lobby training for your local group ASAP!

We can’t win if we can’t count!

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be so dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

i am 100% convinced his name is lestat…

seriously, the tennessee attorney general is so clearly a vampire that next time he holds a press conference i’m attending with a full-length mirror and just when he’s about to deliver his punch line i’ll jump out, stand sideways between him and the media and expose the fact that he casts NO IMAGE…

why so certain…

he’s like the everready executioner … he just keeps seeking, and seeking, and seeking execution dates…

of her (protagonist??? antagonist???) main character anne rice says, “He represents the ruthless side in us…he is the male ruthless half of me that, thank God, does not exist, except in fiction…”

yet here’s paul “lestat” summers seeking an execution date for someone on december 2nd who’s under a stay … he’s set to execute a serious schizophrenic in february … he’s had 20 executions that he’s sought stopped since he succeeded in killing another severely mentally ill human being in the spring of 2000…

he never stops trying to kill… i’m betting he’s a card carrying member of the nra, a near debutante of the yellowdog political elite, a real corporal punishin’ sonofagun …

and i bet he never bought a bottle of newman’s own organic extra virgin olive oil in his life!

peace out…

<3

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be so dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

So more good news on our outreach front. Everyone (all 3 of you) who’s been keeping up with our blog here, remembers that about a month ago I visited Giles County and, on that trip, spoke at the Catholic Church, Immaculate Conception. The response there was terrific, and the church immediately formed a subcommittee (of 14 people!) to work on the death penalty.

Over the course of the last month, the subcommittee has continued to educate their church, including announcements in the bulletin and distributing TCASK literature after mass, and, on Sunday, it all paid off. The parish council unanimously passed a moratorium resolution! That’s the first, but surely not the last, church to pass such a moratorium resolution and it marks the second Catholic church in a week to pass such a resolution (see last weeks post “Rockin out in Franklin”).

These resolutions come swiftly on the heels of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ call for abolition of the death penalty. We sent out a press release to the Catholic Register which we hope to see turned into an article following up on last week’s article on the USCCB’s call, in next week’s issue. Did anyone see any other press coverage in the local media?

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness problem such as soul trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be extremely dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Well, maybe cheap comes with the wrong connotation. Can all the Southern abolition organizations that have tons of excess money and staff please step forward? . . . .

So as is probably evident from the clamor of organizations stepping forward after my previous sentence, we’re blessed with many things in the abolition movement, passion, truth, committed people, but we don’t generally have a lot of money (and of course this is true of most groups working for social justice). And that brings us to the phone, the organizer’s best friend.

Since arriving in Tennessee three months ago I have spent a lot of time on the phone. Every week I send letters to 3-5 churches in targeted legislative districts, which are then followed up with phone calls 9 days later. Imagine my having to visit all of them. Even though people sometimes don’t seem to know how to answer the phone, it is just so much more efficient.

Plus, Tennessee’s a long state. I mean we exist in two separate time zones. To drive across the state we’re talking about a 7 hour trip. And we have chapters all around. It’s hard to keep track of everything going on and we need to coordinate our work in the state office with all the great work going on around the state, so we turn to our friend the phone again. And our friend the conference call.

Last night, I was able to spend an hour on the phone with some of our members in Chattanooga. It’s been hard to get things going in Chattanooga, but with just an hour of orienting me to the situation and talking about some organizing strategies, techniques, and resources that we have been using in the state office, we came up with a fairly good outline of our strategy in Memphis over the next 3 or 4 months! Putting your heads together really works.

We also use conference calls for our monthly committee meetings (see “Who do you know” previously posted), and now someone from the state office will be on each of those calls as well, so really maximize our work.

So remember, even if you’re off in a deserted rural area, as long as you have a phone you can be a big part of TCASK’s work. God Bless the telephone, the conference call, and cheapness, I mean fiscal responsibility!

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual complaint among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health conditions that can be very much dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Last night was an exciting for Franklin, TN.

OK, It’s possible that it was just an exciting night for me in Franklin, but you get the idea. You see, last night the parish council of St. Matthew Church passed a moratorium resolution! This wasn’t a church that we’d done a lot of work with, in fact we’d done almost no previous work there, so I was fairly nervous going into speak to the council.

For one thing, it’s a fairly large council (about 20 people), and for another Franklin is not noted for its progressive leanings. But we started out by talking about the recent statement against the death penalty by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and there was almost no argument against it. We discussed the death penalty’s lack of deterrent power and the fact that it does not bring healing to victims. And, who’da thunk it? The vote was unanimous.

Now I’d like to attribute this to my oratorical prowess, but I’m afraid that that would not be fair or honest. I would like to share, however, what I’ve found to be the proper “frame” for the issue of the death penalty for Catholic communities.

OK! So Imagine a frame with four sides (top, left, right, and bottom) consisting of Innocence, Protection of Society, Targeting the Poor, and the Teaching of the Pope and the USCCB. The issue of innocence is a resounding one and one that is probably the most effective issue with people across the board; even if you support the death penalty, you probably don’t want to kill innocent people (there are some rare exceptions here).

The Catholic teaching on the death penalty has been a slowly evolving one. The death penalty is permitted in cases where there is no other way to protect society. In America today, the prison system, and long prison terms, are perfectly capable of protecting society from violent people, and thus the Church now calls for abolition in America. Non-Catholics are likewise concerned with public safety, so addressing the issue of protection is critical to any discussion of capital punishment.

One of the central tenants of Catholic Social Doctrine is a preferential option for the poor. Put simply, any decision we make as a society must prioritize the good of the poor. Throughout the Gospels, Christ refers to the poor continually. The arbitrariness and economic bias of the death penalty clearly fails this test.

Finally, Church teachings are central to speaking to religious groups. Grounding your discussion in faith immediately places abolition on the moral high ground where it belongs. This is true also with the United Methodist, Presbyterian, or any other of the many denominations that have taken positions against the death penalty.

Hopefully we’ll be able to apply this frame with many more successes in the common weeks and months!

Fairly, there are numerous aspects you would like to think about medications. All discount medicaments save money, but few online drugstores offer better deals than other online drugstores. There isn’t anything you can’t order online anymore. Remedies like Deltasone ordinarily is used to treat diseases such as eye problems. Glucocorticoids naturally occurring steroids, which are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. There are varied drugs for every conditions. Cialis is a remedy prescribed to treat many illnesses. What do you already know about long term side effects of cialis? What consumers talk about how long does it take for cialis to take effect? A general sexual claim among men is the erectile malfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be highly dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile dysfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.