Free Republic

The particularly unsavory left-wing pressure group Color of Change has an axe to grind with Glenn Beck — and it’s personal. The extremist racial grievance group isn’t happy that Beck did several news packages on Van Jones, President Obama’s controversial green jobs czar who describes himself as a communist. (Green really is the new red.) Jones is a founding board member of Color of Change, but Color of Change doesn’t want you to know that. Maybe having an avowed America-hating radical on the group’s board is bad public relations. The group deleted references to Jones on its “about” page. That...

Those cut and run Democrats By: RICK REISS - For The Californian What happened to the Democratic Party? There is nothing intellectual or patriotic coming from the party that once hailed such great leaders as Jefferson, Roosevelt and Kennedy. Here are some words from today's Democrats on issues of war in the face of Islamic fascism: -- "The idea that we are going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong." ---- Howard Dean. -- "And there is no reason, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the...

Arnold Schwarzenegger's name has been expunged from the websites of his Austrian hometown in the latest chapter of the row over the US death penalty. The editing came a day after the California governor's name was removed from Graz's main football stadium. Local politicians berated Mr Schwarzenegger - one of Graz's most famous sons - after he refused to pardon a prominent US death row inmate. The governor subsequently made clear he wanted nothing more to do with Graz. He returned a "ring of honour" the city awarded him in 1999 and demanded his name no longer be used in...

You know you're a leftist, if you were more saddened by the death of "Tookie" Williams than by the death of Pope John Paul II.

Political parties in California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Austrian hometown have started a petition drive to remove his name from a sports stadium. The dispute stems from the governor’s decision to deny clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams. The co-founder of the Crips gang was executed early Tuesday in San Quentin State Prison for four 1979 murders. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria, and the once-popular Schwarzenegger has lost much of his shine since becoming California governor for refusing to spare convicted murderers on death row. The outcry was especially sharp after the clemency denial for Williams, who had...

Sean Penn, Snoop Dogg, Jamie Foxx and Danny Glover are among the thousands of mourners expected to turn out for the funeral of executed former gang leader Stanley 'Tookie' Williams early next week.

These photographs and videos were taken outside the gates of San Quentin Prison on the evening of December 12, 2005 during a vigil marking the execution of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, which happened shortly after midnight.

As the crowd outside San Quentin State Prison was told after midnight this morning that Tookie Williams was dead, a lone voice cried out, "Shame." Then the throng took up the chant, "Tookie, Tookie, Tookie, Tookie." "Despite what happened tonight, people do not feel defeated, as you can hear," said Jeff Boyette of San Francisco, a Williams supporter in his 20s. "I think people see tonight just how unjust the system is," added Sarah Poole, another young death penalty opponent from San Francisco. Moments earlier, as the execution time neared, there were tears as people sang "We Shall Overcome." With...

by JR Tookie Williams, the co-founder of the violent Crips street gang, was executed by lethal injection at 12:01 AM for the 1979 robbery murders of four people in Los Angeles. The execution went ahead as scheduled after the U.S. Supreme Court late Monday rejected a last-minute appeal. The high court's ruling followed California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to deny clemency for Williams. "Based on the cumulative weight of the evidence, there is no reason to second-guess the jury's decision of guilt or raise significant doubts or serious reservations about Williams' convictions and death sentence," Schwarzenegger said in a five-page...

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. (AP) -- Convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, the Crips gang co-founder whose case stirred a national debate about capital punishment versus the possibility of redemption, was executed early Tuesday. Williams, 51, died at 12:35 a.m. Officials at San Quentin State Prison seemed to have trouble injecting the lethal mixture into his muscular arm. As they struggled to find a vein, Williams looked up repeatedly and appeared frustrated, shaking his head at supporters and other witnesses. "You doing that right?" it sounded as if he asked one of the men with a needle. After he was declared dead,...

Tookie would have been a man if he went out like Cagney in "Angels With Dirty Faces". **** In the memorable final moments of the film, shortly before the hour of his death, Jerry (Pat O'Brien) visits Rocky (James Cagney) in his cell for a final ten minutes and asks for a courageous favor. Rocky downplays his impending death, and makes macho jokes about his electrocution, practicing his last words: It's like sitting in a barber chair. They're going to ask me, 'You got anything to say?' and I say, 'Sure. Give me a haircut, a shave and a massage...

(snip)In recent weeks, celebrities such as Jamie Foxx and Danny Glover argued that Williams, on death row for 24 years, deserved clemency for his antigang activism, which has included several books aimed at children and teenagers denouncing gang violence. Among the most prominent voices has been rapper Snoop Dogg, himself a former Crip. ''He inspired me to want to do something positive with my life and to go and touch the kids," the platinum-selling rap star said at a pro-Williams rally outside San Quentin last month. (snip) Still, Snoop has been the only rapper to speak out on Williams's behalf....

LOS ANGELES, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The debate over the imminent execution of Stanley Tookie Williams hinges partly on his claim that he founded the notorious Crips street gang -- then renounced a criminal life in a quest for redemption. Though Williams, who is scheduled to die on Tuesday, maintains his innocence in the four 1979 murders that landed him on death row, he takes credit for founding the Crips a decade earlier with another teenager, Raymond Washington, and says he now regrets his role. Prosecutors question the 51-year-old Williams' sincerity in repudiating the Crips. Experts say the convicted killer...

LOS ANGELES - As word spread Monday afternoon that Gov. Schwarzenegger had turned down Stanley Tookie Williams' last-ditch bid for clemency, reaction on the streets where Williams launched the Crips gang 35 years ago was muted. Some residents were saddened by the news, saying the governor had missed a golden opportunity to show true compassion hours before Williams' scheduled execution just past midnight. Others, though, felt anything but compassion for the man whose legacy in south central Los Angeles stills seems like nothing but gang colors, bullets and blood.

SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court has rejected a stay of execution for Crips co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams, who is scheduled to die after midnight. The court's decision comes a day after the California Supreme Court refused to grant a stay of execution for the convicted killer meaning the former gang leader who became an outspoken critic of gang violence will be executed early Tuesday unless the governor grants clemency. Williams' supporters also made another pitch directly to the governor Sunday to spare his life, telling Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a letter that they had a new witness who...

Gov. Shwarzeneggar expected to make announcement on Tookie Williams Execution Clemency shortly according to Fox News.

When the 9th Circus says it's ok to go ahead with the execution, a bunch that has opposed most capital punishment it seems like an easy call. 26 years of appeals, 4 murders directly and thousands more indirectly by starting the Crypts gang. If writing childrens books gets you off death row I can see a bunch of new authors coming out.

Six months after a 15-year-old boy was slain by thugs over a $200 iPod, a second alleged Crip gang member is charged with his murder — as the boy's devoted parents vow to help keep a Brooklyn neighborhood safe from gangs. "People are afraid, but they're starting to come forward. I'm thankful there's been a break in the case," said father Errol Rose, 53. On July 2, Christopher Rose was on his way to a Fourth of July pool party in Pennsylvania. He was listening to a friend's iPod while walking two blocks away from his mother's home in East...

A lawyer for convicted murderer and co-founder of the Crips street gang Stanley Tookie Williams, who is scheduled to be put to death Tuesday, is asking the California Supreme Court to stay his execution. Pasadena Attorney Verna Wefald also filed a 150-page petition Saturday challenging the validity of the four convictions and death sentences meted out to Williams in 1981, the Los Angeles Times reported. Williams has been the subject of a celebrity-studded clemency campaign -- including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx -- based on a claim that he has redeemed himself with anti-gang work from death...

One victim's family tells of its pain Convict's supporters forget lives he stole, members of Owens family say By Crystal Carreon, SACRAMENTO BEE Inside Bay Area The young man had gone West, to California, far from the Missouri snow and stress of a divorce. But Albert Owens would often call his old home to hear a familiar voice. "The last thing I remember Al saying to me," recalled Linda Owens, his former wife, "was 'Take care of my babies.'" Two weeks later Albert Owens was dead. He was found in the storage room of a 7-Eleven in Whittier, killed by...