Rantical- the blog

(Here’s an article I wrote 5 years ago for my old E.P. Rants blog. As I read the comments from a friend that “can’t wait” for the death sentence of the woman that’s been arrested for the death of 8 year old Sandra Cantu, I thought this would be a good time to recycle my old words.)

Monday afternoon as I was about to leave the house for an appointment, it was announced that the jury for the Scott Peterson trial had made a decision on his punishment. After deciding last month that Peterson was guilty of murdering his wife and child, the jury decided that he should now be put to death by the state of California.

The San Mateo County courtroom in which this trial took place is approximately 20 miles from my home. Despite the semi-close proximity, I was never once ever tempted to attend the big spectacle that took place so close to my turf, but apparently many other people did. Watching the TV news, one could see a large crowd spectators surrounding the courthouse, hovering around the area like a pack of awe-struck voyeurs. In the hours leading up to the decision, TV news reporters asked some of the bystanders why they were there. One man holding a sign favoring Peterson’s execution was very happy to get his moment of fame on the TV news. Listening to him talk, you’d get the distinct impression that his life consisted of watching the news, surfing the web, and camping out at public spectacles.

One of the major statements that this man made was that the state of California would be saving a lot of money by putting Scott Peterson to death. What this man didn’t realize is the fact that the death penalty is considerably more expensive than life imprisonment. In the state of California, $90 Million is spent annually above and beyond the ordinary costs of the justice system on capital cases. $78 million of that total is incurred at the trial level. This type of price difference is certainly not limited to California. In Florida, an average of $3.2 million was spent per execution from 1973 to 1988, racking up an estimated $57 million for 18 executions. In Texas, the biggest state for executions, every death penalty case typically costs three times more than the price of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years.

I have a lot of problems with the death penalty. My biggest issue is that I don’t like the idea of a potentially innocent person being sentenced to death, only to find out later that they were actually innocent. Since 1973, 117 people in 25 states have been released from death row after evidence was presented to prove their innocence. Of the 117 people that were released, I can guarantee you that each and every one of these people had hard-working lawyers that spent a considerable amount of time to overturn each one of these convictions. Unfortunately, not every wrongly-convicted person on death row has been so fortunate, and mistakes have been made in the past.

Now, I’m not about to make any claims about Mr. Peterson being innocent, as he certainly appeared to act like a guilty man if there ever was one. He had access to one of the most powerful lawyers in the country, so his conviction had nothing to do with being ill-served by inadequate representation. While there was no definitive evidence that absolutely proved that Mr. Peterson murdered his wife, there was substantial evidence that he acted in a manner completely inappropriate to the circumstances.

The message to the citizens of America is very clear- inappropriate behavior can definitely lead to a death sentence.

I could go on about why I believe the death penalty is such a terrible idea, but to bring it home to the “holier-than-thou” conservatives that claim to be in favor of fiscal government spending and the “sanctity of life,” I’ll make it as simple as possible.

Death sentences cost considerably more than the price of life imprisonment, and once administered, they can never be reversed.

A death sentence can never return a murdered loved one back to the world of the living. It merely validates the act of killing. Anyone that claims to be “pro-life” can never ever support the death penalty without appearing like an absolute hypocrite. When you validate the death penalty, you can never ever claim to hold the “sanctity of life” as your absolute guiding principle, as you’ve contradicted your core beliefs.

Ultimately, the families of the murder victims and the murderers are the ones that are most affected by the decision to use the death penalty as punishment for the most heinous of crimes. The pain that these families will suffer cannot be understated, as the murder of a loved one leaves a permanent stain on their lives that can never be erased.

Millions have dollars have been spent on the Scott Peterson case, and the recommendation for the death penalty will ensure that millions of more dollars will be spent by the state of California for the invariable appeals process. As the state of California struggles with massive budget problems, leading to a shut-down of various hospitals, fire stations, libraries, educational programs, and other important public services, there always seems to be plenty of money to pay for the business of death. The prosecution and defense lawyers will be gainfully employed for the continuing process, while the families will endure the trauma of this hellish legal nightmare with each and every new trial.

A simpler solution would be simply to sentence the guilty parties to life sentences, sparing unnecessary grief, and putting an end to a legal process that perpetuates massive overruns of state budgets.

The guilty parties would live out the rest of their hellish lives in a threatened environment amongst murderers, rapists, sadists, and deviants. The government would save a considerable amount of money, and remove the judicial branch from the business of legitimized murder.

Eric Predoehl
December 16, 2004

Death Penalty Information Center
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
http://www.ncadp.org

David Elliot’s blog of the NCADP
http://www.deathpenaltyusa.blogspot.com

Murder Victims’ Families for Reconciliation
http://www.mvfr.org

Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
http://www.cuadp.org

Sister Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking”
http://www.prejean.org

Moratorium Now / Equal Justice USA
http://www.quixote.org/ej/index.html

To follow up on this subject, I’d also recommend my blog posting entitled What if we were wrong?, which I wrote in 2007. It mentions Jerry Miller, a man who spent 25 years locked up before DNA proved his innocence. He became the 200th person exonerated through DNA evidence thanks to the organization known as Innocence Project.

Going Social Now shared this little treat:

… discovered via SomethingChanged.com.au.

Spencer Elden, the baby from the cover of Nirvana‘s “Nevermind,” recently became an intern for Obey Giant, the company created by Shepard Faiery, the artist responsible for those cool Obama graphics.

http://obeygiant.com/headlines/welcome-spencer-elden

MTV News had a write-up about Mr. Elden:

Now, 17-year-old Elden is a high school student, who told MTV News last year that “it’s kind of creepy [to think] that that many people have seen me naked – I feel like I’m the world’s biggest porn star.”

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1598985/20081110/nirvana.jhtml

Speaking of Shepard Faiery & Obey Giant, there’s an art exhibit of his work in Washington D.C. that’s ending soon.

You can also get a free Shepard Faiery sticker from MoveOn.

UPDATE: Nerve.com recently posted an article entitled “The 40 Greatest Lost Icons in Pop Culture History,” featuring Spencer Elden, and various other individuals that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

Here’s an odd one…. Imagine Paul McCartney as the reincarnation of Buffalo Bill Cody. How about George Harrison as Jesse James? John Lennon would be Frank James.

It’s an unusual theory, and that’s just of the iceberg. Brian Stalin lays out the case for this theory, drawing a lot of odd parallels, including the tragic deaths of Lennon and James. It’s a fascinating idea, and you’ve got to see it to believe it…..

http://brianstalin-thebeatles.blogspot.com/

Every year, Project Censored, a media research and analysis group based at California’s Sonoma State University, publishes a list of important stories that were completely ignored by the mainstream media.

Just in case you missed it, here’s a quick summary of the 25 Most Important Stories of 2008. Please share this with others

#1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation
# 2 Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA
# 3 InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business
# 4 ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America?
# 5 Seizing War Protesters’ Assets
# 6 The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
# 7 Guest Workers Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking
# 8 Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly
# 9 Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Testify
# 10 APA Complicit in CIA Torture
# 11 El Salvador’s Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror
# 12 Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind
# 13 Tracking Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq
# 14 Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste
# 15 Worldwide Slavery
# 16 Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights
# 17 UN’s Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights
# 18 Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers
# 19 Indigenous Herders and Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction
# 20 Marijuana Arrests Set New Record
# 21 NATO Considers “First Strike” Nuclear Option
# 22 CARE Rejects US Food Aid
# 23 FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs
# 24 Japan Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror
# 25 Bush’s Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer

For more information, be sure to check out the main webpage at:
ProjectCensored.org

(a posting also shared at Barack Obama NOW!)

Twenty years ago on election night, I decided to go out to the movies. I went to go see a new John Carpenter movie called “THEY LIVE,” which was a story about alien beings taking over the world, converting all of the human beings into docile puppets, and transforming the earth’s atmosphere into a toxic wasteland completely appropriate for visitors from the Andromeda Galaxy.

John Nada, played by Roddy Piper, is a recently-employed construction worker that discovers a special pair of sunglasses that allows him see the true faces of people. When he wears these sunglasses, he’s also able to see all sorts of subliminal messages on television, magzines, billboards, and other types of media- “OBEY”, “CONFORM”, “MARRY AND REPRODUCE”, “CONSUME”, “WATCH TELEVISION” and “SLEEP.” Without the sunglasses, the aliens from Andromeda are completely indistinguishable from the normal human beings. In many cases, political leaders are actually Andromeda aliens, providing leadership for the citizens that follow what they perceive as solid patriotic behavior.

The citizens don’t even realize that that their environment has been transformed into a poisonous toxic wasteland, and they’ve been programmed to believe some misinformation that will keep them permanently enslaved into an economic slavetown.

Some how or another…. don’t ask me why, but the events of the McCain campaign reminded me of this silly little movie.

There’s a lot of really nutty people out there, doing a lot of really stupid things to support John McCain. Idiots are coming out of the backwoods to share lies and misinformation about Obama.

Hunter at DailyKos had some good insights about how John McCain and Sarah Palin are focusing their energies on mobilizing the wingnuts:

Yeah, she’s firing up the wingnut base. Who cares. The wingnut base is the easiest group of people on the planet to fire up. They get fired up when they think gays might steal their marriages. They get fired up when they have to press “one” for English. They get fired up when some black guy gets all uppity and runs for president. They get fired up when their sub-sub-sub-version of Christianity isn’t the dominant religious ideal of the nation. Holding Sarah Palin in front of them is like teasing a dog through a fence, but that’s about it.
_
So ya know, McCain — by all means, if you’re going to throw this Hail Mary pass, then throw it in earnest. Let her pop on out there for interviews with real reporters — you know, as opposed to the biting “journalism” of people like Kristol and Hannity. Have her answer questions on the stump that haven’t been pre-approved in triplicate. Right now, “maverick” seems synonymous with “coward” — if the strength of your convictions extends only to inciting crowds against Obama, and you’ve got nothing else to run with, then I don’t think you can get too snippy when the public just starts laughing at you.

I’d like to believe that the American people are waking up to recognize the nonsense for what it is- nonsense. It is encouraging when I hear about lifelong Republicans deciding they can no longer support what is being called the “Republican platform” in 2008.

I’ve witnessed some really irrational behavior – relatives that tell me how Obama has so many “bad” alliances, yet they get extremely angry when I remind them of the questionable alliances of McCain and Palin. I’m told that “history matters,” but if I bring up certain information regarding the histories of their favorite candidates, then my information is “irrelevant.”

Sometimes, you just can’t talk politics with certain people. You love ‘em as human beings, but their political opinions drive you up the wall. You ask yourself “What planet are these people from?” “Am I actually related to them?”

Me, I’m just hoping for a smart president that has a better understanding of new economics in the 21st century; a leader that recognizes the relevance of an intelligent energy strategy, actual science concepts, and can deliver a coherent international policy. Oh…. I also want a leader with a plan to get our soldiers out of Iraq so we don’t have to spend $10 billion a month for an occupation of a country that doesn’t even want us there.

I wish I could order some of those sunglasses…

Goodbye Shea Stadium.  I never went to Shea, but I’ve certainly heard of it

Last night, Billy Joel, the last scheduled performer at Shea Stadium before it would be torn down, was joined by none other than Paul McCartney.

The Beatles, were the ones that gave Shea Stadium it’s most memorable moment in history.  On August 15, 1965, the Beatles played there, marking the first time a sports stadium was used for a rock concert. 55,600 fans showed up at this event,  and it set a new world record for a pop concert in terms of attendance and gross revenue. The Beatles’ share of the $304,000 box-office takings was also a record – $160,000.

As I watched excerpts of the concert on YouTube, I noted something that seemed kind of funny in retrospect.  All the still photographers were crammed into a small box-like enclosure.   One would barely have any room to move.  Hopefully, nobody in the box had any bean burritos or broccoli salads before the event, else that little enclosure would be rather fragrant…

Folks that feel like sharing memories of Shea can join others at Loge13.com.

If you want to see the entire Beatles concert, someone broke it up into small chapters for YouTube, staring off with Part 1.

ThinkProgress has a jaw-dropping reminder of what Osama Bin Laden said in 1998:

In a 1998 interview, Osama bin Laden — the terrorist organizer of 9/11 who still roams free — listed as one of his many grievances against the U.S. that Americans “have stolen $36 trillion from Muslims” by purchasing oil from Persian Gulf countries at low prices. The real price of a barrel of oil should be $144, bin Laden demanded.

Ten years ago today, the price of a barrel of oil was just $11. Heading into this holiday weekend, the price of a barrel of oil rested at $144 — a thirteen-fold increase.

One month after 9/11, the New York Times wrote of possible “nightmare” scenarios that would deliver bin Laden’s goal. Neela Banerjee warned that among the “misguided decisions” that would put oil supplies at risk would be “that the United States attacks Iraq.” The Times included this quote in its story:

“If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he’d turn off the tap,” said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. “He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel” — about six times what it sells for now.

Bin Laden didn’t have to become king of Saudi Arabia to achieve his goal; in fact, Bush’s policies delivered it for him. The Bush administration’s catastrophic decision to invade Iraq, sink the nation into debt to pay for that war, and consequently, weaken the dollar have all caused oil prices to soar astronomically.

Read the rest of the article by clicking here.

To celebrate this nation’s birthday, why not honor Woody Guthrie, who wrote one of America’s finest anthems?

I found this photo at the website known as If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger,There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats. I have no idea who took this photo, but I love the fact that Woody is playing a guitar with a sticker on it that states “This Guitar Kills Fascists.” Old Woody was certainly ahead of his time, embracing the punk movement before it even existed.

Ten days from now, there’ll be a celebration for what would have been Woody’s 96th birthday. WMNF.org will be broadcasting a 3 hour radio special featuring excerpts of Woody’s recently uncovered, Grammy Award-winning Live Wire recordings, as well as Woody songs performed Billy Bragg, Wilco, The Klezmatics, Jimmy Lafave, Son Volt, Pete Seeger, Dan Bern, and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings.

You can read more about Woody’s legacy by going to the official WoodyGuthrie.org webpage.

In the meantime, I want to leave with the original lyrics to “This Land Is Your Land.” While this is a very popular song taught to school children, not everyone is familiar with the full lyrics as written by Woody. ENJOY!

This Land Is Your Land

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

Good old BoingBoing reminds us of how the FBI did a serious investigation of Frank Capra’s Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which it considered a subversive film. Blogger Will Chen writes,

I love It’s a Wonderful Life because it teaches us that family, friendship, and virtue are the true definitions of wealth.In 1947, however, the FBI considered this anti-consumerist message as subversive Communist propaganda (read original FBI memo).

According to Professor John Noakes of Franklin and Marshall College, the FBI thought Life smeared American values such as wealth and free enterprise while glorifying anti-American values such as the triumph of the common man.