Archive for

June, 2007



Committee Hopping

It’s the end of session in the Tennessee General Assembly, which means that scheduling is hectic, work is fast paced, and (if you’ve laid the groundwork and recruited the right sponsors and co-sponsors) bills can move fast!

Yesterday afternoon, the House Budget Subcommittee met and expedited its work on behind the budget bills with small fiscal notes that the Senate has already taken action on, including . . . HB 2162, the death penalty study bill! The bill sponsored by Rep. Rob Briley, and co-sponsored by Democrats and Republicans from across the state, passed the subcommittee by voice vote, then passed the full Finance, Ways and Means Committee about an hour later!

But wait! There’s more! The little bill that could didn’t stop there, and neither did the legislature. After a 45 minute break, the House Calendar and Rules Committee convened and they moved (the an amazingly speedy fashion) the bills that had just been passed by the Finance Committee to the House floor session, which will convene today at 10:00 am! Three committees in one afternoon!

Now of course this didn’t just happen. We’ve spent months laying the groundwork for yesterday and today. We worked hard with our legislative partners to recruit excellent sponsors, Rob Briley is the chair of the house Judiciary Committee and an influential member of the Democratic Caucus while Senate sponsor Doug Jackson is the vice-chair of the Senate Judiciary and a death penalty supporter (giving our bill real credibility). And we carefully selected who we would ask to co-sponsor the bill, so we have a number of conservative Republicans and mainstream Democrat signed on. But most importantly, we’ve received so much help from Mike Murphy and Jennifer Murphy at the Catholic Public Policy Commission, Joe Sweat and Hedy Weinberg at the ACLU, and the folks at NAMI and TACDL. Without those relationships (and organizing is all about personal relationships) we would never be where we are today!

So call your House reps today and tell them to vote in favor of House Bill 2162 to create a commission to study Tennessee’s death penalty!

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An Incredible and Tragic Story

No, I’m not talking about the Paul House case right here in Tennessee (although that’s certainly an incredible and tragic story). Instead, this past Saturday, a tombstone was placed on the grave of Joe Arridy, a man with the mental capacity of a 5 year old who was executed for a crime that he did not commit in Colorado in 1939. Here’s part of this heartbreaking story:

As strange as it may seem for a prison official, Warden Roy Best developed a warm friendship with Joe Arridy. He gave him toys to play with in his cell. The tough warden took Joe home on Christmas Eve of 1939 and presented him with a toy train. The toy train ran an express lane down the corridor of Death Row. A death row inmate would reach through the bars and poke the train over, and Joe would joyfully yell out: “Train wreck! Fix the wreck!” To make Joe happy, the hardened death row inmates would send the toy train back down the corridor to Joe.

The NCADP blog has the entire story 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 appeal among men is the erectile dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile disfunction can be the symptom a strong heartiness 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 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 Money Pit

An article in yesterday’s Tennessean entitled “U.S. violent crimes rise for second straight year” (also found in The Washington Post) caught my attention as I was skimming over the headlines. According the the article, the number of violent crimes nationwide rose for the second straight year in 2006. Criminologists and law enforcement theorized various reasons for the rise: an increase in the juvenile population, growing numbers of released inmates, and the rise of serious gang problems in smaller jurisdictions. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, chairman of the Senate crime subcommittee, is quoted as saying, “It’s time to get back to crime fighting basics–that means more cops on the streets, equipped with the tools and resources they need to keep our neighborhoods safe.” This morning a similar news story ran on a local news station with a focus on cities like Memphis which are struggling with high rates of violent crime and a lack of resources to maintain the number of officers needed to curb the violence.

So, these stories got me to thinking: hey…here’s an idea…instead of spending the $2,000,000 plus over and above what it costs to incarcerate someone for life by seeking the death penalty, let’s take the money saved by a sentence of life without parole and pay for the additional police officers that our communities need to limit the violence before someone takes a life.

Hey…here’s another idea (I’m on a roll)…let’s imagine the money the state of Tennessee, with the 9th largest death row in the country (102 people), could have saved over the last 40 years by not having a death penalty. Now I am the first to admit that math is not my strong suit, but, if you multiply 102 by 2,000,000 plus, I am pretty sure that the product equals a lot of money! With the abolition of the death penalty, Tennessee would see savings in the millions, money which can go to our police, early childhood programs, schools, health care (particularly mental health care), and to help victims of violence truly access the support and resources that they need to begin to heal.

I continue to be amazed at our short sightedness. We execute people. Violent crime rates rise. The state scrambles for enough resources. We pour our money into the black hole of the death penalty. Are we safer?

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

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