Yes, it’s Wednesday morning. At 8 am to be exact, every college student’s favorite time, I mean most college kids only see 8 am if they haven’t been to bed yet, but I’m hear and giving a talk to a race relations class on race and the death penalty. (By the way, if you kids think that 8:00 is early, someone mapquest the trip from Nashville to Bethel, so the math, and realize that I was up at 4:45 this morning. UGH!)

Actually, I was asked to do another presentation, right afterwards, to a sociology class, so I want to make these distinct presentations. But where does one begin to talk about race and the death penalty?

Why not at the founding of the country? This is not the tactic I’d take with everyone, but in a college race class, let’s dig up some roots (since I’ve got an hour). Let’s look at the development of the slave economy leading to a high concentration of blacks in the South (and let’s dispel the illusion that the North wasn’t racist and just remember that until after the civil war, there was a relatively tiny number of blacks in the North). And let’s remember that slave owners became obsessed with the fear of slave insurrection. And even more frightened when those slaves were free. How do we control these people? Extra-legally, with lynching, the KKK, etc. “Legally” with executions. Now the link between lynching and execution has been hard to pin down scientifically, but there are some serious connections that we should look at. For just a few:

– These are (primarily) Southern phenomena

– They are, generally, white-on-black punishment for black-on-white crime

– They are “necessary” to maintain social order (specifically to protect white women – check out the stats on executions for rape for instance)

– Both have defenders who claim states’ rights and want Washington to stay out of the way they run things.

So that’s a good place to start our discussion, followed closely by the fairly poor due process in the current death penalty system, which can lead to the issue of innocence as well (and the number of exonerees that have been people of color. And that, is how we git ‘er done!

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 soul 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 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.

so yesterday, monday the 20th, i went to spring hill high school outside columbia, tn (and outside the saturn auto plant) and spoke with a class of 25 sophomores, juniors, and seniors …

their teacher, a great guy named david huebner, told me they had been studying the death penalty for a coupla weeks and that overall this buncha’ semi-rural tennessee teenagers was pro-death penalty …

so whaddya do w/kids like that — to make an impression, a dent on their psyche, to stimulate a little bit of thought here…

on the advise of the lil’ jesuit dude i started out with the story of paul house and down the issue road of innocence … this led to 2 more examples — truncated versions of the stories of juan melendez and ray krone … each time i brought the point home by asking “who wants to go tell mama house, mama melendez, mama krone, that their innocent son had to die because we need the death penalty???” — i never got a single volunteer – point made …

where to next??? — so i began to use alex’s rhetorical device (“but does it work???”) to some effect – i’m certainly not as good at it as he is but we walked through some of the arguments for the death penalty that way and it was, i think effective … for those who weren’t sleeping …

but i wanted a closer, a sort of mariano rivera of death penalty presentations, and i came back to a discussion of “what about the victims…” – and it was effective …

i walked them through distinguishing healing from closure, walked them through the delay in healing caused by the death penalty system, walked them through how we let down the families of brenda blanton lane for example, and then went to the family of robert glen coe … their family history of abuse against all four of the coe siblings, robert’s severe mental illness, and how his sister sat down, and watched through a glass window, their brother strapped down, his body filled with poisons, and the life sucked right out of him by the state of tennessee …

i did it slowly, dramatically, in detail, and with effect …

i think that’s at least one way you approach seemingly pro-death penalty teenagers…

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 disfunction 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’m sittin’ at my desk – only for a minute or two today – wonderin’ how the heck this came to be – and ain’t it a beautiful thing…

ya see i’m borrowing nanette’s truck for the 3rd time in a week because tcask needs at least 2 functioning, safe to drive, cars to keep up with the demand for its services … i.e. educational presentations and mobilization events…

my brother donated a 2000 dodge intrepid to tcask in 10/04 and it has served our work well … but now we need another, safe, reliable vehicle ’cause right now i won’t see the lil’ jesuit dude all week until friday …

he’s in lenoir city tonight, knoxville tomorrow, and carroll county wednesday and thursday … and thursday night he bops over to chattanooga for a very special meeting and he’ll be in the office friday…

i was at spring hill high school (by the saturn plant) today talking with a current events elective class of about 25, ill be on the hill tomorrow lobbying and assisting with mental health day on the hill, and thursday i’m presenting to a class of social work students at tn state university … oh, and i have a boatload of administrative, fundraising, and outreach work to do by the end of the week …

so as much as we use the bus we need a second car … or else we’ll have to say NO to some invitations and that would be a tragedy …

what a change in needs in just a year —

got a used, well-maintained, and reliable jeep, suburu, or honda anyone???

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 disfunction can be the symptom a strong health problem such as soul trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health 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.

2006 is our year of 1st annuals at TCASK. We’ve had our first annual New Year’s Resolutions drive, our first annual Concert for Life, and, coming up soon, our first annual Justice Day on the Hill. That’s right, folks, it’s time for us to get out there and actually talk to our state representatives, and about 40 people will be converging on the capitol on March 29th to do just that!

The day’s schedule will be fun, we’ll have registration and opening remarks between 8:00 am and 9:00 am followed by appointments with your legislators to discuss the need for a moratorium on capital punishment here in Tennessee. Folks will get to meet not only with their state representatives and senators, but can accompany their neighbors on their visits as well. We’ll provide box lunches for everyone to attend, and then around 1 pm we’ll hear from speakers from our many partner organizations in a press conference that everyone is encouraged to attend. And you should all be on your way by 2:00. And it’s not too late too sign up and join us! Call me (Alex) at the office at (615) 227-6101 or email alex@tcask.org and I’ll get you signed up.

But do hurry because the amount of detail and logistics work in setting up a day on the hill is astonishing. First we have to actual get all the information for all the people coming. Then we need to put together individualized folders for all legislators that we’ll be visiting. Then we need to call and set up appointments (that don’t conflict) for everyone who will be joining us. And we need display tables. And a place to put on our programs. And to schedule a press conference and find a venue and make sure that it can work for all the partners that will be speaking. And put together information for all of our members who are coming: talking points, appointment schedules, etc.

Phew. I’d like to say a public thank you to Whitney Mitchell, from MTSU, who is doing a political campaign internship with us and is in the office today doing a ton of work on this day and making it all possible (if you can, find some work study students to help you, people). But we will git ‘er done. We already have people from more than 33% of the senate districts in the state! You could be next!

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 disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying soundness conditions that can be 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.

Now I may be able to blog about rhetoric. I may be able to construct speeches and orate them, but this is the South and it is a story telling culture, and the fact is, I don’t have any great personal stories to share in regards to the death penalty. And a single story is worth every fact and statistic that I can throw out there.

Fortunately, there are amazing stories a-plenty, and yesterday a sitting on the floor, standing room only crowd at MTSU got to hear a few of those. A panel on women’s perspectives on the death penalty was put together for Women’s History Month (by the wonderful Dr. Amy Staples, aka, “Puddin Head” – see http://tcask.blogspot.com/2006/02/in-praise-of-puddin-head.html). This panel included Regina Hockett, whose daughter was murdered 10 years ago, and Joyce House (pictured below) , whose son, Paul House, has been on Tennessee’s death row for over 20 years and is innocent.

All four presenters did a fantastic job, but I want to talk particularly about Joyce. Our capital punishment system does everything it can to tell us that the people on death row aren’t people, they’re inhuman, or they’re monsters. Those kind of people don’t have families. They’re unloved and unlovable, we’re told. And within ourselves, we’ve each probably internalized some of that. So now picture a small, sweet woman standing in front of 90 people and saying very simply that the state is trying to kill her son, who is innocent and confined to a wheel-chair due to M.S., for which he is not receiving proper medication. Let Joyce tell you flat out, “The system doesn’t work,” because she knows from personal experience. Then try to think about the death penalty the same way.

These are the stories that have the capacity to change the way we conceive of the death penalty, by changing the way we conceive of in inmates. Saying, “I want to kill that animal” is one thing. Saying, “I want to kill Joyce’s son” is something completely different.

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 soundness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying health 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.

the first time i was prepared, in fact i initiated the conversation, but this time i was caught unawares — so it’s a damn good thing that i’m honest about our work, why i’m involved in it, and understand clearly that no matter how flat the pancake is, it still has two sides…

i was engaging 30-some odd members of the mid-cumberland council of healthcare social workers in a conversation yesterday about the intersection of mental illness and the death penalty and it was a good group of people to speak with even if they were, overall, a little more skeptical than i anticipated…

and i opened with some facts surrounding greg thompson’s mental illness as if they were the beliefs of a hypothetical client they were interviewing … i then exposed the factual nature of this hypothetical client and countered it with the insane proposition of the tn attorney general, who, knowing that greg is diagnosed with schizophrenia, has relentlessly pursued his execution over the past 2+ years…

i then gave some background on the actual murder and case and then came the punchline from the back of the room – “i grew up with brenda lane”…

brenda lane was the murder victim in this case … by all accounts a wonderful, giving, bright, human being who was deeply loving and deeply loved …

the woman who knew brenda was straight forward, easy-speaking, and thoughtful – it wasn’t a tension filled moment, just a surprise … but it could have been different had i not already spoken of the victim and her family with gentility, compassion, and concern … and in fact it opened up the conversation and i was pleased when my hour with them concluded …

i had spoken to the methodist communications staff back in the fall of 05′ for community shares and tcask … this was where brenda blanton lane was working, a recent hire, when her life was so tragically cut short by a deeply disturbed and severely mentally ill greg thompson … that was a powerful moment and again it was aided by my honest compassion and true concern for murder victim’s and the survivors of their homicide…

so who would have guessed that a childhood friend of brenda lane’s would have been in the group i was addressing … it just goes to show that if you do this work as an organizer your heart better be in a spiritually or humanistically centered place — because if it’s not you’ll be exposed by unexpected meetings in a small world…

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 core 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 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.

David Elliot at the National Coalition to Abolish State Killing and the founder and main author of the ridiculously successful Abolish the Death Penalty blog, recently posted saying that one of the sideline advantages of having so many anti-death penalty blogs is that when one can’t think of something to blog about on a given day, we can borrow from eachother. In that spirit, you have got to check out this entry on the NCADP blog. I just want to say that it is these kind of people that make us abolitionists look good. This guy is just nuts! Check out this post:
http://deathpenaltyusa.blogspot.com/2006/03/death-penalty-for-gays-and-lesbians.html or simply visit http://edgeshow.com/column/?p=10.

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 malfunction 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 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.

So there I was, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, on a pay phone in a men’s room (with all the surrounding pleasantry that entails) in a Hard Rock Cafe on Beale Street, the birth place of the blues, in Memphis, Tennessee. What in the World? Well, you see, with the advent of cell phones, and their emergence as a empire dominating our culture, the pay phone is going the way of the dodo. And those of us without cell phones are left in smelly men’s rooms to make calls when we’re on the road.

This post may come as a surprise to many who know me as an opposer of all things cell phone (when my mother recently purchased one, it nearly broke my heart). And I want to say off the bat, that I still think they are contributing to the atomization of our society and making us stupider and incapable of planning ahead. However, all that being said, I am starting to appreciate the utility of electronic, portable communications for an organizer.

Let’s take this weekend for instance. Now I had been asked, several weeks ago to speak at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church on Sunday morning (a great church with a really nice congregation, I thoroughly recommend it), but I was just going to make a quick day trip, wake up early (very early) on Sunday morning, drive to Memphis to two different talks at the church, have lunch with some folks, and head back. No problem. Then at the last minute on Friday, I got a call from some wonderful people I had met at Catholic Day on the Hill inviting me to speak to the district meeting of the St. Vincent De Paul society in Memphis on Monday night. Wow. Movers and shakers from every Catholic parish in Memphis all in one room and asking to hear what I have to say? You bet I can make it!

The only problem is that I was left with basically nothing to do between 1 pm on Sunday and 6 pm on Monday. I hadn’t planned on staying around Memphis, so I hadn’t set up any meetings. All of a sudden I have all this time to play with. Now I’d like you all to try to get a hold of pastors and organizational leaders at the last minute to set up meetings and the like. It is not easy. So you leave messages, but I had to just ask people to give me a call at home and then somehow I have to try to check messages. So here we are, back in the men’s room.

Now people who talk on their phones while driving scare me. And hearing snippets of halves of conversations all the time walking down the street still bugs me. But I’ll admit that when I’m up on the hill, or on the road in Memphis, or in a more rural area, say Carroll County where I’m heading tomorrow, they can be useful. So I guess that the lesson here for me is, get over yourself. Abolishing the death penalty is enough of a challenge. Utilize every tool that is presented to you. Man! that bugs me!

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 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 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.

one thing you want to do as an organizer is build actions in steps so that they lead somewhere … such was the case with this year’s march 1st legislative write-a-thon …

march 1st is an annual day for collective action across the state – something we plan, create tools for, and mobilize people to participate in … we moved from doing outdoor rallies at the legislature to holding “write-a-thons” that target elected officials with a message we want them to hear …

2006 is our 4th year of this event but it’s the first time that we have followed it up with a lobby day-on-the-hill … exactly 4 weeks apart ….

this year’s event was huge for us – we have generated 1063 letters to date and there is going to be a write-a-thon in carroll county on the bethel college campus this week so we may will surpass the 1100 mark and perhaps the 1200 mark!!!

how does this support our lobby day???

we targeted 7 state officials that we asked everyone to write to (as well as their own state senator and representative) — these targets included the chairs and vice-chairs of the house and senate judiciary committees — if we figure an average of 8 letters per writer then we believe that each of these key committee members received over 130 letters each in support of moratorium and study legislation — THAT’S A LOT OF LETTERS!

so on march 29th an extra visit for many people will be to stop by to say hi joe fowlkes, kent coleman, curtis person, and doug jackson and say i hope that you will support fairness in our criminal justice system and support the house bill or senate bill we wrote you about …

it may even be enough to move the house bill out of sub-committee and perhaps even committee this year …

so for those good citizens who wrote their 8 letters get a sense of the power that your letters have when combined with the intentional action of other good citizens … great work!!!

and next year we’ll write 2500 letters and in 2008 we’ll write 5000 letters … and we’ll pass legislation …

for those of you who didn’t pick up the pen, no matter how against the death penalty you are, you still have the chance to join those of us who acknowledge that we can accomplish more in unison than we can splintered and alone …

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 malfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness problem such as core trouble. Albeit the erectile disfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction 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 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.

as organizers we develop tools, script trainings, craft messages, and personalize outreach all in hopes of building a cohesive grassroots movement that will one day build and another day exercise political power…

and in the end we must, as rock n’ roll shari silberstein (sitting abolitionist of the year) of equal justice usa likes to say, trust the integrity of the process…

and one thing that means is an event will have a life of its own or at least unfold in acts like a play … like last night’s event in sewanee, tennessee on the campus of the university of the south…

act 1

it was raining either proverbial or actual cats and dogs on I-24 depending upon who you asked as regina hockett and I careened down the highway to sewanee from nashville … it was sort of like living a passage out of a fear and loathing novel as prayer and good kharma were the likely tools that got us safely on campus … but we were supposed to be there for the screening of the empty chair at 7:00 – our car skidded to a stop at the front door of bishop’s common at 7:41 … by the time I walked in, dripping wet and windblown after parking the car, there sat regina, juan melendez, reverend bill carroll in the middle, an ominous empty chair, and then 12th district attorney general michael taylor — i was set up but was reassured in remembering to trust the integrity of the process…

act 2

it was kind of a cat and mouse dance between me and ol’ mike taylor … he is about to try a capital murder case and not his first … like many a d.a. he likes to obfuscate the absolute discretion they hold in deciding to pursue death by laying out the limitations placed upon them (aggravating factors etc…) – so I counterpunched with a re-frame explaining not only the discretion but why it results in geographic disparities and cases that look alike resulting in wide varying sentencing outcomes … and so it went between us – parry, parry, jab, hook, parry, duck, jab, feign, parry, sidestep, jab … juan melendez says I won the match on points … I felt nimble … I thought taylor was gonna take the match to the world wrestling federation level when I called him on his assertion that the defense has access to far greater resources than the prosecution in a capital case … d.a. taylor hunts down meth labs with the best of em’ but I thought for sure he might be dipping into confiscated stashes of the scurrilous white powder when he made that comment … we both let it go there…

act 3

the closing act was the real show of the evening – the unscripted portion of the play … a woman in the audience, hope, started in on regina right off the bat after the video (regina’s 12 year old daughter adrienne was murdered 10 years ago in an Antioch parking lot) with “you don’t believe in the death penalty???” — which regina does not … hope’s sister had been murdered less than 2 years ago and she is still deeply grieving … she expressed her anger, outrage, and full feelings of frustration and pain … regina and juan, coming from experiences that give them the right to address someone like hope expressed their concern for her and made the point over and over again that she may best be served by forgiving her sister’s killer, not for the killer’s sake but for hers!!! in so doing, in letting go of the hatred and anger, a person in hope’s shoes takes away the power that a murderer holds over them … this dialogue dominated a large portion of the 75 minute discussion and in the end hope was shown love and compassion by panelists and audience members alike as tears were shed, honest smiles were managed, and we hope that hope is in a better place today to work through her grief than she was yesterday…

so there you have it – an event that had a life of its own while still getting across a message that benefits our work and goals … now its back to work, following up, deepening old ties and cultivating the newer ones

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 malfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness 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 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 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.