Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

February 15, 2008

Today’s Announcement

Don’t forget to order your copy of Angels Watching Over Me, the story of an ordinary woman facing less than ordinary challenges.  Angels Watching Over Me is a story of family love, sacrifices, poverty and an undying faith that makes heroes out of all of us. Here is the link in case you have forgotten it: http://www.lulu.com/content/964306

Important notice: Storytime Tapestry is a free e-zine, however donations are always needed to help with the operating expenses of running the newsletter and to keep Storytime Tapestry the quality newsletter you are so accustomed to.   You can make your donations to paypal at: winterose@videotron.ca, or if you would prefer to use the mail system contact the publisher at the same email address: winterose@videotron.ca

Today’s Stories

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  DEATH KNELL FOR THE DEATH PENALTY?

Duane Bates

The New Jersey legislature is set to pass a bill to abolish the death penalty and the Governor has said he will sign the bill into law, becoming the first state in forty years to abolish the death penalty.  A New Jersey Commission charged with examining the death penalty issue determined it did not deter murders, was more expensive than life without parole and created conditions where an innocent person could be executed.

The Supreme Court will hear a case involving the Constitutionality of lethal injections as a method of execution next month, effectively placing a moratorium on executions in the United States until the issue of whether lethal injections constitute the “cruel and unusual” punishments banned by the Constitution. Even if lethal injections were found to be a “cruel and unusual” punishment by the Supreme Court, the death penalty would not be outlawed; the Federal and state governments would have to develop methods of executions that would pass Constitutional muster. 

Between 1973 and this year, 124 convicted murderers have been exonerated of their crimes, based on DNA and other evidence, and released from death row.  Fifty-eight percent of these exonerations took place in just six states, 22 in Florida, 18 in Illinois, and eight each in Arizona, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas.

The United States is one of the few developed nations that still execute criminals and we currently have about 3,300 prisoners on Death Row in the fifty states. If our criminal justice system is right 99% of the time it means as many as 33 persons on death row are innocent.  While we can have confidence that a particular person accused of murder is guilty of the crime, the more persons that are placed on death row the greater the possibility that errors have occurred at some point in the arrest and trial process.  The work of the Innocence Project has proven that major flaws exist in the criminal justice system and that innocent persons have been convicted and placed on death row. 

Our societal traditions state that it is better for a guilty person go free than an innocent person be convicted of a crime he or she did not commit. That is the ideal, but given our history of racial slavery and segregation, unequal access to legal assistance for the poor and mentally ill and the normal error rate of human error in police investigations, eyewitness identifications and other criminal justice procedures, the system is far from perfect.  The advent of DNA evidence has begun to demonstrate the flaws and error rate, but DNA evidence is available to be used in a minority of criminal cases to convict or acquit an accused person.

As a retired mental health therapist who worked in a jail, I would prefer to have a death penalty because I know there are a few violent persons who have proven by their crimes that they cannot be trusted to live in our society.  I also know that our criminal justice system is flawed and has, at least in 124 proven cases, sentenced innocent persons to death for crimes they did not commit.  A criminal justice system than can sentence a person to death has to be perfect, and we know that this is an impossible achievement in any system that involves humans.  Our only moral and ethical choice is to give up the right to execute persons for any crime in order to ensure that we will not execute innocent persons.

The maximum sentence for any crime should be life without the possibility of parole.  The only release from this sentence would be death in prison or new evidence that would prove in a court of law that the accused was not guilty of the crime to begin with.  Murder would not be the only crime eligible for this sentence.  On the day I wrote this article a man went into an insurance agency in Florida intent on committing a robbery.  He took with him a gallon of gasoline and proceeded to pour it on the two women, one of them pregnant, working in the office and set them on fire.  A passerby tried to intervene to help the two women and was shot in the face by the robber.  The women were burned over ninety percent of their bodies.  This type of violent crime should also qualify for the life without parole for the first non-lethal offense unless there are extreme mitigating circumstances.  Second crimes involving serious, non-lethal, violence would certainly qualify for the same sentence.

Many people will object to the elimination of the death penalty, but is just a matter of time until it is proven that an innocent person was executed for a crime he or she did not commit.  What do we say to the family of the executed innocent when it happens? 

The link below will take you to a more extensive article on this issue and the website of the Innocence Project.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22222241/

http://www.innocenceproject.org/

Duane Bates

batesduane@yahoo.com

~**~**~

LIFE

Dr. Harmander Singh

"What is life?” he asked his mother.

"It's caring, sharing and daring,” she replied.

"What do you mean by daring?” he was confused.

"It's daring to care and share,” she said.

"I still do not understand,” he replied.

"You need to be daring to care for those whom you do not like,” she said.

“...,” he could not answer.

He was lost. He thought that caring was to take care of those whom he loves.

"My son, it's always easy to give love to those whom you love. Is not it?” she was deep.

"Yes, mum. I never thought about it. I always thought that life is to enjoy caring and sharing,” he said.

"You're right. You will always enjoy when your sharing goes beyond the limitations of others and mine. You will enjoy more if you have saved a life once in your life, you will always enjoy it. If it was that of a stranger, you will enjoy more. If it was that, of the one whom you did not like your daring to do so will become a compliment, your caring a reward, and you are sharing a feeling of humanity and your enjoyment will be the glory of the human life. Is not it so beautiful?” she was growing with love.

"Yes, mum. You're right, life is a great joy with daring to share all of our caring for others without a thought wise people say but with delight ever sought,” he felt the meaning of life.

Daily Moral Insight for a Peaceful Night

Is not it wonderful to think about what is life and all about it?

Is not it a great human daring to have courage to share and care even when we are busy?

Is not it a pity to ignorance that we hide our love for those who do not love us?

Are not we blessed ones when we dare to save a reflection of humanity in any form?

Is not it an earnest seeking to let life glow itself without imposing our ignorantly collected influences from ignorant horizons of life?

Dr. Harmander Singh

bhagouauty@gmail.com

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Poetry Corner

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God's Fountain

Cynthia Groopman

God's fountain,

Is as exquisite and awesome as the highest mountain.

From its waters, words pour,

Inspirational love and caring are shared to cherish and to adore.

It spout is there for all to share,

All are inspired through good deeds and prayer.

God's fountain is so regal and majestic as you know,

For through it, we bask in the Divine radiance of the glorious golden glow.

Be ware of what you say

Be ware of what you say,

Insulting and angry hostile words can ruin another's day.

Never disparage another person in front of others,

select supportive comforting words that ease the emotional pain of sisters and brothers.

Beware of words that are sharp and that sting,

Be wary of everything.

Always speak in a soft gentle tone,

That is true in person or on the telephone.

Think twice of the words you will select,

Beware of controversial topics or subjects.

Beware of bragging, and showing off in your words,

Often smugness is heard.

Always speak humbly and truthfully in all situations,

Avoiding arguments and frustration.

For as the old saying goes, a bruise or wound heal fast,

But words as sharp and hurtful as an arrow or bee sting will always last.

Cynthia Groopman

cynthia.Groopman@verizon.net

~**~**~

A Grudge
Cynthia Groopman

A grudge is like a deadly disease that horribly festers and grows,
And is as fierce as the harsh winds that roar and savagely blow.
A grudge hardens and angers the human heart,
With hostile feelings and hatred that it does cruelly imparts.
A grudge is as vicious as a frightening lion's ranting roar,
And as boisterous as the storm that incessantly thrusts,
Upon life's tranquil stage door.
For God taught us to forget and to forgive,
And to love our neighbor as we happily live.
For this is my sincere heartfelt prayer,
That we all peacefully dwell in a world where mirthful smiles reign,
And there is not a single grudge for us to bear.


Cynthia Groopman

 cynthia.Groopman@verizon.net

 Readers Feedback

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