March 15, 2004

NO LIBERAL MEDIA

George W. Bush says:

"These tired, old policies of tax and spend, and economic isolationism, are a recipe for economic disaster."

And an AFP or News Ltd headline writer hears:

Bush labels Kerry a 'disaster'

On the subject of Texans, it turns out -- according to the San Antonio Express-News -- that Texas isn’t such a death-dealing kill-state after all:

A new study softens Texas' image as the nation's death penalty capital, finding the state doles out death sentences less often than even Oregon, a state better known for approving assisted suicide than for demanding capital punishment.

Figures in this month's Journal of Empirical Legal Studies show Texas imposed death penalties in 2 percent of murder cases that had an arrest — just below the national average and slightly behind Oregon, which ranked No. 15 among the 31 states with more than 10 inmates on death row.

By comparing death sentences with solved murder cases between 1977 and 1999, the study highlights what's known by close observers but rarely penetrates public perception.

Posted by Tim Blair at March 15, 2004 01:10 AM
Comments
Kerry a 'disaster'
Hey, give the headline writer a little credit - as least he/she got that part of it right! :-p Posted by: Barbara Skolaut at March 15, 2004 at 03:24 AM

Yeah. Except maybe the term should be "walking disaster" given his penchant for changing his mind.

Posted by: JorgXMcKie at March 15, 2004 at 04:39 AM

Thanks for the TX statistics. I can use that on all the smug New Yorkers here who invariably bring this up when they find out I'm from Texas.

(Another fun one is that 37% of Texas voted for Gore.)

Posted by: Yehudit at March 15, 2004 at 07:35 AM

They love killing in Oregon, negligent homicide, execution, assisted suicide, whatever it takes, as long as someone ends up good and dead it's time to wave cowboy hats and fire guns in the air! They're a simple, honest folk!

Posted by: Amos at March 15, 2004 at 08:33 AM

The reason that Texas has the image of being kill-happy is that we actually hook up the IV to the criminals on death row instead of giving them the death penalty and then hoping they die of old age like Oregon and other death-penalty states.

Posted by: Kenny at March 15, 2004 at 03:41 PM