Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Campaign Against the Death Penalty, Texas Moratorium Network, Toast Masters, Campus Progress, National Iranian-American Council, Persian Gulf Task Force
One of the resolutions that got killed Saturday was the one that would have put a referendum on Iraq on the primary ballot. This was the second round in the fight to get the Iraq referendum on the ballot. The Iraq referendum resolution had already passed the Resolutions Committee at the last SDEC meeting a few months ago and it was even brought up to the full SDEC meeting back then. It would have passed the full SDEC then, but it was unnecessarily tabled at that earlier meeting because party leaders were ignorant of the Texas statute that allowed the SDEC to put referendums on the ballot. They had to go look up the statute after the meeting and then found out that the grassroots activists were right and the SDEC could put referendums on the ballot just by a vote of the SDEC. It is unbelievable that the party tabled the proposal on such a lame motion. The parliamentarian or the person chairing the meeting should have been aware of the rules and allowed a vote on the resolution. Such ignorance of the rules is a joke. We need to elect party leaders at the next convention who have a basic understanding of state laws pertaining to party business.
Thanks to the undemocratic refusal of party insiders to allow a vote, the resolution failed to pass a second time last weekend. So now there will be no referendum on Iraq on the Texas Democratic Party ballot. I wanted to find out what happened, so tonight I called a few people on the phone. Madeleine Dewar, a member of the SDEC and one of the official sponsors of the Vote Us Out of Iraq resolution, called the meeting a "disaster" and said that she had the thirty two votes needed to pass the resolution in advance of the meeting. Scott Cobb, who initiated the campaign, last summer to get the referendum on the ballot said: "In California, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that had passed the California legislature on Aug 31 to put a referendum on Iraq on the ballot in California. The Texas Democratic Party should be ashamed of itself for acting like Schwarzenegger and preventing a referendum on Iraq from being on the ballot." Read More »
About 11 years ago, on a Sunday morning before sunrise, someone dumped the body of 20-year-old Stacey Stites off the side of a road in the small town of Bastrop, Texas. Rodney Reed, a black man from Bastrop, was convicted of her murder by an all-white jury, despite the strong evidence linking other people, including Stites' fiance Jimmy Fennell, to the murder. Last week, Fennell, who is now a police officer in Georgetown, Texas, was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of sexually assaulting a woman in custody at gunpoint, and he was placed on administrative leave from his job. At the time of Stites' death, Fennell was a police officer in Giddings, a town just east of Bastrop. Read More »
The next time you travel to downtown Houston to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, you should walk a few blocks to Houston's Old Hanging Tree at the corner of Capital and Bagby streets. That huge 200-year-old oak tree is the location where many "Negroes" were illegally lynched many years ago. Almost 150 years after the Civil War ended, Texas remains haunted by its long history of slavery, and even today the state still practices lynching. But today it is done by the state, rather than a group of white-hooded men. It is called execution by lethal injection.
As an anti-death penalty activist one of the questions that I often hear is "If one of your loved ones was murdered. Do you still support the death penalty?" It is hard to answer this question since I have never been in that situation. However, I can always point out to many Murder Victim' Families that decided not support the death penalty such as Marietta Jaeger, Ron Carlson, Bill Pelke and George White. These video clips are taken from the documentary "Step By Step A Journey of Hope" produced by Micki Dickoff.
Today, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed open late accepting letters from the public urging Judge Sharon Keller to resign. On Sept 25, Keller closed the court sharply at 5, saying "We close at five", but today the court stayed open for business past 5 accepting letters urging Keller to resign. This shows how arbitrary the decision was on Sept 25 to close exactly at five. The court stayed open past 5 for a few minutes today with no problem, they could have easily stayed open an extra 20 minutes on Sept 25 to accept an appeal from a man set for execution at 6 pm that day. The protest was covered by Fox 7 and KeyeTV. Fort Worth Star-Telegram also has an article.
"Justice does not close at 5 p.m.," said Laura Brady, a protester from Austin. "Judge Keller has got to understand that."
Keller, who has served on the appeals court since 1995 and has been the presiding judge since 2001, has not responded to calls that she be sanctioned by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. But last week she implemented a policy of allowing after-hours emergency appeals to be filed electronically.
That action came too late to satisfy Scott Cobb, the organizer of the protest that began outside the Texas Supreme Court building.
"We think she abdicated her responsibility as a judge," Cobb said. "She ought to remove herself from office, or the Commission on Judicial Conduct should remove her.
Please take a moment to send an email to Sharon Keller telling her to resign. Your email will also be sent to Governor Perry, members of the Texas Legislature and the other judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
If you are as shocked as we were by the refusal of Judge Sharon Keller to accept an appeal 20 minutes after 5 PM by lawyers representing a man about to be executed, then sign on to this complaint. We will submit this complaint to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct on October 30, 2007. In order for your name to count on the complaint for the submission, you must provide all the requested contact information, including your phone number and occupation.
We must also have your signature, so download the signature form PDF version , MS Word version and fax it to +15124028428 or mail it to Scott Cobb at 3616 Far West Blvd, Suite 117, Box 251, Austin, Texas 78731. If you would like to download a copy of the complaint for your records, click here
In August the nation saw the result of months of the Texas anti-death penalty movement's tireless work: the commutation of Kenneth Foster's death sentence, mere hours before his scheduled execution. In September the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would take a Kentucky case to decide if the method of lethal injection used by many states, including Texas, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. As a result, there could be a de facto moratorium on executions nation-wide, and possibly in Texas, until there is a ruling on this case. However, despite the recent successes at the Supreme Court and of the Kenneth Foster campaign, the Texas anti-death penalty movement is in troubling shape. Major foundations and national anti-death penalty leaders see Texas as a lost cause and are choosing not to fund a grassroots infrastructure here. Read More »
A few weeks ago we started the first ever youtube campaign to save life of a death-row inmate. We asked everyone who has a webcam to record a statement and upload it to YouTube saying why Texas Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles should stop the execution of Kenneth Foster on August 30, 2007. Later that week Gov. Rick Perry commuted Kenneth Foster's sentence.
There is a new youtube campaign, this time for Troy Davis. October 9th is Troy’s birthday and in celebration of this occasion NCADP is asking all of his supporters worldwide to send him a video birthday message and to post that message on YouTube.
I am asking everyone who has a webcam to record a statement and upload it to YouTube saying why Texas Governor Rick Perry and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles should stop the execution of Kenneth Foster on August 30, 2007. I hope people who make video statements will also send an email to Perry with a written message and a link to the video. This is the first time someone has used a video petition to stop an execution. So please post your video and be part of history.
On August 30, 2007, Texas, the state that executes more people than any in the country, plans to deliver a lethal injection to Kenneth Foster, Jr. While this may seem like nothing out of the ordinary for a state that will perform its 400th execution this summer, Kenneth's case is unique. He killed no one. The state of Texas will be the first to admit this. It seems unthinkable that a man who did not even touch the gun that ended the life of Michael LaHood, Jr. on August 14, 1996 in San Antonio, Texas would be sent to his death for such a crime. What makes this possible is gross misuse the Law of Parties. As the Austin Chronicle has put it, he was in "the wrong place at the wrong time." A number of states have laws that enable prosecutors to hold those merely present at the scene of a crime legally responsible. Texas is the only state that applies this statute in capital cases, making it the only place in the United States where a person can be factually innocent of murder and still face the death penalty.
--In case you are planning to stay in DC for a few more days after the Campus Progress conference, you should come and check out the Starvin' for Justice 2007 in front of the SCOTUS.
The 14th Annual Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty at the U.S. Supreme Court June 29th - July 2nd, 2007 A four day vigil maintaining a presence at SCOTUS, the Supreme Court Of The United States. Some of the participants fast during this time, but fasting is not required. We encounter thousands of visitors to the Court and share our message that no matter how you slice it, the death penalty is BAD PUBLIC POLICY. Much of the time is spent talking to individuals and creating visibilty. Several larger events are held at key times during the event to highlight specific concerns, with a series of speakers each evening to educate, enlighten and entertain… Click Here to see pictures and more info on what goes on during the Fast & Vigil!
I'm sitting at the Bloggers table in the lobby section of the Campus Progress Student Conference. Here are some of the pictures I took from today's conference. I have some more pictures that I will post very soon.
(For some reason I thought I had already posted a blog about this year's alternative spring break. But I didn't. So here it goes...)
The 2007 Anti-Death Penalty Alternative Spring Break sponsored by Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Campus Progress, and several other organizations was a big success. Students received valuable training and experience in grassroots organizing, lobbying, preparing a direct action and media relations. During the week, students immediately put what they learned into action during activities such as the "Day of Innocence Rally" at the Texas capitol, when they visited members of the Texas Legislature and lobbied them on the need for a moratorium on executions. They also organized a protest in the heart of the SXSW music festival in downtown Austin during the Direct Action Day. Read More »
First 300 and now a new major motion picture slated for release this fall will feature an Iranian-American family involved in an 'honor killing' in Los Angeles. The film, entitled Crossing Over, is written and directed by Wayne Kramer and chronicles the struggles of immigrants in America.
Written in the tradition of "Crash," the film follows the stories of several characters from different immigrant communities as they strive to "cross over" from illegal residency to documented citizenship. Harrison Ford is playing the lead role of Max Brogan, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. His partner, Hamid Baraheri, played by Cliff Curtis, is a naturalized Iranian-American citizen. The star-studded ensemble cast also features Sean Penn, Ashley Judd, and Ray Liotta. Read More »
On Wednesday night Tennessee executed Philip Workman despite his claims of innocence. For his last meal on earth, Philip Workman requested that a vegetable pizza be delivered to Nashville's homeless shelter. The Department of Corrections refused saying they were too focused on the execution procedures. But hundreds of normal people have stepped in and hundreds of pizzas were served last Wednesday night to Nashville's homeless community in Philip Workman's name. Read news reports on CNN and News Channel 4.
The following video shows another way activists can use direct action and street theater to raise social consciousness about an issue. This would educate the community about an important issue and at the same time it could be very entertaining. Creative ideas such as a street theater will raise the chances of getting media coverage. According to a viewer,
While companies like Starbucks homogenize our neighborhoods the protest offers something unusual and stimulates thought. Some feel Starbucks offers convenience but this convenience requires the suffering of people, usually far away. Art shines a light on issues that the average person, dropping their three bucks for a cup of coffee, doesn't generally contemplate.
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or mail it to Scott Cobb at 3616 Far West Blvd, Suite 117, Box 251, Austin, Texas 78731. If you would like to download a copy of the complaint for your records, 
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