well, just 13 days ago he was with some 60 other tennesseans lobbying on behalf of hr 3895, a moratorium and study bill...and we were all asmile because it was a bellwether day for those working on the death penalty in tennessee...

and now he's back on the hill this morning but a little grimmer due to the reason for his unexpected return ... hb 2924 (sb 2490) which would expand the death penalty to include those convicted of child rape ...

now all things being equal the emotion behind such a bill is understandable, nearly every human is horrified by the even the idea of a sexual predator attacking a child ... but all things are not equal ...

more than 120 people have been exonerated from the nation's death rows since 1976 and over half of all death sentences are overturned on appeal due to serious constitutional error ...

the death penalty system is unfair, inaccurate, ineffective, and costly ... expanding such a system, when we should be examining it, is irresponsible; it's like fighting fire with gasoline...

so on friday, after the house bill PASSED OUT OF SUBCOMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY the lil' dude devised a mobilization plan targeting 4 key members of the house judiciary committee and they received letters and calls immediately pointing out the problem and asking them to help STOP the bill in the judiciary ...

the $15 million price tag alone should derail the bill and besides, if we have that kind of $$$ (which we don't), it should go into treatment and compensation funds for the victims, and not be wasted in pursuit of wrathful revenge ... we should ALWAYS be thinking about the healing of the victim of a crime as our first priority...

we'll update the story with a comment later today when our fearless jesuit volunteer returns ... until then ponder this, the senate sponsor raymond finney -- is a former president of blount county right to life and a member of tennessee right to life ...

peace out - <3