In a few hours, we will begin our community healing service to remember the execution of Sedley Alley, one month ago. In doing so, we recognize that homicide tears apart relationships. From the one single act, pain spreads outwards, like ripples on a pond. Those closest to the victim, both Suzanne Marie Collins and Sedley Alley, are the most directly effected, but the ripple touches us all. Because when the state kills, each and every one of us is a party to the action.

So, even as it threatens to rain, we will be gathering in community with one another, to share and to understand our loss. I have decided that it will not rain, but if someone isn’t listening to me, we do have a tent and we will go forward anyway.

I hope to see many of you there.

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As organizers, as activists for social justice, as people, we are all busy. Our schedules are full of meetings, talks, information gathering, grant writing, blogging, press releases, conducting trainings, locating outreach targets, and just doing the administrative tasks that keep an organization afloat. So sometimes we forget to examine how we do things within the organization or how we are functioning. We’re so busy trying to get everything done that we focus almost exclusively on the external. How many new members do we need to recruit? What legislative districts do we need to target? What message do we need to put out to the media?

So today, it was nice to take a step away from the external. Randy Tatel (our E.D.), Amy Staples (TCASK Board Chair), and I attended an all day workshop, “Making Your Board Effective.” Now we got a lot of interesting perspective, new tools, and peer feedback, but for me, the most important part of the day was simply the opportunity to set aside time to think, not about how TCASK was affecting the Tennessee community, but about how TCASK internal mechanisms are functioning. Truly focusing only on the boards functioning and the relationship between board and staff offered a chance to assess what we need to improve upon internally.

Every organization recognizes the need for a functional organizational culture. But I think that it is often pushed to the back burner, to the bottom of our priority list. We have executions scheduled or an execution coming up. We have talks to give and new partners to cultivate. So we always think we can do the internal development later. But really, we need to respect how essential developing an effective board, or active chapters, or a productive and healthy staff environment is, because it’s those things that make the external work that we do so effective.

For my part, I think we need to do more of this. One great way is annual retreats for the staff and for the board. Now currently our staff is only two, so this may not be necessary, but as we add additional staff we should think about an annual staff retreat focused on the internal functioning of the organization. And a board retreat is something that we’ve talked about, but has never made it very high up the priority list. Well, I’m not on the board, but my advice is, move it up, and use that time, not to make decisions about TCASK’s future, but to talk about how well the board is working, and how it can function even more efficiently to lead us to our goal.

Taking the time to look inwards will improve our work outwards.

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 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.

Just minutes ago a Texas jury found Andrea Pia Yates to be not guilty by reason of insanity. Yates, who drowned her five children to try to save them from hell when she, in a state of serious psychosis, believed that Satan was inside of her, had previously been sentenced to death. Instead Yates will now be committed to a mental hospital where she can receive the treatment that she so clearly needs. You can read more about Yates’ case in Saturday’s post below.

Sadly, even when there was so much clear evidence of mental illness in the Yates case, the state of Texas still argued that she did not meet their standard for being legally insane. This standard is similar to that employed by Tennessee, i.e. that a person know that they are going to be executed and know why. Fortunately, in this case the jury was able to see the truth despite the state’s obfuscation. I only wish that the same could be said for the hundreds of mentally ill inmates around the country and the dozens of those suffering from mental illness and sentenced to death right here in Tennessee. Maybe we can all take some hope from the yates decision that our society may be moving toward a more just and understanding way of treating the mentally ill.

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 malfunction 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 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 malfunction 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.

psssssssssst…look – just between you n’ me, all execution methods are barbaric … ever since executions began we humans have been trying to make it less gruesome, more sanitary, a public relations no brainer…

and the “geniuses” who thought up lethal injection thought they’d hit one out of the park (no you silly person, the oklahoma legislators who enacted the first law not the nazi doctors who invented it as a method of killing the “unwanted” during the reign of the terror under the third reich)…

seems they were wrong…

on tuesday a federal judge found that missouri’s revised lethal injection procedure was not adequate to ensure that condemned inmates did not suffer unnecessary pain…the state had modified its protocol in response to a ruling last month by u.s. district judge fernando j. gaitan jr., who barred executions until missouri made significant changes to its procedure, which is similar to those used by about three dozen other states…

missouri tried…seems state officials contacted 298 anesthesiologists in missouri and southern illinois, but none was willing to participate in executions…

so the ban on executions in missouri stands…

as does the one in california…

but wait, tennessee has the same protocol – the same set of drugs … but we still get to kill people???

maybe it’s just me but that seems arbitrary II…

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 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 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.

Tim McDonald, our board secretary, recently had an op-ed published in the Chattanooga Times Free Press. It’s a good piece and makes the very important connection between the use of the death penalty and the lack of scarce resources in other crucial areas. The text is below:

Stories show state’s spending misplaced

It is appropriate that the paper has the story of Tennessee’s first executions in several years in the same edition with the story of the dismal status of Tennessee’s children as revealed in the Casey Foundation report.

Both executions and the lack of support for children appear to stem from a set of misplaced priorities in this state.

How can Tennessee spend hundreds of thousands of dollars attempting to kill two men (one of whom the state has itself determined to be mentally ill and the other for whom the state refuses DNA testing) while there are many better ways to spend the limited dollars available in this state?

Spending state funds for victim restitution, crime prevention for at-risk children and other programs designed to help children are much better ways to spend money than using it to orchestrate state killings.

The fact that Tennessee shows up at 46th out of 50 in the recent report shows that available funds are obviously not being spent for the betterment of children.

While the state cannot and should not be expected to fully support children financially, it should be expected to spend some available funds to help improve their lives.

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 malfunction 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 soundness conditions that can be very 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.

Like it or not, the death penalty remains an issue that scares legislators. True, a majority of Americans no longer think the death penalty deters crime, and true the number of death sentences and executions continue to drop, and it is true that the more people learn about the death penalty, the less likely they are to support it, but a majority of Americans do still support the death penalty and many of them get very angry about it. So it isn’t easy for elected officials to look “soft on crime” even when we know that the death penalty, by taking money out of the coffers of local law enforcement and D.A.s, actually puts us more at risk.

So to get them to do what they know is right, we need to show them that they have support in their districts, and one of the best ways to do that is to pass moratorium resolutions in local churches and small businesses. To that end, I spent Saturday in Memphis. The main event on my schedule was conducting a training in resolution gathering to our three person moratorium team, that we formed in Memphis last month.

Resolution trainings are a fun little event. Most of the training involves role playing and practice in going into small businesses and making a one to two minute pitch to the owner. TCASK provides pretty binders with visual aids that both keep the resolution gatherer on script and enhance the presentation for the business owner as well.

We had a good time (we were on an second story porch and it was a very nice day out) and the team did a really good time going through the pitch. But, the highlight came when we got a resolution before we had even finished the training. You see, “Food Not Bombs” came by to drop off a donation of bread. One of our team members ran down to the van and did her first pitch, and, thinking on her feet, pointed out that “Food Not Bombs” groups in several other Tennessee cities had already passed these resolutions (included in the binder is a list of all the Tennessee moratorium endorsers), and so they signed up. Man! I must be good!

So Memphis has a new moratorium resolution and a team heading out with 15 businesses already targeted in the next month. As we move toward a municipal resolution in Memphis and a legislative victory in the state assembly these resolutions will help make the difference.

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 soundness problem such as core 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 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.

andrea pia yates suffered from severe mental illness including psychotic and post-partum depression…

in 2001 she was found guilty by a jury in texas of killing her 5 children by drowning them in a bathtub…at her original trial in harris county the prosecutor sought to get the death penalty but the jury decided on life imprisonment…her conviction was later overturned after the chief witness for the prosecution was found to have lied on the witness stand, and she is now being retried…

although the death penalty is not an option for a retrial, the prosecutor is again seeking life imprisonment…the alternative verdict, “not guilty by reason of insanity“, would probably result in andrea yates being sent to a secure hospital where she could be treated properly for her mental illness…and it is extremely difficult to successfully assert this defense…

the national mental health association (NMHA) believes that mental illness can influence an individual’s mental state at the time he or she commits a crime, can affect how “voluntary” and reliable an individual’s statements might be, can compromise a person’s competence to stand trial and to waive his or her rights, and may have an effect upon a person’s knowledge of the criminal justice system…the statement of the national alliance on mental illness (NAMI) on the andrea yates case was very compelling…

the andrea pia yates support coalition will be holding a candlelight vigil in houston on sunday july 23rd at 8:15pm central time in solidarity with andrea during her retrial…those who would like to send a message of solidarity to be read on sunday should email it to david atwood…

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 disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be very 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’s finally coming together. Yesterday evening (later than an old fogey like me wanted to be awake) a group of students who form the TCASK Student Caucus working group were in the TCASK office. The students were preparing for Tennessee’s first annual Student Conference Against the Death Penalty, which will be held on September 9th at MTSU.

The students did a session of peer review on the workshops that they themselves had developed for the conference (focused on campus organizing, planning events, the moratorium campaign, high school challenges, and campus events) and made final decisions on the conference structure. It is going to be a terrific event.

Luke Lea, one of the high school students involved in planning the conference, had this to say about student involvement:

An effort such as death penalty abolition, particularly in an entity with the general political views of Tennessee, requires an amount of conspicuous and deliberate opposition from each prominent faction. If any advancements are to be made, the expression of our opposition to the death penalty is imperative. Equally as essential to such a movement is the variety of sources from which these concerns are expressed. One such faction with untested and therefore untapped potential is the youth of Tennessee. The manifestation of this potential would provide our state with a radical core of abolitionists for years to come. The younger the individuals we succeed in mobilizing, the more successful mobilization we can accomplish, leading inevitably to favorable legislative results.

Sadly, a large part of the population assumes that the actions of the justice system are always just. Exposition of the facts will undoubtedly lead to new support for TCASK. Adding youth involvement to our cause can only strengthen this message. Displaying youthful enthusiasm for this cause conveys the fact that even students, a group infamous for their apathy, can unite in common opposition to the death penalty.

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 disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be very 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.

The Journey of Hope is a group of murder victims’ families, exonerees, and families of the executed that travel around a given state each year, spreading the good news of forgiveness and hope rather than revenge. Recently, the Journey has started its own blog. One of the main features of this blog is something called “Tuesday Focus” where a member of the journey is profiled and their story is briefly told. It’s worth checking out, I know that I enjoy the quick tidbit of inspiration each week.

I’ll be traveling with the journey in Virginia for about four days this October, and am really looking forward to the experience. From being able to work with some of Tennessee’s own murder victims’ families who oppose the death penalty, I know that these incredible stories of truly remarkable people can touch hearts and change minds in a way nothing else can.

Check out the Journey of Hope blog here.

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 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 dysfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness conditions that can be very 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.

So what do TCASK, the Humane Society, the Minority Supplier Development Council, and the Community Foundation have in common? Apparently, a program to provide scholarships for the children of death row inmates with a work study component working with unsocialized animals and including a endowment to maintain the program into the future.

At least that’s what we came up with during one of the many exercises at the Center for Non-profit Management’s Basic Grant Writing Seminar, which I was lucky enough to take part in yesterday. The exercise involved grouping organizations together to brainstorm collaborative projects for a (sadly) fictitious $250,000 grant. Now three groups, children, elders, and education, shook at fairly easily, but that left a group of five of us, representing the previously mentioned four agencies sitting around a table trying to find some common ground between us. After pitching our idea, though, we got an ovation from the workshop participants.

I admit, it was interesting to see what a number of organizations could come up with when asked to collaborate. But there was a lot more to the workshop. For me, an organizer and not a grant writer, it was a great introduction to the process of researching and writing grant proposals. I came back with two books and a lot of terrific ideas about the process. I would love to take their Advanced Grant Writing Workshop, but unfortunately it is only being offered once for the rest of the year – during the one week that I was planning on taking a vacation and getting home to New York.

Still, I had a terrific time and learned quite a bit. Continue to develop our skills, even as we work toward abolition, is important for us. It keeps us motivated and intellectually engaged with our work and additionally makes us better at what we do. Who knows, maybe next week I’ll write TCASK a grant proposal that brings in some money!

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 disfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile malfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness problem such as heart trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction 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 malfunction 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.