Work to end the death penalty

Need like-minded people to assist on a nationwide campaign to eliminate the death penalty. Any takers?

“You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.” -Marian Wright Edelman

Oh, I hadn’t seen a man get red in the face and seem to want to swallow his tongue. I mean the fellow sitting across from me, a journalist celebrated locally for his very right wing views. But I did so in a way that didn’t seem to inflame too much the mood, and the mood was peaceful. Most of us had eaten our fill, and were perhaps eager for the speechifying to get on and over with.

I have been thinking about the Amnesty project to end the death penalty for some time, and I finally started writing some letters yesterday.

Blog entry here!

a little question to pose people:
“do we execute the “20th hijacker” for something he didn’t do? his failure to act on the knowledge he had to prevent the 9/11 attacks may cost him his life because society demands this response to the horrors now being relived. so who will do the killing? what if society picked you to perform the execution? no problem? how about with your bare hands around his neck. you personally will be held accountable for squeezing the life out of this man as he stares into your eyes. can you do it?...”
read the rest at http://tomawesome.blogspot.com

I haven’t convinced my wife, but I’m working on her. Am ready to suggest this in the way of letters and essays to other activists and the public.

Until they ban the death penalty.

“Justice for All? Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty”
Austin, TX – Sponsored by Texas Moratorium Network
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: MARCH 20, 2006

This is an international, all-media, juried art exhibition on view May 6 through May 22, 2006 at Gallery Lombardi in Austin, Texas and online for at least one year at www.deathpenaltyartshow.org. Artwork must address the issue of the death penalty. Purpose of the juried art show is to foster the creation of new artwork on the death penalty, to celebrate artwork that may already have been created and to encourage and enhance civic engagement and dialogue about the death penalty. We welcome submissions from artists who engage the issue from any and all viewpoints.

JURORS are Annette Carlozzi, Curator of American and Contemporary Art at the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin; Lora Reynolds, owner of Lora Reynolds Gallery in Austin. Lora Reynolds Gallery presents contemporary art in all mediums by established and emerging, national and international artists; and Malaquias Montoya, an artist and professor of art at the University of California, Davis.

For an easy online entry form please visit the website or contact the organizers by email. Work in all media is eligible.

Prizes totaling $1,300 including $500 for Best in Show.

Two-dimensional work must be suitable for installation, ready to hang and must not exceed 84” in any dimension. Sculpture should not exceed 84” including base, and must be light enough for two people to handle. Videos/DVDs must be no longer than 15 minutes. Fees: Up to 3 slides/JPGs/photographs/videos = $15/artist. Additional slides/JPGs/photographs/videos = $5 each.

For more information, contact: Scott Cobb at 512-302-6715 or Email: info@deathpenaltyartshow.org.
Website:http://www.deathpenaltyartshow.org
Prospectus:http://www.deathpenaltyartshow.org/prospectus.html

might be our new friend in the court. this news blurb doesn’t mention but it isn’t the discriminatory nature of the justice system that they won on, rather that death by injection was cruel and unusual. just a small step in the right direction:

WASHINGTON—New Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito cast his first vote on Wednesday, as the court refused to give Missouri permission to immediately execute a man who killed a teenage honor student.

The court’s 9-0 action was procedural, however, because a stay was already set to expire Wednesday afternoon.

Separately, the court acting without Alito rejected Michael Taylor’s appeal that argued that Missouri’s death penalty system is racist. Taylor is black and his victim was white.

“The death penalty as practiced in the state of Missouri discriminates against African-Americans such as (Taylor), such that it is a badge of slavery,” the justices were told in a filing by Taylor’s lawyer, John William Simon.

Taylor had won a stay until Wednesday afternoon in a lower court, and Missouri wanted the justices to lift that stay. It was the second time in two days that the Supreme Court had turned down a Missouri request to allow it to proceed with the execution. The Tuesday vote, without Alito’s participation, came hours after he won Senate confirmation to succeed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and took the oath.

courtesy of http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/2/1/165223.shtml?s=lh

of the maximum security prison. I also visited the execution chambre.