The California Teachers Union, a far-left bunch that is always fighting to raise our taxes, has sunk to a new low with their resolution supporting convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/04/13/california-teachers-union-draws-rallying-cop-killer/?test=latestnews
I have written previously about this murderer and his legions of misguided far-left and academic supporters. The above Fox article more than adequately describes the open and shut case against him. Now comes this resolution from a bunch of dopes who should be concentrating on educating their students. It is beyond outrageous and a slap in the face to the victim's family.
It is not an open and shut case at all. I thought I might find some points of agreement about the teachers union, although they are not "far-left" they are standard pure-and-simple unionists in the mold of Samuel Gompers. This has nothing to do with what teachers should be paid, whether they should be evaluated for competence, or merit pay.
ReplyDeleteThe bullet didn't match Mumia's gun, among other discrepancies, and the witnesses were both dubious and changed their story repeatedly. Besides, Mumia is a great writer.
Yeah, and Adolf Hitler wrote the top-selling book in the Arab World to this day.
ReplyDeleteEvery court including the Supreme Court has upheld his verdict.
ReplyDeleteThis sorry excuse for a human is guilty except to liberals. For to them only white people are guilty of committing crimes, not black men, even though there were dozens of witnesses, it was his gun, his fingerprints were on the gun AND bullets.
He should have been executed years ago.
I hope he outlives you Findalis.
ReplyDeleteThat's a crude thing to say, but your dismissive (and ignorant) commentary sort of invites it. Appellate courts don't revisit fundamentals like facts and credibility. They examine whether the trial was procedurally faulty. Mere perjury often doesn't carry any weight.
My high school library had a copy of Mein Kampf, for reference purposes I presume, and I flipped through it once. Great writing it is not. Mumia is.
There was A gun that was his, but ballistic evidence did NOT show that it was THE gun that killed Officer Faulkner. What sophistry you stoop to.
ReplyDelete"A .38 caliber Charter Arms revolver, belonging to Abu-Jamal, with five spent cartridges was retrieved beside him at the scene. He was wearing a shoulder holster, and the shell casings and rifling characteristics of the weapon were consistent with bullet fragments taken from Faulkner's body.[36] Tests to confirm that Abu-Jamal had handled and fired the weapon were not performed, as contact with arresting police and other surfaces at the scene could have compromised the forensic value of such test"
ReplyDeleteFor what its worth here is the wikipedia entry regarding the ballistics.
Truly, the internet is chock full of Mumia supporters that you can hardly find one wityh my point of view. This case has been reviewed back and forth in every court short of God. They all agree he's guilty, but Mumia is a cult hero to the left.
He was convicted by a fair trial, went through the legal system up to the highest court in the land, a court which upheld his conviction, and should have been executed for this crime, but instead you on the immoral left praise this killer as a hero without even a thought for the true victim's family and what they have suffered.
ReplyDeleteIn this world the true racists are the Siarlys Jenkins of the world. Crying racism every time a White person farts the wrong way.
Findalis, you don't even know what I look like, let along what boxes I checked off on my census form. I should start writing under my legal name, just so I could refer you to the article I wrote on racism for a recent encyclopedia, which I am confident you would agree is the most well-balanced treatment of the subject ever written.
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing as a "white person." I always put the term in quotation marks, and have finally convinced the editors to leave them alone.
Whether Mumia had a "fair" trial is open to considerable doubt -- which is precisely why the case remains controversial. True, it has been upheld by the highest court in the land. Now, to paraphrase what John L. Lewis said to Michigan's governor, Frank Murphy, during the sit down strikes, about his Irish grandfather who was hanged by the British...
...when you heard that a British court had sentenced a member of the Irgun or the Stern Gang to be hanged by the neck until dead, did you say "He was convicted by a fair trial, went through the legal system up to the highest court in the land, a court which upheld his conviction, and should have been executed for this crime"??? I acknowledge there is one difference: the British DID carry out their sentences, without much appeal.
Our Supreme Court has expressed considerable indifference to the possibility of actual innocence. They defer to the original trial judge's evaluation of whether a witness was committing perjury. That makes the grounds for appeal rather narrow. Shall we go into the Texas execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, based on a forensic analysis that turns out to have no scientific validity whatsoever?
The most undeniable ballistic evidence shows that Officer Faulkner shot Mumia. It is entirely consistent with the evidence (although by no means the only possible interpretation), that Officer Faulkner was telling Mumia to back off, shot him, intentionally or otherwise, and was in turn shot by an unidentified member of the crowd that had gathered.
There is no question that Faulkner stopped Mumia's brother, was harassing him rather disrespectfully, and that Mumia was loudly and angrily objecting, as were dozens of other people in the vicinity.
Even if Mumia DID fire the fatal bullet, which has by no means been proved, there is ample ground to consider it second degree murder, or voluntary manslaughter (heat of anger, not premeditated).
Calm down on the epithets and ignorant characterizations. It is possible Mumia is guilty. It is far from proven beyond a reasonable doubt. A man facing death, especially one with a lot to offer the community, would naturally use every legal means available to hold it at arm's length. I think he deserves to succeed.
Let us just assume for a moment the guy is not guilty. Still the question would be why the California Teachers organization is getting involved. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteYou have a point Cabbie, perhaps the best point to be made here. However, it is a well precedented method of campaigning for any political objective, particularly when it concerns a criminal case believed to have resulted in a miscarriage of justice, to invite all and sundry to sign protest resolutions. People of all political persuasions do that.
ReplyDeleteGary, your citation from Wikipedia is worth somewhat less than the average Wikipedia citation, which is a low bar. Even Wikipedia's standards would eventually result in such a blatant expression of opinion being removed, for lack of citation from credible primary sources.
The phrase "consistent with" in your reference to ballistics is important. The slugs COULD HAVE come from Mumia's gun, based on size and weight, but were not identified with the specificity of rifling patterns, which would establish exactly which gun fired the bullets.
There was also argument presented by his attorneys that at least some of the slugs in Faulkner's body were too large (.45) to have come from Mumia's gun. But in any case, there are millions of guns that could have fired .38 slugs.
If I were the DA, I would have said, "If you shot him, it appears it may have been voluntary manslaughter in the heat of the moment, and may not have been premeditated. Since I can't prove premeditation, I'll accept a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter. If you are indeed innocent, we can go to trial, because I'm not convinced, and we'll leave it up to the jury."
I would probably, in the absence of a guilty plea, have indicted for second degree murder, genuinely not knowing if he was guilty, but presenting the best case I could, while literally leaving it up to the jury. In the absence of the perjury the DA who was in charge solicited and presented, it would have been a close call for the jury.