I'm dropping a short diary on this because it's a major story that as far as I can see did not make the front page or rec list here. Apologies if I missed something, but I'm one of the nuts who logs in here about 50 times a day.
Absolutely clear evidence has developed that in 2004, when Texas Governor Rick Perry was governor, Texas executed an innocent man, Cameron Todd Willingham, for an alleged ["alleged" added on edit!] arson fire.
Today, Perry took an outrageous step to try to cover up the state's crime and his own complicity in it.
Here's a RawStory summary: "3 Texas commissioners looking into arson dismissed--Texas governor dismisses 3 members of panel investigating arson finding that led to execution" (AP News 9/30/09 at 6 p.m.)
http://rawstory.com/...
This has already been diaried today twice in much better diaries than this.
See this one by JR:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
and this one by Scott Cobb:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
But those diaries got little attention, since we're so occupied by our new hero Alan Grayson (he's great!!!), the health care fiasco, etc.
But this one is FUNDAMENTAL! Texas EXECUTED AN INNOCENT MAN! The governor ("Mr. Good Hair" as the irreplaceable Molly Ivins used to call him) is OBVIOUSLY COVERING UP HIS OWN ROLE IN THAT! The monster should be sent to prison himself.
Search on diaries containing the name "Willingham" to find earlier discussions. My favorite charity, the Innocence Project, has been all over this case. I gave them $500 on first hearing from them about this case, the largest such contribution I've been able to afford over the last year.
Just google "Cameron Todd Willinghamm" for MANY articles on this.
I don't care whether there are tips or discussion here. I'd like all of us to be aware of this, and I encourage you to read the diaries I linked.
UPDATE2: There is a very good article on this at:
http://www.newyorker.com/...
(Thanks to oblomov, who posted the link, and timewarp, who suggested putting it in the diary!) By the way, apologies if I seem slow on such updates. I'm on a crappy satellite connection at home, and what may take you 20 seconds to do may well take me 20 minutes to do!