Rough Justice Under Rick Perry ''Incendiary'' Documentary

Rough Justice Under Rick Perry

Two Austin filmmakers examine how the Texas governor and bad science abetted the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.
By Tim Murphy




When MSNBC's Brian Williams asked Rick Perry during a recent GOP debate if he ever worried that his state had executed an innocent man on Perry's watch, the three-term Texas governor didn't hesitate: "No sir, I've never struggled with that at all." Maybe he should have: As Steve Mims and Joe Bailey detail in their new documentary, Incendiary, the state's 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham for the murder of his two children was based in large part on arson science that had been thoroughly rejected by the scientific community—something that Perry had been informed of before the "ultimate justice" was served.

Inspired by David Grann's masterful 2009 New Yorker story about the case, the Austin filmmakers set out to chronicle the flawed forensics behind the execution. They soon found themselves in the middle of a pitched political battle involving Perry's apparent maneuvering to put a thumb on the scales with the Texas Forensic Science Commission. Mims and Bailey spoke recently with Mother Jones about the Willingham case, arson science, and how they navigated the politics of capital punishment.

Mother Jones: What about Grann's story, and the case specifically, made you think "we need to make a film"?

Joe Bailey: I was so fascinated that the law and science and political forces were all animated in a life-and-death story. We saw that as a rare thing, and we thought that a documentary format allowed us the opportunity to explore the case in our own way and illustrate these things that seemed really fascinating—properties of fire, the human dynamic, and the appeals and petitions for clemency. We didn't expect it to erupt into this sort of political theater that it became: Just when we started making our film is when the shakeup of the Texas Forensic Science Commission happened, and it became sort of a dynamic and hilarious—darkly hilarious—struggle to document.



MJ: The centerpiece of the film, the forensics expert who explains why it wasn't arson, is Gerald Hurst. More, including movie trailer and this interview with Rick Perry talking ''Science'' which has to be the biggest contradiction of terms in the whole wide world. More including a trailer from the documentary and this clip of Perry explaining his killing comfort zone.

America is being, blown away, washed away, and not least in Texas, burnt away. But the jury is still out on climate change science. Whatever you say Rick.






A few vids on tricky Ricky and climate change.



''I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data''

We are seeing weekly, almost daily, scientists coming forward and questioning the original idea that man made global warming is what is causing the climate to change''



''Just because you have a group of scientists who stood up and said, here is the fact; - Galileo got outvoted for a spell''

He doesn't help himself does he? Galileo got outvoted for a spell, yes you fucking moron. Rick Perry, a latter day Roman Inquisition, with all the brains of the first.

Isn't odd that nobody can seem to offer up ''all these scientists'' or in Ricky's case name one? He reminds me of another bunch of batshit crazies that are always quoting ''more and more scientists.'' I was about to (ok I will) link to the crazies of the of the Fred and Wilma, but I can go one better than that. At the bottom of the page there is a video of Arnold Mendez, who I have to tell you, though you might have trouble believing me, is a science instructor at Texas A&M. Funny that Texas should pop its head up again.



Give me that ol' time religion.



“A mind may be a terrible thing to waste, but if you waste 15 million of them, apparently you get Texas.” - Keith Olbermann.







Still with me? Now I wouldn't ask anybody to sit through two hours of Arnold Mendez's Noah’s Ark Seminar, but do try to watch a few minutes of this incredible charlatan sorry, science instructor Texas A&M. Early Man Seminar-Video or Noah’s Ark Seminar-Video

Arnold Mendez has his own tag on this blog, lots of photo's if you can't bear the video. Here is a comment left by a poor soul that had the misfortune to have Mendez as an instructor.

Arnold Mendez is Beyond an Idiot he is dangerous. Let me tell you why. Arnold Mendez taught/teaches almost all the General Chemistry Laboratory Classes at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi. On his own initiative, he added an indoctrination on why Radiological Carbon Dating is a farce. He required the students to go to HIS listed fraud sites and write a report (basically supporting his crap). I was forced to do this for a grade in his class along with almost 1,000 students in a single semester. When this situation was revealed to the University, they did absolutely nothing! Any reputable (REAL) University would have fired ANYONE who did this on the spot. I guess TAMUCC is just another Liberty University. DO NOT ATTEND this university if you want a ACTUAL Science Degree. I am still highly offended by this situation.

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Michael Moore: Man Interviewed by Democracy Now! on Troy Davis Execution Inspired My Georgia Boycott

I felt privileged to have the opportunity to listen to this conversation between two giants, both of broadcasting and of compassion. Very moving.

Michael Moore: Man Interviewed by Democracy Now! on Troy Davis Execution Inspired My Georgia Boycott

Michael Moore: ....."Fine, then I’m going to donate whatever royalties I make on this book to The Innocence Project, which is a group who has got many people off death row. And, I’m also going to donate to a voter registration drive." There were 600,000 African Americans in the last election that were not registered to vote in Georgia. Georgia is one of these states that is making it increasingly difficult for people to register to vote, and to vote, on election day. So I will not touch any of the money that this book makes from the state of Georgia. I just don’t want anything to do with it, and I cancelled going there, to Atlanta on my book tour. I won’t go there. I will not participate. And, myself and my website guys, we’ve been talking to the African American students at Morehouse and some of the colleges down there. And there’s a number of people that are going to have a much more organized response to this with the state of Georgia. We’re going to identify those politicians and we are going to identify corporations in Georgia like Home Depot and Coca Cola and others who contribute money to these politicians that allow this death penalty to exist. More at the transcript link.

Quintessential Amy Goodman.

Filmmaker Michael Moore was a part of the global audience tuning in for Democracy Now!'s live coverage from outside the Georgia prison where death row prisoner Troy Davis was executed on September 21. Moore describes how he was inspired by one of the people Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman interviewed on the scene after news of the execution was announced. The man, who introduced himself as Wesley Boyd, immediately called for a boycott of the state of Georgia in response to Davis' execution. Moore says he then asked his publisher to recall all copies of his new book from stores in Georgia, saying, "I don’t want any commerce being done in my name in the state of Georgia." When he was told the books were already on the shelves, Moore decided to donate proceeds from the sales in the state to the Innocence Project and a voter registration drive. He also discusses his previous work on the case of a death row prisoner who shares his name, a topic he writes about in the chapter, "The Execution of Michael Moore," in his new memoir Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re on the road in Minneapolis. Today we play the second part of my interview with one of the most famous independent filmmakers in the world, Michael Moore. For more than two decades, Michael has been one of the most politically active, provocative and successful documentary filmmakers in the business. His films include, Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine, for which he won the Academy Award, Fahrenheit 9/11, SICKO, and Capitalism: A Love Story. He has a new book out, it’s called, Here Comes Trouble: Stories From My Life. You can see part one of the interview with Michael Moore on our website at democracynow.org. After Monday’s program, I had a chance to ask Michael Moore about the execution of Troy Anthony Davis that took place on Wednesday, September 21. The state of Georgia killed Davis despite significant doubt about his guilt in the killing of a white, off-duty police officer, Mark MacPhail, in 1989. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses in the case later recanted or changed their testimony, and there was no physical evidence linking Troy Davis to the crime. Democracy Now! was there, reporting live from the death row prison grounds in Jackson, Georgia when Troy Davis was executed. Davis will be buried on Saturday in Savannah, Georgia, where he grew up. I began my interview with Michael Moore by playing a clip of Troy Davis speaking during an Amnesty International conference call in 2009. Transcript

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Death Penalty is Pro-Life: Baptist Albert Mohler Talks Utter Shite

And Genesis chapter nine, isn't a goddamned handbook for twenty first century living. These fuckwits would bring back stoning given half a chance.

President Of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Says Death Penalty Is About Affirming The Sanctity Of Life
By Zaid Jilani
Sep 23, 2011

This week marked the execution of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, whose case was considered by many to be deeply flawed. Davis’ execution has served as a wake-up call to the inequities and dangers of capital punishment in the United States.

Yet one influential religious leader appears to have been unphased by the global uproar over Davis’ death and critical examinations of the death penalty. Mohler argued in a Sept. 22 podcast that the death penalty is actually pro-life in a way, because it is intended to “affirm the value [and] sanctity of every single human life“:

A Southern Baptist seminary president says that according to the Bible, capital punishment is pro-life. “The death penalty is not about retribution,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said in a podcast Sept. 22. “It is first of all about underlining the importance of every single human life.”

Mohler, who has a Ph.D. in theology, said in Genesis 9, where capital punishment is mandated for murder, “it is precisely because the taking of one human life by another means that the murderer has effectively, morally and theologically, forfeited his own right to live.” “The death penalty is intended to affirm the value [and] sanctity of every single human life, and thus by the extremity of the penalty to make that visible and apparent to all,” Mohler said.

Mohler is an influential figure in Baptist circles in the United State. As he notes on his website, he is president of the “flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world” and is a board member of the right-wing Focus on the Family. His position on the death penalty stands in stark contrast to that of many other Christian leaders. For example, the Catholic Church, which represents the largest Christian denomination in America, has been generally opposed to the practice since Pope John Paul II declared so in 1995. - Think Progress

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No Death Penalty Logos

No Death Penalty logos, please utilise if you wish.

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Staking a Life by Christopher Hitchens

Hitchens is such a sweet writer on all manner of subjects, but now as then I could never come to terms with his alignment with Bush and the Neocons. Even though he talks about it in the interview below, his reasoning is still totally beyond me.

Can't have everything I guess.

For those that have never seen, or known of, Jeremy Paxman's recent interview of Hitchens, you will find it embedded below.

Staking a Life by Christopher Hitchens

Arthur Koestler opened his polemic against capital punishment in Britain by saying that the island nation was that quaint and antique place where citizens drove on the left hand side of the road, drank warm beer, made a special eccentricity of the love of animals, and had felons “hanged by the neck until they are dead.” Those closing words—from the formula by which a capital sentence was ritually announced by a heavily bewigged judge—conveyed in their satisfyingly terminal tones much of the flavor and relish of the business of judicially inflicted death.

The last hanging in Britain occurred in 1964. Across the channel in France, the peine de mort was done away with by the Mitterrand administration in the early 1980s. So the two great historic homelands of theatrical capital punishment—conservative Britain with its “bloody code” and exemplary gibbetings described by Dickens and Thackeray, and Jacobin France with its humanely utilitarian instrument of swift justice for feudalism promoted by the good Doctor Guillotin—have both dispensed with the ultimate penalty. The reasoning was somewhat different in each case. In Britain there had been considerable queasiness as a consequence of a number of miscarriages of justice that had led to the hanging of the innocent. In France, in the memorable words of Mitterrand’s Minister of Justice, M. Robert Badinter, the scaffold had come to symbolize “a totalitarian concept of the relationship between the citizen and the state.”

Since then no country has been allowed to apply for membership or association with the European Union without, as a precondition, dismantling its apparatus of execution. This has led states like Turkey to forego what was once a sort of national staple. The United Nations condemns capital punishment—especially for those who have not yet reached adulthood—and the Vatican has come close to forbidding if not actually anathematizing the business. This leaves the United States of America as the only nation in what one might call the West, that does not just continue with the infliction of the death penalty but has in the recent past expanded its reach. More American states have restored it in theory and carried it out in practice, and the last time the Supreme Court heard argument on the question it was to determine whether capital punishment should be inflicted for a crime other than first-degree murder (the rape of a child being the suggested pretext for extension).

To be in the company of Iran and China and Sudan as a leader among states conducting execution—and to have pioneered the medicalized or euthanized form of it that is now added to the panoply of gassing, hanging, shooting, and electrocution and known as “lethal injection”—is to have invited the question why. Why is the United States so wedded to the infliction of the death penalty? I have heard a number of suggested answers: two in particular have some superficial plausibility. The first is an old connection between executions and racism, and the second is the relatively short distance in time that separates the modern U.S. from the days of frontier justice.

Now it is true that you are very much more likely to be put to death by the state if you are a black person who has murdered a white person than you are if that condition is stated in reverse. Indeed, it was this disparity among others that led to the practice being suspended so widely for so long. And it is also true that the business of execution is carried on more enthusiastically and more systematically in the states of the former Confederacy. On both the occasions when I myself have visited death row, once in Mississippi and once in Missouri, the historic Dixie stench that surrounded the proceedings was absolutely unmistakable. Bill Clinton’s 1992 execution of the mentally disabled black man Ricky Ray Rector—at a strategic moment in the evolution of the red-faced governor of Arkansas into the trustworthy figure of an “electable” neoliberal— was the closest thing to a straight-out lynching that has been seen in the past generation. But traditional bigotries do not explain why the penalty has lately been restored in New York and California, and why a Federal execution “facility” has been built in Terre Haute, Indiana, birthplace of Eugene Debs (and used as a launching pad from which to kick the ultrawhite Timothy McVeigh off the planet).

Our historic proximity to the wild-and-woolly days of yore won’t quite elucidate the phenomenon either. Europe in the last few decades saw a very great deal more violence and chaos on its own soil than any American has ever had to witness on home turf, even at Antietam or in the Wilderness campaign; yet there isn’t a gallows left between Lisbon and the Urals. “Terrorism”—the gravamen of the charge against McVeigh and the excuse for Clinton’s post-Oklahoma City “Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act”—doesn’t quite cut it either. Israel is much more frequently and savagely hit by indiscriminate attacks on its civilians, and it does not have resort to the death penalty.

It took me some time to notice where this process of elimination was leading me. For example, as I once found myself arguing, the state of Michigan has a provision in its founding constitution that forbids capital punishment. Yet high as the rate of violent crime is in Michigan, it is not noticeably worse than in neighboring and somewhat comparable Illinois (where former Governor George Ryan was not long ago compelled to impose a moratorium on execution, it having been discovered that there were more innocent than guilty people on the state’s death row. You know how that can upset people….) Thus, as I was going on to argue, there is no reason to suppose that the death penalty is a deterrent. And then it hit me. I had been hammering on an open door. Nobody had been bothering to argue that the rope or the firing squad, or the gas chamber, or “Old Sparky” the bristle-making chair, or the deadly catheter were a deterrent. The point of the penalty was that it was death. It expressed righteous revulsion and symbolized rectitude and retribution. Voila tout! The reason why the United States is alone among comparable countries in its commitment to doing this is that it is the most religious of those countries. (Take away only China, which is run by a very nervous oligarchy, and the remaining death-penalty states in the world will generally be noticeable as theocratic ones.) Go to page three.

For further links, see comments.

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How to Kill a Human Being

Former Tory MP, Michael Portillo, wouldn't be someone I would normally have much time for, but watching what he put himself through in researching a more humane method of execution, I have to say my respect for the fellow went from minimal to moderate.

The only previos part that I can remember with any clarity, is what is depicted in this last segment of the program. Particularly what the ''expert on capital punishment'' has to say starting from the five minute mark, and Portillo's counter-argument I must add.

And what he does have to say, I think reflects tellingly on the motives of pro-death penalty advocates in the US. It's not justice they are looking for, it's vengeance.


Part 5 of 5 - How to Kill a Human Being - BBC Horizon

Former Conservative MP, Michael Portillo pushes his body to the brink of death in an investigation into the science of execution.

As the American Supreme Court examines whether the lethal injection is causing prisoners to die in unnecessary pain Michael sets out to find a solution which is fundamentally humane. To do so he examines the key methods of execution available today: he discovers why convicts can catch on fire in the electric chair, learns how easy it is to botch a hanging and inhales a noxious gas to experience first hand the terror of the gas chamber.

Armed with some startling evidence Michael considers a completely new approach. Will it be the answer? There is only one way of finding out - to experience it himself.

Part one here if you're interested. h/t CooCurrent for the upload.

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Troy Davis Execution: An Angry Black Man Speaks

Gawjah Justice: Haul That Gurney in Here and Let's Kill Us a Niggrah!
by thegrowlingwolf
September 22, 2011

The White Man Teaching the Black Man a Lesson

All over the State of Gawjah today Whites are celebrating the death of Troy Davis. Davis's last words were still defending his "innocence" and wishing peace on the MEN who killed him. As most White folks know, all criminals claim they're innocent. Especially those on the many Death Rows around this great Land of the FREE and Home of the Brave! That is they claim they are innocent unless they are mentally retarded and don't even have the cognizance to even realize where they are and what they've done and what's going to happen to them.

The son and brother of Officer McPhail, the off-duty White cop the White Gawjuh justice system ruled Troy Davis killed, was present at this killing. Sitting right there up front, front row center on the killing floor--thrilled in their souls that they were getting closure--I imagine them sitting there delighting in watching this Black man die. Sentiment: "Hell, yes, that god-damn nigger killed a good White man, an officer of the law, and he definitely, guilty or not, deserved to die. We the good White people of Gawjah feel sure in our White hearts, Office McPhail is celebrating this secular victory up in Heaven at the righthand of the Savior and his Big Daddy Father, that triumvirate toasting with goblets of Heavenly firmament the good White Christians of Gawjah's elimination of this Black murderer. Why this savage doesn't even deserve to be called Black, nope, he's a niggrah pure and simple, a murdering niggrah, his black definitely the color of evil, and black is the color of all savage demons. Praise the vengeful Lord. Praising the vengeful and chastising Lord God of the blessed White race and raising shouts of hallelujah as we watch this god-damn nigger's soul being shoveled into the furnaces of Holy Hell!"

We the People of the USA live in a divided state. Union versus Confederacy. Yankees versus Rebels. States Rights (including the right to own slaves) versus Constitutional Rights.

The Republicans represent the Confederacy. The Republicans represent the Plantation system of Fascist governing. The Democrats do not any longer know what the hell they represent. It seems to the general public they also represent the Confederacy. They also represent slavery (cheap labor). They also represent the Fascist form of Corporate/Military rule.

As I'm sitting here typing this, someone here in New York City gets shot and killed every 18 hours. When you project that statistic worldwide--DEATH never takes a holiday.

Governor Rick Perry, if you believe the Death Penalty ritual of killing mostly Blacks and Latinos and poor retarded people of all races, and even women is good for the morale of vengeful Whites, is your candidate for President..... conclusion

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Troy Davis: A Testament to Barbarity

I am posting this only for reasons of posterity, another outlet, that this testament to barbarity be preserved.

TroyDavis: Eye Witness account of Troy Davis Execution
SAVANNAH, Ga. --
September 22, 2011

WSAV News 3's JoAnn Merrigan was a media monitor for Troy Davis's execution. Her responsibility was to witness the initial stages of the execution.

This is her relayed account of what happened.

Prison officials arrived to take me to the prison at 5:45pm. I arrived at the State Prison in Jackson, Georgia at 5:50pm.

At 6:02, I was taken into a waiting room where I stayed for around 4 hours with no knowledge of what was going on. Every so often, someone would come in and say the execution had been delayed.

Around 9:00pm, I went to the bathroom and heard some people talking.

Around 10:20pm, an official came and brought me out into a hallway where I was told to stop. Three men, including the warden, were walking around. Attorney General Sam Olens was also there. He walked quickly one way, then the other. Then the prison official said it was time to go around 10:25pm.

I got into a car with three attorneys from the Attorney General's office, and rode along with a caravan of cars to a building. The drive took around two minutes, and we arrived at 10:27pm.
I walked into the room and sat in the front row, about a dozen people were also in the room. The room had a window showing the execution chamber.

Two men came in, the warden and another man.

Then five guards escorted in Troy Davis and laid him down on the gurney. He appeared calm at this time.

The five guards began methodically strapping in Davis. They started with each foot first, then each knee, then each arm.

A fifth strap was laid across Davis's shoulders.

At this point, Davis picked up his head to look around the room. I was about four to five feet from the window.

Two women then came in with heart monitoring equipment and strapped it to his chest. No one in the room spoke.

The two women then put a syringe into each arm, the left first then the right. Long tubes connected the needles through two holes in the cement wall. I understand that tubes were connected to two intravenous drips containing the chemicals.

At this point, Davis raised his head for a second time to look at the room beyond the window.
Two guards then placed surgical tape around Davis's fingertips, strapping them to the gurney.
The bed was then raised to an upright angle, facing the crowd. I could see him clearly, being only four to five feet from the window.

I then moved to the back of the room. At this point, the family of Officer Mark MacPhail, including Billy MacPhail the brother, and Mark MacPhail, Jr., the son, entered the room and sat in the front row. There were also other witnesses, totaling eight people, who also sat in the front row.
Defense attorney's Jason Ewart and Thomas Ruffin came in and sat in the second row with others.

At this point, other media witnesses were brought in and they sat in the back row with me. A total of around 30 people were in the room.

About 15 minutes had passed since I first entered the room.

A microphone was turned on and the warden said, “We are here for the execution of Troy Anthony Davis with all witnesses present." He also asked that the witnesses remain silent. He then asked Davis if he had anything he wanted to say. Davis replied, "yes."

Davis said, "I want to address the members of the MacPhail family. Despite the situation we are all in, you think I’ve killed your father, your brother, your husband, I’m not the person, I’m innocent, what happened was not my fault, I did not have a gun that night, I did not shoot your family member. I’m so sorry for your loss, I really am. I hope you will finally see the truth and others will, too. To my family and supporters, thank you for your prayers and continue to pray. For those about to take my life, I forgive you. God bless you all."

The warden then read the death warrant. Davis looked out at the crowd, and though he seemed calm, it did appear he was somewhat scared.

The room was very quiet when the injections began.

First, Davis received an injection of pentobarbital, a sedative. Second, he received an injection of pancuronium bromide, a muscle relaxer. Lastly, he was injected with potassium chloride to induce cardiac arrest.

After a short amount of time, Davis yawned then closed his eyes.

They room was quiet and all I heard was my pencil moving over paper.
A woman then came in and checked his eyes, then there was a "beep." Mark MacPhail, Jr. was leaning towards the window.

The microphone was turned on again, and two doctors entered the room wearing long white coats. One doctor checked his pulse and placed a stethoscope on his chest. Then the second doctor performed the same procedure. At the end, the second doctor looked at the first and nodded his head.

The warden then said, "At 11:08 September 21st, the court ordered execution of Troy Davis was carried out in accordance with the laws of Georgia."

I was escorted out of the room and saw a black Butts County coroner’s van of outside the building.

About 30 to 35 minutes had passed by the time I entered the room, until the time Davis was pronounced dead. source

h/t http://youknowwhokilledyoudontyou.blogspot.com/

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For-Profit Company Oversaw Davis's Execution, Had Prompted Complaint for Illegal Purchase of Lethal Injection Drugs

Jesus H Christ, what a fucking cesspit of a country.

For-Profit Company Oversaw Davis's Execution, Had Prompted Complaint for Illegal Purchase of Lethal Injection Drugs

The tragic debacle that has been the Troy Davis execution has another dimension to it beyond racism, classism, and the miscarriage of justice in a flawed system. That dimension is capitalism: specifically, the corporatization of the prison-industrial complex. If you've noticed some angry tweets directed at @correcthealth in the past day, that's because "CorrectHealth" is the Orwellian-named "medical company" that, according to the ACLU, "oversees all executions in Georgia" including last night's. It is a for-profit company that stands to make a pile money off of every execution.

Furthermore, earlier this year the Southern Center for Human Rights filed this complaint against CorrectHealth due to the shady methods used to obtain the drug that is used in lethal injections. From their press release:

Today, the Southern Center for Human Rights (“SCHR”) filed a complaint with the Georgia Composite Medical Board against Carlo Anthony Musso, MD, seeking the revocation or suspension of his medical license based upon his involvement in illegally importing and distributing the drug, sodium thiopental, to be used in carrying out the death penalty.

The law, both federal and state, is clear: no person or organization may import or distribute a controlled substance without first registering with both the Georgia Board of Pharmacy and the federal Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) of the Attorney General. The complaint filed today presents evidence that Carlo Anthony Musso, M.D., owner and operator of the Georgia-based companies CorrectHealth and Rainbow Medical Associates, had no such licenses when he imported sodium thiopental into the United States and distributed it to the departments of corrections in Kentucky and Tennessee....

Since the spring of 2010, there has been a nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs commonly used by states to carry out executions. Because sodium thiopental is necessary to eliminate the pain that would otherwise be experienced by administration of the other two drugs, the shortage of sodium thiopental places the states’ ability to carry out executions in jeopardy. As a result, those states that used the drug as the critical anesthetic to carry out a sentence of death by lethal injection scrambled to find alternative sources.

The Georgia Department of Corrections (“DOC”) secured its supply from a London-based pharmaceutical supplier (Dream Pharma) that operated out of the back of a driving school. In March, 2011, the Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) seized Georgia’s supply amid questions about how the drug was imported into the United States.

Dr. Musso’s company, CorrectHealth, also purchased and imported a supply of sodium thiopental from Dream Pharma. In addition to importing this drug, Dr. Musso sold his supply to Kentucky and Tennessee, two other states desperate to obtain the highly sought-after sodium thiopental. Just as the DEA seized the drugs purchased by the Georgia DOC, the DEA followed Dr. Musso’s unregistered sales of the illegally obtained sodium thiopental and seize the drugs purchased by Kentucky and Tennessee.

One of the reasons there's a shortage of this drug is because while its primary Stateside supplier remains low on supply, the UK has forbidden legal exports which may be used in executions. Why? They think it's inhumane--as should we. This is yet another reason not to execute our own citizens, even if it means--gasp!--another corporation turns less of a profit.

CorrectHealth's contact page is here.

Here's a video of Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz talking about the shortage of drugs and how it illuminates the fact that the death penalty in the US is a "system in chaos." Alternet

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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