Archive for April, 2006

4/27/2006

Give me liberty or give me death

— Posted by Leshka at 1:14 am

Darryl Mack is set to be executed tonight. He appealed the decision saying that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment. You can read an article about it here.

Before I start, I want to say that this is not a post about whether the death penalty should be banned in the US or if it should be widely used, etc. That would open up a whole other can of worms that I’m not prepared to deal with right now. I’m not even writing about Mack, although his appeals prompted me to actually commit this to a post. More on that later.

I’m reading The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society (1998, Oxford University Press), which is a collection of essays detailing prison life and politics, primarily in England and America. England did a lot of transportation to America and Australia, as well as capital punishment before prisons became the main source of punishment, and even then it was seen as a reformative process, not a punishment per se.

The first chapter deals with punishment in the secular part of the Roman Empire, and oh my, they were bastions of capital punishment. If you were a convicted arsonist, you were burned alive. If you committed perjury, precipitation was the sentence (being thrown off the Tarpeian Cliff.) “Composers of scurrilous songs about a citizen” were clubbed to death. Hanging was reserved for those who stole from another’s crops. Vestal virgins who did the nasty were buried alive. Those who killed close relatives were subject to the culleus, which was “the practice of confining the offender in a sack with an ape, a dog, and a serpent and throwing the sack into the sea.” It almost sounds like a cruel Monty Python sketch.

According to Wikipedia, a lethal injection is a mixture of three drugs. Sodium thiopental is a short acting barbiturate that makes the injectee unconscious while the other drugs do their thing. 5 grams is about 14 times the amount a normal injection would be, so it’s supposed to work quickly and last long. Pancuronium bromide is a muscle relaxant that stops all muscle movement except for the heart. Again, there is a much higher dosage (over 10 times) given to act within 15 to 30 seconds. Potassium chloride (5-10 times the usual amount) is then given to stop the heart.

Okay, here’s the reason why I’m writing. In late February, Michael Morales was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. Two court-appointed anesthesiologists withdrew from the execution, saying that they were doctors who took an oath to help cure people, not to help kill them. I agree completely. If a doctor does not want to aid in an execution, he or she shouldn’t be forced to do so. However, there is the issue of whether someone who is not a doctor can administer this injection efficiently (find a vein, etc.) That, and the theory (which, if it’s true, is bad enough) that the anesthesia doesn’t fully work, thereby causing great pain to an inmate that can’t move, are why the appeals for cruel and unusual punishment are starting to arise.

Again, this is not an argument for or against the death penalty. This particular inmate, Michael Morales, was sentenced to death after raping and brutally killing a 17-year-old in 1981. He knows he is guilty and is repentant. But he wants to be able to die a painless death. I’m sorry, but didn’t this girl deserve to die a painless death as well? Apparently, he tried to strangle her and when that didn’t work, he beat her with a hammer. We’re talking a long and excruciatingly painful way to die. If he were sentenced to life without parole, that would be one issue, but he was sentenced to death and, unfortunate though it might be, all the intricacies surrounding it.

In 2001, a pastor had written a letter to the editor of the New York Times. He was questioning why people who had committed the most heinous crimes were allowed to die peacefully, while all over the country there are terminally ill people who are in great pain and cannot get help in dying because it is illegal to assist suicide. Now, I’m not for people offing themselves because they feel bummed or have a broken leg. I’m talking about people who have lived with horrible pain that won’t go away and don’t want to live their lives as doped-up bed-ridden people. They want to die with dignity. I’m also saying that if there’s going to be a death penalty in this country, there’s a reason why heinous crimes that cause horrific pain and anguish to the wronged individual, family and friends are punished by execution.

On second thought, I will give my opinion on the death penalty. I believe it’s a sound theory. If someone commits a crime atrocious enough, or if it is known that said person has killed multiple times, then this is an appropriate punishment. The problem lies in the practice. I would rather let a guilty man go free because of lack of evidence than kill an innocent man. In a society so huge, there is no possible way to know for sure who committed what crime, if any.

4/20/2006

This will teach you…

— Posted by Leshka at 2:44 am

Tonight Adam and I went to the Manhattan Community Board 8 full meeting. We were there in support of a proposal for Greenmarket addition to the Upper East Side. I for one am in favor of as many Greenmarkets as possible. However, I didn’t want to get too involved, because I’ve been in the middle of different projects, etc. I would put my name on petitions and go to the odd meeting.

Boy, was that stupid. More on that later.

One of the locations was in the midst of a neighborhood that feigned community but really didn’t know shit when it came to what really mattered. They showed up in force to this meeting and all gave their opinions. Following is a summary of the “public” portion of the meeting:

Apparently, none of the people who live around this area knew anything about the proposed Greenmarket in a schoolyard. They were outraged when they heard it in the New York Post article. The entire article is posted here, since it was sooooo short.

April 15, 2006 — A food fight is brewing on the Upper East Side - but at least all of the tomatoes thrown will be locally grown.

The neighborhood is planning to bring two new green markets to East 82nd Street, and although most residents are for them, there are notable exceptions.

At a Community Board 8 meeting Tuesday, most neighbors were behind the idea of produce being sold on Saturdays at the two locations, but a handful of co-op board members were opposed to the idea - as was grocer Eli Zabar, according to multiple sources who were at the meeting.

The planned green markets would be at East 82nd Street and York Avenue, in the parking lot of St. Stephen’s Church, and at 82nd and Madison Avenue, in the playground of PS 6.

Gabrielle Langholtz of Greenmarket, which operates 40 open-air produce markets throughout the five boroughs, said some opponents are worried about traffic congestion and parking problems. But, she added, “I think the real reason is that Eli Zabar sees us as competition.”

Zabar did not return numerous calls for comment yesterday.

The board casts its final vote on the plan Wednesday. If approved, Upper East Siders can be enjoying fresh cherries, plums and apricots by June.

They got 83 signatures in 24 hours against this location and got confirmation that everyone save one person they interviewed (how much do you wanna bet they asked 5 people?) did not know about this proposal. My question at this time was, how come I knew about the locations and I wasn’t even looking for any information? If these people were concerned about their community, they would have known about this proposal.

Their loudest complaint was about the rodent problem in that area, which would be heightened by organic refuse. My question is: if it’s such a big problem, shouldn’t you do something more than just complain about it? And hey, someone complained to the right people (the school officials) and steps are being taken to remedy the problem, which won’t be solved overnight.

What should have been among their loudest complaints, but wasn’t, was the trucks coming in early in the morning and waking up the family, as well as the traffic. To the first, the Greenmarket representative said that they have Greenmarkets in residential neighborhoods and haven’t had a problem. To the second I say, why do you have cars when you live and work in the city? The insurance alone for this city is so high that you could save tons of money by taking public transportation every day (the cons of this are a different story altogether.) Oh, I forgot, you all have second homes somewhere that public transportation doesn’t take you.

So my point is - this is an issue of the rich against the poor. There was so much that I wanted to say at the meeting (and still want to say) about their bourgeois crap, but I really couldn’t because that wouldn’t be civil. And we all know I’m a civil person…

Actually, this post is getting too long, and I’m rambling too much, so I’m going to stop shortly.

The big lesson in all this is - if you believe in an issue, find out what you can do to get your opinion heard. Just because you think an idea is good doesn’t mean that everyone thinks said idea is sound. This is a huge problem that is just starting to be remedied by smaller grassroots organizations against…well, pick your enemy. Petitions don’t do much, since corruption on both sides of an issue abound. Just being at a meeting, and (gasp!) speaking out is so valuable. Of course, I really shouldn’t have spoken at this meeting since I would have wailed at the “rich-bitches” that cared more about their precious Metropolitan patrons and their $50,000 cars than about a community that cares about good nutrition and good habits.

Update: As I was writing this post, Adam got a voicemail that both the proposed locations got approved! Apparently the Community Board saw through the complaints made by the residents of the affected Madison Ave neighborhood and voted to approve the measure. So any readers that are anywhere near 82nd between Park and Madison, shop at the new Greenmarket this summer!!!! Even though we live near the other location, we plan to shop at this location occasionally to support the decision made.

BTW, Adam has done a link about this as well. We’re linking to each other, because that’s how we are :)