Bring back the death penalty, prisoners plead...

Italy inmates seek death penalty
By Christian Fraser
BBC News, Rome

Hundreds of prisoners serving life sentences in Italy have called on President Giorgio Napolitano to bring back the death penalty. Their request was published as a letter in the daily newspaper La Republica. Italy has almost 1,300 prisoners serving life terms, of whom 200 have served more than 20 years.

Italy has been at the forefront of the fight against capital punishment and recently lobbied the UN Security Council to table a moratorium on it. But at home some of the country's longest serving prisoners want the death penalty re-introduced.

'Light into shadows'

The letter they sent to President Napolitano came from a convicted mobster, Carmelo Musumeci, a 52-year-old who has been in prison for 17 years. It was co-signed by 310 of his fellow lifers. Musumeci said he was tired of dying a little bit every day. We want to die just once, he said, and "we are asking for our life sentence to be changed to a death sentence".

It was a candid letter written by a man who, from within his cell, has tried hard to change his life. He has passed his high school exams and now has a degree in law. But his sentence, he says, has transformed the light into shadows. He told the president his future was the same as his past, killing the present and removing every hope.

'Need for change'

Italy abolished the death penalty after World War II. Under current laws, prisoners serving life can obtain the right to brief periods of release after 10 years and conditional release after 26 years of good conduct. The Communist Refoundation party's senator, Maria Luisa Boccia, has proposed draft legislation to abolish the life sentence and replace it with a maximum sentence of 30 years. The president has spoken many times about the need to change the sentencing regime. But in his response to the letter, he said it was now for parliament and the government to deal with the prisoners' request.

Original at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6707865.stm

Wake and funeral information for Brian...

From Brian's dad:

The Wake will be Friday, June 1 from 6-8 PM at:
Settegast-Kopf Funeral Home
3320 Kirby Dr
Houston, TX 77098
(713) 526-2411

The Funeral Service will take place on Saturday, June 2 at 2 PM at:
Christ the King Lutheran Church
www.ctkelc.org
2353 Rice Blvd
Houston, TX 77005
(713) 523-2864x1021

In lieu of flowers you may donate to the Boys & Girls Club in McAllen Texas. Brian loved to spend his summers in McAllen at his Grandparents ("Momo & Papa's") home. Please include Brian's name, your Name, Address, Telephone Number, Signature and Date along with contribution to: Boys & Girls Club of McAllen Capital Campaign P.O. Box 577 McAllen, TX 78505

Thanks to everyone who has expressed there condolences and keep Brian and his family in their prayers. Also, please free to forward this message to anyone else who may want to know.

With love and gratitude,

Fidel & Trudi

Brian is gone.

I just learned that my high school friend Brian committed suicide while overseas.

Brian and I weren't close in high school, he dated a friend (Adriana) and was friends with friends of mine (Joe, Brian, Ben) but we didn't specifically associate with each other back then. There was one incredibly embarassing incident I'll never forget, though-- I had just started dating a guy from another high school, it was probably my first date with him, and we went to the community college's Pink Floyd laser show. I saw Brian and Adriana coming out of the earlier showing as we were entering, so I began the introductions, and completely forgot my date's name. Of course now I'll never forget it (Kevin Artl, I'm sure you're not reading this, but just in case, you have achieved immortality.) You know, I don't even remember if Brian really remembered that incident.

Keep in mind I went to high school in a Chicago suburb, and imagine my surprise when I ran into him in Austin years later-- I was taking a free swing dance lesson at the Carousel Lounge, I think with Drew Lippolt of all people, and Brian was visiting his dad who lived near Plano, about 3 hours away.

Brian and I sort of stayed in touch on an occasional basis-- he joined me and a gang of friends from law school for some tubing down the Guadalupe River one summer, he was my date at a friend's wedding, and we even dabbled in a romantic relationship at one point after law school. Brian was definitely a "jet setter" in my eyes. He dropped out of Berkeley where he studied computer science to join the team at Yahoo, waaaay long ago before their big success. He cashed out his stock options at a good time, because he bought a Boxster S, tooled around the country for a while, then zoomed off to Ibiza, Spain where he lived like a rock star for months and months. My understanding was he enjoyed some of the finest music and clubbing lifestyle as only a young, affluent, incredibly smart young guy can.

Brian came back to the States one summer, I guess it was summer of 2001 or maybe 2002, and joined me for an incredibly nice trip on the scenic highway in Virginia's Blue Mountains. He drove his Boxster all the way there from Texas to meet me-- he went to my aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary party one weekend, then we cruised around in the state and national parks on Skyline Drive for a few days before he headed back south and I went to my cousin Brett's wedding. That's the kind of generous thing Brian would do-- drive thousands of miles, on $800/set tires that only last like 20-30k miles to begin with, in a car that costs about $200 for an oil change and gets horrible gas mileage, to meet a friend who has a week to kill so she can drive his precious baby. That's Brian in a nutshell-- fun-loving, impulsive, generous, kind, extravagant.

He was also witty and dry-- SUCH a dry sense of humor-- and so darn smart. He was quick in every way. Quick speaking, quick to laugh, quick to poke fun, quick to make decisions. Brian never scrimped on compliments and was as quick to point out something lovely as most people are in criticizing.

Brian was a good salsa dancer. He accompanied me to a friend's wedding and took me out salsa dancing afterwards, long before I'd really gotten into salsa the way I have now. And I think the last time I actually saw him, he was just about finished with his degree at Berkeley (yes, he did return to finish it) and was in Austin briefly on his way to somewhere else-- maybe this is a year ago... he came by the salsa club and hung out for a while, danced with me a bit, and then was gone. I remember him smelling very strongly of cigarrette smoke and being surprised because I didn't think he smoked. The last time I heard from him, he was planning a trip to Costa Rica with a friend from school.

Then I think in February, he fell off the face of the earth, not communicating with anyone, friends or family. We (his high school friends and his parents) ran around like nuts for a while, everyone trying to locate him... his website was still active, but was it just automatic bill pay? A family member in law enforcement got his credit card records and learned from them that he was using his credit card in Basel, Switzerland. Phew, he was alive and not at the bottom of the jungle somewhere. At that point I figured Brian was just being an international man of mystery again, so I sent a final email saying he should stop playboying around long enough to send his parents an email or postcard-- I think I may have even called him a jackass, but with a smiley face-- and I assumed that was it.

Now I hear that Brian talked with his dad last week and said he was coming home-- but then last Friday, the State Department called his dad and said Brian committed suicide on Thursday May 24. I got the email over the weekend and I'm trying to get more information for friends. I plan on driving to Houston for the funeral on Saturday.

I can't believe this happened. I had no idea Brian was ever anywhere near suicide. I need more information to even start to process this-- until I get more data, it's just empty words that convey no meaning.

I'll miss him, though.

Death Penalty Upheld for Child Rape

Death Penalty for Child Rape: copied from the Volokh Conspiracy site, http://www.volokh.com/posts/1179944391.shtml:

Yesterday the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the death penalty for rape of a child under 12. In Coker v. Georgia (1977), the Supreme Court held that the death penalty for rape was unconstitutional. Many commentators had interpreted the reasoning of Coker as precluding the death penalty for anything short of murder and possibly some national security offenses (treason, espionage, and the like). But Coker spoke expressly and repeatedly of rape of an adult, so the question of the death penalty for rape of a child remains open.

Yesterday's decision follows the lead of a 1996 Louisiana Supreme Court case (State v. Wilson), but Wilson decided the question in the context of a pretrial motion, and the U.S. Supreme Court understandably -- given its general preference not to review decisions before a final judgment -- refused to hear the case. The new case, State v. Kennedy, upholds a death sentence, so I suspect the Supreme Court will agree to consider the issue.

The Louisiana opinion is long and detailed, and I can't do it justice with a capsule summary; but here's a particularly interesting passage that tries to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's death penalty methodology that was developed in the recent cases having to do with the death penalty for juveniles and the mentally retarded (one paragraph break added):

Overall, it appears that approximately 30% of capital jurisdictions (15 of 38, including federal) authorize some form of non-homicide capital punishment, a showing strong enough to suggest that there may be no consensus one way or the other on whether death is an appropriate punishment for any crime which does not result in the death of the victim. However, when the direction of change is considered, clearly the direction is towards the imposition of capital punishment for non-homicide crimes. As stated earlier, the number of jurisdictions allowing the death penalty for non-homicide crimes more than doubled between 1993 and 1997.

Most important to our analysis is the fact that four states have enacted laws which capitalize child rape since Wilson, evidencing movement in the direction that this Court thought possible back in 1996 when Wilson was decided. Looked at another way, even after the Supreme Court decided in Coker that the death penalty for rape of an adult woman was unconstitutional, five states nevertheless have capitalized child rape since then, a number which the Supreme Court held in Roper was sufficient to indicate a new consensus regarding society’s standards of decency towards the juvenile death penalty.

In fact, the trend is more compelling than in Roper, given the Roper Court’s reliance on five states abolishing the death penalty for juveniles after Stanford held that the death penalty for juveniles was constitutional. Here, we have five states enacting the death penalty for child rape in spite of Coker, which held that the death penalty for rape of an adult was unconstitutional. Furthermore, it is likely that the ambiguity over whether Coker applies to all rape or just adult rape has left other states unsure of whether the death penalty for child rape is constitutional. These states may just be taking a “wait and see” attitude until the Supreme Court rules on the precise issue. Thus, the fact that only five states capitalize child rape should not pose an obstacle to the Court’s consideration of the issue, given the direction of change, i.e, an increase of five since Coker....

[Moreover,] it can be said for child rapists as a class of offenders that, unlike the young or mentally retarded, they share no common characteristic tending to mitigate the moral culpability of their crimes. Contrary to the mentally retarded and juvenile offenders, execution of child rapists will serve the goals of deterrence and retribution just as well as execution of first-degree murderers would. Our state legislature, and this Court, have determined this category of aggravated rapist to be among those deserving of the death penalty, and, short of a first-degree murderer, we can think of no other non-homicide crime more deserving.

Sorry!

There's just no time for blogging these days. At work I am swamped between a case set for hearing at the end of June (tons of work right there), another with a big answer due May 29, two other answers due June 20, an execution June 20 (which means other things to work on before then) and all kinds of little things that keep popping up in the middle and distracting me.

At home, Mitch and I are usually exhausted by the time we come home from work, but he's working on getting the yard into shape so we can rent his house; with all my stuff in the house, it's a constant feeling of disarray and disorganization. I need to clean up the closet and bathroom because I'm getting a little out of control with the earrings all over the counter, clothing piled on top of the dresser, random mess under the bathroom cabinet, etc. I'm working until 7 most days and in bed by 9 so it's been hectic.

His parents are coming for a few weeks' visit May 23 so we need to clean up for them. We have plans for the next few weekends with friends and other events, but a friend of Mitch's in Corpus is terminally ill, so Mitch and some other folks are probably going down there sooner rather than later.

It's just been crazy lately.

On the plus side, my friend Ellen's new baby is doing well-- Aviva is her name and she's just precious. Ellen's good too, but I need to start seeing her more often esp. once all the parents go back home. My other friend Erica hits 37 weeks tomorrow and she can't wait to get the baby out. And my "brother's" wife Heather is preggers too-- I think probably about 3-4 months now. Brett's not really my brother but he's as close as you can be without being blood, so I feel impending aunt-hood :)

I have to admit, I am looking forward more and more to getting married next spring and starting to work on a contribution to the next generation that isn't light, air or water pollution. At least not directly :)

G

Ends of all sorts.

The first and closest-to-home end... last weekend there was a big storm in Bastrop. It tore up some old trees by the roots, I've been told, and badly damaged the 100+ yr old crepe myrtle tree in "my" front yard. Yes, yes, I know it's not MY front yard any more. But, you know what I mean. Very sad! I hope this weekend we'll

Then Monday was the closing on our house, and that went almost as smoothly. A few documents had some names wrong, but it was taken care of quickly by the title company and lender people, so now Mitch and I own a new house! :) That's really more a beginning, but it's also happily the end to stress on that account for a while.

The sellers are leasing it back for a while, so at this point we don't know exactly when we'll move in except that it is likely to be in early July.

Mitch's cousin Steven and his family are moving to Austin from Indianapolis because he got a new job here, so we're touring them around this weekend, checking out neighborhoods and catching a concert at the Backyard on Sunday night.

That's the "end" of my report of ends :)

Phew!

One down, one to go. Tuesday the movers came and did a great job-- my furniture and numerous boxes completely stuffed the 24' truck from top to bottom. It was drizzling all day but the guys shrinkwrapped all my furniture so it was very well protected. I ordered pizza for them, but they didn't stop to eat. It still took 10 hours, but the price was very reasonable ($869) compared to other quotes. I gave them both good tips so I think we all ended up happy. I was tickled pink to not have to lug all that heavy stuff around. Plus they were better prepared than I ever would have been with the blankets, shrink wrap, dollies etc.

Fortunately I remembered the attic... found a few things I would have been sad to lose including some photos, scrapbooks, notes, and so on.

Closing was this morning at 8:15. I went to the house early, swept and mopped and vacuumed, and generally tried to give the best karma I could to the new owners. They had already signed their half of the paperwork, so I didn't get to meet them, but the closing for me was smooth as silk. I was out of there before 9am and in my office by 9:35.

I'm pooped, though, and I think it's emotional more than physical. I'm on my way home now, to meet Mitch and go for a hike in the greenbelt behind his house. Then we'll broil a steak, move some boxes around, and watch a moooooo-vie. (You wouldn't believe how crowded his guest room, dining room, and garage are now... just as if someone had crammed 2000 sf worth of stuff in there..!)

One of these days I'll put up the photos of the azaleas at their finest.

Sorry for the lack of updates!

Here's the latest: this past weekend was my last in Bastrop. Everything is packed and ready for the movers, who arrive tomorrow morning at 8:30. I still need to doublecheck the garage attic space, but I think we're all set. Once they're done loading the truck, they will go to Austin and Mitch will supervise them putting stuff in his house and garage. Meanwhile, I will clean the house and go to the title company to turn in my keys and all the instruction manuals, warranties etc for the house, and sign my name OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Sadly the title company has me with my full middle name too. My right hand will be a quivering mess when I'm done, I'm sure. I'm taking tomorrow and Wednesday off... and I'll spend Wednesday sorting and organizing and recovering.

It wasn't as sad as I expected. I stood in the backyard and breathed in very deeply-- the scents of the grass, honeysuckle, the jasmine, and the roses were lovely, and the sound of the fountain was peaceful and charming. At the same time, I was happy to never have to clean out the algae in the fountain again. I am happy to never have to dig out millions of trumpetvine sprouts again. And I am happy to not worry about crazy bills because the house is uninsulated.

I do worry that the Collinses (the buyers) will not water the ivy plants hanging on the front porch... or that they will be careless and scare away the wren who has built a nest and laid an egg in the hanging pot... or that they won't put up a hummingbird feeder. (I saw two blackthroated hummers, one in the backyard in the salvia, and one on the side in the azaleas.) I made a long list of all the things they should know-- but they won't even be at the closing. I hope they love the house, if not the way I do, at least as well as I do.

I took a walk Saturday night-- checked out the downtown main street, had a glass of wine with my friends Curtis and Anita, and looked at the house Julia Roberts is living in while filming her next movie, Fireflies in the Garden. Yes, Julia and her kids are here in Bastrop :) So that was cool. I wandered down by the Collinses' home on Pecan and looked at the tents being set up for their Sunday gala for the Art Guild. I prayed that they would take as much care with my little baby (their "guest house") as they obviously do with the big brick mansion. And I thanked God and all the stars that my house went to some really rich people who love historic homes.

Mitch came out Sunday morning and we enjoyed breakfast at Maxine's. We'd just missed Julia Roberts and her kids, which was kind of fun, thinking about a big movie star just enjoying small town life the way we do. (Mitch and I will be going to Maxine's again, no fear.) Mitch helped me load up his car with lots of stuff, a cooler from the freezer, boxes etc. Then he scooted home to clean out the garage.

David and his kids came over Sunday afternoon and very kindly helped me take two truck-loads over to the Ladies of Charity, then he took some things for himself. The kitchen table is darling, but a little country and a little small for the new breakfast room, whereas David has a tiny little kitchen that needs it. It was nice to interact with him for more than 30 seconds-- fortunately we are still very friendly. His kids have gotten big, but it's weird-- in one moment they look the same as when I first met them 5 years ago, and the next, they look shockingly mature and teenager-ish. Anyway it was nice to see them and have a little more closure.

I have meetings and committments all week but the weekend looks nice and relaxing. I am honestly looking forward to a weekend with just ONE house to worry about.

Climate change.

Testimony from scientists in front of a House investigative panel revealed that the Bush Administration has been "cooking the books" that may result in "cooking the planet." The Administration has been altering data and pressuring scientists in regards to global warming, asking some to delete references to climate change in official government reports in order to downplay the impact and the need to move toward serious reductions in atmospheric pollution.

They are now squaring off against the most comprehensive report done to date on climate change, the IPCC report put out by the United Nations (don't forget, our UN reps contributed to the report - chaired by a NASA scientist - one who also testified about pressure to skew data domestically!).

It's shameful, and what is worse is that if the IPCC is correct, it may be the face of things to come. What happens when sea level rise threatens Manhattan, or erases the Florida keys and part of the peninsula, or any of our coastal cities that would be affected by a sea level rise. When hurricanes continue to grow in intensity and frequency, what will happen? When the Great Plains becomes a dust bowl as the aquifers run dry and drought continues, who will respond? How long will the new victims wait? How many will die then?

These are serious questions that we have yet to grapple with. Even if we do something today about warming, it will take decades to stop the damage we have already done. Some argue it is too late, and that thought should scare you. Even if you won't live to see the planet die, you are leaving your children one hell of a present. We're talking about these changes happening in OUR LIFETIMES and definitely in our CHILDRENS' lifetimes.

Bluebonnets!

This little cutie is my friend Ellen's daughter enjoying the Texas spring tradition of chillin' in the bluebonnets.



I will be posting some photos of the azaleas and gardens at my house in Bastrop soon, not that it will be my house for long, ha-ha.