Today’s Nashville Scene carries a great article on Joyce House and the new developments in the Paul House case. Joyce was interviewed in our office last weekend, when she was in town to visit her son, and hearing her story, once again, brought tears to my eyes. It is almost unbelievable that our state could be so callous as to keep Joyce’s son from her for twenty years, while his health deteriorates, all for a crime that all evidence points to his innocence.

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

I wanted to take today to issue a thank you to all the people, around the state, who continue to inspire me and give me hope by stepping up and asking “What can I do?” Over the last few days, we’ve received a number of calls to the office offering to get “Free Paul House” postcards signed and mailed. The requests have been small, 10 cards, 25 cards, 30 cards, but think about it this way, If 100 people distribute 20 cards each, the Governor has just received 2000 postcards! And that doesn’t include the churches and groups that are distributing cards to large numbers of people.

We can’t all speak to a crowd of 100 people. We can’t all afford to make large donations. We can’t all mobilize out entire communities. But when everyone takes up just as much as they can do – write one letter, get 10 post cards signed, donate $25 dollars, make one church connection – we truly see the power of concerted group action. And you folks are the reason that I know that we can and will win this fight.

Thank you.

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 heart trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile malfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness 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.

“I have to give him hope,” Joyce House said Saturday speaking about her son, Paul House, an innocent man incarcerated on Tennessee’s death row, “However bad it (the 20 years of Paul’s incarceration) have been for me, it’s been 100 times worse for him.”

I don’t know how Joyce has done it. I don’t know how she has found the strength to face life day by over the past 20 years as her son was accused and convicted of a crime that he didn’t commit. I don’t know where she finds the strength to get out of bed each morning as Paul gets more and more ill (he suffers from M.S. and is relegated to a wheelchair). On her visits to see her son, Joyce cannot even touch him or help him put his shoe back on when it falls off.

I don’t know how she has survived this long, but I do know that she shouldn’t have to do it anymore. Paul House, according to the U.S. Supreme Court would be found not guilty if a jury looked at all the evidence in his case. So let’s send him home.

You can write to the Governor today and let him know that you want a full pardon for Paul House. Or come to a viewing of the story that 60 Minutes did about Paul House’s case on :

• Monday, December 4th (today) in Memphis – 7:30 pm Emmanuel House (51 North Auburndale)
• Tuesday, December 5th – Nashville – 6:30pm – Nashville Peace and Justice Center – 1016 18th Avenue South
• Sunday, December 10th – Knoxville – 7:00pm – Church of the Savior

Or get your Free Paul House postcards for you, your family, your co-workers, and your faith community to mail to the Governor by calling the TCASK office (615.256.3906)

And come to the Free Paul House Concert at Downtown Presbyterian Church here in Nashville on Thursday December 14th at 7:00 pm.

I was thinking about Paul and Joyce this morning when I read the NCADP Blog talking about another exoneree and an organization working to help exonerees pick up their lives again after finally at long last being released. Read the whole piece 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 dysfunction. Sexual problems mostly signal deeper problems: low libido or erectile dysfunction 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 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.

At least we used to be. Because, believe it or not, folks, a staff of two is pretty small (and having worked in the office alone for two months, I can tell you, that was even worse). But things are looking up. On Wednesday, the wonderful Christina Moeckel came into the TCASK office and spent the morning doing some of the not exciting but oh-so important database updating work that is so vital to the proper functioning of the office. Christina’s work helps guarantee that we can mobilize our members around crucial actions as quickly and efficiently as possible. And, Christina’s time this week meant that Stacy and I could focus on organizing and mobilizing people to get Paul House home to his mother for Christmas. So, GO CHRISTINA! WE LOVE YOU!

Then, to make matters even better, I had a meeting yesterday afternoon with the director of internships for Vanderbilt Divinity School, and it was a great meeting. The goals of the Vandy program and TCASK’s work simply coincide very well. So we are very hopeful that, come fall, we will have an energetic young Divinity student in our office 8-10 hours a week (and it’s free).

So, we don’t have much money. Big deal. We didn’t get into this for the money. And with great volunteers like Christina, and the chance to offer a learning environment for students at places like Vanderbilt, we can increase the productivity of our office at no cost to us and move our state ever-closer to abolition.

Now that’s what I call gittin 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 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 soul 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.

My parents are school teachers. Both taught in elementary schools while I was growing up. My father later became the principal of an elementary school, retiring in May, and my mother is currently a school librarian. My parents have dedicated their lives to the nurture and education of children–a noble but challenging task. When I was home in Dyersburg for Thanksgiving, I was watching the evening news and saw a story about another teacher whose lesson is not limited to reading, writing, or arithmetic but also include a powerful lesson in responding to violence.

Betty Lewing is a teacher in Lufkin, Texas–a state with a very high incarceration and execution rate, not known for its progressive responses to violent crime. Seven years ago, Betty’s daughter was kidnapped and raped. Obviously, Betty and her family were devastated. Betty needed a way to understand what had happened, and in her search for answers, began working in the prison. She was amazed to discover how many of the inmates were unable to read. Betty made a choice. She decided to respond to her personal tragedy, not by lashing out, but by teaching young people to read.

To date, Betty Lewing has taught 600 teenagers who were struggling to read the skills that they need to succeed. Perhaps even more importantly, Betty provides these youth, many from troubled homes, with a caring and consistent presence. Her students know that she is only a phone call away.

Betty Lufkin is an example of an ordinary person who made a choice–a choice to take a horrible tragedy and transform it into something healing, not only for herself but for untold numbers of people. Who knows how many lives have been changed, how many prison sentences have been avoided, because of Betty’s choice.

Click here to learn more about Betty’s story

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 soul trouble. Albeit the erectile dysfunction itself isn’t necessarily dangerous, erectile disfunction is sometimes one of the early warning symptoms of other underlying heartiness 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 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.

Not only easy, it’s exciting! What am I talking about, engaging in TCASK’s All I Want for Christmas is to Abolish the Death Penalty campaign. I just sent emails to 10 lucky friends and relatives requesting that, instead of buying me a Christmas present (that I probably don’t want anyway) this year, they make a tax-deductible donation to TCASK instead. If they all make a $25 contribution, we raise $250. If just ten of you (plus Stacy and I) do the same, we raise $3000! That would pay TCASK’s rent for the whole year!

And it is simple. Just click here to TCASK’s website, and fill out the very easy form. It will send email or postcard messages requesting the donation in lieu of your gift this year. So get it done before they go shopping! It’s easy, and what better present than abolishing the death penalty could there really be?

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 malfunction. 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 extremely dangerous. Unfortunately nearly all over-the-counter medicines have sometimes dangerous aftereffects, from muscle aches to death. If you buy any erectile disfunction medicaments like Cialis, check with a physician that they are sure to take with your other drugs. Do not take unwanted medications. Take Cialis to your local chemist’s shop which will dispose of them for you.

Last week, Joyce House, whose son Paul House has spent the last twenty years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit, sent the following letter to Governor Phil Bredesen. With Joyce’s permission we are reproducing the letter in its entirety here:

• The U.S. Supreme Court has said that Paul House is not guilty
• The lower courts have ignored the deadlines for their rulings
• Paul House suffers from a degenerative illness and is getting sicker
• Regardless of one’s opinion about the death penalty, it is wrong to hold an innocent man on death row
• Please issue a full pardon for Paul House

For more information about Paul House’s case, click here, or attend the December TCASK Chapter meeting in your area, where we will be watching the 60 Minutes story on Paul House and writing to the Governor.

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 malfunction 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.

Creating policy change ain’t easy. Especially changing ingrained policy like the death penalty. We need to convince our policy-makers that it’s the right thing to do and then we need to convince them that there is political space for them to do it, by demonstrating support from their constituents. Like I said, it ain’t easy.

So how do we do it? With an inside-outside strategy. That is to say that our legislators need to be hearing about the death penalty and how flawed a system it really is from outside the capitol in their districts and from inside the chambers of the legislature. Now, we at TCASK are primarily organizers. We go out and meet people where they live, pray, and work and mobilize and empower them to take action against the death penalty. That’s why I’ve been all across the state, from Memphis to Johnson City, this year, talking to groups and meeting with individuals to develop working groups to fight against the death penalty. So that’s the outside.

But the inside end of our work can be difficult too. And I just said that I’m an organizer. This generally means that I’m not up on the hill day in and day out. I don’t have years of experience and personal relationships with legislators built up. So we need to find someone who does.

Fortunately, we are blessed with a wonderful group of legislative partners who have exactly the experience, relationships, and skills as lobbyists to provide the inside part of the strategy. Yesterday, we sat down with our legislative partners from the Catholic Public Policy Commission, the ACLU, NAMI, and TACDL, to talk strategy, hash out the specifics of the bill, and figure out questions about sponsorship. And these folks know what they are talking about. They know the legislature inside and out. They can talk to legislative leaders behind the scenes to guarantee that an effective and fair study commission is nominated. And they can go to prospective sponsors and get in the door to pitch the bill way more easily than I could.

So, in a few weeks, two of these terrific lobbyists will approach one of our prospective sponsors with our draft of the bill. And today, I’ll be contacting our supporters in their district to get them to write their legislator and let him know that folks in the district want this to happen. And that’s how we work an inside-outside strategy to git er dun!

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 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 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.

I don’t like to stereotype, but there is something to be said for a “woman’s touch” to the office. I am simply (and probably very lightly) put not a decorator. My taste, as anyone who has seen me dress, is horrendous, and I just don’t worry much about my surroundings. Now since Stacy has come into the office, we’ve had a much more decorative leader. And she’s been bringing in plants and pictures. Now, on Sunday, it’s time for the big move, we are (drum roll please) reorganizing the office. We’re moving Stacy to a private office where she can do all her important Executive Director things, and rearranging the other desks and furniture to create a more friendly and functional office environment, including a meeting and eating area, a resources area, and at least 3 work stations so we can bring in new staff (we hope) as well as interns and regular volunteers.

And there are lots of opportunities for volunteers. We need someone (or lots of someones) to help us with updating our database for the legislative session, because as we go into it, we need to know how many supporters we have in each legislative district, and we need to be able to contact them. Database work isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s something that makes a huge impact on our work and even the shy and retiring can do it. We need people to work on developing materials around specific cases, and to help with long-term projects, like the Circle of Grace program. We need people to make phone calls on a regular basis. We even need people to help us move furniture on Sunday.

And last, but not least, we need some wonderful person to donate a small couch to the TCASK office. You see, we work very long hours a lot of the time, and when we’re talking strategy, or reading case briefings, or making phone calls, it can be really nice to have something other than a straight-backed chair to sit in. Plus it makes the office so much more homey (our last office had a couch, and I even choreographed a little dance to celebrate it). The more comfortable we are in our office, the more efficiently we can all work to end the death penalty once and for all and shut this office down!

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 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.

The legislative session is fast approaching. Seriously, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and then we come back and have just a few weeks before Christmas, and then we party on New Year’s and just as we’re recovering, BANG! the session is off and running. Which means, if you haven’t set up a meeting with your legislator yet to talk about the dangerous inherent flaws in the capital punishment system, you should get on that, but it also means that for us in the state office, we need to get together with our legislative partners and plot out our strategy to pass legislation this session!

So on Monday, I’ll meet with our legislative partners (there are a lot of folks interested in the death penalty, by the way, including The Catholic Public Policy Commission, the ACLU, the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Tennessee Justice Project, and the NAACP) and we’ll go over our bill, our work to pass it, and our potential legislative allies and opposition. What does that mean? It means that today I am re-working or bill after having asked some wonderful people at Equal Justice USA and New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty for some feedback. Then I’ll present those changes to our legislative partners and we’ll begin our work.

Crafting a moratorium bill can be difficult as we want to find common ground with as many other groups as possible and ensure that the people who are not abolitionists (TACDL, NAMI, the Justice Project) can support the bill and get behind it. What do we call the bill? Because that’s the name that legislators will hear. We want the title to include words that everyone can get behind, words like justice, fairness, and equality. Those are universal ideals that we can all agree on. The moratorium bill from last year did this somewhat, but I think that we can do it more effectively in this year’s draft – the one that’s going to pass. And we want to ensure that the study commission is a fair one, with all the key players and experts involved, and will look at all the necessary documents in order to generate a truly complete report on the system.

So buckle up, because the session is going to start and it’s going to be time for TCASK activists to hit the phones, the internet, and the halls of the legislature to let our representatives know that it is time to stand up for justice!

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 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 very much 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.