Who's gonna make toast when the power runs out ?
In the meantime, let's all hope the judge and jury aren't out to lunch.
Given the widespread magnitude of wrongful and overturned convictions given media coverage here in the UK - a country which abolished the death penalty in 1965 - there is surely sufficient evidence by now to persuade even the keenest advocate of "a life for a life" to exhibit restraint. Often, I am infuriated at the leniency of custodial sentencing and the obvious disparity from case to case. My concern does not spring necessarily from personal moral considerations or religious conviction; I am simply wary of mob rule, and the very real possibility for the miscarriage of justice in the light of incontrovertible facts.
Judge ib rests his case.
Rough Leg.
From a History of Capital Punishment:
"The last executions in Britain were of two men on 13 August 1964. Peter Anthony Allen, aged 21, was hanged in Walton gaol, Liverpool and Gwynne Owen Evans, aged 24, was hanged in Strangeways, Manchester. They were both convicted of the murder of John Alan West, while robbing him in his house on 7 April 1964."
Illustration by Edd Cartier.
Don Evan's "The Summons", "Unknown Fantasy Fiction" comic, 1939-1943: 39 issues.
SEE EXECUTED TODAY @ POETRY IS FOR ASSHOLES
5 comments:
you can make perfectly good toast in front of a roaring fire. I'm sure Joan of Arc toasted her muffins.
(Sorry, couldn't resist it)
Ha!
Any time I hear mention of Joan, Leonard Cohen clicks on in my head like a dim bedside lamp lighting up an ashtray and a pack of Lucky Strike in a dusty room.
"Who by Fire ?", too.
PS, I was sorely tempted to "illustrate" this post with either Nick Cave or Johnny Cash's version of "Mercy Seat", but January is a long month and we all hunger for a little light relief.
The nth of this kind of punishment was exemplified in the Green Mile. Now THAT was an electric chair scene. BTW, History of Capitol Punishment link seems dead.
Mikelj3
Ah, Dr. Forrest, I presume...
Thanks for the tip regards the dead link, Mikel J; I was probably a tad slapdash (or drunk) in preparing it earlier. It's working now.
I haven't watched "Green Mile" all the way through, alas, although I was something of a Stephen King junkie in the 70s and 80s.
"Cheese Factory" is a great site. I only came across it very recently - through Any Major Dude - and I've just added you to my sidecar links. Bizarre and hugely entertaining.
Thanks for commenting.
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