posted August 16, 2007 10:11 PM            

The Act does not take away the power to "enforce" what it does is limit the time the death row inmate (already convicted by his / her peers) has to ask for an appeal by a Federal court after he or she has exhausted all of their appeals in their specific state.

In other words, American's are tired of states that allow decades worth of appeals, that tie of the system, use tax-payers money, only to have the same evidence convict the person again. Once that has been exhausted the person takes their sweet time in putting it before the Feds.. we NO MORE... we are tired of wasting money on shut and dry cases. For example, a case that has lasted for years, exhausted appeals only to learn that the prisoner left his DNA on / in the victim (s) along with fingerprints.... The 9th Circuit court of appeals is the WORST in allow prisoners to make a mockery of our judicial system.

Even Liberal Susan Estrich, has issues with stripping the Death Penalty from cut and dry cases;

"Opponents of the death penalty contend that there is no such thing as a good enough system and, in many cases, no such thing as a bad enough criminal. It is there that I find myself parting ways with the critics. I am happy to join any efforts to improve the quality of counsel, review dubious cases or provide funds for DNA testing that can resolve doubts. But there are cases where death is a just punishment.

The same day's paper contains a report of an attack so gruesome and horrible that I can think of no reason why the perpetrator, once convicted, should be fed, clothed and cared for for the rest of his life, rather than put to death. Calvin Sharp, 27, has been arrested for hacking to death a 6-year-old boy with a meat cleaver on Sunday night in a quiet neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, California. His mother sought to save the boy's life. Neighbors first tried to stop Sharp, and then called 911 in horror.

Sharp was fighting with the boy's mother about whether the boy spent too much time watching video games, according to the accounts given by neighbors to police. The boy ran out of the first floor apartment into the central courtyard, and Sharp followed him with a meat cleaver, hacking at the boy's head and yelling "Die! Die!" A neighbor tried to intervene and almost got slashed. Sharp pulled the bleeding child closer and hacked and beat him to death. He then turned on the boy's mother. Ultimately, neighbors restrained him until police arrived, saving the mother's life. Sharp has been charged with both murder and attempted murder.

Sharp is presumed innocent. But that is a legal presumption, not a statement of fact. There is simply no excuse for what he did, and no reason I can think of that the just, certain and swift punishment should not be death. Death is different, but so are some savage criminals. "
http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20070815/cm_uc_crsesx/op_393560

"The new guidelines will limit the amount of time defendants have to file a federal appeal to six months after their conviction, and also impose strict limitations on how long federal judges can take to decide the appeals. States that wish to become eligible for this expedited review process are required to submit an application that will be reviewed by the attorney general, who is tasked under the 2006 renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act [PDF text; JURIST report] with reviewing whether states are providing "adequate counsel" to defendants sentenced to death. "

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/08/leahy-specter-urge-delay-in-doj.php

posted August 17, 2007 02:07 PM            

There is no possible reason to keep convicted murderers who have been given the death penalty...which is damned hard to get and must involve "special circumstances"...there is no possible reason to extend their stays in prison for an average of more than 15 years and sometimes more than 20.

This is just more whining by the left who need something else to screech and shriek about.

posted August 18, 2007 11:19 PM            

No one knows about that Canadian that was disappeared by our government and turned over to be tortured for months while his family was frantic? Or that Aussie that's now a celebrity in Australia?

Or how like it was being used against politicians to protesters? Even lap dancers in Las Vegas? Or a father and son innocently stargazing?

Or even how Homeland Security clashed with the the libraries more than once? (One was more funny, and the library apparently won that one.)

It would take some work for me to find the exact names, and I'm feeling too lazy to do that now, but I'm rather amazed that not one of those much more passionate about this than me bothered to take up such a challenge. The memory hole must be vast.

ETA: ok, here's one, as it was just way too easy to find:
http://www.maherarar.ca/

A bit more on other abuses:
http://www.jimbovard.com/Patriot%20Act%20vs%20Financial%20Freedom%20article.htm

Another

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3540572&p1=0