Justice Matters on Houston’s Radio for Peace, KPFT 90.1 FM
HPJC members developed a small committee to produce Houston Peace and Justice Center commentaries on Houston’s Radio for Peace, KPFT 90.1 FM. The committee is comprised of Cheryl Norris, C. Lee Taylor, Lee Loe and Dave Atwood, with contributions from Bonnie Ross, Herb Rothschild and others. Cheryl Norris has agreed to be the overall coordinator for the program. The two-minute weekly recordings, titled Justice Matters, typically air at the conclusion of Open Journal on Wednesdays, noon-1 p.m. but are subject to scheduling changes or suspensions as during fund drives. HPJC’s Justice Matters first broadcast Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008.
The committee welcomes ideas, submissions and other voices for recording the commentaries. Jan Loe generously provided the original music she composed and played for our background identification sound.
Email ideas, suggestions or submissions to c h e r y l l o g i c@aol.com. And know that you can always call Congress directly and let your representatives know where you stand on justice matters: A toll free number for the capital switchboard is 800 828 0498.
Earth Day and Environmental Justice
Broadcast Wednesday, April 23, 2008
This is Justice Matters, brought to you each week by the Houston Peace and Justice Center at www.hpjc.org.
Strange as it seems, climate change is arguably the greatest threat to basic human security facing humanity today. So this week, as we celebrate Earth Day, take steps to contribute to the nurturing of our quickly diminishing resources. Instead of Earth Day, commit to permanently changing some of your wasteful personal habits to preserve the valuable resources so many of us take for granted.
One easy way to start is by eliminating once and for all that pesky dilemma: "Paper, or plastic?" The correct answer is neither. Take your own re-usable bags to do all of your shopping: grocery and clothing!
Plastic bags don't usually contain recycled content, and they have a low recycling rate. Even worse though, is that they tend to be highly litter-prone and quickly become a multi-faceted threat to all different types of wildlife. Plastic bags have been called the technology-age-version of tumbleweed. Traveling long distances by wind and sewer, plastic bags ultimately endanger many land and sea creatures in a surprisingly diverse number of ways - ultimately even causing toxins in our food chain! Plus, plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose. A paper bag, if littered, won’t cause nearly as many problems. Nonetheless, paper is still problematic - it has high air & water emissions, takes up lots of landfill space, and requires precious trees for manufacture. So take your own re-usable bag.
And if you go for coffee, take your own re-usable mug.
When you go out to eat, take your own food storage containers from home to put your leftovers in. And if getting take-out, use that reusable tote bag! You'll be surprised how much waste you can eliminate in just one month by not accepting disposable food containers, to-go-cups, & bags.
Other painless ways to help our earth:
· Turn the water off when brushing your teeth & while lathering in the shower
· Install a Water Saver in your toilet. Even if you have to flush twice, you'll still be saving water.
· Test to see if your toilet leaks: put a few drops of food coloring in the tank, and if it seeps into the bowl before you flush, you know you need to fix the seal
· These few easy steps will save a huge amount of water.
Find more simple steps to protect our earth on the internet, because even environmental justice matters -- and you matter to achieve justice.
Bush OK’d Torture Meetings
Broadcast Wednesday, April 16, 2008This is Justice Matters, brought to you weekly by the Houston Peace and Justice Center at HPJC.org. Today’s commentary is from an article by Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post, titled Bush OK’d Torture Meetings.
President Bush says he was aware that his top aides met in the White House basement to micromanage the application of waterboarding and other widely-condemned interrogation techniques. And he says it was no big deal.
"I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved," Bush told ABC News' Martha Raddatz on Friday. "I don't know what's new about that; I'm not so sure what's so startling about that." …
…While Bush has previously defended these tactics vaguely, and insisting against all evidence that they did not amount to torture, he had not, until now, acknowledged that he personally OK'd them beforehand. …
If you consider what the government did to be torture, which is a crime according to U.S. and international law, Bush's statement shifts his role from being an accessory after the fact to being part of a conspiracy to commit. …
The mainstream media by and large seem to agree with Bush that the ABC News Report wasn't so startling, and they have given Bush's remarks almost no coverage. There was no mention of Bush's admission in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Los Angeles Times. There was nothing on the major wire services. And nothing on CNN, CBS or NBC.
By contrast, the American Civil Liberties Union and a smattering of newspaper editorial boards around the country are greatly disturbed and are calling for an urgent congressional investigation.
From an ACLU press release on Saturday: "The American Civil Liberties Union is calling on Congress to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws.
Where do you stand on torture and the rule of law? Speak up. Let your congressional representatives know your values, and cc the Houston Chronicle and our local tv stations.
Remember Justice Matters and your voice matters to justice.
Read More Commentaries:
DATE BROADCAST April 9, 2008 Is Justice Present in Military Commission Proceedings? April 2, 2008 Attack Iran? March 26, 2008 Torture Ban Vetoed March 19, 2008 U.S. Needs to Withdraw From Iraq - NOW Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 Dream of Democracy Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008 Economic Stimulus Package with Extension of Unemployment Benefits Fails by One Vote Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 Get Involved! Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008 Debt Slavery Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008 Demand Chuck Rosenthal’s Resignation Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008 Empire Report: Iraqis want US out of Iraq Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008 Criminal Justice System Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008 Vote For Politicians Who Care About Justice Is Justice Present in Military Commission Proceedings?
Broadcast Wednesday, April 9, 2008Recently military commission charges were handed down that seek the death penalty against Center for Constitutional Right's client Guantanamo detainee Mohammed al Qahtani. According to the CCR’s executive director, Vincent Warren, no military commission against Mr. Al Qahtani will ever achieve justice. Instead, it will deteriorate into a controversy over secret trials and the United States' well-documented torture of Mr. al Qahtani during interrogations at Guantanamo.
For the past six years, the United States government has refused to conduct traditional criminal or court martial trials against Guantanamo detainees suspected of wrongdoing. Instead, the military commissions at Guantanamo allow secret evidence, hearsay evidence, and evidence obtained through torture. They are unlawful, unconstitutional, and a perversion of justice.
Now the government is seeking to execute people based on this utterly unreliable and tainted evidence: it is difficult to imagine a more morally reprehensible system. Executions based on secret trials and torture evidence belong to another century. These barbaric sham proceedings will likely inflame the controversy surrounding Guantanamo and draw the condemnation of even our allies.
Career military officers have already resigned because they could not stomach participating in a military commission system that goes against every principle of justice, due process and the rule of law. In particular, they were opposed to precisely the kinds of issues that will be the focus of Mr. al Qahtani's commission - the United States' use of torture and subsequent efforts to hide the criminal conduct of U.S. personnel. Mr. al Qahtani may be the one charged today, but it is the illegality of his interrogation under torture that will be tried in the commission. Regardless of the results, no one will ever have confidence in the outcome of these military commissions.
The United States has nothing legitimate to gain from prosecuting prisoners in military commissions at Guantanamo and a great deal to lose. What kind of a nation have we become that we would rely on torture evidence, secret trials and an untested and deeply flawed system to impose the death penalty? Our nation must abandon the failed experiment at Guantanamo. If the administration believes Mr. Al Qahtani has committed a crime, he should be charged and tried in a lawful proceeding worthy of our country.
Ask you members of Congress to work to Close Guantanamo, end torture, and follow the Constitution in these matters.
A FREE Capitol Switchboard number is 800 828 0498.
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
Justice Matters and you matter to justice.
Attack Iran?
Broadcast Wednesday, April 2, 2008This is Justice Matters brought to you weekly by Houston Peace & Justice Center at HPJC.org
Does the Bush administration plan to attack Iran in the near future? This is the question Chris Floyd asked in his article in Global Research on March 31, 2008.
He reports that on March 29, Dick Cheney met with the King of Saudi Arabia and his ministers. The following day, one of the leading Saudi newspapers, revealed that the government is preparing "national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom" should it receive warnings of possible attacks on Iran’s ... nuclear reactors."
In February, Bush put forth his National Security Strategy for the United States with the use of nuclear weapons as its centerpiece. Then last week he refused to take the nuclear option off the table.
While reaffirming the criminal principle of "pre-emptive" attacks on perceived enemies ...Bush declared that "safe, credible and reliable nuclear forces continue to play a critical role" in the "offensive strike systems" that are now "a key part of America’s "deterrence."
U.S. bombers could launch an attack against Iran in 12 hours. Orders have already been issued for this operation putting the decision solely in the hands of the President. There will be no declaration of war, no hearings, and, unless we citizens can create it, no public debate. Bush picks up the phone, says :"Go" and in 12 hours a million Iranians could be dead.
This calculation is from a study by the Pentagon’s National Academy of Sciences.. Another simulation, using Pentagon-devised software, figures 3 million people killed by radiation in 2 weeks, and 35 million others exposed to dangerous levels of cancer-causing radiation in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and has legally established nuclear power programs in exchange for rigorous inspections. It has undergone one of the most extensive inspection processes in history. It is not a threat to the US.
Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann, former members of the National Security Council, left government service in disgust in early 2003 because of the Administration’s refusal to consider "strategic dialogue" with Iran , ...when members of its government made overtures which the two felt could have "changed the world."
"‘As disastrous as Iraq has been,’ says Mann, ‘an attack on Iran would engulf the US in a war with the entire Muslim world.’"
We must try to stop the war the Saudis fear is coming to Iran.
Can Rep. John Conyers and his Judiciary Committee prevent this immoral, unconstitutional attack? All Congressional members can be contacted at 800 828 0498.
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
Torture Ban Vetoed
Broadcast Wednesday, March 26, 2008This is "Justice Matters", brought to you weekly by the Houston Peace and Justice Center found at HPJC.org
H.R. 2082 is an important piece of anti-torture legislation that would ban the use of waterboarding and other "harsh" interrogation techniques. It was passed by a majority in both houses of Congress.
Yet Saturday, March 8, President Bush vetoed this legislation, saying the forbidden techniques were "safe and lawful." Contrary to Bush’s assertion, waterboarding and severe interrogation techniques violate both United States and international law.
Bush declares the CIA's 'enhanced interrogation program' was crucial in uncovering terrorist plans and averting deadly plots. However, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, says he's heard nothing to suggest that information obtained this way has prevented an imminent terrorist attack. Further, Rockefeller is aware that coercive interrogations lead detainees to provide false information in order to make the interrogation stop.
The former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency states those who support harsh methods simply lack experience and are woefully misinformed, adding "Torture is counterproductive on all fronts. It produces bad intelligence. It makes the subject useless for further interrogation. And it damages our credibility around the world."
Furthermore, 30 retired admirals and generals support the legislation Bush vetoed stating, "...it is vital to the safety of our men and women in uniform that the United States not sanction the use of interrogation methods it would find unacceptable if inflicted by the enemy against captured Americans."
Not a tough concept is it? Practice what you preach...
You can do three things to help justice TODAY:
Come witness firsthand that bringing people to the edge of death is barbaric torture, by attending a waterboarding demonstration & protest sponsored by Veterans for Peace, in front of the Federal Courthouse, 515 Rusk at 3 p.m. TODAY
Then you can debate intelligently the ineffectiveness of harsh interrogation techniques with your uninformed acquaintances.
Finally call your representative in Congress and urge her or him to override the President's veto.
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
U.S. NEEDS TO WITHDRAW FROM IRAQ – NOW
Broadcast Wednesday, March 19, 2008This is Justice Matters, brought to you each week by the Houston Peace and Justice center at www.hpjc.org.
As we approach the 5th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, no one in their right mind would defend the U.S. invasion of that nation. The war has resulted in the devastation of Iraq and the death of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens. Thousands of U.S. soldiers have been killed or maimed for life. Trillions of dollars have been wasted – money that could be used for humanitarian needs.
The initial reasons put forth by the Bush Administration for the war were that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda. When those two reasons were exposed as lies, the Administration seized upon two other reasons to justify the war: getting rid of a brutal dictator and bringing democracy to Iraq. There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator, but he could have been controlled by means other than a military invasion.
The real reason for the U.S. invasion of Iraq was control of the vast oil resources of that nation.
The question we face five years after the invasion is “What should we do now”? George Bush and John McCain want to “stay the course” and achieve some sort of a military victory. They say that withdrawal will result in a bloodbath. However, the real reason why Bush and company want to “stay the course” is to maintain a strong foothold in Iraq and have access to the oil there.
The U.S. needs to leave Iraq. Our invasion of that nation was unjust and illegal. Our military presence there will prevent peace and stability from ever coming to that nation. We have no right to the oil of Iraq .
A comprehensive, diplomatic solution is needed to bring peace to Iraq, but the U.S. has neither the legitimacy or credibility to bring about such a diplomatic solution. We must let others with more credibility do the job.
Call your congressional representatives and demand that all U.S. troops and military bases be removed from Iraq. The toll free number is 800-828-0948 (repeat).
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
Dream of Democracy
Broadcast Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008This is Justice Matters, brought to you weekly by the Houston Peace and Justice Center at HPJC.org.
In the small booklet titled Patriot Dreams: A user’s manual for democracy, I found a wealth of information on the state of our country, its government, the world at large and the dream of democracy. Published in Texas by a group of illustrious activists and thinkers, called The Common Sense Collective, the group, like many of us, wants an America that honors its promises and lives up to its ideals.
As set out in the booklet, the first goal in advancing our country is to establish justice. A look at our judicial system suggests how far we have to go. While crime was decreasing from 1990-1994, our prison industry grew at an annual rate of 34 percent. Fueled by the “three strikes and you’re out” with its mandatory minimum sentencing and the so-called “war on drugs”, a steady flow of prisoners into our penal system has produced the largest prison complex in the world. With the number of violent offenders doubling after 1980, the number of nonviolent prisoners tripled and the number of drug convictions increased sevenfold. As of 2006, a record 2.2 million men and women were incarcerated. If the justness of our society were measured by the number of people we lock up, we’d be the most righteously just nation on earth.
While we all want to be safe, we are spending more than $167 billion annually on direct expenditures for police protection, judicial/legal services and corrections activities. Clearly, there is a problem with these figures.
We foot the bill for this flawed system, and then we pay again through reduced services in education, health care and the other common goods we need to help us build the kind of life that truly sustains all of us.
In this election season, tell the candidates what you value and what you think justice should look like in America.
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston. Economic Stimulus Package with Extension of Unemployment Benefits Fails by One Vote Broadcast Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008This is Justice Matters brought to you weekly by Houston Peace & Justice Center. HPJC.org
Today’s commentary is based on an article from Working Families e-Activist Network of the AFL-CIO.
Recently Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) missed the vote on the Senate’s version of the economic stimulus package. The original bill would have helped the jobless and families who need help paying their heating bills.
The package fell one vote short. What could have possibly kept McCain away?
"We’ve just been too busy, focused on other stuff," he said. The final package did not include unemployment benefit extensions or heating assistance.)
But McCain isn’t the only one to blame—a minority of Senate Republicans, including Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Hutchison, successfully blocked the package with a filibuster and more than 1.3 million unemployed men and women will soon run out of benefits with which to care for their families.The latest job numbers show the economy shed jobs for the first time in four years, as unemployment claims spiked to the highest level since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
As economist Mark Zandi pointed out: "If someone who is literally living paycheck to paycheck gets an extra dollar, it's very likely that they will spend that dollar immediately on whatever they need--groceries, to pay the telephone bill, to pay the electric bill."
Economists agree that extending unemployment benefits is a proven way to stimulate the economy. Then too, it is the humane thing to do.
Unfortunately, your senators left the jobless with nothing to fall back on as job creation falters and the economy creaks toward recession.
Besides these aids to families, we need green jobs to help revitalize the economy, put folks to work and counter global warming.
Contact your senators to let them know you weren’t too busy to notice this shameful vote.
A FREE Capitol Switchboard number is 800 828 0498 [800 614 2803]
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
Get Involved!
Broadcast Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008This is "Justice Matters", brought to you weekly by the Houston Peace and Justice Center.
A popular television commercial asks the question, "What important numbers are in your phone?" Chances are these phone numbers deal with your family, health, home, and jobs. But there are other numbers that you probably don't have and these are numbers dealing with your government.
Our country is in crisis-and the crisis could be jeopardizing your family, health, home, and job. We all know the mess the country is in: a 7 trillion dollar deficit, high cost-or lack of health insurance, an unpopular war fought on false pretenses, an infrastructure falling apart and massive corruption.
How in a supposed democratic-republic are such things possible? One reason, I submit, is that we have forfeited our responsibilities as citizens. Most people don't know who their public officials are-much less do they contact them on a regular basis. As a result, our public officials are mostly in contact with lobbyists and campaign contributors whose interests have little to do with the public's interest.
In order to get our country back, we must contact our public officials on a regular basis-at least once a month. We must remind them that they work for us. Imagine the results if millions of people jammed the phone lines to contact their congressperson. Don't have much time? Who does? Our country sure doesn't. Couldn't you give one hour a month for important causes? One hour a month is equal to two minutes a day -two minutes a day for our country's future!
If you need to know who your public officials are, log on to www.hpjc.org. Remember our country is too important to be left in the hands of politicians and lobbyists.
Debt Slavery
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
Broadcast Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008This is “Justice Matters”, brought to you weekly by the Houston Peace and Justice Center, found at HPJC.org.
Today, debt slavery exists on a global scale. It's the international debt under which the poorest nations labor. The debt is owed to wealthy nations, to great financial institutions, and to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, both controlled by First World nations.
Why call it debt "slavery"? Because these nations simply cannot get free no matter how much they pay, and because their creditors use the debt to impose conditions that keep the vast majority of their people in economic misery.
Between 1970 and 2002, the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, where most of the Heavily Indebted Poor Nations are located, repaid a whooping 90 percent of the 294 billion dollars they received in loans. But due to the unfair interest, after their 90% payment, the country still remained 201 billion dollars in debt. By way of example, for every one dollar Africa receives in aid, it must pays $2.30 in interest toward its debt.
The good news is that thanks to widespread public pressure, the necessary practice of debt forgiveness is beginning. In the last five years, twenty nations—14 in Africa, 4 in Latin America, and 2 in Asia—have had their international debt lifted. The overwhelming positive benefits have been immediate. For example, Burundi schools were able to enroll 300,000 more children. Uganda doubled its school enrollment. Zambia hired 4,500 new teachers. And Mozambique vaccinated an additional half- million children.
But more deeply impoverished nations must also be freed from their economic captivity, And many are not eligible under current rules. You can help by writing your U.S. Representative and urge him or her to co-sponsor The Jubilee Act, H.R. 26 34. This bill would expand eligibility for debt cancellation to 67 other impoverished countries.
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
Demand Chuck Rosenthal’s Resignation (from Houston.IndyMedia.org)
Broadcast Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008This is Justice Matters, brought to you weekly by the Houston Peace and Justice Center, found at HPJC.org.
Chuck Rosenthal has been a prosecutor for Harris County since 1977 and District Attorney since 2001. Declared prominently on the Harris County District Attorney website is the DA's "absolute commitment to securing justice without regard to status, race, gender …or prominence."
However, Rosenthal's tenure in public office is marked by a number of distinctions that suggest otherwise: Harris County, known colloquially as "the hanging county," is second in the nation only to the state of Texas for number of death penalty executions; grand jury investigations of the Houston Police Department's crime laboratory scandal were expanded to investigate local prosecutors' use of tainted evidence to win convictions; Rosenthal refused to apologize or reimburse falsely convicted Josiah Sutton; and Rosenthal made a rare, if not unprecedented, appearance before the US supreme court to present the losing argument on the constitutionality of laws against gay sex.
With the recent publication of Rosenthal emails containing racist comments, misogynist photos and video as well as emails coordinating his re-election campaign, in violation of laws prohibiting use of public resources for electoral campaigns, the times may be changing in the DA's office.
Houston community organizations and activists are mobilizing to demand Chuck Rosenthal's resignation. A broad multi-ethnic coalition is calling for a Town Hall meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29 at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 3015 North MacGregor Way and a demonstration noon, Thursday, Jan. 31, in front of the Harris County Criminal Courthouse, 1201 Franklin.
Houston City Councilwoman Jolanda Jones in her recent Houston Chronicle op-ed argues that the case against Rosenthal couldn't be more convincing. If you believe that justice matters, participate in Tuesday's town hall meeting, attend the rally Thursday, Jan. 31 and demand the resignation of the Harris County District Attorney.
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
Empire Report: Iraqis want US out of Iraq
Broadcast Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008This is Justice Matters, brought to you weekly by Houston Peace and Justice Center, HPJC.org.
William Blum, in his Anti-Empire Report of January 13, discussed a recent survey of Iraqis.
The US military hired firms to conduct focus groups of a cross section of the population. Here are some of the highlights from the Washington Post’‘s report.
Until the March 2003 US occupation, Sunnis and Shiites coexisted peacefully.
Iraqis of all sectarian and ethnic groups believe that the US military invasion is the primary root of the violent differences among them.
After the United States leaves Iraq, they believe that national reconciliation will happen "naturally."
"... far more commonalities than differences are found among these seemingly diverse groups of Iraqis."
Dividing Iraq into three states would hinder national reconciliation. (Only the Kurds did not reject this option.)
Most described the negative elements of life in Iraq as beginning with the US occupation.
Few mentioned Saddam Hussein as a cause of their problems...
"Outside of the military, some of the most widespread polling in Iraq has been done by a US company with offices in each of Iraq's 18 provinces. Its...September surveys showed the same widespread Iraqi belief voiced by the military's focus groups: that a U.S. departure will make things better.
A State Department poll in September 2006 reported a similar finding."[6]
Add to this the following: more troops were killed in 2007 than any other year.
There were 102 confirmed suicides in the US Army in 2006, the highest since records were kept beginning in 1981.
There have been 121 killings by returning vets in the last 6 years.
1 in 4 Iraq vets serving 2 or more tours now has post traumatic stress syndrome.
A US departure will make things better for our troops and their families as well as for the Iraqis.
Blum’s website is killinghope.org
If you believe that War is not the Answer, contact your members of Congress and share your views with them. A FREE Capitol Switchboard number is 800 828 0498
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
Criminal Justice System
Broadcast Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008Recently, the Houston Chronicle ran a series of articles on Ronald Taylor who was incarcerated for 14 years before DNA testing proved his innocence. He is the 30th person in Texas who has been exonerated through DNA testing in recent years.
The 30 cases of innocence raise serious questions about the Texas criminal justice system. How many other innocent people are in prison at this time? How many innocent people have been executed?
It is clear that significant improvements in the system are needed. While problems with the Houston Crime Lab have been well-publicized, the fact that testimony by eyewitnesses, co-defendants, jailhouse informants and even scientific experts can be mistaken has not received as much publicity. Nor has the fact that false confessions can be made by people who react out of fear or who are mentally disabled. Economic and racial biases in the system must also be addressed.
It is time for Texas to thoroughly clean up its criminal justice system. With the uncertainty that currently exists in the system, the death penalty should certainly be abolished.
If you agree with this commentary, please express your views to your state senator, state representative and the Governor. Remember, “justice matters and you matter to justice.”
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.
VOTE FOR POLITICIANS WHO CARE ABOUT JUSTICE
Broadcast Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008As we start a new year, we leave behind a year with many startling revelations. A recent one was the National Intelligence Estimate released in December that stated Iran does not currently have a program to develop nuclear weapons. This report contradicted earlier claims by President Bush that Iran had such a program and it could lead to World War III. Was Bush leading the American people into another war?
A second revelation was that the CIA had destroyed videotapes which documented the interrogation of
al-Qaida operatives in the agency's custody. Both the Federal courts and the 9/11 Commission had requested such evidence. The destruction of these tapes smacks of a cover-up.
These revelations are reminders of the horrible seven years we have experienced, a time which not only included 9/11, but also the unjust invasion and occupation of Iraq, Katrina, the torture of prisoners and
the destruction of our traditional civil liberties.As we enter 2008 when a national election will take place, let us work to hold public servants accountable, and elect politicians who place the common good over special interests, who value human rights and civil liberties, and who seek to solve problems through diplomacy rather than war.
If you agree with this commentary, contact your U.S. Senators and your Congressional Representative and tell them so. Remember "Justice Matters and your voice matters for justice."
Remember Justice Matters, and your voice matters to justice. This is KPFT Radio 90.1 FM Houston.