COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, August 04, 2008

Adios José. Texas Should Execute José Medellín Immediately


Gang rapist and sadistic murderer José Medellín.

Jennifer Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, took a short cut across a park at a late hour in June 1993 and happened upon the gang of six teenage boys, who grabbed and raped them for an hour.

Jennifer Ertman, murdered at 14.


The boys then strangled them with a belt and a shoelace and stomped on their throats. After a four-day frantic search that engaged the entire city of Houston, their bodies were found with the help of a gang member's brother.

Medellin had bragged to his friends that the victims were virgins.

Five of the gang members were sentenced to death. One has been executed, and a second is awaiting an execution date.

Texas is preparing to execute this illegal Mexican invader on Tuesday, defying a ruling of the international court, orders from US President George W Bush and demands from the Organization of American States, the US secretary of state and the US attorney general. All right Texas.
_________________

Elizabeth Pena 16, viciously raped and murdered.

Texas execution plan defies Hague order

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
The Guardian, Tuesday August 5 2008

Officials in Texas defied the international court of justice last night to affirm the scheduled execution today of a Mexican national at the centre of a global legal row.

The state's board of parole and corrections rejected a last minute appeal from lawyers for José Medellín.

He is now scheduled to be put to death at 6pm local time despite an order from the court at The Hague to halt his execution.

Legal experts and human rights organisations said the execution would be seen as an act of defiance of international law after a ruling from the ICJ that Medellín was denied his right to consult with Mexican embassy officials during his trial.

"US respect for international law might be further damaged by this execution," said Brian Evans of Amnesty International.

"We are deeply disappointed with this recommendation from the board of pardons and paroles," said Donald Francis Donovan of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, counsel to Medellín "The board has failed to support the United States in fulfilling its international legal obligations. The board's action ... risks the safety of thousands of Americans travelling and living abroad.

Katharine Huffman, a spokeswoman for Medellín's legal team, said the case was being monitored by the international community. "The failure on the part of the US could have very serious implications for our relationship with Mexico as well as other nations," she said.

But the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has repeatedly indicated the execution would go ahead. Texas has the most active death chamber in America.

"The [ICJ] has no jurisdiction here in Texas. We're concerned about following Texas law and that's what we're doing," a spokeswoman for Perry said.

Medellín has spent most of his adult life on death row after he was convicted in the 1993 gang rape and murders of two teenage girls.

His hopes now rest on the US supreme court. His lawyers had asked the board for a 240-day stay of execution to give Congress time to enact legislation that would spare him.

A bill now before Congress would compel Texas and other states to comply with international treaties guaranteeing foreign nationals on trial the right to consult with officials from their home countries.

Medellín is the first of 51 Mexicans on death row in the US whose cases have become an embarrassment for the Bush administration.

In a 2004 ruling the ICJ ordered the courts to grant a review of their cases, and George Bush earlier this year urged the authorities in Texas to revisit Medellín's case. But the supreme court ruled that the president had overstepped his authority.

Last month the ICJ ordered the US to "take all measures necessary" to block Medellín's execution. Huffman warned that America could still be in conflict with the court until the cases of the other 50 Mexican nationals on death row are resolved.



21 comments:

  1. Jose ought to be room temperature right about now. I'll have to check Drudge.

    Let's have a round for them rednecks in Texas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crap...time zones...another day to wait...
    meanwhile, echoing around the web:

    I may even drink a Corona as I celebrate Cinco de Agosto!
    Jose Medellin may you rot in hell. Goodbye
    Jose Medellin puede usted descomponerse en infierno. Adiós

    ReplyDelete
  3. keep it up linear and you will end up on the board of directors.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Doug,

    Coming soon to a neighborhood near you...

    Tuesday, July 29, 2008

    State Attorney General Jerry Brown today warned Siskiyou County officials that they’ll face legal challenges if Nestle doesn’t address global warming in its plans to build a bottling plant in McCloud...


    Did you know that the Lemurians resupply their colony on Mt Shasta when the lenticular clouds hover about the summit? That ought to be a big selling point for the Nestles water, coming off the same snow fields as it does. Pelosi's constituents would be a huge market.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm a pretty shy feller. Never been much of a joiner.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Where is everybody?

    Bob,

    Dr Bill's Cat Mod60

    photo

    article

    In production roughly 1910-1931. Holt Mfg moved from CA to Peoria as Holt Caterpillar Co. Not too many around, as the loggers probably worked them to death.

    ReplyDelete
  7. For Jose

    jeez, that is an old timer. He was saying you had to start it by....and then was cut off and I didn't catch it. Evidently it was quite a task to get the old beast running.

    Israel Insider Continues To Stir The Obama Birth Certificate Story

    That Dark Knight movie we went to isn't my kind of movie.

    ReplyDelete
  8. An awful lot of readin' there, Bob. I'll go linear.

    Caught. check
    Tried. check
    Convicted. check
    Sentenced. check
    Appeals exhausted. check
    Time frames satisfied. check
    One finger salute to the IC. check

    Adios, Jose'.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Evidently it was quite a task to get the old beast running.

    We had an old 2-cyl John Deere gas Model H. Had to make sure it was out of gear, and hop down to the ground and spin the flywheel while standing in front of the rear axle. On the bigger ones, I think you had to release compression first. Being a stupid kid, I'd warm it up, rev it up, and then slam in the hand clutch lever in first. The front wheels would jump about 4 feet off the ground. Only did it once when dad was around.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Linear, my grand dad farmed with horses. Never did have a tractor, finally got a car towards the end. What a life.

    Goodnight.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Not immediately, please.

    But slowly, over a couple of days time.

    Castrate him to start
    Then a toe from each foot.
    Then a finger from each hand.

    Keep it up until there are none left, one an hour, that'd take all day. Let him bleed for awhile.

    ReplyDelete
  12. SCUD in a box, that is old news. The concept was trotted out in the 1950's with regards the Russians, before they had ICBM capability.

    There is always a reason to be afraid, if you want to be.

    ReplyDelete
  13. GWBush had overstepped his authority, imagine that.

    ReplyDelete
  14. In Iraq the WSJ reports:

    By GINA CHON
    August 5, 2008; Page A1

    BAGHDAD -- Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- long a thorn in the side of the U.S. military and Iraqi government -- intends to disarm his once-dominant Mahdi Army militia and remake it as a social-services organization.

    The transformation would represent a significant turnabout for a group that, as recently as earlier this year, was seen as one of the most destabilizing anti-American forces in Iraq. For much of the past several years, the Mahdi Army, headed by Mr. Sadr, a Shiite cleric, controlled sizable chunks of Baghdad and other cities. Its brand of pro-Shiite activism had the side effect of pitting Iraqis against each other, helping to stir worries of civil war.

    Recently, however, the group has been hit by a largely successful Iraqi military crackdown against militia members operating as criminal gangs. At the same time, Mr. Sadr's popular support is dwindling: Residents who once viewed the Mahdi Army as champions of the poor became alienated by what they saw as its thuggish behavior.

    A new brochure, obtained by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by Mr. Sadr's chief spokesman, Sheik Salah al-Obeidi, states that the Mahdi Army will now be guided by Shiite spirituality instead of anti-American militancy. The group will focus on education, religion and social justice, according to the brochure, which is aimed at Mr. Sadr's followers. The brochure also states that it "is not allowed to use arms at all."

    Posters have been put up in some areas of Baghdad saying a new direction for the Mahdi Army will be announced at this Friday's prayers.


    The Mahdi Army is following the HB hadnbook, which is understandable. It does not justify the WSJ headline to the story, though.

    al-Sadar may be regrouping and changing tactics, but his movement us not "in Retreat", yet.

    Let's wait and see how the Iraqi elections turn, before jumping to that conclusion.

    ReplyDelete
  15. There is always a reason to be afraid, if you want to be.

    Did someone say anyone was afraid?

    Graham implied others were incompetent in not raising the threat issue in an election atmosphere where Obama is set on dismantling the anti-missile program. Makes sense to me to let the folks know what their votes for the Prophet could cost them.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ohio Inmate says he's too fat to be executed
    COLUMBUS, Ohio - A death row inmate scheduled for execution says he's too fat to be put to death, claiming executioners would have trouble finding his veins and that his weight could diminish the effectiveness of one of the lethal injection drugs.

    ReplyDelete
  17. "His attorneys say a drug he is taking for migraine headaches could affect the execution process.

    Heath says Cooey's weight, combined with the potential drug resistance, increases the risk he would not be properly anesthetized."


    No problem, Mr. Cooey, we will build a gallows and hire a hangman or if you prefer, assemble a firing squad. In either case, you may smoke a last cigarette to calm your nerves.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Use one of these.

    Let dr find a vein.

    There have to be veins in the scrotum.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Heath says Cooey's weight, combined with the potential drug resistance, increases the risk he would not be properly anesthetized."


    there is a reason they call it a "starvation diet"

    ReplyDelete