Teresa Lewis is going to die at 9pm tonight in a Virginia death chamber unless someone stops the state from committing the murder.
Teresa is a handicapped Woman with an IQ of 70 according to the Commonwealth of Virginia itself, making it illegal according to a 2002 Supreme Court ruling outlawing the execution of persons with retardation--which sets a clear guideline of 70 or under. She has expressed remourse for her actions, is believing in God, and desires to not be executed.
Having worked with and loved literally hundreds upon hundreds of adults with retardation, please know that anyone with an IQ anywhere near the ballpark of 70 is a severely handicapped individual in our's or any society.
All involved, including The Supreme Court Justices who voted to kill her Tuesday, Governor Bob McDonnell who has so far signed off on the homicide, and those who participate in arranging for the lethal injection are guilty of premeditated murder if the mental torture they've been subjecting her to ends in her death tonight. The motive is clear--it is revenge for her indirect participation in the 2002 fatal shooting of 2 men by Rodney Fuller and Matthew Shallenberger(she did not participate in the shooting of them).
Christians and Jews[and Muslims] abhor execution because of the Commandment provided in writing to Moses by God himself that is unequivocal and with no qualifications or legalese or fine print or asterisks or footnotes whatever. It reads, in the King James version:
"Thou Shalt Not Kill."
That's the commandment in it's entirety. I see no qualifications or loopholes whatsoever. That's the good thing about the Good Book--no fine print or caveats to confuse the believer. It's an absolute. Thou shalt not kill-- not too hard to understand. If she is executed, Teresa will be killed. Thou shalt not kill my Christian, Jewish and other believing friends!
Jesus reiterated his own preference for unconditional love, forgiveness of sin and abhorrence of killing throughout his living ministry.
Evolutionists and creationists alike can only abhor the caveman mentality of revenge killing, hoping for a higher plane of morality, ethics, love and humanity.
Both pro and anti choice people argue for the sanctity of life, in this case[and in the case of capital punishment itself] it's clear.
Nobody alive can possibly state with certainty what death for humans means. Many believers suspect an eternity in a burning Hell where flesh is agonized with pain forever. Others have notions of nothingness. Some have the idea of earning a place in Heaven which fulfills all conceivable aspirations, with a catastrophic alternative such as eternal damnation for those who don't earn their ticket to Heaven. Some postulate a lengthy "purgatory" -- a sort of waiting-room of worry and panic pending permanent placement. Another grouping speculates that we return again and again, as either humans to give it another try or as another creature. Still others simply don't even hazard a guess. The fact is no one knows.
No reasonable person can argue that killing someone by any means is not "Cruel and Unusual" by any standards of human decency unless they have a corner on the market of knowing exactly what death is and nobody does. Certainly you have to acknowledge that reasonable people disagree on what comes after this life, and that any doubt at all renders death inherently cruel and unusual.
Reports abound that even lethal injection is torture and those killed suffer horrible pain and agony, in that consciousness persists while the lungs are paralyzed and the victim slowly dies while unable to breathe. The movie, "The Green Mile" is a sobering one that depicts execution by electric chair and shows how merciless such torture is.
The mental anguish preceding execution, from handcuffs, through death row to death chamber--Cruel and Unusual to say the least.
Nobel Peace Prize-winning Amnesty International[world-renowned advocates for human rights] opposes death by governments for any motive, including the revenge motive and is pleading for Teresa's life here. Human rights groups and governments the world over abhor the American death system.
How can a conservative, a Tea Partyer, a Republican or a Libertarian be so trusting of government as to desire giving it authority over the life and death of legal U.S. citizens! The fact is that government has botched the whole scheme by executing many innocent people over the years.
DNA technology is now exonerating dozens upon dozens of inmates incarcerated for years falsely by the governments of the states and the feds. Killing one person unjustly is too much government for me as a liberal, how much more so should it be for anyone who is conservative.
The Declaration of Independence calls "life" a "right" and the[distrustful of governmental authority] founding fathers' United States Constitution prohibits any punishment that even remotely resembles cruelty.
Iran is having a public relations field day with this and every U.S. execution.
The stoners of women and others in Tehran, of the Taliban, of Al-Quaeda, Mullah Omar and Osama Bin-Laden all endorse execution, as did Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Idi Amin. Please let's get off of this pathetic committee!
Teresa is scheduled to die at 9:00pm Eastern Daylight Time tonight! Please email Governor McDonnell at governor.virginia.gov immediately! Also visit saveteresalewis.org right now, please!!!
Thy will be done. We pray Lord, that it is thy will for Teresa to be spared death this day until you call her by your own determination, not by the hands of man. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.
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