An embarrassment to the great State of Texas

[clover]

How can the constituents keep an idiot like this around any longer?  He's acting like a mafioso and is doing damage to those states that have the death penalty.

http://www.examiner.com/x-25187-Houston-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m10d1-Is-Perry-hiding-evidence-in-death-penalty-case

[2Aggies]

Yep - another media influenced election in the making. All the facts are not presented in this story and we are being blasted with it from all sides. There are actually 2 people that have suppossedly been replaced relating to this. I don't know if Kay is doing a great job of controlling the media or if the opposition is. Rumour here is it is an out of state group behind it.

There is no complelling evidence and repeated requests to show proof to warrant the expenses and drugout process has not been forecoming. Therefore, I as a taxpaying citizen, say until eveidence is produced, this case is closed.

However, I hardly find it embarassing that an elected official refuses to bow down to outside pressure groups trying to make a case without evidence. Actually, in light of the fact that it could be hurting his re-election I find it refreshing he is willing to stand his ground based on what evidence he has.

* Disclaimer - I have not made a decision on who to vote for and am not endorsing any political candidate. Quite honestly I wish we had a better choice, but it is politics and the voters are getting screwed again.

[clover]

All that Perry has done is give liberals an excuse to attack the death penalty nationwide......shame on Perry.  By the way it's 4 men Perry has release 4 commissioners from the commission that was doing the investigation.  The death penalty is a contentious issue and Perry has made it even tougher for the rest of the states.

http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/10/rick_perry_covers_his_collusion_in_faulty_execution.php

[bethieb]

Since elections nation wide seem to be a joke on voters generally, maybe kinky freidman will win next round    on the positive side, the great State of Texas is not issuing IOUs in lieu of legal tender, unlike the failed State of California. 

[clover]

No one is hammering Texas...just the loon who sits in the governors mansion.  It's hard enough getting the death penalty passed in the state of California, (12% of America's population) but then you get an idiot that ends up on all of the national news channels attempting to cover up his callous actions.  BTW  there aren't anymore IOU's  good try though.

[DrKyle]

This is an excellent example of why the death penalty is unwise.  I support the death penalty in principle; anyone guilty of first degree murder should die.  However, I recognize that the courts are far from fair, and that people are frequently wrongly put to death (I don't know if that was the case here, but we know it to be the case in general).  If we give someone life w/o parole, and we later find them to be innocent, we can let them out and try to repair the damage.  There is nothing we can do if we have already killed them.

If I had a crystal ball and was able to look back in time and see whether the person was guilty, I'd be all in favor of stringing them up old style.  But we don't have that ability, and as such it is unwise.

[2Aggies]

To clarify this - Cameron Todd Willingham intentionaly set fire to his home in 1991 while his 2 yr old and 1 yr old twins were inside. He had beaten his wife during her pregnancy in an attempt to abort the babies. He was tried and found guilty. He received multiple appeals and after each one the conviction was upheld. As is usual in Texas, death row inmates generally have over 10 years to abuse the appeal process and he did. Each time with no new evidence and each time different courts ALL reaching the same guilty conclusion. The state fire marshal (since died) maintained the fire was arson until death. The local fire investigator continues to maintain it was arson. Willingham was executed in 2004. 13 years after he killed his children.
Suddenly in 2008 someone hired an independent "arson expert" that they had to go all the way to Baltimore to find. Perhaps this was the first one they could find that would be willing to make a statement he could not suport, but would take the paycheck anyway.He is the one who has claimed the arson findings were not "scientifically supported" and claims the investigators had a poor understanding of fire science. Nothing else has been provided. He is apparently using 2004 "scientific" processes that were not in use in 1991. I'll bet 50 years from now they will be mocking our current "modern" day processes too.
This independent man has failed to produce one shred of evidence to support his claims and is obviously working for someone's $$. Oddly enough he was hired shortly before it became public knowledge that Kay was putting together an exploratory committee for a run at the Governors seat.

[2Aggies]

Regarding the replacement of 2 (not 4) persons on the commission, perhaps Perry's group discovered someone was on the take. It's not like it hasn't happened before or will happen again.

It's politics and I think we can all agree it is becoming more and more "acceptable" to voters to do things that do not have the appearence of being the right thing. I agree it has the appearence of not being on the up and up. I cannot decide myself. I have been watching this and we can be sure of one thing, it is not over.

Here in Texas we are bracing ourselves for what will probably be one of the most brutal primaries ever. I dread seeing all the mud slinging, political ad's, and getting the political calls which do not have to abide by "do not call" rules. I am receiving at least 2 peices of political mail a week, probably because I am an active, registered voter who goes to the polls every time there is an election. They buy the voter list for every election and then sort them down to who votes the most. I know, I ran for District Clerk several years ago and I did. No need to send expensive campaign materials to non-voters.

Maybe we could move to AC until the March primaries are over.

[2Aggies]

All that Perry has done is give liberals an excuse to attack the death penalty nationwide......shame on Perry.  By the way it's 4 men Perry has release 4 commissioners from the commission that was doing the investigation.  The death penalty is a contentious issue and Perry has made it even tougher for the rest of the states.

http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/10/rick_perry_covers_his_collusion_in_faulty_execution.php

Sorry dog, but liberals do not seem to need anything for an excuse to attack a Republican. Please do tell the names of the 4 people you cite.
Perry is not making it tougher. Bleeding heart liberals are. I wish (not literally) one of the liberals who is directly involved in the campaign to abolish the death penalty had their home invaded and their family members raped and slaughtered like animals. I predict they would then want to push the button to start the flow of lethal drugs into the killers veins.

[clover]

I guess it depends which commission you are talking about......but who really cares which commission it is.  this is a cover up, plain and simple and it's all over the national news......which is not a good thing for those that support the death penalty nationwide.  That's my point, plain and simple.  All of the rest of this is horseshit and posturing, flag waving...etc.  If he were the governor of Nebraska I'd be pissed off.  

[clover]

Read the link I posted and count to 4.  When an issue hits the national news it becomes a national issue.  I could care less what liberals do to Republicans and vice versa.....and where do you think the democrats are on this issue?  OJ Simpson got off too...this is about the Constitution.

[deadserious]

This is an excellent example of why the death penalty is unwise.  I support the death penalty in principle; anyone guilty of first degree murder should die.  However, I recognize that the courts are far from fair, and that people are frequently wrongly put to death.

I used to hugely support the death penalty.  In fact I was a very vocal supporter.  Only recently have I reviewed my thoughts on the matter and switched sides of the argument. 

Like you I do not oppose the death penalty on principle, but more on a distrust of government and distrust of the system behind making the death decisions.

[2Aggies]

Read the link I posted and count to 4.  When an issue hits the national news it becomes a national issue.  I could care less what liberals do to Republicans and vice versa.....and where do you think the democrats are on this issue?  OJ Simpson got off too...this is about the Constitution.

I read it. The head referred to in the first paragraph is Bassett, who is referred to in the second paragraph. The other two people cited terms expired and they did not receive extentions. Hardly the same. However, Bassett's term had actually not expired and he was forced to step down. (See you can't belive everything you read) Another commissioner had publicly announced support for Kay, duh he's gone. Those are the 2 who actually were replaced. The two whose terms expired were set to be replaced already and one of them actually did not want to continue. I'll try to find the article from the Dallas morning news and the Austin Statesman.

Dog - I am not arguing this is a matter to be swept under the rug. I think the replacing of persons is wholly political.  I just have not heard of any evidence to support re-opening the case. Beyler has made accusations but he has yet to present any evidence to support his accusations. That's like me saying the Aggie vs Razorback game was fixed by Jerry Jones, but failing to provide evidence. (I think he slipped something in the water to make us call stupid plays) (if that was the case he must go to a lot of A&M games)

[peterbj7]

people are frequently wrongly put to death

Britain used to have the death penalty.  I believe I am correct in saying that since it was abolished EVERY ONE of the people executed in the last few decades was found at least to have been unsafely convicted, and that according to evidence now available not one of them would have been convicted now.  The principal new source of evidence is of course DNA.