outback to jungle

Musings on experiences of volunteering in Papua New Guinea with some gratuitous domestic social and public comment

Monday, May 08, 2006

what if you don't rock the boat

The SMH reported on the front page last week about Joanne Hoffmann, the Accountant General in the Solomons. "She has been abused for not approving the disbursement of funds and for insisting on proper accountability for spending. This has included angry responses to her refusal of funds for some overseas travel, not least one episode which infuriated the Parliamentary Speaker, Sir Peter Kenilorea."
If something is wrong then who makes the judgement that it is wrong? US President Lincoln said "if slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong." What about the death penalty? Joseph Clark the 1021st person to be executed in USA since 1976 sat up after "they", the executioners had been pumping lethal drugs into his arm and said, "It's not working". "The execution was delayed for 90 minutes because technicians had trouble finding a site in Clark's arm for the intravenous line carrying the chemicals. ...The method involves three separate drugs - the first renders the victim unconscious, the second stops all muscle movement and the third stops the heart causing death." After Clark had sat up the curtains "were closed to block witnesses view until technicians found a vein in his other arm. They were then parted to reveal him dying winesses said." This is wrong. As for being called a "technician", a participant to State murder is an executioner. A hangman is an executioner. A beheader is an executioner. An electrocuter is an executioner. A lethal injector is an executioner. No fancy word like "technician" should disguise the fact that the perpetrator is an executioner and they should write that on their CV.

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