okay, you know something is up because i NEVER USE CAPITAL LETTERS…but this is just tooooooooooooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooooood!!!

word has trickled out – the u.s. supreme court decision on the case of paul gregory house has come out and HOUSE WON…HOUSE WON…HOUSE WON!!!

click here, here, and here for background on this case of actual innocence of a death row inmate…

we do not have the details of the decision yet but as soon as we do we will post more information and issue a press statement…

oh yeah, you should know that house’s mother joyce is simply giddy – so much thanks to everyone who has prayed on behalf of joyce, paul, and their entire family…

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 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 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.

nicholas hilt was facing charges of premeditated first-degree murder, felony murder, child rape and aggravated child abuse … ugly, ugly stuff … i will not recount the horrific details here but you can read about them in this chattanoogan.com on-line article …

tcask has recently blogged about attempts to expand the death penalty for child rape as well as mental illness and capital punishment and this case brings both of these issues into play with a better than expected outcome…

hilt was sentenced to life without parole for the murder charge and will be sentenced August 29th on the rape and child abuse charges…

now the death penalty was on the table originally but prosecutor barry steelman decided ultimately not to pursue a death sentence…

why???

his office reports that they questioned his (hilt’s) mental state…

good for steelman – the victim’s family will be able to begin the long road to healing much sooner than if hilt had received a death sentence…

now, if we could divert the $$$ saved by steelman’s decision into victim’s counseling and other victim’s services we might have the beginning of a better model of responding to such a horrendous crime…

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 appeal among men is the erectile disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness 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 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.

yesterday oklahoma’s governor signed into law a bill expanding the death penalty to include anyone twice convicted of rape, sodomy or lewd molestation involving children under 14 … a day earlier, south carolina’s governor signed a bill making a second rape of a child younger than 11 capital crime…

one can easily understand an impulse to protect our children … but how one responds to that impulse says much about their capacity to link means to ends…

does killing child rapists protect our children??? absolutely not, in fact, the law may send the message to molesters “you might as well kill the child” since they already face a death sentence…

that’s the very definition of bad policy — seeking one end yet obtaining just the opposite…

fortunately tcask was instrumental in beating back a similar effort in tennessee earlier this year … in case you missed the lil’ jesuit dude’s blog about it check it out now…

rather than expand a death penalty system that is reserved for the unluckiest of the unlucky, we should end it … studies consistently find that you are more likely to be sentenced to death for killing a caucasian than an african american or a hispanic; some counties pursue the death penalty more than others, leaving the decision of life or death to elected prosecutors rather than a consistent, fair, system; people who can’t afford an attorney are too often appointed lawyers who are asleep, drunk, unqualified or simply incapable of doing a good job at their trial…

the same type of emotional response that led to the passage of these 2 bills is what continues to drive soft public support for the death penalty in general … rather than diverting tens and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on retribution that fails to deter a single murder, we should invest in programs that promote the healing of murder victims, compensate them for their loss, and promote the actual prevention of violent crime in the communities where we live…

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 malfunction. 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 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.

there is a debate in political science as to whether individuals can be uniquely responsible for impacting history or whether structural constraints dictate that certain events would have occured regardless of individual political leadership – (the classic discussion regards cuba and whether or not there would have been a revolution against batista with or without fidel castro, personally, to lead it) …

yesterday afternoon the u.s. supreme court declined to intervene in the case of percy walton, who was scheduled for execution at 9 p.m….

shortly thereafter, virginia gov. tim kaine announced that he is granting a six-month stay of execution for walton so that the facts of his case (and, in particular we presume, his claim of mental illness) might be studied further…

so the question pops up, does the person in the executive seat of the state matter? that is, would kaine’s predecessor mark warner have issued the reprieve?

probably not…virginia had carried out 11 executions under warner’s signature before he commuted robin lovitt’s sentence to life without parole late last year…

and the most well known example of an executive making a difference is former illinois governor ryan’s declaration of a moratorium on executions in 2000 and his commutation of over 160 death sentences to life without parole just before he left office in 2003…

so how about tennessee which is a weak executive – strong legislative state ??? governor bredesen is odds on favorite to win re-election this fall and there is experience enough to believe that he may not budge on this issue on his own accord…

so what does this suggest? the tennessee coalition to abolish state killing is pursuing a legislative strategy because that’s where the power is – that’s “who” can deliver what we want: a moratorium and study for now to give legislators the tools they need to begin backing away from their public “support” of the death penalty… and it’s through the process of building a strong, statewide grassroots organization that the initial push on elected officials to re-think this issue will emerge…

after all, if you walk up to a deep and wide ravine you can’t just step off the edge and fly to where you see that you want to be … you have to build a bridge of some sort so that you, and everyone else, can feel safe in journeying to the other side…

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 claim 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 malfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction 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 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.

at the national level of death penalty organizing it’s often referred to as the next frontier and with good reason…

consider that in 2002, in atkins v. virginia, the supreme court prohibited the death penalty for people with mental retardation…the court reasoned that the impairments of defendants with mental retardation diminish their personal culpability and their ability to understand consequences, rendering the death penalty unjustifiable on grounds of retribution or deterrence…

and here’s the rub … there is a profound inconsistency in exempting people with mental retardation from the death penalty while those with serious mental illness remain exposed to it…the same rationale of diminished culpability, greater vulnerability and limited capacity applies to defendants afflicted with severe mental illness…

here’s what nami executive director michael fitzpatrick had to say on the subject in january… (click above)

now i suffer from depression and so i know at least a little bit about the ups and downs of struggling with and managing a mental illness … and here in tennessee the cases of greg thompson, abu-ali abdur’rahman, and paul reid both revolve around our lack of understanding about and the stigma that pervades mental illness…

if you have contacts and/or experience with the incarceration (and extermination) of the mentally ill drop us a line at tcask … we’ll be talking more about this over time so stay tuned!

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 disfunction can be the symptom a strong soundness problem such as heart 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 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.

well we’re no james carvilles (is that an amen i hear over there?) but we do face a strategic question we’ve never faced before…

we have 2 executions set for the same day (june 28th) so how do we design our actions leading up to that date??? do we design a message and set of actions for each case (paul reid and sedley alley) ??? if we do, then as organizers we risk overloading our constituents with too big of an “ask” and diminish the response to our appeal for action which is the opposite of our objective…

hence the above reference to carville’s famous advice from the 1992 clinton campaign … rather than create two letters to the editor (one for each case) and either stagger or combine the request(s) for action, we create a single letter to the editor laying out that:

• we’ve had one execution in more than 16,600 days
• now we’re facing 2 in a single day in which…
• one has a 20 year old unreliable conviction in which physical evidence exists but the state refuses to release it for the dna testing that could bring certainty for victim’s family members and general public alike, and…
• one in which a person with a long, diagnosed history of schizophrenia (paranoid type), twice declared incompetent by texas courts, is seeking to give up his appeals while his sister seeks to be declared next friend for reid because, in his delusional state, is incompetent to make the decision to drop his appeals
• and next time it may be an innocent person who was wrongfully convicted like paul house whom the state seeks to kill

the lesson? all actions as an organizer have to go back to answering the question, “does this support our strategic plan and process goals?” … the answer to that question helps determine the path you choose to travel down decision by decision, case by case, year by year with achieving your endgame objective as the pot of gold at the end of the line…

for us that means it’s the broken system stupid…

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 appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction 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 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 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.

backwards…

william tines was intentionally electrocuted to death in november 1960…

tennessee’s ambivalence about carrying out state-homicide meant that 39 1/2 years would pass before it decided to kill a subdued, captured, and defenseless diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic named robert glen coe…

flash forward to june 28, 2006 and tennessee — at the behest of the office of attorney general paul summers, we, the citizens of the state of tennessee, intend to kill 2 people in one day…sedley alley,who is being denied dna testing that could in fact exonerate him, and the other, paul reid, is a severely mentally ill human being like robert coe…

so let’s review…

1 execution in more than 16,600 days

2 executions in 1 day

you do the math…me, i’m busy steadying myself for our collective quantum leap backwards towards barbarity…

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 soundness 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.

believe what you ask??? you might think i’m referring to an action on someone’s part that can only produce incredulity (hey, no shortage of that in the world) or, rather, some sort of epiphanic moment i had over the weekend…

nope, much simpler than that … i took the entire weekend off from organizing to abolish the death penalty…

sure you’re disappointed that it’s not something more compelling than that but it is, um, highly unusual, like, say, catching a glimpse of an endangered species or something…

it’s well known that the lil’ jesuit dude and i are somewhat of the workaholics – no analysis please – so taking a saturday and sunday off with no office time, no web surfing, no media work is just plain weird…

so how did i spend my smelling the roses time??? i read a collection of ursula leguin short stories and some 200 pages of ringolevio ( a good read to be for sure); i cleaned my bedroom corner to corner, ceiling to floor, 4th dimensions and all and redid the feng shui thingy(as well as other parts of the house); i worked in my perennial garden; did some cooking; and combed lots of hair off my doggies…

anyway, i returned to the office and the state still intends to kill paul reid and sedley alley on june 28th so back to work i go … it was, however, helpful to stop and smell those roses…

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 disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction 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.

It has been too long since we’ve done a nuts and bolts post, here on the TCASK blog, so I am writing today in praise of Google and particularly in praise of Google Images!

You see on Saturday I was in the office and, aside from the incessent blogging that you read below, one thing I was working on was putting together a flyer for the TCASK Tennssee Student Conference Against the Death Penalty, that will be held at MTSU on September 9th. See, a volunteer had developed a good basic template with all the information arranged, but we needed to turn it into an eye-catching flyer. What to do, what to do.

“Well,” I thought, “to be eye-catching, you need a good visual!”

So I turned to the Google Images search. After a few minutes of searching a few terms (“execution”, “gurney”, “gallows” etc.) I came upon this image, which is now the full page back-drop for the flyer and, if I do say so myself, the flyer has become pretty stunning.

So, shout out to Google. It’s just one of those little tools that helps us git ‘er done!

(By the way, Google Images also brings us most of the amusing photos that get posted to this blog. Is there nothing it can’t do?)

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 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 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.

Well, it’s not just you and I that thought setting the executions of Paul Dennis Reid and Sedley Alley for the same day was a little shocking. The event, apparently, is so unusual that that Times of India carried a story about it. You can read it here:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1611433.cms

Be proud, Tennessee, be very proud.

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 malfunction. 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 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.