Monday, November 21, 2005

Tookie Williams and the death penalty

With Tookie Williams (http://www.tookie.com) running out of time in Cali, we should once again contemplate the concept of “an eye for an eye.”

Seven months ago, I posted something here on this very topic. An excerpt:

“An eye for an eye,” they bellow, parroting the best homicidal traditions of the Old Testament. “Let the punishment fit the crime,” is the rallying cry. If this is truly our idea of justice, we are obviously living in a society that is not held to a higher standard than that of its “worst” criminals...a State that is no better or more civilized than the murderer it chooses to punish. We do not rape the rapist nor do we burn down the house of the arsonist, why then do we murder the man or woman charged with taking a life?

A State that wishes its citizens to respect human life must lead by example. How can anyone realistically expect the increasingly superfluous masses to lay down their weapons and be peaceful when our own elected (sic) leaders solve all their problems through violence and our own government is the largest arms dealer the world has ever known?

Capital punishment is not the way a humane, civilized society based on solidarity, justice, and freedom operates...but then again, we wouldn’t know a humane, civilized society based on solidarity, justice, and freedom if it walked up to us and planted a kiss on our other cheek.

Full original post: http://tinyurl.com/ajjun (and check out the comments)

Learn more about Tookie Williams here:
http://www.tookie.com


Snoop rallies for Tookie: http://tinyurl.com/7wtfz

Tookie backlash:
http://tinyurl.com/atwm8

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“As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities.”
—Voltaire (born 311 years ago today)

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WARNING: Self-promoting Demagoguery Ahead

I’ll be interviewed on KBOO Radio in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday, November 23 @ 1:00 pm (EST). To listen in: http://www.kboo.fm/index.php

...and there’s a book-related interview with me up at Z Net:
http://tinyurl.com/dzknf

Coming very soon: Josh Frank interviews yours truly for Counterpunch.


I’m just so popular…

Suddenly, everyone wants to talk with me. Why do you think this is?
a) the Can-Can dress
b) having my very own Wikipedia page
c) that little deal I made with Beelzebub

Thoughts, anyone?

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Posted on 11/21 at 05:57 AM
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