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NEWS FLASH

Troy Davis’s Death, and a Project Going Forward | The tragedy of Troy Davis’s death tonight is overwhelming. The thought of a man strapped to a gurney for hours waiting to find out if he will be unstrapped from it, if he will walk—back into his cell rather than out into the world, but still, to live—out of the room where is supposed to die is so hard to bear. Was the needle in his arm the whole time? He must have been in such discomfort. The shame is so big.

I feel some guilt for not pressing harder on the death penalty as an issue on this blog. That ends now. I’m going to make a project of consuming our culture on the death penalty and see if there are arguments we can glean from it, ideally to convince people that the death penalty is in and of itself immoral, but barring that, to convince them that the risk of executing an innocent man is just too high. What’s most powerful? What works? What doesn’t? What moves the conversation towards reconciliation, collective grieving, and a commitment to actual justice? If there’s interest in making this a reading and watching group separate from our regular book club, let me know, and I’ll try to work out a schedule.

NEWS FLASH

Supreme Court Denies Stay of Execution To Troy Davis | The Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution to Troy Davis. Davis was convicted of murder and sentenced to die almost two decades ago. Since then, seven of the witnesses against him have recanted their testimony, and some have even implicated Sylvester “Redd” Coles, a witness who testified that Davis was the shooter.

Update

Democracy Now reports that Davis has been killed. The time of death was 11:08.

Security

Aung San Suu Kyi Compares Arab Spring Demonstrators To Burma Pro-Democracy Movement

By Eli Clifton on Sep 21, 2011 at 7:45 pm

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, in a live broadcast from Burma, addressed the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York. Suu Kyi, who engaged in a conversation with moderator Charlie Rose and fellow Nobel laureate Demond Tutu, engaged in a wide ranging discussion (video) on human rights, the democracy struggle in Burma, and her views on the Arab Spring.

Suu Kyi reflected on recent uprisings in the Middle East and the role of the Arab Spring in spreading democracy. She said:

Movements like the ones that have been going on in the Arab countries mean something to peoples all over the world who are struggling for their own freedom. It reminded many of us in Burma of what happened in 1988 when our people rose up to ask for democracy. Of course our societies are very different but in the end we’re all human beings. And I think we can all understand each other’s hopes and fears and aspirations. We would like the Arab countries to be as happy and prosperous and secure as we would want our own countries to be.

Watch it:

Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest for her role as the opposition leader against Burma’s military junta, reflected on the sacrifices she and her family have made:

All journeys are made step by step and that’s how I’ve made this journey, step by step. To be honest, I didn’t think when I first started out in the movement for democracy, that I would have to devote my whole life to it. [...] But I’m not the only one who is in this position now. Many of my colleagues are working alone, without the support of family and friends. So I get tremendous courage from looking at them, how hard they struggle. And they are the unknown soliders of our cause. And the unknown soldiers are far braver and far worthier than people like me who are known to the world.

Suu Kyi’s appearance was part of the Clinton Global Initiative’s (CGI) annual meeting, which convenes global leaders from both the public and private sectors to address the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Initiative members have made more than 2,000 commitments, which, according to the CGI, have improved the lives of 300 million people in more than 180 countries. Member commitments, when fully funded and implemented, will be valued at over $63 billion.

NEWS FLASH

POLL: 69 Percent Of Israelis Say Israel Should Accept U.N. Recognition Of Palestinian State | A joint poll by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the Occupied Palestinian Territories found that 69 percent of Israelis think that their country should accept United Nations recognition of an independent Palestinian state, according the Jerusalem Post. The survey also found that 83 percent of Palestinians supported the U.N. bid. Six hundred Israelis and 1,200 Palestinians in the Occupied Territories participated in the poll. Of the Israelis that sided with accepting the U.N. decision, 34 percent said Israel should start negotiating with the Palestinians and 35 percent said the Palestinians should not be allowed to change dynamics on the ground. (HT: Josh Shahryar)

By Ali Gharib on Sep 21, 2011 at 6:50 pm

Climate Progress

Green Jobs: The Big Picture (Almost)

By Climate Guest Blogger on Sep 21, 2011 at 6:43 pm

JR: I mostly agree with this, with one big caveat and one medium-sized caveat I’ll add at the end.

by David Roberts, in a Grist cross-post.

David Frum asks: “What exactly is a ‘green’ job?” His confusion arises from the fact that a number of disparate claims and arguments all get loosely joined under the rubric of green jobs. I want, in this post, to try to pick apart a few of those claims so we can discuss them with more precision and maybe get past the sloganeering that’s surrounded the subject lately.

First, though, I want to endorse what Matt Yglesias says here:

Read more

Justice

PHOTOS: Protesters Around The World Oppose Execution Of Troy Davis

By ThinkProgress on Sep 21, 2011 at 6:41 pm

The pending execution of Troy Davis in Georgia has sparked worldwide protests as far away as London and Rome, with people demanding his life be spared because there is “too much doubt” regarding his conviction. “We’re trying everything we can do, everything under the law,” Chester Dunham, a civil rights activist protesting in Savannah, GA, where police are stepping up security, told the AP. ThinkProgress compiled some photos from around the world of the demonstrations:

Six retired Georgia corrections officials — including the director who oversaw executions for the state — sent a letter to Georgia corrections officials and Gov. Nathan Deal (R) asking them to urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider their Tuesday decision to deny Davis clemency, and, if that fails, to “allow[] any personnel so inclined to opt-out of activities related” to Davis’ execution. The officers’ statement centered on the “awful lifelong repercussions” that result from participating in executions, particularly those who maintain their innocence until their death. From the statement:

We write to you today with the overwhelming concern that an innocent person could be executed in Georgia tonight. We know the legal process has exhausted itself in the case of Troy Anthony Davis, and yet, doubt about his guilt remains. This very fact will have an irreversible and damaging impact on your staff. […] Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience.

Davis’ attorneys have filed a stay petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, their absolute last hope to spare Davis’ life, after Georgia’s Supreme Court declined their motion earlier this evening. Their petition can be read here.

Update

Watch Democracy Now’s live coverage from the death row vigil:

Watch live streaming video from democracynow at livestream.com

Alyssa

‘Cheers’ And Abortion

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Sep 21, 2011 at 6:37 pm

I know I fell off the Cheers blogging over the summer in favor of catching up on Breaking Bad and Deadwood, for which I sincerely apologize. But it felt sort of appropriate that I started up again the same day that Scott Lemieux wrote this post about the bizarre impermissibility of abortion in romantic comedies and pop culture in general.

I’ve written repeatedly about the ways Cheers feels ahead of its time — in fact, the ways it feels ahead of the television of our time, whether it’s trusting the audience to get highly intellectual humor, or addressing the issue of gay athletes in the midst of the AIDS crisis. But one area it feels fairly conventional is on the subject of abortion. I understand that part of what’s funny about Carla is her enormous pack of kids. And it says good things about the bar’s community that in “Father Knows Last,” that everyone takes up a collection to help her support the latest baby. But it would have been interesting if that collection had gone towards her having an abortion, a prospect the show never really considers.

Similarly, in the fourth season episode “Fools and Their Money,” there’s this interesting little moment when Sam is trying to confess one thing to Diane and she thinks she’s gotten someone pregnant. “What’s her name and so many months?” she asks. It would have been fascinating to see those two have a conversation about how Sam feels about fatherhood, and how he’d handle a pregnancy that he didn’t want to see go through. Instead, it’s a misunderstanding, and they move on to the topic of how Sam will tell Woody that he didn’t place a bet that would have made Woody a great deal of money. And I wish it wasn’t another missed opportunity. But I suppose you can’t ask one show to do all the work. I just wish any piece of pop culture would take this bit of work on.

NEWS FLASH

One In Four Millionaires Pays Lower Taxes Than The Median Middle-Class Household [UPDATED] | Republicans, aided by a misleading Associated Press “fact-check,” have been casting aspersions on President Obama for claiming that many millionaires pay lower taxes than middle-class households. But as the Tax Policy Center noted, one in four millionaires has a lower tax rate (accounting for federal income and payroll taxes) than the median middle-class households. Center for American Progress Director of Tax and Budget Policy Michael Linden added that 10 percent of people making between $10,000 and $20,000 annually actually pay higher tax rates than 25 percent of millionaires. More than 40,000 millionaires pay 4.2 percent or less of their income in taxes.

Update

The Tax Policy Center has retracted the tables upon which it based its number.

LGBT

Col. Grethe Cammermeyer On DADT Repeal: ‘The Vindication Didn’t Occur Until Today’

By Zack Ford on Sep 21, 2011 at 6:16 pm

Thanks to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network for inviting ThinkProgress to report live from its Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Day Celebration.

Col. Grethe Cammermeyer has been fighting discrimination in the military for over 20 years, but her effort didn’t come to an end until yesterday when gays and lesbians were permitted — for the first time in American history — to serve openly.

Cammermeyer had come out as a lesbian 1989, when the Defense Department viewed homosexuality as incompatible with military service, and was separated from the National Guard shortly thereafter. She challenged her discharge and won reinstatement in 1994, after a federal court found the nation’s ban on gay military service unconstitutional. From 1994 until 1997, Cammermeyer served under the new DADT policy, inspiring the television movie Serving in Silence, starring Glenn Close. 

Cammermeyer continued to advocate for the repeal of DADT and was recently appointed to the Defense Advisory Council of Women in the Services. ThinkProgress caught up with the trail-blazing colonel at last night’s celebration, and she told us that even though her retirement feels like it was “a generation ago,” her fight for equality wasn’t achieved until this week:

FORD: What does it feel like to arrive at this day, so far after your own vindication?

CAMMERMEYER: Well, you know, the vindication didn’t occur until today, because the reason I started my challenge in 1989 was to get the policy overturned. And in its place, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was created, and there was no vindication just because I won and was reinstated. It was, you know, the thousands who have lost their careers since. And now, it’s like the time is finally here that they can serve with honor and dignity and — still a little trepidation of how is everything is going to go, but it all works out in the end. It’s probably the best day that I can think of for the American military as well as for American in general.

What I said some months ago when it was first overturned… Until the repeal, we in the service represented the flag. Now, the flag represents us.

Watch our full interview with Col. Cammermeyer:

Yglesias

Politicians Should Speak More About Monetary Policy

By Matthew Yglesias on Sep 21, 2011 at 6:15 pm

Thinking harder on the GOP letter to the Federal Reserve yesterday, I want to say that even though I think the policy they were pushing was entirely wrong, I wish more politicians would offer opinions about this kind of thing.

In my view, the best model for central bank independence would be our independent Supreme Court. The justices’ decisions are not subject to veto by congress, and the justices don’t stand for election. But the justices are part of the political process, and the power to appoint Supreme Court justices is rightly understood as an important aspect of presidential authority. Candidates for the presidency are required to talk about their approach to judicial appointments, and it’s expected that important judicial decisions will be debated by political figures including incumbent members of congress. That’s not “politicizing” the court, it’s a recognition of the fact that the Supreme Court is an important government institution.

By the same token, the Federal Reserve is an important government institution and the elected officials in the government ought to talk about it.

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