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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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Rant Hypocrisy
To the editor: How much rank hypocrisy is there in using the Schiavo case as an excuse for another anti-Bush rant? Dr. Robin Meyers (On Second Thought, April 6, 2005) accused the president and Congress of using the situation for political posturing. Pot meet freaking kettle. While perhaps 10 lines of the piece concerned the Schiavo case, the majority was concerned with lambasting the administration’s policies. The war, abortion, the death penalty, gun control, social security, tax cuts, and let’s not forget Kyoto!
The errors in his rant were numerous. The most glaring must be the entire paragraph in which he holds Bush responsible for denying pardons to death row inmates in Texas. Any student of our state constitution knows that the governor has no clemency powers — zero, zilch. He could have no more granted a pardon than denied one.
The inanity of his statement that under Gov. Bush “death row became a killing machine” made me gag. What was it before Bush, a pancake jamboree? I would think that a professor of rhetoric, if incapable of getting the facts straight, could at least use English more effectively
He condemns Congress and the president for attempting to overturn judicial decisions. It is not in their powers. He is correct in this. However, Congress made no such attempt. A cursory read of the bill in question reveals that the aim of judicial review of the case was to allow fresh eyes and recent medical information to be used in the decision rather than one activist judge and decades-old data. It called upon the judicial branch to examine the case further and use their power to prevent a woman’s constitutional rights from being trampled. Examine the Fifth Amendment in our Bill of Rights: Citizens shall not “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
That a civil court judge sentenced a woman to death does not concern him. It concerns me. Where are the cries of outrage against this judge overstepping his powers? Oh, that’s right — the cries came from the right wing that he condemns. The death row inmates he pines for had an extensive appeals process. In the “killing machine” that is Texas, appeals are automatic in capital murder cases.
Dr. Meyers is grossly misinformed. The 535 strangers in Washington did not decide the fate of Terry Schiavo. One activist judge did. Occluding the case with clean-air rants will not restore her life or her rights.
I am also concerned that the Weekly printed this erroneous and outrageous rant. I can’t wait to get my doctorate so that any asinine statements I churn out will be worthy of publishing.
Editor’s note: In Texas, the governor can recommend clemency to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, which makes the final decision.
Gina Garner, Student, Tarrant County College, Arlington
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