The crap shoot of state killings, some call “justice,” may resume in Missouri after a 1 ˝ year hiatus. Officials are set to execute Stanley Hall, a few minutes after midnight on March 16. Mr. Hall confessed soon after he'd committed a contemptible crime: in January 1994, he pushed Barbara Wood off a bridge in downtown St. Louis into the Mississippi River. We mourn her death, all those whose lives are violently taken and extend condolences to those coping with such losses of loved ones. The Mid-MO FOR condemns all murder, including state killings. This case additionally reminds us why our state needs at least a three-year moratorium on executoins with a study commission to review various issues of the death penalty in Missouri.
Master Sergeant Don Honeycutt, who's retired from the Air Force and works with the JROTC program in the University City High School (near St. Louis), is among the multitudes hoping Gov. Matt Blunt commutes Mr. Hall's death sentence. Sgt. Honeycutt estimates he brought as many as 600 so-called “at-risk” students from his school alone to the Potosi Correctional Center over six years to meet with prisoners as part of the Youth Enlightenment Program. Mr. Hall, he says, was an integral member of that team. His scheduled execution “has been plaguing me.”
“I think he has made a big difference in the lives of many kids.”After visiting with Mr. Hall and other prisoners, Sgt. Honeycutt recalls seeing even the “hellions” among the students “having their whole demeaner changed. They'd say, things like 'Sarge, I never looked at things this way.'” Many of the kids coming to the prison “were doing the kind of things I was doing,” committing petty crimes, heavily using drugs, Mr. Hall recently told the FOR. “I let them know the path they were treading on would catch up with them. Either they'd end up in prison or the cemetery.”
Sadly, nothing can reverse the past. “If taking my life would bring her life back, I would have welcomed death 11 years ago.” Mr. Hall's remorse “could be a facade,” says Sgt. Honeycutt. “What I've seen, as he's talked to the kids though, makes me believe he is genuinely sorry for what he did.” There are also other issues of concern:
U.S. Supreme Court Outlaws Juvenile Death Penalty
Capital punishment opponents were delightfully surprised on March 1, the International Abolition Day, as the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 decision, overturned the juvenile death penalty as unconstitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy cast the deciding vote and authored a poignant majority opinion in support of the Missouri Supreme Court decision overturning the death sentence of Chris Simmons, who was 17-years old when he contemptibly helped murder Shirley Crook.
The decision ends the United States' pariah status globally as the only nation to officially sanction the death sentencing of 16 and 17-year old offenders. Justice Kennedy wrote,“...the rejection of the juvenile death penalty in the majority of States; the infrequency of its use even where it remains on the books; and consistency in the trend toward abolition of the practice—provide sufficient evidence that today our society views juveniles, in the words Atkins used (in the Court's 2002 decision ending the death sentencing of) the mentally retarded, as 'categorically less culpable than the average criminal'.”
Mr. Simmons and 70 other juvenile offenders will have their sentences overturned to “life without the possibility of parole,” a formidable punishment. But where there is life, there's hope. The FOR extends congratulations to him, his legal team; thanks to the Missouri high court, ABA's Juvenile Justice Cen-ter, the Justice Project, many other advocates, including the 20-plus member-group, Missouri Ban Youth Execution(BYE) Coalition, of which the Mid-MO FOR and Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty were members. To view the U.S. Supreme Court decision log onto www.usscplus.com/current. Briefs filed by Mr. Simmons' attorneys, the Missouri Attorney General and the amici curiae briefs filed by groups, including the BYE Coalition, plus other info may be viewed by logging onto www.cjedfund.org/simmons.
TWO YEARS TOO MANY--PLAN TO BE THERE MARCH 20th
Two years ago many of us were actively organizing to oppose a prospective war that we knew was to be an unjustified war of aggression. Sadly, despite our best efforts, the war occurred and our predictions and concerns have been borne out. Bush & Co. have made a mess of Iraq. There have been tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of casualties and more than $200 billion has been squandered on this imperial adventure.
Now is the time to come together and insist that Bush ends the war.
We need you now to make plans to be part of “Two Years Too Many” A Peace Gathering & March to Mark the Anniversary of the Invasion.
On Sunday, March 20th the Columbia Peace Coalition will hold what we hope will be the largest peace gathering since the start of the war. Gather to hear music between 1 and 1:30 p.m. at Courthouse Sq. At 2 p.m., after a short rally, we’ll march through downtown to the Military Recruiters’ offices on Broadway.
We are asking everyone who attends to bring two pairs of shoes (which you will get back). Upon arriving at the Recruiters’, the shoes will be used to create a visual representation of the number of GIs who’ve died in Iraq (currently 1492 and rising). Participants will then circle the facility and hold a short silent vigil of remembrance, marking the loss of life. Bring men’s, women’s and/or children’s shoes to honor the memories of all who’ve died, Iraqis, Americans and others.
We believe this will be a profoundly moving event that will allow us to make an unequivocal statement that it is time to End the War and Bring Our Troops Home. We ask you to make a commitment to be there, and to help us spread the word.
NOW IS THE TIME TO GIVE THE WAR THE BOOT!
PLEASE SUBMIT A TWO YEARS TOO MANY COMMITMENT FORM BY SELECTING A METHOD BELOW AND MAKE A COMMITMENT TO BE PART OF THIS IMPORTANT EVENT!
Download and print a copy of the Two Years Too Many Commitment Form and follow the submission instruction on the form:
Two Years Too Many Commitment Form in Word format.
Two Years Too Many Commitment Form in PDF format.
OR
Complete and submit your Two Years Too Many Commitment Form On-line!
Thanks for making a commitment to stand for peace.
A Peoples' Travelogue.... Uruguay and an Election of Dreams
Reflections from Lorraine Caputo while traveling through South America and attending the presidential inaugural there on 1 March.
A historic moment is arriving for this small South American country, Uruguay. For the first time in its 175-year history, the people have voted for a “third-party” candidate. Dr. Tabaré Vázquez will be sworn in on 1 March.
Since its founding as an independent republic, Uruguay has been ruled by presidents of two political parties, the Blancos and the Colorados. Both are right-wing.
However, with these last elections in October 2004, the people decided they had had enough of social program roll-backs and privatizations. They want real work with dignified wages. They want to be able to stay in their communities, in the countryside, instead of having to commute or migrate to the city. The people want passenger train service again.
“Just go ahead and vote for Tabaré,” the campaign murals still proclaim
.
For 30 years, third parties had posed presidential candidates. Again the odds were against the candidate for the Frente Amplio (Wide Front) in this two-party system.
The people finally put aside the doubts, the propaganda that said a “third party” candidate could never win the presidency.
The people voted their hearts.
And Tabaré won.
The countryside and capital, the towns are now abuzz about the Presdients who will arrive. Hugo Chávez, with a contingent of bodyguards, amidst more veiled death threats from the US, Nestor Kirchner of Argentina, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, as well as those of Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador.
And awaiting in the wings on the other side of the Piver Plate, until that moment when Tabaré is sworn into office and full relations with Cuba is resumed, Fidel Castro. (Or the people say with certainty, with a measure of pride. The Cuban consul only says that a “high level” delegation of his country will be arriving.)
The new block of elected leftist governments of this America. This is a celebration of the new Latin America, determined to build a different future for the people.
In my haste to be moving northward, money running out, I almost missed this historic moment. But the optimism, the excitement of Uruguayans infected me. If people are traveling from small towns to be present for the inauguration, why should I not, too?
I decide to return, to bear witness, to feel the hope of a nation for its future, a future with dignity—and yes, to celebrate. To Montevideo, I travel through a a landscape of palm trees, eucalyptus and pine, the rare thatch-roofed house, horse-drawn carts clopping down streets. Other passengers sip mate tea, thermos under arm. I listen to the music of tango and Spanish. And I catch glimpses of our Missouri.
This country, largely or immigrants, rich in small farms producing sorghum, wheat, corn and soybeans, cattle and sheep, orchards and vineyards.
Harvested hay baled, a tractor parked next to a house, grain silos in villages. Hawks sit on fenceposts. Clouds reflect in ponds and streams.
Rumble of thunder, pulse of lightning over this gently rolling land. A scene treed with sycamore and Osage orange, carpeted with chickory, burdock and thistle.
On this sultry summer day journey, I wonder if this historic moment doesn't hold a lesson for us, the people of the United States—a country also of a two-party system, where a “third party” candidate for presdient isn't even given a ghost of a chance of winning. A nation facing more social program roll-backs and privatizations. Our countrysides and towns are being abandoned; people have to commute or migrate to work in service jobs for an undignified wage. (Minimum wage has not been increased since 1997.) Our communities continue to die. AMTRAK faces total elimination.
Can we learn a lesson from the people of Uruguay?
Can we learn to vote from the heart?
Working for Peace, Paying for War?
With the United States embroiled it seems in war without end, tax season urgently challenges us: "How can I work for peace, while paying for war?" Consequences of tax resistance and compliance should be carefully weighed.
Some people try avoid paying for war by intentionally living on incomes low enough to avoid taxation. Some refuse to pay all or part of the taxes they owe, without informing the government. Some tell the IRS they have donated funds to peace and justice groups instead of paying taxes.
Many people face barriers to tax resistance. Employers deduct federal and state income taxes from our paychecks through the year. The government uses those funds as they come in. We may support aspects of government intended to promote the public good., but we oppose war and militarism as morally repugnant. Some jobs require licenses which the state can sus-pend if we resist paying taxes. While peace campaign continue to ask Congress to enact a "peace tax fund" for conscientious objectors, it is not yet a reality. In discerning whether to withhold part of the tax we owe to protest military spending, we should consider whether we are willing to suffer the consequences of our actions, which can even include the loss of our liberty.
Should we allow the government to use our money to kill and maim innocent people? Should we just pay up and hope "Caesar" will only spend "our" money to provide for the public good? How much should we withhold? Half of current federal spending is military-related, but that includes both the costs of current wars and occupations plus the ongoing costs of past wars, including the costs of caring for disabled veterans. Should we protest paying that cost as well?
The National War Tax Resisters Coordinating Committee (log onto http://www.nwtrcc.org for more inforamation) provides forms we can file, urging the IRS to divert our tax payments to non-military programs, and explaining why we're not paying the full tax bill reputedly due. But that is only the first step. The Gospel directs Christians to we give God what is God's. Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day said, "If we gave God all that belongs to God, there would be nothing left for Caesar." Refusing to pay taxes creates a moral obligation to support the poor and invest in peace. Otherwise, we merely enrich ourselves at the expense of wars' victims.
Ruth O'Neill
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