"Law of Parties"... Only in Texas

[Deborah]

If you are a Texas resident, please say so in your call.
Takes less than 30 seconds. This man did not kill anyone and the State acknowledges that, nevertheless Foster is to be executed on Aug. 30th. Please call to try and spare his life. The secrataries are tallying the calls. Your call counts.

Governor Perry: 512-463-2000
The Pardons and Paroles Board: 512-406-5852
Calls from Texas but outside Austin: 800- 252-9600

"James & Van, ColorOfChange.org" wrote:

Subject: This man killed no one. Texas plans to kill him this Thursday.

Even though Kenneth Foster killed no one, Texas plans to execute him.
Kenneth Foster

Please call on the Governor and the Board of Pardons and Parole to
spare Kennenth Fosters life.

Dear Texas ColorOfChange.org member,
Thursday, the state of Texas plans to execute a man who it knows,
without a doubt, did not commit murder. This is not justice--it's insanity. Newspapers all over the state agree that this would be a serious mistake and have called on the Governor and the Board of Pardons and Paroles to spare Kenneth Foster's life.
Can you take a few minutes to make two phone calls to do the same?
Please call the Governor at 512-463-2000 and the Pardons and Paroles
Board at 936-291-2161 and ask them to spare Foster's life. Then
email calls@colorofchange.org to let us know that you did. And pass this on.
Thank You and Peace,
-- James, Van, Gabriel, Clarissa, Mervyn, and the rest of the
ColorOfChange.org team

August 28th, 2007
References:
Editorial Boards
Not a Killer: Kenneth Foster does not deserve execution, Dallas
Morning News, August 26, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/2tau5a
Backward Texas law may make man pay with life for deed he didn't do,
Austin American Statesman, July 28, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/2f6gmh
Opinions Columns
An appointment with death despite the evidence, Star Telegram, July
29, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/2yurg2
Executing this man is bloodlust, not justice, Waco Tribune, August
26, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/2xry9f
In Texas, bad company can mean capital punishment, Express News,
August 27, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/2e6mek
Background
Death debate centers on intent, August 25, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/yotk9r
Getaway driver nears execution for '96 murder, August 20, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/yuszo9
Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Texas prosecutors use the 'law of parties'
to widen the net for capital punishment, Feb. 11, 2005. http://
www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/ ... d%3A258647

[ConstentGardener]

I read in yesterday's paper that the sentence was commuted to life just 7 hours before he was scheduled to die.

[Anonymous]

Please, don't kill him! Let him rot in jail for fifty years in a pit of assrape and ultimate despair before he finally dies of some age-related disease like cancer, or better yet has a stroke and gets to suffer loss of faculties and speech in some forgotten prison hospital where he'll have no idea what he is or what he's doing there!

...this is mercy?

Isn't fifty years of incarceration followed by a long, drawn-out death a sentence that should be commuted to a quick death by shotgun, guillotine, or head vaporization?

[Deborah]

Should a government that follows the religious dictate, "Thou shalt not Kill", put people to death? Isn't that a double standard? Exalting the government to the status of a deity?

His friend was murdered for committing murder. Texas wanted to murder him for being an accomplice.
Is the state’s murder of criminals any less murder?
Criminal’s bullet kills victim.
State’s lethal injection kills criminal.
The difference? Two wrongs make a right?

Now, if a prisoner with a life sentence preferred euthanasia, I'd support that, his/her decision, and choice of method other than lethal injection, electrocution, hanging- the latter two pretty damn sadistic. That could be considered Mercy.
But, low and behold, that's illegal. One is not allowed to end their own life under any circumstance.
Another religious dictate- a sin to commit suicide/euthanasia? Another double standard? You can be put to death based on government/society’s religious beliefs, but you can't decide if/when you go?
Why?
Why don’t insurance companies pay for suicides?
Where's the separation of church and state?

Texas doesn’t want to warehouse them… make more room for non-violent drug users/dealers. Apparently a sin, and consequently a violation of law, to alter one’s consciousness too. One must endure their suffering. No rest/reprieve for the weary.

What’s even more absurd, is that if the government was genuinely concerned about people killing themselves, they’d outlaw McDonald’s and all the other crap that passes for ‘food’. One out of two people die of Heart Disease, yet they can march into Mickey D’s everyday and consume excess amounts of saturated/trans fats. Feed their kids fried cheese sticks as an entree. But, that’s good for the GNP. Keeps the economy hummin.  $50K for stints to force your arteries open so blood can pass through. Numerous times over one's lifetime- once doesn't 'fix' it. When there are perfectly safe alternatives for reversing heart disease. Oh yeh, the money would be going in the wrong pockets. If a ‘cure’ for cancer was discovered the economy would crash. Hmmm. Picture getting clearer?

Now, what freedoms do we have? Work for miserable wages under miserable conditions, endure your suffering (no mind altering substances unless they were rx’d and the exorbitant amount of money goes to the right hands), and die suffering?
That sounds more like slavery…. Oh, yeh. It is.

It's so absurd and ridiculous it would be laughable if not such a sad state of affairs.

[Froderik]

Why don’t insurance companies pay for suicides?

Good question, and this says a lot about the 'control-freakism' that is so prevalent in our society. They want to regulate everything. Why can I go to the store and buy alcohol, but not marijuana? Arbitrary bullshit laws and regulations, that's why.

[hanzomon4]

Talk about BS laws, they just recently outlawed sagging pants!!!