Hype and Hypocrisy
Why does our Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, deny torture exists in our great country when the death penalty is alive, uneven in its use, more applicable in some states, completely banned in other states and does seem to be more about petty politics than punishment?
When the California Republican Party issued strong warnings to Governor Schwarzenneger that he will suffer the wrath of the party faithful if he fails to have the state of California execute Stanley "Tookie" Williams, is this not political gamesmanship?
But the real question is how can Condi Rice issue strong declarations which deny the US even uses torture when we execute children, the mentally afflicted and the mentally retarded? Why do we execute Timothy McVeigh and not Charles Manson, the "Unabomber," Sirhan Sirhan and Susan Smith? What consistency am I failing to grasp? If McVeigh had written books denouncing terrorism, should his life have been spared?
This is neither a plea to spare or not spare the life of "Tookie" Williams. This is a plea for consistency and a strong plea to spare us, the US citizens, the hypocrisy of Condi Rice's speech which condemns torture and in fact denies we even use torture in the US. The flagrant misuse of the death penalty in our great nation which is more about politics than justice is torture whether Condi Rice prefers to stay in denial or not.
Shoshana Rubin
When the California Republican Party issued strong warnings to Governor Schwarzenneger that he will suffer the wrath of the party faithful if he fails to have the state of California execute Stanley "Tookie" Williams, is this not political gamesmanship?
But the real question is how can Condi Rice issue strong declarations which deny the US even uses torture when we execute children, the mentally afflicted and the mentally retarded? Why do we execute Timothy McVeigh and not Charles Manson, the "Unabomber," Sirhan Sirhan and Susan Smith? What consistency am I failing to grasp? If McVeigh had written books denouncing terrorism, should his life have been spared?
This is neither a plea to spare or not spare the life of "Tookie" Williams. This is a plea for consistency and a strong plea to spare us, the US citizens, the hypocrisy of Condi Rice's speech which condemns torture and in fact denies we even use torture in the US. The flagrant misuse of the death penalty in our great nation which is more about politics than justice is torture whether Condi Rice prefers to stay in denial or not.
Shoshana Rubin
posted by ShoshanaRubin at 11:45 PM
1 Comments:
Here is my postcard for you, another glorious human being, simply sharing the Earth with me and so very, many others. Does it matter if we know each other or not?
If I were a painter...I would paint walls and ceilings and bland, boring car spaces with murals to brighten up the mundane streets we live on. I would gleefully ask children to help me splash crazy, bright, magnificent colors along the landscape of life, dancing along paths of human loves and human miseries. Oh, what we don't know.....in our urban cities and rural towns. We're better off not knowing, are we not?
I would color the much too intrusive concrete with individual roses in each concrete crack, like weeds trying desperately to grow through suffocating sidewalks, letting them know they can't keep me out or shut me up.
If I were a gardener...I would spend days planting vegetables and flowers and spices without deciding where they should be planted, just wanting to do it now. Somehow, deciding where to plant seems much too demanding and tiring to me. I don't want to concentrate on anything right now. I just want to plant life and beauty. Don't hinder me; join me.
I don't want neat, organized rows of plants; I'll throw everything in together like a blender holding our vulnerable lives and anticipate when they'll grow through our Earth, and brighten and warm our hearts and landscape with dazzling colors.
ShoshanaRubin
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