http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/04/MNGH0G2P9H1.DTL

A .45-caliber bullet didn't lead Diego Garcia to give up the violent gang life he had known for years. Stanley Tookie Williams did.

Garcia, who grew up in the housing projects on Richmond's Easter Hill, joined a gang at age 9 and took part in drug deals, beatings and drive-by shootings before he was shot when he was 18. Months of recovery gave him plenty of time to think about making changes.

"I was completely confused. I didn't know whether I should choose the right path," said Garcia, now 30. "I read Tookie's books and it inspired me. I related to him. The books are different because it is the co-founder of the Crips giving you a message. Tookie caught my attention."

Williams is scheduled to be executed at San Quentin State Prison Dec. 13 for the shotgun murders of four people in the Los Angeles area in 1979. He maintains he is innocent, an assertion no court has agreed with, and now his lawyers are pinning their hopes on a clemency hearing Thursday before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Thanks for bringing this up, Captain Haddock.

Well he deserves the needle for killing four people. The majority of Americans are pro-capital punishment. Arnold careful weighed both sides of the equation and decided to pander to his constituency. But at least the family members got a fair shake of the deal.
How would you all feel if it were your family member who got murdered by somebody? I bet most of you would probably want to fry the perpetrator. I sure as hell would. I know there are some people who stick to their ideology, but I feel that the majority would be for executing the murdered. I would not want somebody who kills my loved one to live his life to the fullest( life sentence). He deserves his fate, which is the needle. Some might argue that I wouldn't be saying that if I were on the receiving end, that is my loved one was the killer. Well, sure, I would probably want him/her to live on, in that scenario. But the probability that this will happen is virtually nil.
I know there are people who think exactly the opposite. They feel that the death-penatly is a cop-out, and basically means the perpetrator is getting the easy way out. Life behind bars would mean that he would have to lead a hard life and he wouldn't have it easy. Sure, I understand this logic, but somehow it doesn't appeal to me. If somebody kills my family member, I would not want anything to do with that guy. So better end his pathetic existence and give us all peace. This is my belief.
Now Tookie claims that he has rehabilitated himself and is a changed man. To his credit, he has managed to turn the lives of gang-members around. But he is in essence a murderer, and I bet my bottom dollar that the family members of his victims want him to be given the needle. A killer deserves the same fate that his victims get.
Plus, it's cheaper for the state as well. Do you all realize they take your tax dollar feeding prisoners? Now why would I want that? I would probably be okay with a life-sentence in a scenario like this, *if* I would know for certainty that the killer would live a horrible life, like in the Soviet Gulag. America would never allow that, what with liberal lobbyists and what not.

One thing though. White Catholics tend to be against capital punishment, and they predominantly vote Republican. The Catholic vote used to be predominantly democratic, but conservatives have managed to convince them that democrats are against people of faith. Ergo, what you see is that the country is drifting slowly towards conservatism. More than 80% of Americans are religious. This is a very religious country. Australia is the same way.

I am against any sort of capital punishment In his case, due to the segregation of the American culture, people who are brought up in that culture tends to show the characters of Tookie. However he claims of redemption which might be true which might be false.

I was surprised to see his nomination for nobel peace prize. It might just be because of hype created by American media.

You know how Europe is, they're pretty liberal. So they oppose capital punishment.

But from what I understand, he has still not taken responsibility for killing these 4 people. He still says he's innocent. Now how much has he really changed?

As you said thuged out, he might be in denial. But the way I see it sometime people like Tookie do not have any choice. I think govt is also to blame for people who turn into gangs. I think you know what I am talking about. The US govt has so much money. I think they are capable of cleaning up the Ghetto messes and managing the housing projects. But they do not care because thats how they keep control of citizens. The control of few powefuls at the top.

Circumstance is the mother of all situations, crime can't be abstract to this.I'd agree Highfly's notion that government is partly responsible in the process of its citizens turning into criminals. Due diligence to each class of citizens on behalf of the government welfare system reduces the number of people living in despair, resulting fewer crimes.

As far as capital punishment is concerned, people might fear to kill someone if they know they are going to face death penalty. But then, apart from ethnic cleansing and political killings, most of the killings occur out of spasmodic human outrage. I doubt criminals bear a killing instinct from their birth, and any individual with exceptionally well behaviour in the past can become a criminal/killer on a given day. Hence, capital punishment doesn't make a sense to me. Death penalty means justice through killing and if you accord to this idea, the criminal might be doing justice to his/her circumstaces by taking a life. I mean if you believe killing can do justice, you might not hesitate to seek personal justice by killing someone. The whole point is captial punishment gives a wrong message. It creates a fear society where more killings occur. If there were statistics to compare, you might see the number of individual killings higher in societies where law embraces capital punishment.

What strikes me as the essence of hypocrisy in this ongoing debate over tookie's death is the fact that some of the underlying issues with respect to the reasons why people join gangs and the power of popular culture seem to be swept under the rug much too easily.

The fact that there is a far larger population of African- American Males in the Prison System across America than there are in African American neighbourhoods, is a statistic that is rarely discussed in the open. Any attempt to do so means you are automatically branded as a left wing hippie.

The other issue is that with the mounting debt incurred by the ongoing War and the failed tax cuts given to the uber rich, the government has been forced to cut back on many programs that sustained blighted neighbourhood. AFter school programs for kids in gang prone neighbourhoods have been forced to close which means that the kids are back on the streets on their "spare time" and are easy targets for gang recruiters.

Another point that troubles me exceedingly is the impact of Ex-Gang members who now enjoy the limelight--people like Fifty Cent. Fifty seems to have no problem acknowledging that not only did he get shot five or six times, he was also a drug dealer...he play up the gang lifestyle and when kids lack mentors in their neighbourhoods and their daily routines, they are bound to be more vulnerable to the peer pressure of joining one gang or other other to seek "mentors" or friends.

I have no doubt that Killing Tookie is going to be hopelessly irrelevant to the rising tide of violence. His life was worth far more by having him alive to continue writing his books and counter the glorified gang life...as someone before me said...so much for the Pro Life movement!

I was surprised to see his nomination for nobel peace prize.
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Hitler was nominated; being nominated doesn't mean anything.

http://gadflyer.com/flytrap/

See that link why dont they pick PRACHANDA and Baburam Bhattarai from Nepal too...and uncle Oshama hehe...

sorry this one: http://www.johnmccrory.com/wrote.asp?this=249

i support the governor's decision.writing few books does not free u from the crimes u committed.he never apologized for his victims and their family's loss.what about that..?having few movie star friends and jeese jackson does not make u innocent.no one is abve the law..no one.

people can change over time but that doesn't mean you caN get away with 4? murders. he can have his redemption in next life if there is ONE

Death Penalty cost US taxpayers more money than Life Imprisonment.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7

an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind

I was watching this movie last night titled Rocco in Prague. What a good movie!

very funny... i hear rocco does brazil is quite good too..!

LOL, isn't one of the other actors named "buttman" in that movie? You just made me laugh out loud. Hilarious. Never expected that from you.
Maybe you and I should meet up sometimes and watch a couple of "movies" . I have a full shelf. I'll let you choose ;).
Aren't you in prague? That's what I always thought.

i dont do any of that stuff.. i just have a crazy friend who likes his collection!!

lies. Nothing wrong to admit it. I can see right through you!
Quick question: Rocco, Ron Jeremy or Peter North??
Maybe we can discuss by email ;)

Me wants a bhola bhala thiti like you to be my bride. We can watch Debbie Does Dallas together! यु लाइक फोहरी ह्युमर, मि लाइक फोहरी ह्युमर। वि आर ए मैच मेड इन हेभन!!!! Me your Tarzan, you my jane.

(I'm just kidding of course.)

Alright, I've had enough with my lame jokes. I won't bother you...!

sometimes executions are way less messier than the alternatives. two examples, prince deependra nd the guy who did the massacre in nagarkot. i wonder what kind of a circus would have ensued if those two guys had survived.

IT was pre-medided plan of course.