Friday, October 02, 2009

In the matter of Rick Perry and a murder-by-the-State-of-Texas

A few weeks ago we put up a post about the State of Texas executing a man for burning his children to death -- a crime that upon closer examination never happened, unless you're Gov. Rick Perry and the prosecutors that sent an innocent man to the death chamber.

Perry insists the state got it right, in spite of all available evidence.

And to make sure his point-of-view prevails, he replaced three members of the Forensic Science Commission, which is investigating whether Texas did right or wrong in the 2004 execution.

Now comes Paul Begala, who wrote to Austin blogger Glenn W. Smith that Perry very well may have violated federal law by trying to cover up the state's wrongful execution of an innocent man. Smith, a guy I used to know at The Houston Post who later went on to being a political consultant, writes about it HERE.

You might be tempted to dismiss this because, after all, Begala is a rabidly partisan Democrat.

But before you do that, you really should read the story in The New Yorker that drew national attention to this injustice. It's a long story and we linked to it in our Sept. 17 post, but it's worth reading. You also could read some of the coverage provided by Grits For Breakfast, the well-regarded Austin-based weblog.

And if you set aside the time to read either of the above-mentioned sources, and then consider what the governor of Texas has done regarding the case, I think you will agree with me that a change is due in the governership.

As you probably already suspect, I don't care if a Democrat or Republican or an Independent or a Libertarian or a damn Communist replaces Gov. Perry, but he really should be kicked out of office. He is an embarrassment, not only for what he's done regarding this murder-by-the-state, for but for other reasons -- like his asinine pandering to the lunatic fringe in the state that want to secede from the Union.

He's just really a dick, if you'll excuse my language.
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Addenda: We were remiss in omitting the Texas Observer's coverage of this whole mess, so consider checking out this editorial, this story, this story, this one too and finally this one.

Mmmkay?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Grits is well regarded? By whom? Not I. I wouldn't piss on him or anyone in the ACLU if they were on fire.

jd

Banjo Jones said...

Who do you like, JD?

Anonymous said...

Has Kinky decided to run yet? He should be your man.

Anonymous said...

Well, you don't know? You can't tell from my comments here? My blogroll? I assume you are talking about other than politicians, but both, either, should be obvious, too.

The ACLU, and by extension, Grits, pissed me off for the last time a few years ago. They do no good for the Constitution nor any American, that I can see. They didn't help much in keeping that old boy that was wrongfully executed, now did they?

Kinky was my choice last time. Monkey Wrench in the gears. It would be a hoot to see.

jd

Anonymous said...

I don't particularly like the ACLU. However, right is right and wrong is wrong, and worse, changing the gameboard is an atrocity! Governor Perry has really messed up. It's that time in his life where he will be humbled for feeding that big fat ego. I know, it happened to me.
Wake up Governor, do the right thing. All people make mistakes, admit to it, and move on. This coverup/change the gameboard stuff only worsens the final exam score, ifyewknowwhetImean, Vern?
--JimMoore

Anonymous said...

Texas conservative christian politicians like to kill people to show how macho they are. That's why they elect ruthless murderers like Bush and Perry. Bush executed show many people that he won the anti crime vote. Wonder how many innocent people he killed. This is a christian theme to kill people. Wonder how they will answer to god.