The Loveshade Family Blog

Troy Anthony Davis, the man who was convicted of killing a police officer on recanted evidence, has finally been giving a real chance.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will consider the constitutionality of Davis' conviction and possibly the law beginning on December 9.  Seven of the nine non-police witnesses against him recanted their testimony, and some said one of the two remaining witnesses is the actual killer.  But Troy Davis, who's been locked up for 17 years, was still scheduled for execution three times.

Because of a law passed in the 1990s, even if Davis produces compelling evidence in his support, he can still be executed without a full hearing.  Hopefully, the court will declare this deadly law unconstitutional.

Read more about this most recent development at http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2008/11/18/sessionsed_1118.html

You can find more information at http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/

To see all of our blog entries dealing with Troy Davis, click on http://www.loveshade.org/blog-mt/mt-search.fcgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=troy+anthony+davis

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

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Black Friday, the day after America's Thanksgiving, is so named because it's the "biggest shopping day of the year."  The average retail business makes 10% of its holiday sales on that one day.

But on this Black Friday, 28 November 2008, it was a day of death for two shoppers and a clerk.

A Wal-Mart worker in Long Island, New York was killed when a crowd of shoppers rushed in as he was opening the front door.  The crowd rushed so hard that part of the door's metal frame was "crushed like an accordion," according to a story from the Associated Press.  A woman in the eighth month of her pregnancy was hit by the crowd and transported to the hospital.

A witness said shoppers stepped over the man lying on the floor.  Those who tried to help got crushed themselves.

In a second fatal shopping spree, two men in Palm Desert, California shot and killed each other in a Toys "R" Us.  Several shoppers and employees fled the store, with one four-year-old boy clinging to his mother's leg, telling her he didn't want to die.

The double fatal shooting may have been motivated by gang rivalry, not a toy.  As one person asked, who brings loaded weapons into a toy store?

The Wal-Mart story is at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27955316 and the Toys "R" Us article is at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27957714.

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

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Proposition 8, a California initiative that defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, has passed.  Because the measure amends the state constitution, it would effectively overrule the decision of the California Supreme Court that banning same-sex marriage is discriminatory.

But this leaves a convoluted side effect which will have a major impact on many Californians and others.

Thousands of same-sex couples married between the court decision in May and the vote on November 4.  What will happen to those couples?

The law will either be interpreted as:

1) Those same-sex couples who are already married can stay married.  But that would leave the dilemma of the state both approving same-sex marriage, and saying it's unconstitutional.

2) The marriages of those already married same-sex couples would be forcibly ended by the government.  That would essentially mean the state would force married couples to divorce.

Neither one of these options is something that conservatives or liberals would fully support.  The effects of the court decision and the vote cannot be ignored, and it will force this issue to stay in the public arena.  Either way, this controversy is far from over.

And is also begs the question: does this mean that the state of California would define the polygamous marriages of most Biblical patriarchs as illegal?

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)

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Hopefully, yes you can!  For some reason still unknown to us, people had trouble posting comments to our entries for several days.  We think, and hope, we have the problem fixed.  Even though we still don't know what caused the problem!

In any case, if you're still having problems posting comments, or just want to make suggestions, feel free to email us at the address listed on our home page at www.loveshade.org

Thanks for your patience!

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

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