ShortFormBlogSeptember 21, 2011

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Hopefully, today’s execution of Brewer can remind all of us that racial hatred and prejudice leads to terrible consequence for the victim, the victim’s family, for the perpetrator and for the perpetrator’s family.
Clara Taylor, the sister of James Byrd, Jr. • Speaking of the execution of Lawrence Russell Brewer, one of the men responsible for the infamous hate crime that took her brother’s life. “We’re making progress,” she said. “I know he was guilty so I have no qualms about the death penalty.” This is in contrast to Taylor’s nephew, Ross Byrd, who felt it wasn’t the right move prior to the execution. Brewer was pronounced dead at 6:21 p.m. local time — or 7:21 EDT. His final words: “No. I have no final statement.” source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Sep 2011 21:24

yeah … The U.S. Supreme Court has stepped in to render a decision on the ultra-controversial Troy Davis death row case, which delayed his execution past 7 p.m. EDT.
… butAll they’ve forced right now is a delay — there is a chance that the court might let the execution go forward. His supporters are in a frenzy this evening. source

» A last gasp: The Supreme Court’s decision is Davis’ final option — today alone, he’s offered to take a polygraph, he’s tried to appeal to the Georgia pardons board, he’s gone to the Georgia Supreme Court … and the U.S. Supreme Court’s move was a hail-mary play which had no guarantee of working. The court likely knew it was coming, though. Davis has knocked on their door before, and they’ve answered at least once — back in 2008, they gave Davis an opportunity for a new trial, but a federal judge didn’t go for it.

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

I suspect if something was up there like that about Joe Biden, they’d get rid of it. If you’re a responsible business, you don’t let things like that happen in your business that have an impact on the country. To have a business allow that type of filth to be purveyed through their website or through their system is something that they say they can’t handle, but I suspect that’s not true.
Rick Santorum • Decrying the fact that, as you quite possibly already know, typing “Santorum” into Google yields a pretty surprising first search result. This has been true for some time, but it’s now become a renewed thorn in Santorum’s side because of his bid for the GOP presidential nomination. His answer? Call on Google to censor the offending definition, it seems. What we like most about this quote, though, is the “have an impact on the country” part. Confidence can be admirable, but what odds would you put on Rick Santorum really believing he has a chance to be President? This guy is campaigning hard, and for no apparent reason. source

Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

With all the hubbub over Troy Davis’ probable execution, there’s another death penatly case that’s about to hit a head tonight, and this one was probably far more notorious at the time. In 1998, James Byrd, Jr. (right), was murdered in one of the worst hate crimes in modern times — dragged behind a pickup truck that was moving at full-speed. Lawrence Russell Brewer, left, is an avowed white supremacist and one of two men on death row for the attack. Brewer is scheduled to die tonight, but Byrd’s own son doesn’t want that. “You can’t fight murder with murder,” Ross Byrd said about the case. “Life in prison would have been fine. I know he can’t hurt my daddy anymore. I wish the state would take in mind that this isn’t what we want.” The execution is set for 6 p.m. local time tonight. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

They flew the plane in, but we caused it. We were bombing them, and they told us to stop.
Tony Bennett • Discussing September 11, 2001 with Howard Stern on Monday night. As you might guess, the legendary singer regretted saying this after the fact, because it drew a ton of controversy. “There is simply no excuse for terrorism and the murder of the nearly 3,000 innocent victims of the 9/11 attacks on our country,” he said in a statement released Tuesday night. “My life experiences — ranging from the Battle of the Bulge (in World War II) to marching with Martin Luther King — made me a lifelong humanist and pacifist, and reinforced my belief that violence begets violence and that war is the lowest form of human behavior.” So, in other words … he stands behind his basic point (violence begets violence), but admits he worded it really poorly. Check. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink