Rachel Maddow on Botched Execution in Arizona

Contrary to what you may have heard, Rachel Maddow is separate and apart from most pundits and talking heads. As much as I might enjoy some of the others, and can grudgingly see why some that I don't like have a following, Maddow stands alone. She focuses on stories no one else is talking about, or at least comes at them from another angle. She gives history and context on the subject she is talking about. And she usually makes you forget you're essentially listening to a professor's lecture. You don't get bored, and you always learn something.

Over the past year or so, Maddow has been tracking death penalty cases, particularly those with botched executions. She's focused on the problems with the state finding elusive lethal injection drugs, and openly wondered about the wisdom of capital punishment, if we can't abide by the Constitution's command against cruel and unusable punishment. Or, should we even be killing people at all?

So, when this Arizona botched execution story broke, it was actually pretty amazing that The Rachel Maddow Show was able to jump right in with a very thorough story on the subject. You don't have to be a liberal to get something out of this.
 

Yet Another Execution Goes Horribly Wrong

Image from source, Think Progress

We keep having these botched executions, and I know, it's difficult to care. I mean (barring the wrongly accused), anyone on death row is generally an awful person. And I've heard some say, "they deserve what they get." This is the United States of America, however, and we're not supposed to be all "eye for an eye" on criminal justices. There's a thing called the Constitution, and a line about cruel and unusual punishment.

So, what's the reason for all of the problems with something that ought to be fairly easy to do? Well, companies that make some drugs don't want them used for the purposes of causing death. And other drugs? Untested, and who ya gonna test 'em on? Well, looks like, the condemned. And it's not going so well.

[Excerpt]

Arizona’s Execution Attempt Goes Horribly Wrong As Man Remains Alive Nearly 2 Hours After Injection
 
Using an unusual concoction of drugs this afternoon, Arizona attempted to execute a man on death row. One hour after he was supposed to have been lethally injected, however, Joseph Rudolph Wood was still alive, “gasping and snoring.” Wood’s lawyers filed an emergency request to stay the execution and give the man life-saving help, but it was too late: After two hours, he died. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Jon Stewart Incredulous at Right-Wing Outrage Over Obama's Bin Laden Ad

Jon Stewart had much the same reaction as I did to the right-wing faux outrage machine's outsized response to an ad. The ad touted the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and implied that Mitt Romney might not have taken the same action. Which is supportably by video quotes, by the way. Anyway, Stewart is much funnier than I am, and has a crack production crew showing copious video that proves that this is not unusual, unprecedented, or even out the ordinary for Republicans to do. My only quibble is that I don't even concede that the ad needs apology or equivication. . .there's nothing wrong with it.

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Texas Bans Last Meal Requests for Death Row Inmates

Even Jesus got a last meal.

Is it my imagination, or does it seem that politicians--Republicans in particular--are just getting meaner and meaner? Seemingly meanness just for the sake of it. Let the sick die! Execute more people! Boo a gay soldier! Everything they've been doing seems to be geared toward sticking it to somebody. The latest news is out of Texas, where prisoners about to be executed will no longer be served the last meal of their choice. Which just sounds pointless and mean to me.


Now, in the story excerpted below, you'll find lists of extravagant meals, and I would agree to putting an end to that silliness. But good grief, how hard is it to put a rule list together? Limit it to a meal, a typical meal you might get at a restaurant. Make it standard portion sizes, limit the number of courses. Easy peasy. But it is more Republican to just shut it down all together. It's like in school where one kid acts up, and the teacher punishes the whole class.


[Excerpt]


Special Last Meals: Texas Prisons End Special Last Meals For Inmates Facing Execution 

Texas inmates who are set to be executed will no longer get their choice of last meals, a change prison officials made Thursday after a prominent state senator became miffed over an expansive request from a man condemned for a notorious dragging death. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Troy Davis Executed Despite High-Level Pleas

Image from source, MSNBC

I didn't know much about this case before Tuesday night. Davis's was the latest in a series of executions of people who just might not have been guilty of the crime they were accused of. The things that stand out to me:

- This crime happened in 1989. 22 freaking years ago.
- This guy was in his mid-40s, but was in his early 20s when this happened. Very different ages.
- One of the other guys associated with this crime seems just as likely to have done it.
- 7 out of 9 witnesses have recanted their testimony. That's a lot.
- Despite pleas from former President Jimmy Carter and the friggin' POPE, the US Supreme Court wouldn't hear it. Which means nothing would sway them I guess.

I have no idea if Troy Davis was guilty. But the possibility is very, very frightening.  If this man wasn't guilty, I can only hope that the attention he has drawn will help prevent any further innocent people from being executed.


[Executed]

Georgia executes Troy Davis after his last pleas fail 

Troy Davis was put to death by lethal injection late Wednesday for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer, maintaining his innocence until the end after convincing thousands of it, but not the justice system. . .

Read more at: MSNBC

Tying it All Together: The Tea Party Death Cult

This is good stuff about a bad thing. And it needs to be pointed out again, and again.

Image from DailyKos

[Excerpt]

The tea party death cult 

Many remember the moment when it was said that Rep. Alan Grayson had gone too far. The speech that signaled that he had far exceeded the reasonable political bounds of his swing district and had violated the supposed normative decorum of the hallowed House of Representatives. . .


. . .Grayson had a different characterization of the so-called Republican plan for healthcare:

Don't get sick. And if you do get sick, die quickly. . .

 . . .Until last week, Grayson's speech about Republican perspectives on health care could theoretically have been considered a rhetorical exaggeration. But not any more. It's now a simple fact that a good number of tea party voters actively like to see people die. . .

Read more at: DailyKos

Creepy: Rick Perry Draws Applause for Execution Record

I don't consider myself a namby-pamby liberal. For instance, I don't have much of a problem with guns.* I don't like pressing "1" for English.**  And I don't have much of a problem with capital punishment.*** All that said, I don't think I'd burst out into applause upon hearing that Rick Perry is the executin'-est Governor in the country.



* I also have little problem with reasonable gun control, and am creeped out by gun fetishists. You know, the need to be legally able to take your gun everywhere, like bars. ** While I find picking English annoying if it isn't the default, I also wouldn't make a big deal about it. *** Rick Perry, like George W. Bush before him, has seemingly had little if any compassion or empathy for those on death row, to the point of crassness. Perry has also refused to even consider commutation, even when it looked possible that a person might not be guilty. I personally would rather see a guilty person go free than an innocent person executed. 

Republicans Don't "Get" Comedy

Stephanie Miller is a radio host, with a comedy show that is a blend of pop culture, news and politics. She's a liberal, even though her dad was the running mate of Barry Goldwater in 1964. And she's frickin' funny. So, when you see Stephanie's head in one of those four-square chattering windows on a cable news show, you know what you're getting: political comedy.

Love her as I do, not every extemporaneous joke is a knee-slapper. So I'm not going to insist that I roared with laughter at the clip below. I can however appreciate it for its intent, which is yuks. But right-wing world has been in a bit of a tizzy, claiming--with straight faces--that Stephanie Miller wants Rush Limbaugh to be executed for treason. Puh-leeze.

[Excerpt]

Video: Stephanie Miller wants Rush executed, Larry King shrugs



I’ve decided to move this from the headlines, as it bugged me all night long and I was still chewing on it this morning. It reflects a cult of personality gone psychotic among the Left for Barack Obama, where any kind of dissent equates to treason. However, we’ve (almost) come to expect that, but as the Newsbusters point out, Larry King — who gave Bobby Jindal a tough interrogation the other night over something somebody else said — doesn’t even bother to follow up. . .

Read more at the aptly named: Hot Air

Gay 21-year Old Iranian Man Almost Hanged

Photo from TowleRoad, which also has coverage of the story

From my side of the fence, opposition to gay people from any quarter is difficult to understand. I mean I get it, some folks think it's "icky." But to take squeamishness to Fred Phelps levels, or to actually institute a death penalty for icky-ness? I'm sorry folks, that's just insane. They're just body parts. And most people, gay or straight, look icky doing it.

[Excerpt]

Top Judge Halts Iran Execution

Iran's Chief Justice has halted the execution of 21 year old man who allegedly had sex with another male when the accused was only 13 years old an international human rights group reports.

But Mouloodzadeh's legal problems are not over.

As is usual in Iran when a male is charged with having sex with another person of the same sex the charge against Makvan Mouloodzadeh was listed as rape. . .

Read more at: 365Gay.com, or if that makes you feel icky, try this one: MSNBC