Fast-tracking death....

As if George Bush wasn't appalling enough - leaving aside his abysmal standing with the American populace - and the Christian [= charitable values?] he espouses, now comes news that he and his more than crooked and lying Attorney-General are seeking to speed up the execution of prisoners on Death Row and in the process by-pass the Courts.

The Independent reports under the headline "Bush's lethal legacy: more executions":

"The Bush administration is preparing to speed up the executions of criminals who are on death row across the United States, in effect, cutting out several layers of appeals in the federal courts so that prisoners can be "fast-tracked" to their deaths.

With less than 18 months to go to secure a presidential legacy, President Bush has turned to an issue he has specialised in since approving a record number of executions while Governor of Texas.

The US Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales - Mr Bush's top legal adviser during the spree of executions in Texas in the 1990s - is putting finishing touches to regulations, inspired by recent anti-terrorism legislation, that would allow states to turn to the Justice Department, instead of the federal courts, as a key arbiter in deciding whether prisoners live or die.

The US is already among the top six countries worldwide in terms of the numbers of its own citizens that it puts to death. Fifty-two Americans were executed last year and thousands await their fate on death row."

Bear in mind that as Governor of Texas Bush presided over more deaths than any other Governor and on not on one occasion granted clemency. Then again, as much as he admitted, that he never really read the files sent to him.

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