or as long as I can remember I have been against capital punishment, but the star attraction of San Quentin's death row, Stanley Tookie Williams, is a grotesque killer who deserves to have spent the past 24 years on San Quentin's death row and I hope that he remains there for the rest of his life, to contemplate the pain he brought to the families of the four people he gunned down with a shotgun. He was a leader of a notorious street gang here in Los Angeles, which spread nationwide. To quote him, (now that he's "a good person") he said "I have a despicable background. I was a criminal. I was a co-founder of the Crips. I was a nihilist." He and his fellow travelers were our worst nightmare in L.A. in the 1970s.
I think of myself as a liberal but I do not feel that his progress while captive should be a factor in whether or not he should be granted clemency. I cannot comprehend that he has, in the past, been nominated for a Nobel Prize because of his prison transformation into an author of children's books and deep conviction that killing is bad! He is a bad man.
When Governors considered the commutation of a death sentence it was generally an act of mercy or grace. Nowadays they have acted to correct errors in the judicial system or mental illness. Commutations used to be quite common in this country. No California prisoner has been spared since 1967.
As I understand it, Mr. Williams, who has never admitted that he was the killer, says that he is innocent of the four 1979 murders that sent him to prison in 1981, but the clemency request is based on the good that he has done since his incarceration. This week, two of my guests, Bianca Jagger and activist/actor Mike Farrell, were eloquent in their pleas for clemency for Mr. Williams. I took issue with some of their logic on the man's behalf, but I concur with their conclusion: capital punishment is barbaric and wrong. (If you click on to PODCASTING on this site you can hear the entire interviews)
I don't care if he does good behind bars, or just rots - but he is no hero and never will be. Speaking of heroes, Governor Schwarzenegger, the last governor to grant clemency in this state was your hero, Governor Ronald Reagan.

As I write this I have just heard the news bulletin that 10 U.S Marines have been reported killed in Faluja and 11 more seriously wounded. (Actually the White House held the information, not wanting to impact on the economic good news that the President was about to present at a press conference).
The men in uniform, who served their country and lost their lives, are likely to garner headline news for a couple of days, at most. Tookie will be the subject of stories, films, headlines and "legend" for a long while.