California Teachers Union Draws Fire for Rallying Behind Cop Killer Mumia Abu-Jamala

There are numerous websites dedicated to this issue. I've had cops kick my ass, I don't trust everything they do or say. But I've also had a buddy who was a cop shot in cold blood like this guy did. So label me authoritarian all you would like for believing a man who murdered a cop and has been proven guilty is not some hero.

connick v. thompson has shown me that no court case, no matter how air tight sounding, even a cops death, is worth the paper it's written on.
 
Suuuuuuuuure, you did, Crawfish. I'll believe that when I get the $500 you owe me.

The irony is too thick here, considering a recent thread. There's an easy way to herd sheep like Yurt...

Obama Admin argues that you have no right not to be framed.

framinglr.jpg
 
There is clearly much more to this case. What is disturbing to me and what makes me so disgusted with right wingers is they are mindless authoritarian followers. The AUTHORITIES say he is guilty, so the case is closed.

If any of those Whereas are true, the man deserves a new trial. If police and DA's can get away with presenting false evidence or suppressing evidence of innocence, then we ARE under authoritarian rule. The right likes to accuse liberals of statism, but there is no BIGGER statist than an authoritarian follower.

You are posting this because it is a liberal cause. If this were a white officer shooting a black teenager, you would be calling for his head.

The federal courts heard his appeal and refused it. Should he get special attention because there are protests in his name?
 
You are posting this because it is a liberal cause. If this were a white officer shooting a black teenager, you would be calling for his head.

The federal courts heard his appeal and refused it. Should he get special attention because there are protests in his name?

Oh yea, the AUTHORITIES, the beloved government said his appeal is refused...I understand...

People generally don't rally and protest over open and shut murder cases. But, the people have a lot of nerve to expect the AUTHORITIES to comply... I do understand...

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.
Thomas Jefferson

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
Thomas Jefferson
 
Oh yea, the AUTHORITIES, the beloved government said his appeal is refused...I understand...

People generally don't rally and protest over open and shut murder cases. But, the people have a lot of nerve to expect the AUTHORITIES to comply... I do understand...

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.
Thomas Jefferson

It is more dangerous that even a guilty person should be punished without the forms of law than that he should escape.
Thomas Jefferson

He was convicted by a jury of his peers. His sentence was appealed, and his case overall was appealed at both the state and federal level.




Why would this man get special treatment when no one else would?

I do not favor authority at all. But I also do not favor the defendent (especially with the evidence) simply because he is a minority or because radical groups are protesting on his behalf.

You, apparently are all too willing to judge his innocence or guilt based solely on the number of protestors.
 
Some support for your argument (I.E. that it's not a clear trial) would be nice.

I admit I am not familiar with the case. What is disturbing is that the possibility of wrong doing by the police and the DA seem beyond the realm of any possibility by folks on the right. Many of them 'claim' to be libertarians...the libertarians I respect would be up in arms. The truth is, the right is not tough on crime, they are tough on freedom and liberty.

HBO did a documentary on the case and here is someone who did exhaustive research into the case...

The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal, by J. Patrick O’Connor, published by Lawrence Hill Books.

O’Connor explains that he “was an associate editor for TV Guide at its headquarters in nearby Radnor, Pennsylvania during the time Officer Faulkner was killed and Abu-Jamal was put on trial and convicted of murdering him… Sometime in the mid-1990s I began hearing and seeing the ‘Free Mumia’ slogan. In 1996, when HBO premiered the one-hour documentary Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt?, I developed some questions about the verdict and certainly the fairness of his trial.” Soon, O’Connor had “read all the trial transcripts as well as all of the transcripts from Abu-Jamal’s Post‑Conviction Relief Act hearings that were held in 1995, and continued in 1996 and 1997. I also read all the contemporaneous newspaper articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, as well as all the books published about the case.”

In his new book, O’Connor argues that Abu-Jamal was clearly framed by police, and that the actual shooter was a man named Kenneth Freeman. O’Connor criticizes the local media, who, he says “bought into the prosecution’s story line early on and has never been able to see this case for what it is: a framing of an innocent and peace loving man.”
 
I'd also note that the Philadelphia Police Department of the early 1980s was not exactly Joe Friday's police force. Hell, in 1985 they dropped a bomb on the residence of a radical group by helicopter, killing 11 people, including five children, and destroying 65 homes. No, I'm not saying that Mumia didn't do it, I don't think there is any basis to dismiss out of hand the idea that he was framed by police and wrongfully convicted to death row.


Edit: And I also ain't gonna get my panties in a twist because a teachers' union supports efforts to free someone they think was wrongfully sentenced to death row, particularly if all they do is vote on a resolution at their annual convention.
 
Thanks to Nigel for bringing this thread back to the original thought. "What business does a 'teachers' union have involving themselves in this case in the the first place."

As a teacher and a member of a professional teaching organization (not a union) I would definitely want to distance myself from this bunch if this is the case they want to publicly support. Just my opinion from all that I have read on this thread. Even STY (which I am guessing in now King of Guns) is asking for a little "support" that is wasn't a clear trial and conviction....and we know how he feels about law enforcement and the powers that be.

Like Cawacko, I have many friends in law enforcement and have lost some of them, even a cousin, due to someone's reckless and mindless decision. I have also seen corrupt law enforcement officials, some brought to justice and some not. But my question still is, "You're a teacher's union....education is in a mess....why this?"
 
He was convicted by a jury of his peers. His sentence was appealed, and his case overall was appealed at both the state and federal level.




Why would this man get special treatment when no one else would?

I do not favor authority at all. But I also do not favor the defendent (especially with the evidence) simply because he is a minority or because radical groups are protesting on his behalf.

You, apparently are all too willing to judge his innocence or guilt based solely on the number of protestors.

this....which has been told to him numerous times, yet he still refuses to look into the case, its much easier to rely on his liberal gods to tell him what to think
 
Thanks to Nigel for bringing this thread back to the original thought. "What business does a 'teachers' union have involving themselves in this case in the the first place."

As a teacher and a member of a professional teaching organization (not a union) I would definitely want to distance myself from this bunch if this is the case they want to publicly support. Just my opinion from all that I have read on this thread. Even STY (which I am guessing in now King of Guns) is asking for a little "support" that is wasn't a clear trial and conviction....and we know how he feels about law enforcement and the powers that be.

Like Cawacko, I have many friends in law enforcement and have lost some of them, even a cousin, due to someone's reckless and mindless decision. I have also seen corrupt law enforcement officials, some brought to justice and some not. But my question still is, "You're a teacher's union....education is in a mess....why this?"


Why not? Who cares? If it detracted from their attention to other matters, maybe I could see it, but unions have long been political actors on more than just issues affecting the particular industry of their members, including social justice matters.
 
Why not? Who cares? If it detracted from their attention to other matters, maybe I could see it, but unions have long been political actors on more than just issues affecting the particular industry of their members, including social justice matters.

they obviously spent time and money looking into the case....that is not what a teacher union is for....they are for looking after the teachers....that is what the dues for. you just defend anything unions do....

and before you get all excited....nobody's panties are in a bunch, we are merely expressing opinions, but i know that when people express opinions different from yours, you get exasperated
 
this....which has been told to him numerous times, yet he still refuses to look into the case, its much easier to rely on his liberal gods to tell him what to think

I never said he was innocent. But a reasonable thinking person would come to the conclusion that something doesn't add up here. People from all over the world don't just protest the conviction of a person convicted of murder unless there is good reason to protest.
 
they obviously spent time and money looking into the case....that is not what a teacher union is for....they are for looking after the teachers....that is what the dues for. you just defend anything unions do....

You don't get to decide what a union is for, Crawfish. Its members get to decide.

and before you get all excited....nobody's panties are in a bunch, we are merely expressing opinions, but i know that when people express opinions different from yours, you get exasperated

You're panties look awfully twisted.
 
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