Gov. O'Malley To Testify Against Death Penalty in Maryland

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Map, News) - Gov. Martin O'Malley will argue for a repeal of capital punishment in a Senate committee hearing.

The bill has been stalled in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee for the last two years. O'Malley is hoping a state commission's recommendation for repeal will help persuade enough lawmakers to support a ban in what is building up to be a close vote. The committee hearing is set for Wednesday.

But the swing vote on the committee has been elusive, and O'Malley called on the religious community to petition lawmakers to support repeal on Monday.

Watch the video here.

A Wave of Executions, The Yomiuri and Japan’s Death Penalty

Unmasking Capital Punishment: A Wave of Executions, The Yomiuri and Japan’s Death Penalty

David McNeill and the Yomiuri Shimbun

Introduction

One morning this September, Mantani Yoshiyuki, Yamamoto Mineteru and Hirano Isamu were told by prison wardens they would shortly be dead. As is common under Japan’s death penalty system, the three men, all in their sixties, were given about an hour to get their affairs in order before being blindfolded and hanged. Their deaths brought the total number of people executed in Japan this year to 13 and ended any hope by anti-death penalty advocates that new justice minister Yasuoka Okiharu might slow the pace of executions. Two more executions on October 28 brought the number this year to 15, the largest number in 33 years according to the Japan Death Penalty Information Center.
More on this here.

Respect Life Conference: In their own words

TALLAHASSEE | When all was said and done, the dozen speakers at this year’s Florida Respect Life Conference in Tallahassee offered participants inspiration, education and affirmation, with a special emphasis the groundbreaking 1968 declaration, “Humanae Vitae,” for the occasion of its anniversary.

Here is what some of the speakers and participants had to say – in their own words... :

http://www.thefloridacatholic.org/rop/2008_rop/2008_roparticles/20081015_rop_rl_said_5.php

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