The Bush administration is preparing to speed up the executions of criminals who are on death row across the United States, in effect, cutting out several layers of appeals in the federal courts so that prisoners can be "fast-tracked" to their deaths.
More details from the LA Times:
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts.
The rules implement a little-noticed provision [probably because none of the legislators actually cared that it was in there or even bothered to read the bill since they seldom do. -catnip] in last year's reauthorization of the Patriot Act that gives the attorney general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty cases. The authority has been held by federal judges.
Under the rules now being prepared, if a state requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use "fast track" procedures that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal to the federal courts after conviction in a state court.
The Independent looks at Gonzales' horrendously careless track record in Texas where he also dealt with death penalty cases with Bush and there's no need to wonder aloud why Bush would want to grant Gonzales such power considering they've both dedicated themselves to destroying the legal, civil and human rights of Americans for such a long time. Nor do I feel the need to argue against the death penalty, as I've done that extensively here before.
I do think that this quote from The Independent illustrates the ultimate hypocrisy though and needs to be focused on:
At no time has Mr Bush seen any contradiction with his avowed commitment to the sanctity of life. As President he has even instituted a National Sanctity of Human Life Day, which, he has said, "serves as a reminder we must value human life in all its forms, not just those considered healthy, wanted, or convenient".
Contrast that with how he mocked Karla Faye Tucker when she was on death row in Texas and you know all there is to know about Bush's views about the so-called "sanctity" of life - a term that only applies to fetuses - not to those who are already born.
If he actually had any concern for the "sanctity" of life, he would not choose to hide the coffins of the troops returning home from his failed wars. Of course, "No one suffers more" than George and Laura when it comes to the Iraq war. "No one". If he really valued life, he would take it upon himself to actually attend some of their funerals and would never have lied, sending thousands of Americans to their deaths while causing the deaths and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis at the same time - all for the sake of fattening the bank accounts of his war profiteering buddies. Blood money.
He would never have told Brownie that he was doing a "heckuva job" while people were still dying from the gross negligence of FEMA and his administration in NOLA and elsewhere in the gulf region. He would not have foisted Reaganesque "trickle down economics"/tax cuts for the wealthy on the American people believing that somehow the poor would eventually benefit. He would not neglect the fact that over 40 million Americans don't have health care coverage - making his government complicit in their daily pain, suffering and deaths. He would actually embrace science instead of treating it like a cult meant to undermine religion. He wouldn't have spent almost half a trillion dollars on the war machine - bankrupting future generations, those fetuses he claims to care about so much who, guaranteed, will certainly suffer much more than George and Laura ever have or could even conceive.
There are a lot of things he would do if he believed in that so-called "sanctity".
And now he wants to kill death row inmates more quickly - yet another manifestation of his sociopathic personality in which the word "compassion" exists somewhere between "callous" and "conservative" in the dictionary.
There is no nobility to be found in participating in the deaths of your fellow countrymen. There is no glory to be had by hastening their deaths. There is no pulpit to stand and preach from, exalting your moral supremacy, when you choose to deny justice to people sentenced to die.
There ought to be a totally shameful sense of failure when you've (once again) placed yourself in the company of the some of the world's worst human rights abusers (countries you condemn) while you lie about your justice system being the "best" in the world.
2006 executions
China: 1,010+
Iran: 177
Pakistan: 82
Iraq: 65+
Sudan: 65+
USA: 53
Saudi Arabia: 39+
Yemen: 30+
Vietnam: 14
Kuwait: 10+
Source: Amnesty International, based on 2006 figures
+ symbol indicates that the figure is a minimum one; the true figure may be higher due to state secrecy or a lack of available information
But in order to feel shame you need to have a conscience, and people like Bush and Gonzales and those who support their culture of death have never proven that they do. They are predictably and unapologetically apathetic - these task maskers of death.
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