Concerning the death penalty

The recent headlines of the Troy Davis case has brought the issue of the death penalty to the forefront of American debate over crime and punishment.


Brief details of the Troy Davis case
August 18, 1989: off duty police officer Mark MacPhail was working as a security guard at a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia. He responded to a nearby disturbance where a homeless man was being beaten by another man. MacPhail was shot and killed while responding to the incident. No physical evidence from the crime was retrieved, apart from the bullets and shell casings, which were determined to have come from a .38-caliber pistol. Witnesses to the shooting agreed that a man in a white shirt had struck the homeless man and then shot MacPhail.

The following day, Redd Coles went to the police. He told them that he had seen Davis with a .38-caliber gun, and that Davis had pistol whipped the homeless man and shot MacPhail. Davis held a permit for a .38 caliber gun.

In the 1991 trial, nine eye witnesses testified they saw Troy Davis beat the homeless man and shoot MacPhail. In this same trial, it was revealed that Redd Coles also owned a .38 caliber gun, a lead that was never pursued by law enforcement. Davis was convicted for the murder of Mark MacPhail and sentenced to death on August 30, 1991.

During the appeal process, seven of the nine eye witnesses recanted their testimony and complained of police coercion and intimidation during the suspect identification process. Four of the witnesses implicated Redd Coles as the shooter in their revised statements, including Larry Young, the homeless man who had been assaulted the night of the murder.

After 22 years of appeals and pleas Troy Davis was put to death on September 21, 2011.

The problems with eye witness testimony
In the 1970's an experiment was conducted to assess the effect 3rd party suggestions have on people forming "false facts" in their memories. Here is an except from the experiment:
"Subjects were shown a slide of a car at an intersection with either a yield sign or a stop sign. Experimenters asked participants questions, falsely introducing the term "stop sign" into the question instead of referring to the yield sign participants had actually seen. Similarly, experimenters falsely substituted the term "yield sign" in questions directed to participants who had actually seen the stop sign slide. The results indicated that subjects remembered seeing the false image. In the initial part of the experiment, subjects also viewed a slide showing a car accident. Some subjects were later asked how fast the cars were traveling when they "hit" each other, others were asked how fast the cars were traveling when they "smashed" into each other. Those subjects questioned using the word "smashed" were more likely to report having seen broken glass in the original slide. The introduction of false cues altered participants’ memories."
The way an eye witness is questioned can introduce bias to their recollections and also aide in "false facts" In addition, a person under stress and fear at the scene of the crime may not have seen all the details or remembered the event exactly as it happened.

Other evidence that eye witness testimony is unreliable is the fact that 75% of DNA exonerations were cases where the conviction was heavily based on eye witness testimony. " At least 40% of these eyewitness identifications involved a cross racial identification (race data is currently only available on the victim, not for non-victim eyewitnesses). Studies have shown that people are less able to recognize faces of a different race than their own."  You can read more here.

CBS recently aired a story on eyewitness testimony and wrongful convictions.

Considering these studies, the fact that Troy Davis' case was largely based on eyewitness testimony, and the majority of eyewitnesses recanted their testimony - Troy Davis' sentence should have been at least commuted to life in prison.

The concept of the death penalty 
The death penalty as a crime deterrent is an erroneous argument at best. Approximately 54% of murders occur due to alcohol intoxication, most other murders are committed out of extreme emotional incompetency or stress (fear, anger, passion, mental handicap). In these diminished cognitive states, the perpetrator cannot clearly think about the consequences of their actions. They commit the murder within a matter of seconds with no time for reflection and many times without the cognitive ability to do so. At these pivotal moments they are unable to see that the consequence might mean the death penalty.

In the United States, there are 14 states that do not have a death penalty statute and these states have some of the lowest murder rates in the country. In fact, the states that employ the death penalty the most have the highest murder rates in the country. Find statistics here. The largest percentage of executions occur in the southern states. One can draw a correlation between murder rate and poverty level since most of the states with high murder rate also have a high poverty rate. The natural conclusion would be, to deter murders, the states should spend their time and resources on education and social reforms to alleviate poverty ergo causing the murder rate to decrease.

The death penalty as justice. Justice is defined as: the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness and guided by truth, reason, and fairness. Justice does not mean an eye for an eye, or do unto others as they have done to you. The usage of this word in the context of the law and especially as it pertains to the death penalty is largely interchangeable with the word revenge. What many families seek is revenge, they lost someone and the person they think caused their pain should be punished vindictively and put to death.

One cannot cure a disease by treating the symptoms, the root cause must be addressed. There are strong indications that violent crime, including murder, are related to poverty levels and social inequality. If governments and society at large want to solve violent crime problems they must address the conditions that cause it. Building more prisons, and electrocuting and injecting people with lethal drugs does not solve the problem, it only perpetuates it.

Dirty tactics for dirtier air, water and land

Right now the House is preparing spending bills for 2012 for the operations of the federal government. House Republicans are attempting to attach anti-environmental provisions to these bills that are not related to spending. The provisions are meant to relax environmental standards that have been in place for decades in order to increase profits for the coal industry, power companies, chemical companies and oil companies. These provisions are called "riders" because they are attached to major legislation or in this case spending bills so that policies can be changed without having to stand on their own in a floor vote. Here is a short list of the "riders" currently being proposed in the Interior and Environment appropration:

Land

(Sec. 437) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently limit the ability of citizens to challenge Forest Service land use decisions in the courts.

(Sec. 118) offered by Rep. Simpson would make it more difficult to challenge DOI land use decisions in the courts. 

(Sec. 447) offered by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) would prohibit EPA from modifying, suspending, or cancelling pesticide registrations because of endangered species impacts.

(Sec. 445) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently prevent the DOI and the Forest Service from declaring lands near the Grand Canyon off limits for uranium mining.

Wildlife

(Sec. 503) would prevent the EPA from implementing any measures recommended by federal wildlife experts to protect endangered species from toxic pesticides. This would spell disaster for species, including Pacific Salmon, that are already on the brink of extinction due to pesticides and other harms.

(Sec. 119) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently prohibit the courts from reviewing any delisting of gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act in Wyoming and in the upper Midwest.

Air

(Sec. 462) offered by Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) would delay the EPA from limiting toxic pollution from power plants and delay the EPA from limiting cross-state air pollution.

(Sec. 453) offered by Rep. Steve Austria (R-OH) would block the EPA from setting new mileage standards for cars and from allowing California to do so.

(Sec. 443) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently weaken regulation of air pollution from offshore oil and gas drilling activities, particularly in Alaska. Among other things, the provision exempts certain sources of air pollution from the Clean Air Act.

(Sec. 431) offered by Rep. Simpson would prevent the EPA from limiting carbon pollution from power plants and other stationary sources.

Water

(Title V) offered by Rep. Simpson wouldpermanently exempt pesticide application from the Clean Water Act.

(Sec. 434) offered by Rep. Simpson would block the EPA from strengthening oversight of coal ash disposal. The EPA was acting in response to the massive release of toxic coal wastes in Tennessee in 2010.

(Sec. 432) offered by Rep. Simpson would block the Department of Interior (DOI) from enforcing safeguards designed to protect streams from pollution from surface coal mining.

These hitchhikers should ethically not be affixed to appropriations or budget bills. These proposals are added stealthily to bills in hopes that most Americans will not see their rights being taken away from them. These "riders" do not have to be debated on the floor and usually do not leave the closed door committee discussions. So protections and rights of Americans are quietly taken away without any public discourse on the issues. Organizations like the EPA and Forestry Department are meant to ensure we have safeguards that protect our health and our national parks for future generations to enjoy.

If these House Representatives truly believe these proposals are good policy decisions why not propose one bill with all these policy changes and bring it to the floor for debate and a vote. Bring it all out in the open so all the Representatives can examine the content of these provisions and the American public can see the actions of their elected representatives. They probably do not want their constituents to see that these proposals are meant to increase profits for their campaign contributors and large corporations at the risk of people's health.

Rep Mike Simpson (R-ID) campaign contributions from: FMC Corp (pesticide manufacturer), IDACORP Inc (holdings in power companies), CH2M HILL, (partnering with chemical and power companies) See more here

Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) campaign contributions from: FMC Corp (pesticide manufacturer), Arch Coal (the nation's second largest coal producer), Marathon Oil, Anadarko Petroleum, Alpha Natural Resources (another coal producer) See more here

Tell your representatives you want clean air, water and land!

Also visit these sites to sign petitions:

NDRC

League of conservation Voters

EDF

Exporting the suffering and slaughter of horses

This year 100,000 horses will be shipped from the USA to Mexico or Canada to be slaughtered for human consumption in parts of Asia and Europe. 

Warning! The video below has graphic content, viewer discretion is advised.

Horses are viewed in the U.S. as being more like pets and companions, consuming them is largely taboo. Banning American horse slaughter houses (abattoirs) in 2007 was largely fueled by pressure on local municipalities from their constituents. This action, which had the best of intentions, caused horse meat exporters to move their operations just across the border to Mexico and Canada. The horses are packed into metal shipping containers and transported thousands of miles in over-crowded conditions, abused and then slaughtered the same way cows are: stunned with a captive bolt gun then their neck is slit and they bleed to death. Of course, this is if things go according to plan and run smoothly. But, there are many cases where the horse is not stunned when its throat is cut and a recent report from PETA shows a horse so frightened it rears up and tries to escape before being tied up and killed.

Supply and demand
Most of the horses sent to slaughter are used up race horses. They are usually still full of vitality and are not injured or lame. However, they are not in their racing prime - so owners sell them at auctions, most of them end up in slaughter houses. It is reported that even Kentucky Derby winners such as Ferdinand were sold to slaughterhouses. A racehorse typically races for two years during its racing prime then is either used as a stud for a few years and then sent to a slaughterhouse after it has outlived its usefulness or is sent directly to slaughter at the tender age of five. With the horse racing industry being worth $115 billion and 125 horse tracks operating in the United States alone, there is a large supply of unwanted horses.


In parts of Europe and Asia, horse meat is considered a delicacy and fetches roughly $20 a pound in the market. The demand is high enough to warrant the slaughter of almost 5 million horses per year for human consumption in countries such as China, Italy, France and Japan. These animals are treated no differently to other animals raised for slaughter; they are housed in dirty crowded conditions with little space to move, abused by handlers and slaughterhouse workers, then eventually killed.


The right thing to do
It seems incredible that humans have developed the ability to communicate across the globe, cure innumerable diseases, and travel beyond the Earth, but have held on to archaic, barbaric practices. How can we continue to justify to ourselves that using animals for our entertainment and causing them intense anguish is okay or that we do it because we have the "power" over these creatures? Even if you want to make a Judeo-Christian religious argument for treatment of animals, on the grounds that God gave humans dominion over animals, it does not give permission to torture animals or slaughter them in massive numbers. It would seem to me the Christian God is a creator and any creation from such an entity should be respected.


We have within us the knowledge and virtue of justice, a uniquely human attribute. Our sense of justice and our consciousness endows us with the ability to see the consequences of our actions - for example, the unjust nature of slavery and torture of any creature - and rectify our behavior. To live our lives in perpetual ignorance and seek only what brings us pleasure, disregarding the pain and suffering of others, is base and ignores what it means to be human.


In the U.S., Contact your Representative or Senator and tell them to support legislation: S. 1176: American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act of 2011, now circulating in the Senate to ban the export of live horses to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. 


Withholding your monetary support for horse racing and signing petitions will also help to curb the supply of horses to the international horse meat industry.
Here is another petition
Petition in Australia
Petition in Ireland
Petition in EU

In the U.S., there are also multiple organizations that facilitate the rehabilitation and adoption of race horses here are a few:
http://www.horseadoption.com/
http://www.racehorsereclaim.com/
http://www.canterusa.org/
http://www.rerun.org/

Tar sands and the transcontinental pipeline

Tar sand mining has been in the headlines this week due to the large protests in Washington, D.C. however, it is not a new story. The Tar Sands of Alberta Canada have been in operation since 1967 and have grown with the increased demand of petroleum products. With the price of oil hovering around $90 a barrel, extracting the bitumen from the tar sands is a very lucrative business.

How it is extracted and refined
The most common method is strip mining where large mechanical shovels scoop up the ground which contains sand, clay and bitumen (a thick heavy viscous oil) and carries the slurry to special refining stations where the bitumen can be separated from the impurities. Due to the extremely viscous nature of bitumen, it cannot be pumped from the ground like light crude. The separation method usually uses hot water and caustic soda, then the mixture is agitated and the oil can be skimmed from the top. Occasionally, steam and hot water or solvents are also used in the extraction process to thin out the bitumen making it easier to draw out of the ground - especially if the bitumen is not close to the surface.

It takes approximately two tons of oil sands to produce one barrel of oil (1/8 of a ton). Extraction and refining costs for tar sands are estimated to be around $28 a barrel where light crude costs about $6 a barrel to produce. The energy used to refine bitumen is not the only consideration. To separate the oil from the sediment, a large amount of water is used which depletes the area around refineries of a vital natural resource for the wildlife, environment and people living within the watershed of the water source. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions from tar sands production are three times those of conventional oil and gas production, and producing synthetic crude oil emits up to 20% more greenhouse gas emissions than low-sulfur, light crude oils.

Canada is the largest supplier of crude oil and refined products to the United States, supplying about 20% of total U.S. imports, and exports more oil and products to the U.S. than it consumes itself. In 2006, bitumen production averaged 1.25 million barrels per day (200,000 m3/d) through 81 oil sands projects (that is roughly 2.5 million tons of tar sand a day), representing 47% of total Canadian petroleum production.

The Pipeline
To secure the future of tar sand mining, the Keystone Pipeline Project is currently underway. This pipeline will stretch from Canada's Tar Sands to refineries in Texas. This pipeline will cross over thousands of miles of prairie lands, farmland and aquifers - any leaks or accidents would be devastating to the surrounding ecosystem, water and food supply. Even the GOP governor of Nebraska is not happy with the proposed pipeline and has asked the Obama Administration to deny the pipeline permit.

Instead of Suncor, Shell and many other oil companies spending more money on research and development of safer and cleaner energies, they have decided to sink $13 billion into the construction of a pipeline and it would seem that the U.S. congress approves of their actions since they still subsidize the oil industry. This is appalling considering that the five largest oil companies this year alone, posted a $38 billion profit. The current subsidies should be reallocated to companies that are developing cleaner, more efficient energy sources for the future, not supporting oil companies that do not need the subsidy.

The extraction and refining of bitumen is time consuming, highly inefficient and dirtier than light crude production. The Keystone Pipeline, running across land that we depend on for our food supply, poses a larger risk than pipelines used in places like Alaska, or even the U.S. gulf coast. Contact your representatives in Congress and let them know your thoughts on these issues.