Darren Bowling

This is messed up. (scroll down) It’s unbelievable… Black man in Georgia…You think this would be a white man in Georgia? Death penalty with no physical evidence? Wishy-washy witnesses? Race or no race, this is messed up, and is why I will not support the death penalty unless the accused’s face is CLEARLY on camera in the MIDST of the crime, and/or with a confession in front of a jury or with a lawyer present (i.e. not one of these jailhouse confessions In front of an educated white cop & without a lawyer present). If a guy wants to confess, let him do it in front of the jury or his lawyer.

Total failure of the justice system IMHO. Buddy of mine served on a jury last year for a burglary. Had a witness: this lady (and the prosecution) claimed she had a positive ID because of the brand of jeans the guy was wearing!! She recognized the “pocket stitching” (guy was wearing a mask). Gotta be kidding me. Only one “witness”. It’s scary that there are lawyers out there prosecuting this stuff…

From The New York Times, Tuesday, September 20, 2011 — 9:23 AM EDT:

Georgia Board of Pardons Rejects Clemency for Troy Davis

Troy Davis, whose death-row case ignited an international campaign to save his life, has lost what appeared to be his last attempt to avoid death by lethal injection on Wednesday.

Rejecting pleas by Mr. Davis’s lawyers that shaky witness testimony and a lack of physical evidence presented enough doubt about his guilt to spare him death, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles ruled on Tuesday morning that Mr. Davis, 42, should die for killing Mark MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, in a Savannah parking lot in 1989.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/us/troy-davis-is-denied-clemency-in-georgia.html?emc=na

1. Just read an interesting article in the September issue of Harpers…basically talks about how the piracy of goods can benefit society by allowing the masses access to goods that are only generally accessible to those who can afford them. Makes a good example using Shakespeare and cell phones. Harpers doesn’t provide its content online, so if you want to read the article, you’ll have to check it out at the library, or pick up the September issue at the newsstand.
2. Also, The Atlantic published an article this week about how several ginormo chief executives make more (waaaaay more) than what their entire companies pay in corporate taxes. Something is wrong here folks…way, way wrong. The article includes a chart that is darn near shocking (look at all the negative numbers on the y-axis…er, tax-axis)…
3. Lastly, an article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek highlights the fact that Obama has been a boon to the gun industry…sort of. Investors in Sturm Ruger have made boatloads of money since Obama was elected – speculatively because worried gun owners are “stocking up” before Obama has a chance to ban them! Haha