Death Records Now

One only has to check out Bush’s record as Governor of Texas to see his own preference for death over life. During his tenure as Governor, Bush presided over a record setting 152 executions, including the 1998 execution of fellow born-again Christian Karla Faye Tucker, a convicted murderer who later led a prison ministry. Forty of Bush’s executions were carried out in 2000, the year the Bush presidential campaign was spotlighting their candidate’s strong law enforcement record. The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen reported in October 2000 that one of the execution chamber’s "tie-down team" members, Fred Allen, had to prepare so many people for lethal injections during 2000, he quit his job in disgust.

Bush mocked Tucker’s appeal for clemency. In an interview with Talk magazine, Bush imitated Tucker’s appeal for him to spare her life – pursing his lips, squinting his eyes, and in a squeaky voice saying, "Please don’t kill me."
My point is the mocking behavior. that is just cruel

I am 100% for the death penalty for aggravated murder and brutal rape.

However, that does not mean that Bush did not abuse his power as governor by acting like "Hangin’ Judge Roy Bean."

Nor does it mean he is right to be so hypocritical about pretending to be "pro-life" to get the votes of the religious right while being so cavalier about the lives of adult human beings both in Texas and Iraq.

Nor is he right in playing to his political base by professing to "protect the rights" of undifferentiated stem cells at the extreme cost to living, breathing human beings who are suffering intolerably from unspeakable diseases.

Nor is he right in manipulating the truth (lying) in order to pursue a war that he vowed to wage even before becoming President, costing the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqi’s, and causing the deaths of over 3100 brave young Americans, more victims than died during the terrorist attacks of 9/11, which he claimed to be avenging.

Bush does not care about human life any more than he cares about that record number of Americans living in poverty, whose programs he has consistently cut in order to pay for tax breaks for his wealthy friends (and to give a pittance to the middle class, in order to secure the votes of the more gullible among them).

With the possible exception of James Buchanan, George W. Bush is by far the worst and most devastating President ever elected in the United States. The destruction he has cause to the United States in power, international prestige, internal division, and our economy will take decades to repair.

Unfortunately, at least 3,100 young Americans will not be here to see that happen, victims of a President who professes to be "pro-life."

blood lust?
Oh, Sofie, you cut me up!
out…. And American views were determined by continuous lying from the White House.
Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer criticized Gov. George W. Bush for making fun of an executed Texas woman in an interview Bush gave to Talk magazine. "I think it is nothing short of unbelievable that the governor of a major state running for president thought it was acceptable to mock a woman he decided to put to death." Just before her execution date, Tucker appealed for clemency on the grounds that she had become a born-again Christian. Bush’s reply: " `Please,’ Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, `don’t kill me,’ "
http://www.commondreams.org/views/061700-102.htm
That defense of the record ignores many notorious examples of unfairness in Texas death penalty cases. Lawyers have been under the influence of cocaine during the trial, or been drunk or asleep. One court dismissed a complaint about a lawyer who slept through a trial with the comment that courts are not "obligated to either constantly monitor trial counsel’s wakefulness or endeavor to wake counsel should he fall asleep."

This past week The Chicago Tribune published a compelling report on an investigation of all 131 death cases in Governor Bush’s time. It made chilling reading.

In one-third of those cases, the report showed, the lawyer who represented the death penalty defendant at trial or on appeal had been or was later disbarred or otherwise sanctioned. In 40 cases the lawyers presented no evidence at all or only one witness at the sentencing phase of the trial.

In 29 cases, the prosecution used testimony from a psychiatrist who —
The First Federal Executions since the early 1960’s !
2 out of 3 Executions as President are Gulf War Veterans !
Stacey Lawton – Texecuted November 14, 2000 #148
Wrongfully Convicted on Death Row in Texas ?
Since the time of this writing a Texas Judge postponed the execution until November 14th, to allow
Stacey time to file his appeal before the board of pardons and parole, they of course denied it…
" I have an execution date for October 4th and I need to get somebody to hear my case. I need your help because of the seriousness of this execution date. I have been wrongfully convicted and I need some help as soon as possible. I need some law students at some college. I need a lawyer to help
me bring up my new evidence."
Thanks to One Minute Silence and their fans and friends who have shown their support for Stacey.
A smile crept across George W. Bush’s lips as he talked about yet another set of executions…
He looked positively delighted as he shared his good news with all of America: He will preside over the deaths of the white men who murdered James Byrd, a 49-year-old black man, in 1998. "Guess what’s going to happen to these men?" he grinned at the camera during last night’s debate with Vice President Gore. "They’re going to be put to death."
Bush beamed in happiness. He was so enthusiastic at the prospect of new executions that he said he would execute all 3 of Byrd’s killers. Texas does not need anti-hate-crime laws, Bush said. "We cannot enhance the penalty any more than putting those 3 thugs to death," he said. He grinned again. – Excerpt from New York Daily News, by Lars Nelson
And Bush thinks he has empathy. The things he finds funny prove otherwise.

I agree that George W. Bu–sh–, who campaigned in 2000 as a "compassionate conservative", has shown very little evidence of being either.

For jeeper_peeper321: Top contributor?? Maybe you should stick to your field and leave Law&Ethics to those who know something about it. The role of the governor in *adjudging* a death penalty should be nada, nil, zip. His/her role comes into play when the case has gone through appeals and the defendant petitions for clemency.

When Alberto Gonzales was "outed" in 2006-2007 as an incompetent lickspittle, it also came to light that as Governor Bush’s general counsel in Texas, Gonzales also reviewed all clemency requests. A 2003 article in The Atlantic Monthly asserts that Gonzales gave insufficient counsel, and failed to second-guess convictions and failed appeals. Only one death sentence was overturned by Governor Bush, and the state of Texas executed more prisoners during Gonzales’s term than any other state. Gonzo knew what his master wanted.

This isn’t "politics"; this is fact.